Saving a King

Books of Lore

Making my way slowly back through the town, I decide to stop for a few groceries. Practically running down the isles, so I don’t have to interact with anyone, made my shopping super quick. I check out my items, and head back to my car. I notice a man standing next to the passenger side door, what is he doing? I walk up cautiously, not sure his intentions. “Hi, can I help you?” I ask the man. “Hello, I noticed your books and thought I’d tell you about a small shop around the corner that sells more books like these, ones you won’t find in a library, though.” The man says to me. Ok, slightly strange but, not super creepy. “Ok, can you point me in the direction and I’ll go take a look?”, I reply to him. “Of course! Just go out to the Main Street, and take the next right, it’s three buildings down on your left.”, he says. “Thank you, I appreciate it.”, I finish the conversation.

I make my way to the little building he mentioned, and sure enough, it’s a small book store! The outside looks normal enough, I note as I park my car again. Walking into the store, I immediately notice it is much darker in here than other stores. Strange but, ok. A little bell chimes above the door as I enter. An older woman in a grey dress walks out from somewhere in the back. “Welcome, how can I help you.”, the woman asks. “Hi, I’m looking for any lores on shapeshifters.” She seems a bit put off by this but, scrunches her nose and beckons me with a wrinkled finger. Making our way over to a shelf in the back corner she says, “here is all we have on lores, I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for.” What did she mean by that? Does she know something? There goes my imagination again! She’s just old and being kind. “Thank you very much.” I say.

I quickly scan the titles and find I want all of them. There are ten books in total. I carry them to the little dusty counter she stands behind. With another strange look, she rings up my total in silence. “Thank you again, lovely store you have here,” I say to her. She says nothing back, just staring at me, as if she can see my turmoil. I just make a beeline for the door and once I’m back outside, I feel a lot better.

Next stop, home! This little excursion has proven to be too much for my nerves. I expertly maneuver my car back into the garage, grabbing all my books and groceries in one go. Once inside, I unload it all on the kitchen table. What a weird day, again. After putting all the groceries away, I get in my pjs and grab the books, getting super comfy on the couch. Even if this is research, I really enjoy reading.

The first two books from the library have nothing concrete in them. As if what I’m looking for is even real! The first book from the little shop is about witches. It goes into great detail about how they came about, that they didn’t even have to hide. Then it closes with how they were persecuted for what evil people did. Figures, doesn’t everyone suffer because, of one bad apple? The second and third book still hold no clues, they are about someone known as a moon goddess. That’s a ridiculous notion. They explain how this goddess controlled the wolves and the water. If a goddess is of the moon, where is the moon? The moon hasn’t even been in the sky since my parents passed. Makes zero sense to me, so I just move on. On to books four through seven, these are about vampires. How vampires used to rule with dragons. Dragons! Yeah vampires are cool but, a real life dragon!

Anyway, the vampires are described as being similar to witches. They wanted to live in peace, and like most people, had no choice in how they were made. Again, why punish a whole race just for the wrongs of a few? No sense at all. Unfortunately for me, the dragons were not described, it was as if the writer didn’t know anything about them, other than that they existed. Book eight strangely described fairies, or fair folk. In my mind, I imagined the tiny people with wings from movies. I guess I was wrong because, they are described as normal sized humans! Fairies, or fair folk, could be born with wings but, no one except other fairies could see the wings. That’s super cool! They also seemed like shapeshifters, in the way that they could elongate their ears and teeth at will. More like a protective stance, not a constant physical attribute.

Finally, I make it to books nine and ten. I start to read the first one, and it does mention werewolves but, more in passing. It’s similar to a history book of all the super nature beings and how they lived amongst humans. Each species, per se, had their own Kings and Queens. The rulers all made a pact with the humans to never harm one another. There was even rules, or laws I guess, on what was ok and what wasn’t.

My eyes felt very heavy near the end of book nine. I decided it would be best to get ready for bed, so I don’t get a headache from all the reading. I put my books down, nine and ten on top, and lock all the doors. I make my way upstairs and climb into bed, slowly drifting into sleep, thoughts of kings and queens in my mind.