Mystical Journey

"No rush, let’s take care of business first . " Garen looked at Golden Loop Number Nine, and the latter instantly tensed up .

Golden Loop Number Eight sneered as he charged at Number Nine and poked out with his index finger .

Pssh!

Weh!

Golden Loop Number Nine let out a deep "humph" as a bloody hole appeared in his chest .

Bam!

His whole body instantly flew backward, went over the handrail, and fell down to the "black hole" .

"Let’s go . " Golden Loop Number Eight didn’t even bother looking down . He turned around and began walking up the stairs . "What the people on top want is here, so we won’t have any problems after I hand it in . Identification will be something for another day . "

Garen looked down at where Golden Loop Number Nine had fallen in, but the place was pitch black and he couldn’t see a thing . He quickly followed Golden Loop Number Eight up the stairs .

"Oh wait, did you guys get any clues in terms of the fragrance of the Mindtwister Vine? Why didn’t I see that particular plant?" he asked as he recalled the strange things he saw at the Silversilk Castle .

"Mindtwister Vine? That thing is best for creating illusions and killing people . All of them were collected from our people, except for that crazy woman . She still kept some, but not that much," Golden Loop Number Eight said casually . "Okay, I will go up first and retreat with my people . You can come up later, so Dale Quicksilver won’t get suspicious . If you join us, the Golden Loop, then your identity could be a great cover . "

"Ok . " Garen nodded . He stood still and watched Golden Loop Number Eight sped up and quickly disappeared into the darkness .

He turned around and looked back at the darkness behind him . The stairs seemed to extend downward forever, as if they led to the endless abyss . The whole stairway was so quiet that it was frightening .

"Why did this Golden Loop Number Nine rush in and try to steal this item?"

Garen still had a question on his mind, but unfortunately, Number Nine was already dead . There was no way that he could still be alive after falling down from a place this high up while already being severely injured .

After shaking his head, Garen paced himself and ran up the stairs .

At the very bottom of the staircase, Golden Loop Number Nine laid facing up . Numerous metal spikes extended from the ground, piercing his body . His eyes were open wide, but there was no sign of life in them . His blood slowly soaked into the black soil and solidified .

*****************

The Silversilk Castle during the afternoon glowed a warm shade of red under the sunlight during sunset . In the courtyard in front of the castle, a few guards equipped with guns were checking their teammate’s corpses . Their faces were all pale . Some of them were swearing, while others were choking and whining .

Their captain had a bandage on his arm and stood beside Detective Dale with an ugly expression on his face . The White Eagle and Black Panther were also with them . Grace, in the meantime, stood beside Garen and Cynthia . The latter wasn’t that upset . Her people hadn’t suffered too many casualties . They were within an acceptable margin .

Garen stood by the side and saw a bunch of detectives making small talk, trying to decide on something . However, he was not interested and too lazy to listen to it . The biggest reward for him in this trip was that he had built a connection with the Golden Loop . If everything went smoothly, he would no longer have to worry about his family's safety anymore .

"Unfortunately, I wasn’t of much help this time . " Garen murmured . "My original plan was only to follow the detectives and figure out the secret of the Silversilk Castle, though I also wanted to see if I’ll be able get some antiques . It looks like I thought too much . "

"Next time if you want to run around, can you please let me know first?" Cynthia said helplessly . Both her face and body were dirty, but she didn’t have any wounds . It was like a miracle! She didn’t get injured during that intense shooting at all .

**************

"Ok, I got it . " Garen smiled and said, "We should go back This isn’t the time and place for us to stay . "

He walked directly toward the bunch of people, including Detective Dale .

After some simple farewells, Garen led Grace, Cynthia and the other people who had came with him towards Canoe Town .

They returned to Canoe Town in the early evening, the sky had yet to turn dark . Garen jumped into Grace’s car and headed towards the city .

After getting back to the city, his life gradually returned to normal . Garen threw the situation with the Silversilk Castle to the back of his mind and no longer thought about it . Besides going to the library to read books, he would only go to the old man’s and learn about identification . Though at the same time, he was waiting for the boss of Manuyllton Corporation to find time to see him .

***************

After several weeks…

In a small room in the library, surrounded by bookshelves, Garen was seated down on a red sofa . He looked with concentration at the black hard cover book, which was about the size of a magazine, that he was flipping through .

There was a cup of coffee on the black table in front of him, but it had lost its heat already .

"Book of Silence?" a pretty blonde girl asked, leaning against an armrest as she sat on his right .

Her hair was bound with a black hairband, and she wore a tight, black silk shirt emphasizing her full chest and slender waist . There were many dark red flowers on the dress . The two colors, black and red, gave off an elegant and quiet feel . The skirt had a perfect length as its edge covered her knees .

"Why do you suddenly want to search for information on this book?"

This girl was Felicity . She had just gotten back from Manroland two days ago, and had contacted Garen, asking to meet up .

