Chapter 2: The World within the Shell

A year passed

Since the day Teo met the turtle Cien, everyday Teo would visit to read the array book.

He would often leave the house as soon as he ate breakfast, then come back home right before dinner.

Talwin and Fei were glad about Teo's new habit. Teo would maintain his health and maybe even make new friends but most importantly, they finally got some alone time while Teo was out of the house.

For the past year, Teo had continued reading the array book. He would've probably finished the whole book by now but after the first 10 pages, the book became more complex. Teo didn't want to continue reading until he understood at least 80% of it, but with the complexity of the book, it became all gibberish.

It was unlike any books that he had read before, so he wanted to completely understand each section of the book. He would often ask his parents or uncle if he could not understand something. He would've asked the turtle Cien questions but the turtle refused to help and said

“If you can understand the first quarter of the book without my help, I'll help answer your questions after that”

As such, Teo's progress became extremely slow. He would often come across words that were so difficult to decipher that even his own parents could not answer. He started running around town asking many different adults and became known as the “kid who asked difficult questions”. His parents eventually introduced him to an old man named Wirn.

Wirn was the village's wisest person. Although there was no library in town, Wirn had the largest collection of books within the whole village. He even started writing some stories of his own. He was originally born in the village but after he graduated from the academy, he traveled outside the empire to many different lands and eventually returned to the village when he became too old to travel

….

Within the old well, Teo stopped his reading. It was almost time for him to return home but was hesitant to go right away.

“Mister Cien, I won't be able to come here anymore”, Teo said with a depressed tone.

“Giving up already?” Cien chuckled

Teo shook his head and replied

“No, I have to go take my divination rite tomorrow. I won't be coming back home for 10 years” he explained

“Divination rite? Hmm… I see”

The turtle looked at Teo while silently thinking. His eyes suddenly flashed. After a while, he said

“Okay! I'll let you read it a bit longer”

Teo tilted his head in confusion. He knew that the old turtle had a very stingy personality, but it loved to gamble and would always keep his word. Teo knew that the turtle Cien would not give something out for free unless he wanted something in return.

“I'll let you bring the book with you, but you have to bring me along as well”

“Umm.. I don't think I'm allowed to bring a pet with me”

“A PET?!”

The turtle was shocked. He never imagined this young kid would call him a pet. In his mind, this child was nothing more than someone to pass his time.

“List here kid, I am no one's pet. If anything, you are my pet, got it?”

Teo nodded. He could tell that the turtle became upset and was reluctant to upset it anymore.

Cien soon recovered from his shock and then continued:

“Don't worry, they won't know that I'm with you. You just have to carry me around for a while. I'm being quite generous here”

“I don't think I can carry you in secret. You.. you're pretty heavy” Teo tried to say politely

“Don't worry about my weight, I'll hide within your body. And for your information, it's only my shell that is heavy. I'm a pretty light guy”

'But isn't your shell part of you?' Teo thought inwardly.

He did not speak it out loud because he was too afraid that the turtle would quickly change his mind

“Come, show me your hand” the turtle commanded

Teo placed his right hand in front of the turtle then suddenly…

-SNAP-

“OUCH!” Teo's finger started to bleed. The turtle bit his finger and a small bite mark could be seen.

Teo was shocked! He never thought that this talking turtle was so violent

The turtle Cien was licking the blood off his cheeks then looked at Teo

“Sorry kid, I needed some of your blood”, he said but he was clearly not apologetic at all

“This might hurt a little” The turtle continued and quickly his whole body started to glow a mysteriously green glow. The turtle turned into a bright green light and shot into Teo's chest.

The light penetrated through Teo's body and he felt an intense pain. It was as if his chest was being carved by a knife.

Fortunately, Teo fainted quickly from the intense pain

….

A few hours later, Teo eventually woke up

The well was dark, the moon and the stars lit up the well and Teo started to recall what had happened. He could only remember being bitten but nothing afterward.

Teo looked around the well. The turtle was nowhere in sight and the book was gone as well.

He climbed out of the well and continued to look around but suddenly a voice rang out inside his head.

“Who are you looking for?” the voice said in a mocking tone.

Teo quickly recognized the voice, it was the turtle's voice!

“Mister Cien? Where are you??” Teo asked aloud

“I'm inside you” Cien replied

“Inside me?”

'Did I accidentally eat him?' he thought

“Yes, take a look at your chest”

Teo peeked inside his clothes and looked. There were some strange markings on his chest. It was a green tattoo of a turtle shell embedded in his skin.

“This...”

“This is what I meant when I said to bring me along. Since you still can't go in by yourself, you can just mentally tell me when you want to read the book”

“Can I read it now?” Teo asked

Suddenly, his consciousness drifted into a hazing cloud. Soon he found himself in a strange mysterious plain. He had never seen this place before, and what surprised Teo even more was that it was completely morning inside!

The plain was surrounded by a chain of mountains and trees. In the center of the plain was a huge brown pagoda with green emerald roof tiles and golden accents. The pagoda was majestic and amazing. There was also a large pond and a few benches in front of the entrance to the pagoda.

Teo was too overwhelmed by the sight that he did not notice the old man looking towards him.

“Welcome to my home"

Catching Teo’s attention, his eyes focused on the old man. The old man looked about 50 years old, but still had short black hair, a short but thick looking beard.

“Mister Cien?”

“Ha ha, how do you like my place? Pretty nice right?”

It was more than nice! The trees were strange looking as if each leaf was a sword. The winds were cool and the sun was warm. Including the pagoda and the pond, it was all amazing. Teo had never seen such a beautiful place before.

“This is inside my shell, the book is right over there. You can sit on the benches and read there” The old man pointed and continued

“I’ll be laying over here, if you want to get back out, you can just jump into the pond”

After explaining, the old man headed to a hammock tied between 2 trees nearby.

“This is inside the shell?”

Teo was completely amazed, he walked towards the pond and touched the water. It all felt real!

He then walked towards the entrance of the pagoda. He tried to push the doors but they were unbelievably heavy.

“You aren’t strong enough to enter my pagoda. Ha ha and besides, you need my permission to enter”, Cien said while his eyes were closed

Teo turned to read the book but he immediately remembered that it was already midnight

Teo quickly jumped into the pond.

His eyes opened and found himself laying down on the ground, he quickly got up and ran back home

…

Talwin, Fei, and Ishwin went out and started looking for Teo.

Teo had been gone so late that his parents started worrying and called Ishwin to help. Teo would always go home just in time for dinner but it was now past midnight and he still was nowhere to be found

On the way back home, Teo saw that his uncle was there on the road.

A look of surprise was on Ishwin’s face when he found Teo

Once Teo was found, Ishwin immediately notified Talwin and Fei

Teo got scolded by his parents

“Ha ha, don’t be too hard on him” Ishwin tried to lighten the mood

“He might be just nervous for tomorrow”

Tomorrow was the day that the village held the yearly divination rite for all children of age 10

Surprisingly that night, Teo couldn’t sleep a wink; he wasn’t tired at all. To pass the time, Teo spent the night in the world within the shell until morning came.

[Author's Note: Revision 2]