Chapter 3

The Book without a Writer

"I'm feeling sleepy already." Tasia, who was now dressed in a white singlet and a pair of blue shorts, yawned while rubbing her eyes with her fingers. She didn't do much for the day as she only slept and attended the opening ceremony.

"But you were asleep during the whole ceremony." said Sakura, who was working on her writing assignments on the study table next to her bed. Unlike Tasia, she wore a more proper pink silk nightgown. As always, she wore her study glasses while doing them.

Tasia's and Sakura's bedroom was located in the West Quarters of the Female Dormitories. Same as the Male Dormitories, the Female Dormitories consisted of three separate buildings; the North, East and West Quarters. Their room, like most other rooms, was vacant only by two students.

At this time of night, moonlight had spilled through the two small windows of their room. The room seemed warm and welcoming under the glowing Zauberei lamp hanging on the ceiling. The furniture was crafted out of plain wood. Two large cabinets stood against one wall. A door leading to the bathroom was located beside them. Facing the windows were Tasia's and Sakura's beds, both were covered in pink bed sheets. Between their beds was Sakura's study desk. In the middle of the bedroom, a square low table was placed on a soft, blue carpet.

"That was napping. And for your information, napping and sleeping are two different things, mind you." Tasia stated.

"Says the girl who never finished her homework." Sakura added while shaking her head. She then resumed doing her assignments.

"Yeah, and I don't understand why does High Magister Grana give writing assignments for Martial Arts Class." Tasia said in a sarcastic tone.

Tasia laid her head on the pillow, grabbed the book that was left opened beside her and continued reading it. From its contents, the book she had borrowed from the library was more of a journal than a history book. It was quite small, so Tasia had no problem holding it in front of her with one hand, while her other hand rested under her head.

What aroused her curiosity was that the book had no name of the author written on it. She had searched the front and back page, and so far she had read it, there wasn't a single name that was mentioned in the book. Not only that, there was no trace of date or time when did the events written had happened, but judging from the fragile and dusty pages of the book, it might be more than a hundred years old.

There was only one theory that could explain the existence of this journal. It was written before the Fall of Dimiorgia Citadel. It meant that all the events that were written on this journal had occurred before that fateful war.

…It's worse than we had thought. The village was reduced to nothing. Those demons had left no trace of their massacre. They had taken no prisoners with them. It's the most terrible thing that we could imagine. All the villagers had been killed. Not a single survivor remained. The bodies were left burned and rot. The horrible smell of blood and the dead covered the atmosphere of this once-peaceful village.

Those demons had attacked this place and slaughtered everyone for no reason. Why? Was it because we're different from them? Because we're humans? Do we pose a threat to them? They were afraid of us? Only a mere human?

Tasia turned around to the next page, which to her shock, was stained in crimson red dots which she could only consider as dried blood. Even though the book was a hundred year old, the bloodstains seemed to look fresh in Tasia's eyes. She resumed with her reading:

My two brothers and I had buried all the dead in the village. There were more than a hundred casualties here. Men, women, children. Every one of them. Dead. Slaughtered without a single slight of mercy. This was the third village that we've passed through. And like the other two, this one had also become the victim of the black-hided creatures of Dimiourgia. Everything and everyone, was obliterated by these demons.

What about our village? Had those demons reached it as well? It has already been a week since me and my brothers had left. What could've possibly happen to our families during these seven days? Are they safe? Or had they been….?

No. It can't be. I cannot, we cannot bear with this any longer. God. If you're there, please answer our prayers. Humans are now at the brink of extinction because of these black demons. Help us. Somebody. Anybody. Is there anyone who can stood against this monstrosity?

Tasia felt her blood ran cold. This book was in fact no ordinary history book. It was more of a diary than a journal, written by a man, or could be a woman, who had lived during the dark reign of the Dimiourgia Empire. From the writer's words, Tasia guessed that he or she had seen the cruelty of the Empire through the many unnecessary and unreasonable deaths of innocent lives.

