Aureate read the report with a mixture of shock and intrigue.

Though his men had finished clearing out the corpses and occupying the camp (a personal royal decree had been sent asking for volunteers, as he hadn't wanted men forced into such a place of death), the matter was still far from concluded.

His neighbour had already sent messages decrying the slaughter, but that had been easy to ignore. Such accusations were far from uncommon in the turbulent region Tarchi was situated in.

Rather, it was the HOW that interested him.

The camp was completely intact, and his men had simply moved in with little alteration needed.

To kill so many men, without a distress signal being sent or anything being damaged, was frightening.

He was startled out of his seat by the now-familiar but still unsettling voice in the night.

"Greetings. I trust our little demonstration will suffice for the immediate future?"

"Quite, thank you. Although it has done nothing to stabilise the political situation."

He couldn't hide the tremor in his voice. He had taken care to have many extra guards on duty, and the room he currently found himself in had no windows.

"Good. Then we can proceed to the plan."

The stranger stepped further away from Aureate, leaning against the wall of the new study.

"What plan?"

"On the table in front of you."

Aureate turned to find a massive tome on the table, on top of the documents he had been reading.

The tome was bound in leather, with a strange symbol resembling an eight-pointed star on the cover.

He opened tome to find thick, parchment-like pages covered in elegant, handwritten script.

Turning to ask the stranger its purpose, he found the room empty.

He turned his attention back to the pages, finding the text easy to read and in uncomplicated, though not simple, language.

The introductory chapter, which preceded the table of contents, identified the text as a complete guide to altering Tarchi in every way, from the laws to the society.

An additional note in very large letters on the page opposite the table of contents stipulated that the instructions were to be followed in the order they appeared in, and without deviation.

No threats were in evidence, but the nature of the note and the "demonstration" served as one.

Aureate cursed these mysterious people who were ordering him around, but was nervous enough about the stranger's ability to bypass his guards to at least turn the page and start reading.

An indeterminable amount of time passed as he sat, reading the words written on the pages with mixed surprise and shock.

Each action to be taken was followed by a brief explanation of the reasoning behind it and its short and long-term effects, followed by a note as to the precise period of time that needed to elapse before the next action was taken.

Often notes of FUTURE EVENTS appeared, including their ramifications and what his public reaction should be.

Laws to be passed included notes on their precise wording and how they might be misinterpreted.

After several dozen pages and about a month's worth of events, the pages became unintelligible, save for the topmost line of script, which read:

"No man should know too much of the future."

Aureate sat back in shock.

The clock on the desk indicated that four hours had passed.

It would be time for supper soon, but food was the furthest thing from Aureate's mind.

If the stranger was to be believed, he had in front of him a complete guide to his reign.

He had a strange feeling that the last sentence on the last page would be: "And then die."

The magnitude of this event sat on his shoulders, feeling like the world itself would be easier to bear.

Who was the stranger?

He looked again at the weighty tome.

He could either follow it, or he could refuse to surrender his agency to a document.

He had a sinking feeling that the second option would lead to a similar tome being presented to his heir at his funeral, which would likely not be far off.

Mind racing, Aureate left the room and tome to have dinner with his family.

The next day dawned to find Aureate once again reading the book.

He was genuinely intrigued by the path laid out in it.

A detailed plan for modernising his nation was in evidence, with guidelines for how to design the school system and curriculum in a way he was sure was unprecedented in all of history.

The situation was not nearly as dire as he had thought it the previous night.

Even without the unknowable threat these people posed, the tome was filled with excellent advice. The reasoning behind all the decisions made logical sense, and none that he could see would be detrimental to his people.

The path laid out seemed to be one leading to prosperity.

However, one thing remained.

Money.

Nothing was free, and decisions as weighty as these would be very expensive.

Most of his country's income was produced by the many mines that dotted his domain, but that income was dictated by nature. In fact, the looming threat of the mines being exhausted was ever-present in in Tarchi.

That aside, the vast majority of the budget was devoted to military expenditures and food imports.

The fertile soil of his nation was useless without the water to irrigate it, and rain was rare.

Even if he followed the plan laid out, he would likely drive the country into the ground doing so.

That being said, the short term instructions were simple, and even taken by themselves would be a boon to his nation.

Reforms to the system of taxation, some minor adjustments to the legal code that would close legal loopholes and restructuring of the bureaucracy likely to simplify and rationalise the structure of his government.

These actions he would begin taking immediately.

There was no cost attached, and it would cement his image as a decisive and wise ruler. His recent ascension to power left him with no precedents for people to look to, which left his people wondering what kind of ruler he would be.

He stood up, book tucked under his arm.

Today would be a busy day.