Introduction 2

Iyla opened the door, and immediately noticed how incredibly packed it was with stuff. There were some rough groupings of items such as music storage devices like CDs, vinyls, cassettes, and most outdated of all, MP3 players. At least with the first three, it was possible to find both vintage and newer devices designed for retro music. But MP3 players were like a roulette wheel of outdated hardware, software, and batteries. Most people just used their implants to access the radio or other music streaming services.

Other than the old tech, there were piles of random books, vintage toys, and old house decorations. Honestly, it was a great place to waste time in, just admiring possessions that were once loved. She scanned over the store, already planning on coming back for a proper scavenge to see what treasures she could unearth.

Sitting behind the front desk (it was another antique table with a laptop on it) was an Asian man who didn’t seem much older than her. He had spiky black hair, a mostly black outfit, and a mildly annoyed look on his face. He generally exuded “punk” vibes, and Iyla guessed that he was probably the kind of person who had tattoos too.

“Um…excuse me, the store is open right? I saw the sign lit up outside…” she said politely. Maybe she had intruded on his lunch break?

“Yeah, it’s open.” He sighed, schooling his face to be more neutral. “Go ahead and shop.”

It wasn’t her fault that it wasn’t locked up properly, or that there wasn’t proper signage. She held in her own annoyance and gave a forced smile.

“O~kay! Thank you!”

Iyla glanced around, looking for anything of interest. Other than the old electronics, there were also some old furniture pieces, a cabinet full of knives, daggers, and guns (the kind put up in a room for show), and a table with various glassware.

She headed to the back of the store to see if she could find anything else that might be of interest. There was a large bookshelf there, with various old reference tomes and classics piled up haphazardly. Not all of them were in English or Spanish though, there were also books in German, French, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, and Hindi. She used the translator on her implant to read the titles and summary, but they were simply foreign novels. The reference books had old maps, and some were ancient textbooks. Maybe these books had been consigned or pawned off, and there weren’t enough buyers who could read them to clear this stock. Iyla picked a few of them up from the middle shelf, and flipped through the pages. None of them particularly caught her eye.

She squatted, and began perusing the books on the bottom shelf when she spotted something glint at the back. It was dark enough that she could only barely make out the corner of the book, but it stood out against all the other leather and cloth-bound tomes. She reached for it without being able to see it at her current angle, and instantly felt a static shock. Yikes!!

She almost fell backwards from her squat out of surprise, but quickly grabbed onto the shelf to keep herself upright.

What in the world was that?

Determined, she reached for the book again. This time, her fingers managed to touch the front, and she felt its unusually scaly texture. After moving the books in front of it out the way, she managed to finally pull out her find.

It was a beautifully bound tome, with radiant holographic scales on both the back and front. Just running her hand over it felt pleasingly cool to the touch. Iyla stood up from her position, and examined the book further.

There wasn’t anything stamped or foiled on either the front, back, or spine. When she opened it up, it revealed nothing but blank pages.

I guess it’s a diary? Or maybe a sketchbook?

Either way, it was too beautiful to pass up!

She checked the time again. She had already overstayed by thirty minutes, so it was best that she head back. Iyla headed to the front desk with the pretty, scaled book and set it down on the table.

“This didn’t have a price tag on it, how much does it cost?” she asked.

The shopkeeper looked away from his laptop and grabbed his scanner nonchalantly. “Oh, let me check.” He then made eye contact with the book in question, and suddenly stiffened.

“You…how did you manage to pick up this book?” he asked warily.

“What do you mean? Oh, you’re talking about the static shock right! Yeah it shocked me pretty well the first time, but it was fine afterwards.” She said.

“I see… Yeah usually people don’t bother after the first time.” He used his item scanner, and then looked at the computer screen. “It’s 35 bucks.”

That's…kind of expensive for a journal but… She felt that if she left it here in the store, someone else would probably buy it. She had only found it by pure luck.

“Okay, I’ll take it!”

She paid for it with her card. The shopkeeper put it in a nice sturdy shopping bag with the name “The Corvus”. Just as she was about to leave, the shopkeeper spoke up.

“If you have any issues, or if you’d like to return your purchase, please feel free to come back!” He spoke with practiced ease. This must be something standard he said to every customer. It was a pretty generous store policy.

“Yeah, thanks!”

With that, she left, walking back home with excitement, thinking of what she would use the book for.