"I’ve heard this name before, and it sounds strange . I feel like this book is very mysterious . " Garen shrugged his shoulder . There was no way that he would tell her the truth .

"You’re asking the right person for this kind of knowledge . " The girl’s eyes opened wide . It was obvious that she was having a good time . "Book of Silence is an ancient book within which mysterious knowledge about the legends is recorded . The most mysterious and ruthless civilization, Ancient Endor, is the place from which the Book of Silence originates .

"Huh… There are a few mythology books that I want to read . I could take you to go though the books together, and we could see if we can find it . " Felicity stood up, dusted her skirts, and said, "Follow me . "

Garen quickly dropped the book in his hand and followed her out of the small room .

Felicity quietly said something to a maid at the door . The latter nodded and walked at the front, leading the way .

The three of them passed by a few connected study rooms, and then entered a small door on the left . There was a wooden staircase leading down to the basement behind the door . It was a bit dark . The floor was covered by thick black carpet that muffled all the noise made by their footsteps .

Garen followed Felicity and the maid . They walked down three floors of stairs, passed through a few gates, and opened a series of locks . After all that trouble, they finally arrived at a large, deserted underground library .

It was a rectangular hall that was dark and gloomy . There were a dozen so black wood bookshelves, but most of them were empty . There was no one in here, and it seemed very quiet .

Felicity waved, singalling the maid to leave . After that, she dragged Garen towards a bookshelf on the very right .

"The books here are centuries old . There are some on mythology, but you have to look for them . "

Garen nodded as he sniffed the air . There was a vague musty smell .

They didn’t talk after that, each rolling up their sleeves and beginning their search for ancient books .

There weren’t a lot of them on the shelves, and the books that were there had a thick layer of dust on them . When they took them off of the shelves, they breathed in noses full of white dust and coughed violently . However, Felicity didn’t seem to care about that . Filled with excitement, she started to look for books on mythology along with Garen .

They started their search from the bookshelf on the very right to the bookshelf on the very left . They did find a few books on mythology, but they could tell that they were full of bullsh*t . The stories in them could only be considered tales for little kids .

"Most of the books here are left behind by one of my friend’s ancestors . He had taken the majority of the books out, but there were still some that he didn’t clean up . These were left here due to some family reasons, and now are forgotten and abandoned here . If you didn’t bring it up, I probably wouldn’t have even remembered this place," Felicity said in a quiet voice, coughing, as she took out a grey book and slapped the dust off of it . The dust immediately dispersed, prolonging the girl’s coughing fit .

"No rush, we have time, we can go slow . " Garen laughed . He didn’t seem to be impatient at all .

Time ticked away, second by second, in this dark hall as the fire flickered in the torches on the wall .

After who knew how long, suddenly, a deep crackling noise sounded in the left corner of the hall .

A dense cloud of dust was blown into the air .

"Cough, cough… Cough! Cough! Cough! . . . Damn! Why did it fall down," Felicity complained as she walked away from the bookshelves . Her entire body was covered in dust . The black silk dress was no long pure black . There was a layer of white dust on the surface, and the girl looked miserable .

"Eh?" Garen was surprised . "There is a book there . "

He was standing not too far away from the girl . After the bookshelf fell down, he suddenly saw a book fall down from the top shelf . Quickly, he walked up and picked it up .

After lightly dusting off the dust off of its cover, the book was unveiled . It was black, and its cover page had a set of golden necklaces . The author’s name was at the bottom: Philip Jeffries

Garen lightly opened the book . The pages were a light yellow color . He could tell that they used to be white, but due to the passage of time now had turned to yellow .

The first page only had one line on it: "Dedicated to scholars who are searching and studying mythology" .

He turned the page, and there was a simple index on the second page consisting of three parts: Nightmare, The White Color, Ritual .

There were more detailed tags under each part, and the page numbers were after them .

"What is this?" Felicity got close to Garen and asked, "Golden necklace? Why doesn’t this book have a name?"

"No name?" Garen was surprsied . "Yeah, it really doesn’t have a name . "

"There are only two possiblities . One is that this is a personal book . Books are regulated by the National Publications Bureau, and not putting a name is a way to avoid that . These kind of books are assumed to be notes or diaries . " Felicity was very knowledgeable . She explained, "But the other one . . . " Her expression got serious .

"The other one would be the so-called banned books . They contain prohibited material . Not putting a name on it is also for the purpose of avoiding the National Publications Bureau . Because they’re all banned by National Publications Bureau, they only have the name of the author on it . "

"Banned book?" Garen instantly got interested . He flipped through a few more pages and found that the whole book was filled with symbols and strange writings that he didn’t understand .

"Let’s go, let’s sit down over there and read it . This book must be a banned book! I’ve never seen a real banned book before . "

Felicity got interested as well . Both of them came to a red wooden table, pulled out chairs, wiped them clean, and sat down . The light on the table was already lit up by the maid . Although it was a bit dim, it didn’t affect their reading .