Secret's hidden in words (open)

[enzair]

The day was old; school was over not but thirty minutes ago. And the weather today horrid, dark grey thunderclouds filled the sky, lightning seemingly every few seconds and rain so heavy you would be drenched in a second, not to mention visibility only at 20 feet. It started pouring as soon as the last bell rang so the storm is young and bound to last several hours.

Silva took to the library as soon as class was out, he turned in his ‘homework’ early so he can get to his personal business, he might get a C or even worse for his hasty work but the professor was in a sour mood today and he couldn’t care less if he got an F this time, not that important anyway, they weren’t even suppose to be studying nonsensical philosophy today, hell it was history, if he wanted to study philosophy he would have chosen such a class.

Silva was one of the middle floors where one would mainly find books on the elemental subject, fire, water, earth, wind, thunder. Even a few alleged myth’s on the subject, those being mainly journals detailing atronach’s, which are mythic creatures of the main 4 elements, fire, water, earth, and wind, those were definitely mythical as there are no such thing in the elemental community, Silva liked to think as though the person who told tale of atronach’s was on hallucinogenic drugs and saw an elemental use their power.

But Silva did not focus on those books of myth and study, instead he took refuge behind a gated section where old journals of people studied the powers of the elements, compiled if things the elements have discovered now and theories detailing the unthinkable capability of elementals, some were surprising and perhaps even possible others were just out right outrageous, the person must have had a hell of an imagination on him. The walls and thin window did nothing to mask the sound of the thunder and rain beating down from the sky onto the window, but it was kind of relaxing, he could not here the whispers of the pesky freshman studying their element or those seeking for an advantage against their adversary. Because Silva was a responsible college level adult he did not need to be watched like a hound guarding its bone as some of these books were very old and not aloud to leave the gated section.

Silva had his own journal with him, a rather large one too; a 250 page 8.5in by 11in journal, Celtic pattern covering the leather cover and on the front contained the Celtic “Five-fold” symbol which symbolized all the elements. He liked to think the spirit element was the lightning element, quite fitting since science says a ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’ is nothing more than electrical impulse’s firing throughout the body.

However, some of the books seemed to have not been read in years as the spine made crackling sounds as the journal was opened. Silva looked for special clues, as many of the people who studied the elements wrote in these journals so no one else could see, and many were considered alchemists, so there is bound to be hidden symbols and puzzles in the pages. If he could find them perhaps he could start where they left off, discover their greedy little secrets. And perhaps in these journals somewhere someone studied the fabled art to eliminate another’s power, and perhaps a way to reverse and even defend against its effects, it’s a long shot, as fables are myths just to keep children in check, and if such a thing exists they would surly scrub any known information about it, so instead of chasing ghosts and going on a wild goose chase for that fabled ability. For now, he was looking for other things, secrets, and techniques, anything that would expand the horizon of the elemental community. Be it something for the history books, philosophy class, or even the use of an elemental’s abilities.

Today Silva was looking at a series of journals made by an old hermit of the mid 1800’s who called himself O.X. to whatever it meant Silva did not know, perhaps in his journals he would find the answer to the puzzle which might lead him to a greater puzzle and greater treasures. He was born in the Sioux tribe of the America’s captured by the whites and schooled in their ways, which in his later life discovered his power to control the plants and stone around him. He was one of those rare anomalies a late bloomer, either he never noticed before, or thought it was the work of the spirits. Either way his earliest entries were at the age of 25, small hints detailed of the work of spirits when he was but a boy. Silva took these ‘works of the spirits’ as accidental tidbits done by O.X. native Americans can be known for their incredible devotion to any such subject, O.X. when he returned to his tribe at age 35 was renowned as a great shawman able to communicate with the spirits of the earth and gifted with their powers. Otherwise, simply put he was an earth elemental.

Unlike the “Alchemists” from Europe and Asia, in Native Americans they are shawmans and rather than using weird symbols and lines, they used animals, and other references from nature. However, since Silva never studied Native American history reading O.X.’s journals was confusing he talked often of spirits and many of the pages were scrambled images of animals and nature. He talked in riddles and was hard to understand, his handwriting was horrid and small, some of the words were very faded, and in some the ink bled through or even merged with other words sometimes looking like splotches of ink. In his last journals it stopped at around the time when he was 50, where another handwriting told tale of his illness that had befallen him, believing the spirits had punished him for using his power to cause harm to the ‘white invaders’ likely the white settlers of the time. The last entry was likely made by his prodiche a trainee shawman. this younger shawman never wrote in journals likely believing it is a white-mans thing and also what brought the illness to his master.