Page #7

The jeweler began to weep slightly then he sank on the very spot he stood and crumpled to the floor. “Every man who has touched this book has died within ten days. Some tell me there was a curse laid upon the wicked thing. A curse cast by a mage of the Merfolk.” (I was unaware the merfolk had mages hmm… Who is teaching the merfolk magic?) “How long has it been since this supposed cursed item came into your possession?” Kota asked while he searched through his bag. “Two months but I have never laid my hands upon it fearing the curse. But many people have asked much like you and demanded I let them examine it. From what I’ve heard from the guards the curse has taken its toll each and every time.” Kota finally produced a gauntlet twice the size of his own arm and proceeded to put his arm inside and attach it to his coat with a set of straps. “Do you have any mage stones lying around? A piece of quartz should do just fine.”  The jeweler was taken aback for a moment then left and swiftly returned with three quartz mage stones. “If you don’t mind me asking what in Etherya do you plan to do?” Kota responded simply, “I’m going to lift the curse.”  Kota placed the three pieces of quartz inside a slot on the gauntlet and closed the slot. A second latter the gears along the device were moving rapidly and sparks of energy were jumping in between the gauntlet’s finger tips. “Levabo ad depellendam tempus et claustra venenatis ligula.” < I lift the barriers of time and space to dispel the magic here.> Green fire erupted from the gauntlet’s fingers and slammed through the iron and glass making contact with an invisible barrier surrounding the journal. As the flames encircled the journal the magic seeped into the journal. A moment later the glass exploded as the curse tried to escape in the form of purple smoke, the green fire rose out of the journal and engulfed the smoke until there was nothing left. The jeweler was astonished his mouth hanging open like a fish out of water he tried to form words but none seemed to express what he wished to say. “Here take these four gold pieces I’m taking the journal with me if the mage returns looking for it tell him he was outbid.”  Kota reached inside the case and removed the journal. Inside the first page he found the ancient scrawl of magic runes written in lapis lazuli. The crystal ink had been burnt until it was almost unrecognizable but Kota could decipher the markings later. He stuffed the journal inside his large canvas bag then exited the Jewelers wearing his now fully charged power gauntlet even if he ran into that vampire he would be unafraid.