By Joseph Sullivan

Finally, some peace and quiet…

Away from the hustle and bustle of the now-closing market outside, wayward wizard Reltanna Lirane sealed herself off from the fading crowds in her small inn room. She had loved the sights and the sounds of the town at first, but it quickly wore on her, and once she had gotten what she wanted, she was more than happy to leave.

But here she was at last, with the thing she had come all this way for, the Tome of the Devourer, an unfortunately named grimoire that would grant her arcane knowledge not even her old teachers had possessed. She had spent weeks tracking it down and managed to arrange a meeting with a disturbed-looking merchant who possessed a copy. He was willing to give it away for a very cheap price before hurrying off to parts unknown. Even Reltanna, someone who championed frugality as one of her core values, was suspicious, but her sense of triumph won out.

Either “the Devourer” is a powerful evil and therefore important, or just an overly dramatic nickname with forgotten context, and therefore undangerous, she told herself. Her own thoughts did not fully convince her, but she was not about to let self-doubt stop her when she stood on the edge of a new discovery.

This book was old, which she could tell both from her studies dating it back to the Ancients, and from its dusty, decayed appearance. Its covers were faded and the paper, even unopened, looked damaged from the passage of time. Her sources told her it would teach her how its author tamed the mightiest monstrosities, commanded the deepest secrets, manifested the elements that made up the world itself —

I can’t take the waiting anymore! She eagerly opened it up, not even to the beginning, but a random page.

WHAM!

The book, it seemed, had ideas of its own, as the second Reltanna opened it up, before she could read a word, had leapt off the table, hitting her in the face.

“Ow!” Reltanna cried out as she tumbled to the ground in shock. “Hey, what the —” she began, then stopped. Did a book just attack me?!

The Tome of the Devourer had done more than just that, as she looked up to see it circling the room, the sound of its pages fluttering filling the air until it grew unnaturally loud. The shades drew shut, the door locked itself, and Reltanna felt a chill seep through her bones.

Okay, nope, it’s cursed, she had learned to admit quickly after previous experiences. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now…

As she tried to think of a plan of action to take it down, the book changed course, and went straight for Reltanna’s rucksack, knocking it off the bed and to the ground. She scrambled away from it, crawling across the floor to the other side of the room, as she saw the Tome intermingle with the ones she carried with her. Those books opened of their own volition as well, and not just those pertaining to her magical research, but her notebook, her ledger of contacts, and even her diary flew open and began to rise off the floor to join their new master.

“Hey!” Reltanna shouted. It read my diary! That’s criminal…

A new sound began to come from the Tome of the Devourer, which was now being circled by its new followers. It was like nothing Reltanna had ever heard before, like a crackling fire burning its way through paper was trying to talk to her. She could make sense of things that sounded as though they were words, but they were of no language that she understood, like a dead dialect trying to crawl its way out of fire and back into existence.

“Look, I don’t know what you’re saying,” Reltanna admitted as she got to her feet. “But if you can understand speech, put my stuff down or…” I’m talking to a book. I’ve done it before as a child, but this is a different thing altogether. “…or you will have to suffer the consequences!”

She barely had time to think about what those consequences could be before the Tome showed it had plans of its own, as it sent her own diary flying at her head, which she narrowly dodged. Next came her contacts, which almost crashed into her hip as she slid out of the way.

“Whoa, whoa…”

Her notebook hit her squarely in the stomach, sending her tumbling back down. She was able to throw it off, but the one at the centre of it all was flying straight towards her face. Quickly, she grabbed onto it with both hands, holding it by the covers, as its pages were flying about right in front of her eyes, and she was able to keep it less than an inch away from her face, as it seemed to be trying to give her paper cuts.

“Get off me!”

Either the Tome of the Devourer did not understand or did not listen, as it kept trying to attack against the struggling wizard. She could almost make out words amongst the flurry of pages, and she almost succumbed to the temptation of trying to read them, before another edge flew at her and almost cut her.

“Alright, that’s enough from you…”

She had no choice left. As fast as she could, she cried out the incantation of a fire spell, which took quick effect, searing the sides of the book and sending its pages up in flames. Her hands began to burn as well, and she let go to let it flail about in the air, as the Tome of the Devourer almost screamed for life before finally burning up and leaving a charred pile of ashes on the floor.

The threat over, new thoughts began to overwhelm Reltanna’s mind. She would probably have to pay for the mess left behind, and she had already lost enough money buying the book in the first place, with nothing gained from it save a near-death experience.

I think… Reltanna took a moment to gather her thoughts, breathing heavily and rapidly. I think I might have made a mistranslation. She cast her mind back to her efforts tracking the book down, and realised she had made an error, leading to the misnaming of The Devouring Tome.

I wonder if I could reconstruct it… this thought appealed to her as she regained her breath. Although it had tried to kill her, it probably still had some sort of valuable knowledge inside it, and this loss weighed on her as well. Is that worth risking my life again for? I think it might be…

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