Chapter 4

"Damn, son," Abel remarked as he looked at the squirming sprout in Riley’s grip. "Where did the apple go? That's some Peter Raine illusionist shit!"

Riley opened Abel's hand and dropped the plant into his palm.

"Not an illusion." Riley insisted with a seriousness in his voice. "That's the apple."

Abel stared at the plant, contemplating what Riley had revealed. He watched the squirming roots that crawled over his hand, reaching between his fingers in a failed attempt to escape. With a confused look, Abel glanced up and caught Riley's eye.

"Okay, so—" Abel started with a smack of his lips. "Like, magic isn't real...right?"

"I don't know," Riley said anxiously, his heart racing as panic began to overwhelm his thoughts.

"Yeah-but-like, it's not real, right? This is some trick." Abel insisted with a nod.

Riley felt his face growing hot as the room became brighter.

"I think I'm having a panic attack..." Riley began to hyperventilate.

"Uh-uh-uh," Abel's head swivelled in every direction in search of a remedy.

Grabbing Riley by the forearm, Abel dragged his friend out to the balcony and pointed towards the parking lot. Gripping the plant in his hand, he looked to Riley as he armed a powerful throw and hurled it from the balcony.

"Tah-dah!" Abel yelled out, his voice echoing off the brick apartment complex. Both he and Riley watched as the seedling landed on top of the sunburnt bushes below.

"Nice fuckin' throw," Riley replied in awe as he mentally measured the distance. "Those bushes are, like, thirty feet away, and that was a limp ass plant."

"Now, it's not our problem," Abel replied proudly. "See, it's gone, and we can pretend nothing happened."

"It's not that easy." Riley moaned as he stepped away and dropped heavily into one of the patio chairs.

"It can be." Abel pressed, sitting at his side. "Just let it go. Forget about—hey, let's play a different game. Isle is a survival game with dinosaurs. Let's play Isle instead of League Wars."

"No, it's more than that. It's the book." Riley placed his face into his hands and mumbled. "It follows me."

"Throw it away!"

"I can't!" He replied helplessly as he looked up at his friend.

"I will," Abel said proudly, flexing and winking.

"Yeah? Have at her, bud!" Riley said sharply with a smirk that revealed his annoyance. "Fuh ach'quooie'whyjay ze'el Ak'zi'key'my."

Thwomp! The book thudded to the table, sending Abel tumbling back over his seat with a high-pitched squeal. Riley's mood quickly shifted from annoyed to entertained as he released a hearty laugh.

"What the shit, man?" Abel coughed from the floor as he looked up at Riley and then the tome.

"Sorry, that—" Riley tried to say between fits of laughter. "That was just great."

"Glad to be of service." Abel pushed himself up, standing a few feet away from the table and staring at the object now resting before him. "So did you just, like...poof it here?"

"Yeah," Riley said with a sigh as he leaned over and touched the cover reverently.

That was when he realized what he was doing and quickly withdrew his hand.

"And when I get rid of it, it comes back."

"Teach me." Abel approached, fixing the chair before sitting in front of Riley.

"What?"

"Teach me, please." He scooted closer to Riley and placed a hand on the table next to the book.

"What happened to get rid of it—forget about it?"

"That was when I thought you were having a quarter-life crisis, learning cheap magic tricks, and using this situation as a cry for help!" Abel yelled out. He picked up the book and showed it to Riley. "But this is real shit. Teach me."

"I don't even know what I'm doing," Riley explained as he took the tome from Abel and put it back on the table. "I literally read a line from League Wars, and all this started."

"Do you think it’s some sort of League Wars easter egg?" Abel asked.

Riley and Abel stared at each other for a moment, sizing up the question in the other's eyes.

"No-no...that's dumb," Abel muttered in reply to his own question quietly.

Riley and Abel sat in contemplative silence. As they did, the two stared at the book and listened to the cars entering the parking lot as apartment-dwellers returned home for the night. Lights of the adjacent complex had begun to flicker to life by the time they found the words to speak again.

"What should I do?" Riley asked Abel.

"With the book?" Abel replied, pulling his gaze back from beyond the balcony.

"No, with my student loan debt." Riley snapped back sarcastically. "Yeah, the book."

"Just accept it...uh—to both, I guess?"

"Yeah?" Riley snickered.

"Yeah, you're stuck with both for life, apparently. At least the book does something other than depress you."

"Bleak. As. Fuck." Riley said with another chuckle as he looked at the book and felt the urge to touch it. Reaching out, he placed a hand on the leather cover.

"Ve'elgeewhy." The tome whispered in the back of his mind.

"Ve'elgeewhy." He muttered in reply and closed his eyes as an itch tickled away at his palm. Riley felt a warmth enter his chest, and, for a moment, a calm washed over him.

"What does that mean?" Abel asked, snapping Riley from his peace.

"I don't know, it just..." Riley closed his eyes and thought of what to say. "The tome talks."

"That sounds like a Dungeons and Dryads Podcast."

"Dude, I'm serious."

Abel nodded, hiding his smirk away. "Sorry," He said respectfully and reached out to touch the tome. "It talks, like, when you touch it?"

"Yeah—"

"I've got nothing. Wait!—" Abel stopped, holding a hand to his head.

Riley held his breath, feeling his heart beginning to race.

"It says we should eat."

Riley huffed, unimpressed and disappointed, as he stood to go inside.

"Aww, man," Abel called out in response, grabbing the tome and following Riley indoors. "Okay, fine, the book wasn't talking to me. Surprise. But you know I'm more a ZapNotes kinda guy."

