‘Change?’

Lane read the word in silence and squinted his eyes, but then he felt something and turned to see Erin staring at the Book by his side. He could only stare wide-eyed when she started reading.

“Chan…”

“Wait!”

“…ge?”

He turned, looked at the Book, and saw it starting with its’ page-flipping shenanigans as soon as Erin finished reading the word.

“Fuck, not again!” Lane said reaching for the book. However, when he touched it he recoiled back leaving a small arc of lightning on the way.

“Gah!”

“W-what happened?” Erin asked pulling backward too.

“It burned me!” He said looking at the reddened skin on his fingers.

“I… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I guess,” Lane said looking at the flipping Book again, “It is not like we had much more to try anyway.”

Soon, the Book stopped flipping, this time near the end, and Lane let out a sigh at the lack of sparks or flashing lights. This time he took a moment to lift a hand to stop Erin and put a finger on his lips. Only when he saw her nodding and covering her mouth with her hand did he walk again to the Book.

But he stopped.

“No,” Lane said, “let me think.”

So he looked at the Book, looked at Erin, and then looked at the chest by the desk. Then he smiled and reached inside the chest before taking out his knife. He showed it at Erin. He saw her eyes widening for a moment but just as fast, they turned into a squint. Even though she still covered her mouth with her hand, Lane could swear she had a big smile.

He turned at the Book, lifted the knife, and licked his lips. With a final glance at Erin, Lane got an enthusiastic nod from her. He swung down.

*Clang!*

“Argh,” He grunted as the knife rebounded with a metallic sound from the Book.

“Eeek!” She yelped jumping back.

As the knife fell on the floor, Lane turned and saw the Book laying on the table, completely unharmed, and wriggling its pages at them.

“It’s mocking us!” Lane said rubbing his hand.

“It’s alive!” Erin screamed.

And the Book stopped moving and stood there doing nothing.

“You bastard!” Lane said with an eye twitching as he walked to the Book, “Do you think we are that stupid?”

‘…’

“Y-you didn’t say it was alive!” She said glaring at Lane, “Where did you even get that thing?”

“I told you already,” he answered, “the old man at the store gave it to me! Who is he anyway? You haven’t answered any of my questions!”

“T-this is your fault! You had to pull me here and now we are like… like my master! We look just like my master! What am I going to do? W-What is master going to say? Ah!”

“Stop it!” He said grabbing her shoulders, “We are going to fix this, listen, who is that old man? Is he an enemy of the Kingdom?”

“E-enemy? No way! He is the sc…” and she stopped.

“The what?”

“The…”

“Hey! I already told you everything I did,” He said shaking her, “You better start talking.”

“N-no! This is your fault, fix it!”

“You little…” But he stopped and gritted his teeth, “Look, no one told you to stick your hand on the Book. You did that pretty well on your own so that is entirely on you. Besides, we still have to fix it, and frankly speaking, other than burning the Book I have no more ideas.”

“C-can we burn it?” She asked

“Do you want to try?”

She peeked at the Book, gulped, and shook her head.

“Then tell me who that old man is!” Lane said.

“H-Humph!”

“Oi…”

“Humph!”

“That’s it then?” Lane said grabbing her arms and walking to the door, “You are not going to help? Very well…”

“You! What are you doing?” She asked trying to push back.

“Nothing much,” Lane said, “It’s just that, if you are not helpful, there is no use in letting you stay here anymore.” And he opened the door, “You can solve your problems with your master…”

And he pushed her out closing the door without waiting. Then he turned, looked at the book, and frowned before walking to the table.

“Well, Book, you have had your fun today.” He said with wide eyes and grabbing his trusty candle. “But like everything else, that too must come to an end.”

However, when he was about to burn the Book, he noticed the word on its page was different from the previous one.

‘Changed.’ It said.

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

‘Changed!’

“I’m not falling for that again, Book” And he pushed the candle a bit closer.

‘CHANGED! CHANGED!’ It kept writing while wriggling its pages. Then the door knocked, making Lane pause and squint his eyes.

“Lane!” Came Erin’s voice from outside the room. “Lane it worked!”

“Hmm?” He stopped for a moment and looked at the door, but ultimately decided to ignore it and returned to the Book with his candle held firm.

The Book didn’t waste that instant and when Lane turned, he found the pages covered completely with the same word over and over again.

‘CHANGED!...’ It wrote.

“That’s too bad Book,” Lane said, “You had your chance to do things the nice way, now there is only one possible way for this to end.”

*Knock knock* “LANE!”

His eye twitched. He looked at the door, at the Book, and sighed before reaching for the towel and wrapping the book on it.

*Knock Knock *

“I’m going, all right? I’m going!” He said walking to the door with the Book well wrapped up in his hand. When he opened the door, Lane found Erin jumping with a smile.

“It worked!” She said lifting locks of her hair with both hands, “Look!”

He did and saw her hair was still white, and her eyes were still grey. He closed the door.

“Hey! Why did you close? Look, it really worked!”

“What?” He asked opening again, “Your hair is still white. Nothing worked!” and tried to close again but Erin put her foot on the door.

“Wait, wait! It works! The word works! Here…” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said “Change!”

He felt the Book trembling slightly and before his eyes, Erin’s hair changed back to its usual sandy yellow. When she opened her eyes, Lane could see they were brown again. Both her hair and eyes showed once more the green streaks of her upcoming reveal.

“Oh,” He said looking down at the Book, “How did you find out?”

“I looked myself at the mirror and it was back to normal,” She said looking herself at the mirror, “Then I tried saying it again and it worked! But you have to focus, or it does nothing.”

“I see,” And he closed his eyes and focused on the word before saying it aloud, “Change!”

For a moment, he felt nothing, but then the Book trembled once more and he smiled. Then he felt a sharp pain in his shin.

“Ah!” Lane said falling and grabbing his shin.

“There you go! Humph!” said Erin putting her hands at her hips.

“Hiss, what kind of Lady kicks like a mule?”

“What, how rude! And you had it coming for pushing me out!” She scolded him with a smile, “Now we are even. Humph.”

“Even?” He asked standing up, “Come here!” And he pulled her back in the room while taking care to kick the Book inside on the way.

“Y-you!”

“Enough! I’ve had enough of this! You are going to answer what you promised or I won’t let you go away tonight!”

“W-what do you mean? I will go away I…” And she tried to open the door but found it locked.

*Gasp!*

“So?” He said showing her a key, “Are you going to answer? I am asking only for what you promised. Who was that old man in the store?”

“Why do you care? He is just an old shopkeeper!”

“As if! I saw him burning manna without effort today! Not even the City Lord can do that!”

“Oh…”

“… Oh? What oh? Who is he?”

“Tehehe….” And she tried to open the door again.

“Erin…”

*turn turn*

“Erin it won’t work, I locked it…”

“…”

Then she stopped, and stood quiet for an instant, only to turn and point at him.

“Why do you care so much?” She asked, “It is only a normal store, that’s the only thing you should know about it!”

“Why do I care?” He said with a frown and picking the Book from the floor, “Why do you, Lady Erin, care? I found you there today, and now you came here on your own to ask about it! This,” He said waving the Book in front of her face, “Is what that old man gave me after saying I was cursed! So now you are going to tell me who he is or you can wait here until dawn and we will find out what the City Lord thinks about it!”

“Ah! No!, I’ll tell you!” She said grabbing his arms, “He was the Kingdom’s Sc… the Sce…” But she stopped, biting her lips again.

“Yes?” He asked, “He was the what? Tell me!”

“The Scepter!” She said, “That old man was The Kingdom’s Scepter!”