Mina maneuvered around the table, playfully dragging her hand along each of our chairs as she passed behind us.
At the time I didn't notice, but her voice took on a manipulative tone, as if she was seducing us into reading this book.
"It's a tale of legends, something that would usually be kept under lock and key at the historical societies. Supposedly, it's never been read before. The professor's father gave it to him, who brought it here for the students to see before he turned it over. He said that I could show you but to be careful with it."
Akira picked up the book, examining it from different angles, "Is that why you slammed it on the table, Mina?" The whole group started laughing.
Mina's face flushed and contorted slightly then she continued,
"Anyways! This is it! Anyone brave enough to break the seal? They're just latches, we should be able to reattach them after we peek inside."
Mina was going to be in the theater someday. She made it a point to go all out with motion and emotion. As if she was method acting her own life. She always gets too close, forcing you out of your comfort zone, but eludes this sense of compassion that you don't want to back away from. I guess that's why we started dating—she does let her curiosity get the better of her, though.
Koji's eyes glistened as he maneuvered to Akira, who was holding the book at the other side of the table. Koji snatched the tome from his hands, examining it from front to back, dragging his fingers along it to feel the material that bound it.
"This book looks ancient and is unopened. Amazing… simply amazing. Could it be someone's valuable collectors' piece? There are two seals on this book—any good collector knows it has value to be kept sealed like this."
Koji continued to look at the book from different angles, using his fingers to fiddle with the outside latch.
*Click!*
"Unfortunately, I'm not one of those collectors. Hehe. Let's open it," he said as he pushed up his glasses with a shit-eating grin.
Koji, top of our class, spends most of his time playing games and reading light novels. He's obsessed with this one character named ZeroTwo, teetering toward being obsessed and creepy. Every ZeroTues… I mean, Tuesday, he goes all out bringing a new phone case or notebook. He even has these glasses with some discreet red horns on them. What makes up for it is that he is an outright genius. He can be a bit Bizarre, but Rowan Gibson did say that "it's the 'crazy' ones who change the world."
Akira walked over to Koji and grabbed his shoulder,
"I'm sure it will be fine. If the professor wanted to keep it in perfect condition, he wouldn't have given it to Mina."
Mina offendedly yelled,
"HEY, WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!"
The group laughed and Akira gave us a grin as he took the book back from Koji.
Akira was the group's big brother—incredibly tall, over 6 ft. He was always right there when you needed him, and was typically the star of the show when it came to sports of all kinds. He could even keep up with even Koji's test scores. He had long, spiky, golden hair and blue eyes. You could say he was a chick magnet.
Hino grabbed Akira's arm,
"Wait! Maybe we should ask the teacher before we open it? I feel weird about this, Akira."
Hino is the group's scaredy cat, she has long amber hair and always dresses in a large sweatshirt. She's short enough to where if she hugged you her head would be at your stomach. She isn't smart, nor all that athletic but she was always very caring and thoughtful. She dislikes situations with a lot of people and is easily overwhelmed. She does have one quality that was above all others, she's a violinist, set to become one of the greatest in the world someday. If she can get over her fear of being around so many people that is.
Akira laughed, "Relax Hino. It'll be fine!" Akira then grabbed the seal and ripped it…
*Zzzzzap!*
The room's lights flickered above us one by one, until it was pitch black. In what felt like an instant, it was dark. The room sat dead quiet as the members all looked around at one another.
Thankfully, Akira is great at breaking the ice—he immediately walked over to the window and began opening the shades.
"Must have been the storm, it's really coming down out there."
The sound of rain pouring at this point felt like white noise—keeping us calm while we all attempted to justify what had just happened. This was the real world, after all; it was foolish to think that the book caused the lights to flicker.
Hino was visibly shaken by what had just happened. She sat down, still trying to justify what had happened in her head. "Akira! I told you…"
If Akira was considered the group's older brother, Hino was considered the little sister. She didn't have a good family life back home, which made her shy and reserved. She spent as much time as she could in school clubs and on campus. She particularly had a bad relationship with her step-father, leading her to be uncomfortable around older men in general.
Akira started to joke around, "What timing on those lights bugging out, am I right, guys?"
Minamoto walked behind Hino wrapping her arms around her chest, causing Hino's face to flush.
"It's fine, don't overthink every little thing."
Mina glanced at me to take the spotlight.
I moved the book in front of me. My curiosity was peaked as much as the others. With the outer latch removed I started opening the first page of the book it read
"For thou..."
The letters on the book started to glow, as if light was cascading along the pages as I started to read.
Did the writing light up as I started to read?..
I shook my head in disbelief and continued.
"For thousands of years kingdoms have risen all over the world. Conflicts have driven all races to kill one another for generations over resources and blood feuds. The thought of peace but a flickering light amongst the chaos of new wars. Using a divine tablet provided by the god of death, heroes from another world could be summoned. Throughout time many heroes have been taken to this land, to rid Avalon of the horrors plaguing it. Four times heroes could be summoned, and two times the have been. This is the summary of their deeds, and their fates."