Frustration flicked through him, but with a deep sigh he put the sword back down. Retaking the book, he flipped it open, hoping it would show him what was happening. The first three pages were just blank or looked like printer's marks, but on the fourth, he found an actual inscription.
To whoever finds this, may your luck be overflowing, your days filled with interest, and your nights never be lonely.
- Salinger
Bennie had no idea who Salinger was, so he flipped forward to the first chapter, helpfully titled “On Not Dying On The First Night.” As he read through the first pieces of content, he realised that the book explained almost exactly where he had found himself.
In fact, it was eerily accurate to how he could easily find food. It even made suggestions to which directions he could have gone to find easier food or water. Continuing to flip through the pages, he saw the next chapter, when he felt something might be wrong. It was titled “On cooking squirrels, preserving meat, and traveling on foot”
Again, it was something he had done in the short seven days he had been in this world. He held no delusions that he was anywhere near his old world. He skipped the second chapter and nearly threw the book across the room when he found the start of the third.
There, in plain black lettering that looked like it had been there since the book was first published, was something he would insist could not be true.
“On Finding Abandoned Ancient Mansions And Befriending Spirits.”
The book wasn’t just a random guide. It was a guide for Benny and everything he had been experiencing. He flipped through the pages, seeing the same magical circle that was in the office downstairs. It also had a section for spirits, with a drawing that looked eerily similar to Alice's.
She was peering over his shoulder now, and he swore he heard a small intake of breath from her, which would be weird for a ghost to do. “Is that supposed to be me? Why does the book say ‘subjugate’?”
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Benny took a closer look at the diagrams surrounding the spirit in the book. It did indeed talk about subjugating spirits, which was a whole different thing that he would have to face. He needed to see if the book could help him with the plants in the garden out back.
He flipped past the subjugation of spirits, deciding not to answer that right now. He found the next chapter, Chapter 4 not long after, and it seemingly was precisely what he was looking for. “On Gardening and Stocking Pantries Properly!”
“This is what I need, I don’t think subjugating spirits is exactly my thing.” He said, starting to read the entries here. Alice didn’t seem entirely convinced about this, but she clearly didn’t want to press further.
Reading through the chapter, he found every fruit he had plucked and instructions on how to prepare them and store them in the pantries to make them last longer. He even found references to the other plants he saw growing in the garden, surprised to learn that many were herbs or vegetables that were not currently carrying anything.
It would seem that the surviving plants could feed him for a long while. With that issue sorted, and with a bit of pep, he flipped to the next chapter, which was the fifth. It referenced everything that was happening in that moment, it seemed. “On Finding Hidden Rooms and Lost Treasures – Addendum: Magical Swords & Books”.
And there it was, the book was listed first and in the first paragraph it was described as the following:
The Book of Travellers is a unique item among the magical books of the world. Seemingly appearing at random to those who need it, it fills its pages with information that could help one survive in a myriad of situations. It gives helpful hints and even training guides to learn new skills when the current reader needs them most. Impressively, no one is ever sure what the book looks like, as it changes its appearance as needed. Meaning tracking its origins has been a long thought waste of time by those that tried.
He hmphed at himself, he was pretty sure a book just bragged about its own existence and he wasn’t entirely sure if he found that useful. Turning the pages he found the next section, which talked about magical swords and even how to start the basics of training to use them.
Unfortunately, when he got to a list of types of magical swords, the entry for ‘True Sword’ was left blank, with a notation mark that led him to the bottom of the page. There it said that “True Swords reveal themselves over time and information about them is almost completely unknown.”
The one thing he had hoped to find an answer to in the book, and he was left high and dry. So he did the only thing that a man who loves a quiet life would do: he flipped to the next chapter. Except there wasn’t one. The rest of the book was completely blank, despite Benny reassuring himself that he had flipped through the book earlier, and there were things written down.
Theodore “Bennie” Poundsworth looked at the book in the forgotten room, in the forgotten mansion, with a ghost floating over his left shoulder, and decided not to stress about anything else. Instead, he grabbed the book and the sword and went to his bedroom. Putting the book on his nightstand, and the sword close by, leaning against it.
After that he went down the stairs and into the kitchen grabbing a few fruits as he went, outside the door he turned to his right. He had noticed a porch when he was exploring the garden yesterday, and on it he saw white sheets covering something.
And as he suspected, there were chairs and tables on it. So he quickly removed the sheets, checked for spiders on each chair, then sat down and contemplated what he would have to do in the future. The fruits were sweet and somehow cold, the ghost had followed silently behind him, and the sun was setting.
Seven days in and he was finally able to do something that he truly loved. That was a part of his soul as much as anything else was.
He did nothing.
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