Alius gaped at the book, but as soon as he jumped up to try and snatch it out of the air, it disappeared.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Alius managed to track it to the corner of the room, and chucked a pillow towards the book. Hard. He thought he saw the book shake a little, before it faded out of sight. The pillow hit the wall with an empty ploof.

The next thing he knew, the book was rushing straight towards his face. Alius ducked, but the book swerved, smashing right into his forehead before sinking away. Alius let out a rather cute snarl, but the book was gone.

Alius was brought back to another instance of his childhood, one where another thing had mysteriously disappeared as well. Alius couldn’t remember what it was exactly, but the feeling of longing made him want the book even more.

Let’s see… the book disappeared right in front of my face, but it still has to be in the room, right? Even a magical book like that one can’t vanish into any type of air, can it?

Alius closed his eyes to focus, but all he could see was white.

That’s a very suspicious white. But…

Alius’s eyes snapped open, but he remained in the white room.

The off-white room.

Off-white is disgusting! It’s the color of eggs that have been left out and reheated! The ones that Mother snuck into my lunch that one time!

There is no reason why I would see the color off-white… unless someone else is making them off-white!

Alius held up a hand, and the book appeared as if by magic, struggling to escape.

A childish grin spread wide across Alius’s face.

“Got you now.”

Lightning quick, Alius ripped the pages out of the book and slammed them to the floor before gleefully stomping all over them.

He stomped so hard, the pages disappeared.

His anger was so great, time itself cowered.

And then apparently turned back, because the book was once again floating in the air again. Then it disappeared.

Once Alius recovered from his tantrum, a faint tear glimmered at the edge of his eye.

“What kind of p-pycho made these things? The pages! They’re off-white…”

____

Sniffing, Alius saw a warping of the walls, the entire reality around him collapsing into a single point, before the point blew out and painted his vision with the previous room he was in. Almost exactly the same, but graced with a still-shimmering dagger now sporting a faint crimson edge.

Alius looked at it with suspicion, not trusting anything related to that book anymore.

After looking at the dagger long enough, the words started to crawl across the space above it again. But halfway through their journey, Alius wrenched his head away. The words were the exact same shade as the motes of golden light from that cursed book.

But the dagger! But the book! Alius was ready for tears, how could something so shiny be similar to something the evil off-white!

Still bearing a pouting face, Alius begrudgingly moved his head back to the shiny. You know, for the sake of being curious.

[Dagger of Sorrow]

Forged by a blacksmith who had no idea what he was doing, imbued with an essence standing at the pinnacle, it has had its materials stretched to the limits of their potential, being able to improve no further. Through sheer luck and a little bit of blood, the materials are extremely compatible with the imbued energy.

This weapon has the following ability:

[Weeping Wound]: Anything cut by this dagger will cry tears of life.

Alius didn’t know what an essence was, but the description had definitely changed from what he remembered.

Picking it up, it felt no heavier, nor lighter. Alius gave it a practice swing, which as it turns out, was a very bad idea. The dagger left a cut of liquid gold behind it, with the slice hanging in the air. It slowly pulsed an array of different colors, all looking very permanent.

“Uhh… well if I leave, it stops being my problem, right?”

Alius turned and almost slipped the dagger into his pocket, but he managed to stop himself before he made an idiotic move. Stuffing the dagger into a pillowcase, he swung that around, and once Alius was satisfied that it wouldn’t cut anything, he quickly closed the door on the still faintly glowing knife mark. The dagger had been wrapped in several days worth of outfits and stuffed in three pillowcases.

____

Alius left the house, but discovered a vast forest with no discernable way to other people. The trees towered over Alius, easily wider than most village shacks, and admonst the tallest things Alius had seen yet. The thick forest captured the rays of the midday sun, turning the edges of the trees a shining yellow.

But the problem with having a house in the middle of a thick forest is that your house is in the middle of a thick forest. Alius had no idea which direction would lead where.

A hand settled onto his shoulder, and Alius screamed and jumped forward. Turning around, there was Elder Darius, stroking his chin while looking towards the forest.

With a kind smile, he looked towards Alius.

“I see you’ve already gotten used to the room. How is it?”

“Bit bland. How did you know I came out?”

Elder Darius pointed towards one of the trees in the distance. The tree waved. The elder waved back.

Elder Darius elbowed Alius in the back.

“Don’t be rude, wave.” he whispered.

Alius waved. The tree stopped waving, and Elder Darius chucked.

“That must have been the strangest thing you’ve seen in all your years, no?”

Alius bobbed his head, “Yeah, speaking of strange things…”

___

“Don’t worry about it Alius, if you cut anything with that dagger I gave you, we can replace it.”

Alius’s expression turned strange when he realized that it was probably hard to replace space.

“How bad could it be?” Elder Darius mused. “One dagger. It’s probably nothing important.”

Alius cringed away from the door, but Elder Darius just slid it open.

Looking inside the room, his face stiffened.

___

No way it’s anything that bad. What can one kid do?

Elder Darius slid open the door. The room looked like a typical example of the young child’s room. Sheets on the floor, pillows tossed in the corner, and drawers left open. Sitting right in the middle of the mess was a golden streak.

Elder Darius’s mouth dropped wider than the cut itself. He looked at Alius, who was standing outside the door doing his best impression of a tree. His eyes moved to the bag that Alius had been holding. The bag was usually lumpy, and upon a quick inspection of the room, Elder Darius realized that several sheets were missing.

Directing energy into his feet, Elder Darius sent out a pulse of earth, and was thus able to see a very familiar dagger sitting in the bag.

His eyes narrowed, and taking a rough estimate, the cut should have been made by that dagger. Elder Darius knew it wasn’t a forgotten blade. And he had already checked, Alius had no remnant energy on him, whether from an outside source or from gathering any. The split must have been made using no source of energy at all, and that left two explanations.

One, someone else was responsible, and had already escaped. But Rusai would have seen them through the forest.

Two… Alius was the possessor of a bladesoul.

Turning around as smoothly as possible, Elder Darius masked his shock with a smile.

“Well, at least it isn’t that bad.”

___

Alius breathed a sigh of relief.

“You mean you can fix it?”

Elder Darius chucked and waved his hand.

“Sure, sure. Even if we did nothing, it would disappear.”

Alius smiled sheepishly.

“Thanks?”

“In the meantime, you can stay over there.”

Elder Darius pointed behind the house. Looking back, Alius saw another, identical house that he hadn’t noticed before. Scratching his head, he shrugged before turning back to the elder, who was currently peering at the horizon. A warm crimson sunset graced the distant treeline.

“Huh?”

“Well Alius, looks like it’s getting dark. Go to sleep, and I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Uhhh…ok?”

Waving, Elder Darius disappeared into a stream of light that flashed away.

“Was it always this late?”

Alius’s question went unanswered by the solitude of the forest.