Another curious part, was that the writer had referred the Dimiourgia as 'demons', and had said that they were different from the innocent lives they had ruled over. Tasia had never once took interest in history, but she knew that there was never any mention of Darmenia that was once ruled by beings that were 'not human' in characteristics, She only knew that the Empire of Dimiourgia had ruled the old Darmenia with its ruthless power, and was later overthrown by the Three Magister Generals during the Fall of Dimiourgia incident; a war which had cost thousands lives of Magisters, and ended with the restoration of Darmenia's peace.

Who could the writer of this book possibly be, and how much did he or she wrote of Darmenia's 'true' history in this journal? Tasia kept wondering as she read, in all her life she had never felt this curious before.

"I never thought that you actually had interest in reading." Sakura's voice knocked Tasia back into reality.

"Neither did I." Tasia shrugged. "And not to mention that it's history. It's weird, really. I mean, of all the books, I chose to borrow the mysterious one with no author's name on it."

Sakura lifted up her study glasses from her eyes and raised one eyebrow. "So you just borrowed it without reading any of its contents beforehand?"

"Now that you've mentioned it, I really did." Tasia said in sudden realization.

"You're kidding me, right? Then why did you borrow it in the first place? I mean, you're the kind who never shown any interest in reading before this. What's so special about that book that makes you want to read it?" Sakura queried.

Tasia thought of the question for a while, and answered. "To be honest, I don't really know." she then continued reading.

As her eyes scrolled throughout the scribbled writings, Tasia tried to recall her reason for borrowing this journal of a book. A few days ago she was helping Sakura looking for some books for her gunnery and ammunition research. While strolling around the 'History' aisle, Tasia caught her eyes on this small and seemingly fragile book placed between arrangements of old and dusty tomes. Comparing to the other books of histories, this one was definitely smaller and older than any of the rest.

But those were not the reasons why she had borrowed it. Her reason was something else. A reason she had just realized, it was something that is only explainable by her inner conscious.

"It's like, my instincts that told me to borrow this thing. It feels like, this book is talking to me in some way." the words suddenly blurted out of Tasia's lips. She didn't even realized what she had just said. It was as if her mind has been put under a trance.

Tasia looked at Sakura, who was staring back at her wide-eyed. Her mouth was half opened.

"Maybe the book has taken a toll on your head, Tasia." Sakura commented on Tasia's sudden statement.

Tasia only shrugged.

The sky was scorching red like angry boiling lava. The sun was burning the earth like a blast furnace. Not a single trace of cloud can be spotted in the sky. The putrid smell of flesh and blood enflamed her nostrils.

Tasia now stood in the middle of a vast war-torn wasteland. The grounds were covered with thousands of slaughtered corpses, but to her shock, none of them belonged to a human. They were the fallen bodies of black monstrous-like creatures. When she looked closer, Tasia noticed that bright purple liquid were oozing out from the monsters cuts and wounds. She also noted that these monsters corpses had various sizes and forms, yet all of them shared the same metallic black hide and purple blood.

Her mind was flooded with bewilderment and shock. Never once before had Tasia heard, not to mention seen these monsters herself. She tried to approach the corpse that was closest to her, but her legs seemed to be paralyzed with fear under the horrible stench of the dead demons.

Suddenly her eyes were drawn to her left. There she saw dozens of the black monsters corpses had been piled into a small mountain. At the peak of the dark bloody mountain, stood a figure clad entirely in a black metallic armor, which was completely stained by the demons' blood. On his hand, the figure held a glimmering jet-black katana, its blade was engulfed in a veil of dark flames.

Although he appeared to be no different than the fallen creatures that he now stood on, this figure was no monster. He was human. That is, what Tasia's conscious whispered to her.

Just as Tasia was about to observe the black-armored warrior any closer, the piercing red eyes underneath his demonic-looking helmet met with her gaze. Tasia then felt herself losing consciousness, but not before hearing a single word amidst the silence of the battlefield…

Kishin...