Quest of Automata King

Secret of the Ruin

“Ugh!” grunt Mui as he tripped over by another tree root. This time he fell face first and hurt his jaw that still wounded because ‘training’ session with Challender and Julius. He sits down and rubbing his cheek, feeling so unfortunate.

At that time, he realized that the intimidating scary feeling are not there anymore. His heart isn’t throbbing, and his blood didn’t running toward his head. He feels normal, and able to think with common sense.

“The voice are... Gone?” He mutter to himself. Slowly, he sees something glowing at the end of the hall.

Mui gets up, and once again he tried moving forward to the direction of that light. That... thing is glowing red, and the light is breathing rhythmically. When he walks few steps later, he notice the rectangular shape of that thing.

“Is that... A book?” Mui does not sure, but that thing is definitely a magic book, usually called grimoire.

The hard cover of that book is thick, complete with belt and lock that keeping the book tightly shut. It is have dark green color, and the cover is written with words and symbols that Mui don’t know.

There are four sets of chains that guarding the book. Helding it down to the wall, and forming both magic and physical barrier.

“A grimoire trapped inside unknown ruin in the forest. Why haven’t I heard anything about this?” thought Mui again. His common sense finally kick in, warn him to go back to academy again.

“Better just report it,” think Mui as he turning back toward the entrance. But suddenly, something is glowing on the pocket of his uniform.

Mui surprised, the light si so bright, followed with vibration that surprised his leg. Mui shaken and almost fell to the ground, but he managed to hold his body. He quickly reached out his pocket, and taking off the object that emitting those blinding light.

“Isn’t it the key that headmaster gave me?” mutter Mui. Suddenly on his back, the light of that grimoire is also shine brighter. That key does that too, and it also vibrate when Mui picked it closer to the book.

Eventually the light show died down, and both the key and the book are breathing the same red glow.

“It’s as if they are calling each other,” mutter Mui. He walks closer to the book, and each steps he take, the breathing light are getting intense.

Suddenly, Mui recalled the conversation he had with the headmaster. The very first day he arrived at the academy, He received this mysterious key.

“This might be the key to change the fate of your kind.”

Those are the words that Oliver said. At that time, Mui does not understand what that mean. Is this the answer that Oliver mean? He never said anything, not about the ruin inside the woods, and especially, not about a glowing magic book that sealed in the depth of forbidden forest.

Mui held his breath. If this key and that grimoire is what Oliver mean in the first place, then Mui will gladly taking that offer. He sure that every Devil outside of Beruka kingdom have feel the experience of being trampled all over, and humiliated day by day.

If there is a chance for him to return the favor of people like Challender or Julius, then he would gladly take that chance, no matter what the risk.

As he positioned the key toward the chain, the red light coming from both the key and the book is getting brighter. It is as if both of them knew what Mui is going to do, and happy that their objective is succeed.

What will happen next? Mui wonder. Will the book explode? Will it release evil that will destroy this world? Or let’s be a little bit more realistic, there might be protection spell casted into this ruin, when a intruder get into the magic book, the spell will activate and this place go down with the dust.

So many possibilities that could happened, some impacting on Mui’s luck right now, some may happened in the long run. What choice that he would make?

“Damn it! Just do it already!”

Suddenly, another voice invading Mui’s head just like before. That voice not come form Mui’s mind, instead it is from somebody else that speak directly into his brain.

Surprised, Mui step forward with the key headed toward the book. When the key reached few centimeters away from the book, suddenly Mui stopped.

“Wait, what?” He is confused to see the situation. The key is suspended in the air, and no matter how Mui wanted to push it, it won’t budge. He tried to pull it away, but the key still locked in place, It is feels like that key is stuck inside invisible concrete wall or something.

“I see... so that is... the case,” once again, that voice is appear inside his head.

“What? Who are you!? Show yourself!” shout Mui.

“Shut up... can’t talk... saving energy,” said that voice again. Mui sure that those words coming from the same person, based from his coarse-voice.

Suddenly, a sigil appeared in front of him. In the air where the key is suspended, a round glowing magic appeared. There are symbols and runes written there, mainly the symbols are drawing combination of circles and triangles.

At first, the sigil have yellowish color on it’s line of words and picture, but slowly, the yellow-gold color is being invaded by another power of mana with the color of deep red. It crawling, and slowly overwhelmed the elegent and majestic color of the previous sigil, exchange it with sinister and evil aura.

Nearing the end, the red mana almost failed. The sigil revert backward to the previous state, and almost eliminate the red color.

“Not until... i come... this far!” said that voice again. Once more, the red mana crawling to the rest of the sigil, swallowing those light with speed that are even faster than before. Eventualy, that deep-red mana successfuly overwhelmed the previous sigil.

Suddenly, there is a sound of shattering glass, and the sigil destroyed. The key that previously suspended in the air now fell to the ground.

“My last power... open it... the book...” and that voice dissapeared from Mui’s head.

Mui took the key from the ground, and once again he looked to the book that binded by chains. A key hole is right in front of his eye, showing the way for that key to get in.

Still confused of what has happened, Mui encourgae himself.

“Here goes nothing.”

He slip the key to the lock, it matched perfectly and with only one twist the padlock fell to the ground after letting out clanking sound.

Suddenly, the chains that are surrounding that book corroded and destroyed into dust. It is enough to surprise Mui, maybe that magil sigil also have some effect to bind that magic book.

Meanwhile, the glow of that grimoire has stabilize. Mui slowly reached that book, and holding it with his two hand. Despite all of the symbols and runes written, he notice about one part that he can read.

“Goettia,” said Mui. That word is written at the top side of the book, probably signaling that this is the title.

After said that, suddenly the title of that book shining bright, followed by runes and pictures on the cover of the book.

“What!?” shout Mui surprised. The book once again emitting a bright light, not only that, he feels a gust of wind flowing through his face and body. Slowly, he feels that his feet is being taken off the ground, and he is launched to the back.

After that screams filled the hall of the ruin. The floor are started to shake, and ground suddenly poured from the stone wall that suddenly destroyed. The wind current that takes Mui threw him outside of the ruin, with him falling to the ground with curled up body.

Mui look to the front. That cave where he found this book are now filled with rocks.

“If I stayed in that place... maybe I’ll be...” Mui get up and sit, teror filled his eye with imagination how his body will end up broken and bloody if that mysterious winds does not throw him outside of the cave quickly.

“Yeah, no need to thank me, I’m just repaying you for finally setting me out of that prison,” said someone. Mui think that the mysterious voice once again striking his head, but he is wrong. That voice did not come from mysterious telepathy ability, but instead, come from the mouth of someone... or something.

Mui noticed that the grimoire is not in his hand anymore. Instead, it is floating right next to him, slightly above his head level.

The grimoire of Goettia is floating, talking, and... live. That’s what comes to Mui’s mind. Turns out, circle pictures on the cover of that book are not just scheme and magic business. Some of them are literary an eye of that book.

Although have no mouth, that book is talking, and even without wings, hand, or feet, he floating in the air.

“What wrong boy? Never seen a talking book before?” He speaks sarcastically.

“Whoa!?” Mui suddenly shout, he pulled his body backward, staying away from that creature. “The, the book is talking!?”

“Yea, I’ll assume that you never met one, heh!” laughed him again. “Alright kid, wipe off that dumb look on your face so we can talk. It’s better to speak if we’re on the same height isn’t it?” said that Grimoire again. It floating closer to Mui where he reflectively screaming.

“Oops, too close, ok, I will take note on that.” That book floating back, making space between him and Mui.