He reaches out to his hand as he tries to grasp for air. His body is covered with wrinkles—bruises mark his skin, his beaten state spreads tremble to everyone in an instant. They look at the old man, the town's most intelligent contributor, with empathy and fear; the sorrow is evident from their face, feelings unknown, mixed with confusion and sadness. They don't know what happened; they don't know what caused this. They gathered around the streets of North Woods, a quiet and peaceful town. This idle town became the screams of terror—they were flabbergasted. How could this happen from a harmonious town?
The crowd gathered around him with shock, the humidity was covered with silence for a moment until the old man suddenly mumbled with his voice airy and inaudible: "I know.. I know everything..". This unpredictable voice brought confusion to everyone; their eyes locked at him, their ears ready to gather words. "My prophecy.. it's true!" he uttered. Despite his voice weakened and his fragile state, he still managed to reach his last strength. They were in complete silence, still confused with the old man's words. "Please.. find my green tome; I believe it's already my end; all of my prophecy.. it's true! I repeat, it is TRUE!" he uttered, his last words stabbed everyone with alarm—confusion and whispers filled the fogs. He collapsed right after, his body descended to the ground, meeting his demise.
Two hours had passed, they had put the old man in a soft, comfy, cultural brown bed, symbolizing respect. His unconscious state brought tears to his children's eyes. His daughter, Kelly, was the first to arrive at the room. She kneeled down out of extreme shock, her body shivering as she witnessed her father's beaten state—she was speechless. She could only cry and tear, her body is showering from her own sorrowful cries. Then, his son, Kled, came right after his sister. He didn't shed tears, he did not even take a glance of his father, his face was straight, neutral and apathetic. His gaze was locked on his sister only for a brief moment before he exited the room. Although he didn't cry, sorrow was most evident on his face.
As the family mourned inside their house, the villagers of the town quietly worked outdoors. Some were working together, crafting a patterned, brown coffin framed in gold while others dug a hole in the center of the town, preparing for the old man's final resting place. The day of the funeral has come, and people gather in the park holding their hearts to pay their respects to the old man, offering condolences to his grieving family. The humidity is blowing sorrowful wind that is following their pale soul. Now, it's time to descend the coffin in the land. Everyone is present, their hearts heavy as if it's a huge stone, weighed down by mere grief. As the coffin is lowered, at the same time, tears flow like a waterfall. Their cries covered the silence, it was a woeful day.
The morning has arrived, the sun painted up the skies, coloring the world. Animals sound and kids laughing, though whispers and questions still wander around the village: "where is the green tome?", their curiosity is loud. They started searching everywhere, from corner to under until one blacksmith reached the grand library. This library was filled with theories of everything, from history to scientia. The grand library, a popular place, the icon of the town—its walls outline complex patterns that never fails to amaze everyone. All designed by the old man himself. The blacksmith searches shelf by shelf, taking hours. His body is tired waiting to fall on its own but the sacrifices of the old man energizing his body is unstoppable. He does not find anything, but he still has hope—the Grand Circle of Shelves, located at the heart of the library. He takes a sigh, walking gently towards the center, his feet tapping on the redwood floor, echoing every step.
Reaching his destination, he checks every corner and still can't find anything. "Where is this book located?" he whispers to himself, he knows his hope is strong, but he's a lazy person motivated by curiosity. He returned to the first shelf he'd checked, and began to search again, climbing up to the very top of it, teaching heights taller than the roofs the village. His mind is still fixed on that particular green book. He drifts his hands, book by book, until he reaches the very last book—and to his relief, it is the one. His eyes widened, his heart racing, his mind celebrating as if he had found his long lost possession. His first attempt on reaching the book is a complete fail—he almost fell down. He takes another step on the ladder. With this sudden movement, he loses his footing but manages to hold on to the step, but as he does, a door swings open—the ladder is actually a door, revealing a circular staircase leading down to a dark place that seems abandoned.
