The Book of Eibon
Paul had just moved into the city and was living in an apartment now. Since his parents divorce, he realized that his world was going to irrevocably change. Gone were the days of his beautiful home in the country. When his parents split, they sold the house and divided the money. Now Paul's world consisted of a small bedroom in the 2 bedroom apartment his mom was renting in the dreary apartment building he now lived in.
Paul's room was filled with books. At last count, he had 186, he wasn't 100% sure, it may have been 187. Anyways, they were enough to fill two bookcases worth and then some. Paul's taste was mainly in the fantastic. He had a few books on different kinds of mythology, some classic horror novels like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the collected works of Edgar Allan Poe, but what he had really been enjoying lately was a set of books he had acquired at the Goodwill store. It was a set of ten books about various paranormal topics. There was a book on vampires and werewolves, aliens , bigfoot, wizards and witches, and so on, you get the idea. The books were amazing to him not just for the subject matter, but mainly for the illustrations. Paul could get lost in these books for hours, they stirred his imagination so. The only bad thing about the books was that they smelled strongly of stale tobacco. Paul could not discern whether it was cigarettes, cigars, or pipe tobacco, but it made his fingers smell every time he read the books, which was often. Paul's mother often accused him of smoking because of this, but she should have known better. I mean really, cigarettes are disgusting aren't they?You may question why I am telling you all of this, dear reader, but the simple fact is that Paul had a grasp of the occult and the paranormal that most adults never attain.
Paul had noticed a store near his house that was between a Chinese buffet and a small jewlery store. The name of the store was: "The Funny Store". Paul had noticed it many times on the way to the bus stop and back, but he had never gone in. With a name like that, he was sure he could at least pick up some fake vomit and a whoopie cushion. When he finally entered the shop, it smelled like an old bookstore the was a small fireplace to the left of him filled with warm embers. He liked the way the heat felt on his face. He began to browse some of the shelves, but he didn't find anything very funny at all. He saw a model of a diseased ear, some jellyfish preserved in formaldehyde, as well as a stuffed baboon. Well maybe it wasn't a baboon, maybe it was a mandrill, but it was awful anyways. The animal had been posed to look fierce with its mouth open and baring its teeth. What kind of oddball would want such a thing in their home? It was practically a guaranteed nightmare! As Paul made his way to the back of the store he spied the owner. The old man spun around and said, "Who's there!".Paul jumped a little because he was startled by the man's appearance. He looked ancient and was obviously blind from the heavy dark glasses that he wore. Paul noticed his cane propped up on the wall. "I just wanted to buy a practical joke or a magic trick or something, but you don't have anything like that here." Paul said. "You idiot, can't you see this is not a funny ha-ha store, but a funny weird store?" Paul wondered how the man stayed in business. Disappointed, Paul made his way out, but not before noticing a crude sign that had been scrawled on a piece of yellow construction paper: ALL GRIMOIRES HALF PRICE. Paul knew exactly what a grimoire was. It was an ancient book of magic. Paul looked over them carefully. The one that really caught his eye was a book with the title "The Book of Eibon" embossed in gold. Beneath the title and also in gold was a large symbol. It was a pyramid inside a circle with the eye of Horus inside the pyramid. The book almost seemed to call out to him STEAL ME. Now Paul was not a thief, he had stolen some bubble gum from a gas station one time but that was when he was quite young and didn't really know any better. Paul grabbed the heavy book and ran out the door, he thought he heard the old man cackle when he ran out, but he couldn't be sure.
He ran all the way home but he did stop to take a look at his apartment. Where gargoyles might have been at any other old, creepy building, there were a pair of grim reapers on opposite sides of each other playing violins. What nutcase thought this would look good or instill a sense of security in the residents of the building?
Anyways Paul took the book up to his room and snuggled under the covers. He preferred to read books in bed because really, what feels better than getting under the covers to read. Paul rolled on to his right side, propped his head up, and began to peruse the musty, yellowing pages. As he flipped through the book he noticed that he probably wasn't going to be reading it very much because nothing was in English. There was a lot of Latin and Greek in the book, as well as som hieroglyphics and even what appeared to be cuneioform. At least the illustrations were interesting. They consisted of various intricate signs and symbols. There was even a detailed painting of a horrible creature that turned Paul's stomach. As he continued to flip through the arcane tome, he finally came to some English writing. It looked like it might be a translation of some of the earlier writing because several of the words were still in Latin. As Paul began to read, he was entranced with the story that began to unfold. It told of three sisters who were powerful witches. The first sister it described was Mater Solanarum(Mother of the Sun). She was described as being as beautiful as she was kind. There was a depiction of Mater Solanarum next to her description. It was a sketch of a young woman with vines growing on her body for clothing, an olive wreath in her hair and a tiny bird resting on her finger. The next sister that was described was named Mater Lacrmorum(Mother of Tears). The sketch of this woman showed a sad woman wearing shredded clothing with bare feet. The final sister that was described as Mater Tenebrarum(Mother of Shadows). She was depicted as a hooded figure, the face was not visible with sketal hands extending from the sleeves of the robe. On the robe was a symbol, the same symbol that was on the front of the book. This made Paul uneasy. Why would anyone want to associate themselves with such a terrifying figure. Paul would have been even more uneasy if he knew just how close Mater Tenebrarum was to him at that moment..