While Sieg Volsung was asleep Arthur was wide awake. Staring at a hard leather cover thick book. There were no fancy designers or logos or title engraved into the cover. Just the stitches had been sewn into the book. And if it was kept in a bookshelf it would be hard to distinguish them apart from other books. From the side counting the pages it looks like there might be atleast 500 pages. Enough for a novel. It was an inheritance his father had left him along with the kingdom. Arthur wanted to know what secrets the book held within its pages. Before he opened the book there were many possibilities abouts the contents hidden within it. A mystery within itself. And to reveal the mystery he just had to open the book.
But his heart was not in it. Opening the book would mean that acknowledging the fact that his father had been deceased. And Arthur was ready to accept it. Arthur kept thinking whether he should open it or not. Both his logical and emotional side were fighting a war. In the end a solution came up in his mind. That if someone else read it. It wouldn't count as Arthur opening this he won't have to acknowledge the fact.
But this was in itself a worthless idea. That even Arthur was embarrassed by how did he managed to come up with the idea in the first place. After lots and lots of toiling Arthur had finally made up his mind. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes and he flipped the leather cover which felt really luxurious and smooth in his hand when held.
He finally opened his eyes. As the candle besides his room illuminated the pages of the book. And when Arthur laid his eyes on the first page. He was utterly surprised. There was nothing written inside the book. Just blank page. Arthur turned to the next page which turned out to be blank then another then another . He flipped the pages until he reached the end but there was nothing just a blank book.
Arthur was perplexed and genuinely surprised by his situation. He remembered his father's words that it was a diary. But if it was a diary shouldn't something be written.
An idea quickly struck Arthur mind. Maybe the book was written with invisible ink. Arthur held the book before the flame such that the letters will reveal themselves. He held it very close to the flame just before the book catches on fire.
And after a few seconds Arthur once again looked at the diary. And yet once again nothing was revealed. Arthur banged his hand on his desk in anger. And hearing this once of the guard knocked the door patrolling the palace. He spiked loudly such that his voice could penetrate the thick wooden door. " Your Highness is everything alright". Arthur got up hid the book in one of the desk drawers and answered the query by opening the door and staring the concerned guard in the face. " Don't worry I am well. I just slipped because there is less light". Arthur just tossed an excuse and made the concerned guard leave. The guard with a straight face continued his patrolling even though he knew that it wasn't the sound of falling.
Arthur sat back on his chair and started thinking about how to reveal the pages without compromising their integrity. He thought of another method. Which was to exploit the crevices. So he took a pencil. Kept it slant on the page and started scribbling such that if there were crevices they would reveal the words. But in order the preserve the words he only shaded the corners of the book hoping they would reveal something essential. But even this method failed miserably.
Nothing turned up and also the page would not be slightly unreadable. He had made use of the traditional techniques. And he as now all out of ideas. Then a memory struck him as he remembered something known as sun ink . Some texts could only be revealed under the light of sun. But it looked even more unplausible. Arthur imagined himself standing under the bright sun and holding the book in both of his hand towards the sun. " Reveal thy secrets book ". As he had ran out of ideas. He collapsed on the desk and started at a tiny box before him. It was his engagement ring. Inside was a ring made of steallarium made to commorate the occasion when he was engaged with Roselina Darmaten. He opened the box and it revealed a gold ring with a pristine white steallarium as the light of the candle fell on the ring it reflected the light and beautiful white colour was displayed.
Arthur took the ring in his hand and fiddled around with it and once again remembered his days with his fiance. And then when she brutally backstabbed him. He felt crying into the storm back then but now after a few days it still resided fresh in his memory and he could still feel the pain in his back. Everyday he is bandaged with new gauze and cotton while medicine is applied. But he is slowly getting healed.
" Why Roselina, why did you wake me up from my blissful dream". When he was fiddling with the ring at one point he turned it down and he saw vapors coming from the book. Arthur immediately jumped back as he saw a letter "L" had been uncovered from one part of the page. It immediately struck Arthur. It was his eureka moment and for a few seconds he felt like he was a genius He used the steallarium to uncover the first line of the book. He held the ring upside down between his index finger and thumb and allowed the light to reflect on the steallarium. And even the smallest light hitting the pages revealed the words slowly little by little. His anxiousness was filled with a sense of relief as well as excitement. His hand was as steady as ever. Finally bit by bit he uncovered the whole page. As the letters burned off one by one and made a complete sentence.
Arthur took a deep breath of relief and started reading.
It read the following.
Arthur, if you are reading this it must mean that I have ceased to exist. I presume that you might have either found it yourself somehow or I might have given you this memoir.
If this book is in someone else's hands please return it to the Kingdom of Stella the King will reward you very handomsely for this and gurantee a good life in Stella or any other kingdom.
But the fact that you read this must mean you are rich enough to own stellarium and educated or smart enough to figure out one of its property. Too bad since the rest could only be read by my heir.
Arthur was delighted by readings his father's words. It was as if he was hearing him talk. It felt like he was sitting before Arthur speaking with him suggested by the tone used in the book.
Arthur turned the page. And once again shone thr light of stellarium on thr page. And revealed its contents. But this time they were written in runic language just like the ledger.
Arthur was able to read just the first line.
Only the Blood of Stella can peer inside. The rest was written in runic language but it was incomprehensible. Many letters were new. Many letters had their orientation changed.
While many were in fact missing. As if they were never written. When seeing the book he knew what he had to do.
Arthur had been keeping a dagger on him wherever he went. May it be in the palace, outdoor, or even taking a bath. The dagger went everywhere with him. He picked up thr dagger and slightly knocked his ring finger such that a small droplet of blood spouted out from his finger. He turned his hand and let the blood fall on the book. It just stained the pages of the book but nothing happened. Arthur let 2-3 drops of blood fall on the pages. But still nothing. Maybe he was doing something wrong. He once again took the stellarium and focused the light on his blood but nothing. Finally realizing the runic script he tried passing the mana inside him to the book. He held the book in his hands. And an ethereal energy transfered from his hands to the book. This caused the runic letters to absorb the blood completing the text. Many letters changed in orientation. Many text rewrote themselves in the correct order. A few letters vanished while new ones appeared which were much more recognizable and readable. But even now it was ciphered in combination of a few languages.
Arthur had to remove a few language book in order to finally make out the words and finally he was about to read what his father had written.