With this unpredictable occurrence, his mind is blown. Everything is happening so fast that he can't process each of it, his mind blown and his soul shock. He is speechless for a moment, staring at his blank mind. He finally processes every moment and gets the energy to go down. While descending down, he can't feel anything but excitement thinking: "Why has no one found this?" With every step aiming down, he's fighting his strong urge to dance while going down—his excitement is crazy unstoppable. In his moments that he would hold forever, his emotions blind him and his body suddenly gets surprised by a girl who had been following him behind. This shock exploded him that it leads him to tripping and falling down the stairs, losing his consciousness.
He wakes up seeing a girl grinning down at him making him sound a loud scream and accidentally push the girl out of flabbergast—the girl laughs at his queer-like behavior then introduces herself as Yogiri, a lone adventurer, originated from the land of Dorfuit. "Hey, my name's Yogiri, the ice queen.. or Elsa.." she blurts at the blacksmith who still hasn't processed everything, his stare seems dead—this behavior annoys her that she runs towards him, preparing to strike a punch, her right fust stretches to its full extent. This sudden action terrifies the man that he sprints at the dark hallway so quiet and dangerous, almost like an unpredictable dystopia. She chases after him, using her might and power, trying to hand peace with him which she easily catches up and grapples with the man. "I'm not gonna bite you, chill.." she whispers in his ear. Her soft voice and innocent face convinces the blacksmith.
In this brief moment, she asks everything, from the town's culture to why he is exploring a place so dark. "Ohhhh... so you are finding a tome.. a green one, right?" she questions, staring at him, clearly engrossed, her jaw falling out of interest. He nods at her, confirming her inquiry while obviously holding his laughter. This brief chatting leads them to a gold altar. Is this it? Is this finally the place of the green book? They walk around the place for a while and discover a hidden button, then press. This lights up the whole place, showing the glow of the altar and revealing the green tome, it's not just the book that catches their attention, the stunning design of the place is fairly breathtaking. His discovery sends relief from his chest down to his feet, knowing this is the tome containing the latest prophecies of the old man. "This is it, the green book!" he roars, his excitement is evident from his face—he can't help, but smile. His voice ricochets off the golden, shiny walls—his heart fluttering while walking towards the book, it feels so light for him, it's like he placed down a bag of rice that he's been carrying for hours.
"Here it goes.." he mumbles, shaking his shoulders as he holds the green book. Its cover glints, radiating a green glow that covers his face. Yogiri, looks at him, squinting the whole time, just staring at him while her thoughts flying out of curiousity. As he flips the first page, its size is increasing every second. Then, the book starts to float, confusing the two of them—they are in the place of bafflement. The book is now floating mid air and is still enlarging. Yogiri and the man looks at the book carefully, now paging through itself, they are bewildered by what they're seeing. They drift their eyes, word to word, making sure the old man's word will not be put to waste. This lasted for hours, then they reached the end of the first chapter, "...the child, tomorrow".
A flash of blinding light emits to their vision, making them close their eyes, nearsighted. Everything happens so quickly, it's like a flash of lightning hitting. They feel like they're ascending to heaven from Earth. The blacksmith wakes up the next day, laying on the wooden floor of his stone house. He slowly gets up, his memory of the book is still stored in him. This time, he did not process the immediate of the situation, but his mind was protecting one goal: tell the villagers of North Wood. He runs as fast as possible, using up his last strengths to reach the marketplace, his energy almost completely drained. As he runs towards the place, people look at him. Why's he running as if being chased early in the Morning?
The marketplace pauses in silence, witnessing the strange, chaotic scene happening at the moment. It's a foggy day, merely silence and neutrality. The blacksmith drops to his knees out of exhaustion. He stands up, overjoyed, his eyes widened, his smile extended. "Listen up, everyone!" he yells, words stretching every word. "The prophecy.. the prophecy is real!!". His loud yell wakes up everyone near the marketplace. "Tomorrow, our hope will be born.." his speech attracts a multitude of people, they gather around him, interested in his knowledge about the old man's prophecy.