Riley didn't respond as he made his way to the kitchen to investigate his food options. The joking by Abel had made him realize that he hadn't eaten nearly enough over the day, and his stomach had begun to growl in response. As he opened the fridge and stared at the empty shelves, he silently hoped that food would appear by some tome-like magic.

"Hey," Abel interrupted, dropping the book to the counter. "Poor jokes aside, I'm also right."

"I'm trying to make food," Riley replied from the empty vegetable drawer that rarely held vegetables.

"No—I mean, yes, food is good—but no. What I meant was that you should double down on this magic book."

Riley closed the fridge and turned to look at Abel and the tome. The moment the leather cover appeared in his line of sight, his hunger disappeared, and he found himself longing to thumb the pages once more.

Shaking the urge, he focused back on Abel.

"Fine," Riley said as he approached the counter and grabbed the keys beside him. "Let's grab something fast, and then we can try and decipher this book together."

"Fuck yeah," Abel hollered as he slapped a hand to the counter. "You're treating this time. I paid yesterday. And I think we’re out of work for a while."

In a high-speed race, the two left the apartment to gather food and returned within half an hour. Greasy bags in hands, they found their way outside, where they enjoyed the food in quiet anticipation. Riley felt unsatiated from the first bite of the burger, as though the meal had not been what he desired. But, regardless of craving, he finished it quickly, consuming the fries and drink before gathering the patio trash to bring inside.

"Okay, so, living room?" Abel asked.

"Yeah," Riley replied and motioned to the table. Placing the tome down, they sat and inhaled deeply.

"This is exciting," Abel’s voice was giddy as he leaned in, watching Riley remove the cord that bound the covers.

Riley opened the book, revealing the first page and allowing Abel to examine it.

"What..." Abel muttered, quickly disappointed. "It's a tree."

"Yes...very good." Riley laughed and pointed towards the canopy and roots. "But there are easter eggs, see—the canopy and the roots—the infinity symbol." He looked over, watching as Abel nodded in agreement, but the look across his friend's face revealed confusion. "Just look it over for a bit."

In support, Riley stared at the image alongside Abel, and as he did, the more he began to uncover. And with each discovery, he pointed them out to his friend. Riley noted flaws in the page that resembled clouds to the left of the tree and sun to the right. And, as though they had been investigating the image for an entire season, he began to see the starts of flowers and eventually fruits hiding beneath the leafy canopy.

"Ugh, my eyes." Abel snapped Riley from his recent discovery. "Can we—I don't know—flip the page?"

Riley looked over at Abel as he rubbed his eyes and examined the notes he had been taking while investigating the first page. He smirked at two hastily scribbled words, 'dick roots.' An annotation that had been half-heartedly scratched out with another, more appropriate scribble.

"Sure," Riley said as he flipped the page. "Okay, I only got to here, but this page is a—"

"Nope, that's fucking nonsense." Abel laughed as he looked away from the parchment. "Holy shit, bud. How do you not go crosseyed looking at that?"

Riley pointed towards the page and dragged his finger across the first line of letters slowly. "It's really not that bad. It's like in the game."

"Yeah, I never found one of those trees," Abel remarked with a huff. "Maybe you read, and I listen, trying to see what you see."

"Teev'kayzee..." Riley said slowly, marking the word and looking at Abel. His eyes were wide and confused as he looked from Riley to the tome.

"Fuck man, I see squiggle, squiggle, triangle, buttcheek-foot-thing," Abel replied, his face slack with defeat. "Keep going. I'll follow along in case the teacher calls on me to read."

Abel flashed a quick smile before focusing back on the book, following Riley's hand and listening to him as he read the first passage of the tome once more.

Careful word by careful word, he made it to the same point he had earlier in the day and showed the rune to Abel before tracing the pattern once more. Running his fingers over the three-cornered knot again, he felt himself become lost in its design before a sudden pain pricked at his finger.

"Ah," Riley said as he withdrew his hand from the book and looked at the thin cut on his fingertip. A faint discoloration painted the skin as blood began to build. "Papercut. Be right back."

He looked down at Abel, who was still lost in thought as he concentrated on deciphering the tome.

Walking away, Riley examined the dark windows of his bedroom, eyeing the amber streetlights that lit the dim atmosphere. As he passed through into the pitch-black bathroom, he flicked the light on.

Click. Riley paused, examining the dark bathroom with a glance. Click. Click. Click. Click.

"That’s just great." He muttered to himself and turned to go back into the bedroom.

The darkness had begun to overpower the apartment, blotting out the street lights and leaving only the faint glow of the idle electronics as its replacement.

Click. Click. Riley attempted to flick on the bedroom lights. He felt his heart beginning to race once more as darkness filled the apartment and fear consumed his mind.

"Abel?" Riley half asked and half panic-screamed.

Rushing into the living room, Riley was surrounded by impenetrable darkness. He cried out once more, only to hear his voice echoing back.

Riley's stomach lifted into his chest as he was suddenly falling. He opened his mouth to scream, but the air escaped his lungs, leaving only a dull, mousy squeak as he hit the wet floor.

Painfully pushing himself up, Riley quickly felt at his body and looked around. The sounds of dripping water echoed from within the darkened space. He felt drawn forward in one direction for several feet before a sudden chill raced down his spine, and he felt the urge to turn around. He did so quickly, revealing a significant tree that took up the sky behind him.

Riley stepped back, awestruck as he looked up at the tree that had appeared. Examining its horizon-consuming canopy and its single large, silver fruit that hung like a moon above, he felt his gaze lifting higher. His head pivoted up, and up, and up until he eventually fell back to the ground. But his body didn't meet the floor. Instead, he tumbled head over foot, falling for what felt like an eternity before he quickly approached the end of his descent.