The Throne Under the Starry Sky – Chapter 2: The Burning Prediction (2)
The beam broke through the wall between the church and the library and pierced the sky. Violent winds swept the flames. All of a sudden, there were only burning objects left in the room – hot and bright like charcoals. Jonah went through the wall and found the book at the place he remembered, then he turned and ran towards the door. Little by little, he regained his consciousness. He heard the sound of ripping wind that seeped into the library, so he rushed out.
The Royal Library – which has 150 years of history, 35,000 books and 12,000 scrolls – got a slight b.u.mp. The flames sprayed out from the doors, the windows and the crack of the roof. Jonah was blown away and hit the ground around fifteen feet away. When he was barely able to open his eyes, the library was already burning like a stack of rice straw, and then it collapsed silently and completely.
Bang! The black crystal broke on his belt. The Star Circle which was engraved on it has collapsed. Hot wave swept Jonah’s face, and he can almost hear the burnt voice of his hair on the temples. He hardly moved across the street. More than half of the black book has been burnt. The hot wind flowed; the ashes were blown away in the air. Only two and a half papers remained.
Jonah brushed away the ashes with a heartache. He rolled the papers and put them into his deerskin handbag. Then he coughed – it was because of his weak body, his rough actions, and the heavy hit when he fell on the ground.
This was a nameless book.
About five or six years ago, not long after the invaders of Empire Zave knocked out the door of Saint Boen, Jonah found it on a dusty bookshelf.
There were nearly thirty rooms in the Royal Library, and most of the book were written after the time of the Renaissance. They included categories such as Religion, Magic, Astrology, Mathematics, Sociology, Literature and Art; the room of the church was specially used to collect the books which were before the time of Renaissance. Most of these books were religious literature, and no one was interested in them these years.
In the night, the silver candle holder ignited, and Jonah walked into the room of the church aimlessly. As if some mystical power was summoning him, he walked to the corner and picked this book off the bookshelf. He flicked away the dust on it softly.
Because of the war, most of the librarians of the Episcopal Church had been called up, so no people came to disturb him. Jonah held the candle holder, sat on a cherry wood chair and opened the first page of this thick book. No t.i.tles, only a line of beautiful round characters written on the yellow papyrus: The start equal to the end – by Segnise, The Betrayer.
A drop of wax oil dropped beside the sign, and it made the words ‘The Betrayer’ more obvious. Jonah put away the candle holder on the bookshelf and then he flicked away the stain.
This was a book about the history – some very old histories which even happened before the BC. In the book of Segnise, there wasn’t the existence of the Creator; there weren’t any G.o.ds, only the natural reproduction of human cultures which made Jonah very curious. He found an anti-religious book in a library of the church!
After that, once he went into the library to study astrology, he always spared some time to stay in the room of the church for a while and read this nameless book. Of course, the Episcopal Church would surely treat such a deviant book as heresy. The book has been written for over thirty years. Is the author still alive? Had he been persecuted by the Episcopal Church? What an irony it is to let such a book left in the church!
Several months ago before the fall of the Red Castle, Jonah had read all the history parts of this book. It ended in the year 2270 – which also meant that five years later, the Renaissance would occur in the world. He turned over a page, the beautiful round characters ended suddenly. A red stamp of the Episcopal Church was sealed on the paper: Audited by the Inquisition. Sealed. there was a genuine signature of the parish priest at the time below it.
Jonah sighed. He thought the author must have been deprived of his freedom since that time. He felt bored and turned over several pages. Unexpectedly, the round characters appeared again. The words were a bit sloppy, but they were undoubtedly the author’s handwriting.
“July 15th, Ayala went to the exiled land. He planted seven seeds of wild strawberry before the sunset.”
The next contents were all like this. They were like diary essays or some texts of a drama. Jonah turned over a few pages; the content of the book covered dozens of pages. He didn’t understand them, so he gave up, but sometimes, he still read the part about the history to mutual corroboration with the world he knew.
Until today, the time of the fall of the Red Castle had come.
“October tenth, a sword cut through the sky. They gathered together and couldn’t see each other – there were only the sky and heels.” He saw the words accidentally. If he didn’t see the moment that the invaders beheaded the captive soldiers, he would never find the secret of the book – seemingly, the bottom half of the book was just some nonsense, but in fact, they were predictions!
Jonah coughed for a long time. He stroked his deerskin handbag and fell into confusion.
When will the predictions on the two and half papers happen? In the far future? Or soon after?
Who is the Betrayer? Why can he foretell the future?
Nowadays, including the five a.s.sociations, people think it was important to foretell the future – no matter what you are using, be it the Divine spells, mathematics or magic. The people of the Episcopal Church believed that everything has been decided by the G.o.d, and no people have the rights to know the decision of the G.o.d.
The people of the a.s.sociation of Mathematics wanted to find a way to read the rules of the world, and they said that they still couldn’t a formula which can foretell the future. It was said that Astrology could predict the future in the past, but the modern Astrology only focus on how to find the link between the star power and magic circles – in other words, how to save and release the star power through the magic circle.
As an occupation, “Prophet” has never appeared in the world. However, Jonah knew there were two and a half papers which have recorded predictions in his deerskin handbag – which may not only change his future, but also change the future of the world.
Jonah left the burning Red Castle with a chaotic mood. He pa.s.sed through the collapsed city door. He left the smell of blood, the smell of burning, the roaring of the invaders and the crying of the survivors. In front of him, the Red Plain was still in silence.
He decided to take a last glance and see the miracle building – Red Castle – which will disappear soon after. Though he was already unrelated to this country, since he has become an Astrologer.
He turned back and saw an Earth-dragon lance drove in the city wall, which was above the city gate. There was a yellow ribbon tied on the lance, and a head was tied under the ribbon. It was the head of the honorable Queen of Saint Boen, Wenger III. To show their last mercy, the invaders didn’t tear down her white veil. Blood stained the veil crimson and waved in the wind. This made it a bit like a flag.
The invaders started burning and robbing. The citizens escaped from the burning city. During the war, they didn’t cry; when their enemies took the city, they also didn’t cry. But when they looked up and saw their Queen’s head, they finally bursted and their hearts had collapsed.
Women and old men were kneeling down on the ground and crying. The requiem of the Episcopal Church gradually appeared in the crowd. The last time, people prayed to the G.o.d of Text and Painting, Shira.
Jonah bit down his lips tightly and cannot bear to see them, he walked away immediately.
Three hours late, he returned to the Astrology Tower.
The tower under the night sky was more like an immense column – old, but changeless and dignified.
“Maintain your fear – by Gilberto Gilbenion” The motto sparkled in the night.
Jonah relaxed completely. Suddenly, a kind of great sadness engulfed him. The fall of Saint Boen destroyed everything he knew. From then, the things he has were only the Astrology, the far away night sky, and two and a half papers.
Then he held his dirty deerskin handbag and sat down on the cold ground, crying very loudly.
After all, he was just a sixteen-year-old boy.