[align=center]WARNING!
The following document has been implanted with certain memetic effect, which will cause any mammal individual, who is reading the document, infected by this effect. A series of actions towards the author of this document, including mocking, damning, cursing or any other unamiable behaviors, will result in activating this effect, which causes the infected to lose his reproductive capability in 0.05 second, and get into an asexual status where the infected can no longer reach his orgasm. This progress has been proved to be unstoppable and irreversible by any known methods including Class-█ Amnesiacs, Class█ ███ and ████. Any individual affected by this status will be relocated to the ███ of Site-█, as or against their will, by MTF-█, and ██ through Program-███.[/align]
[align=center]Chapter 1. The Page[/align]
[align=right]-Priceless with Infinite Possibilities[/align]
[fold]“Three Hundred!”
Indeed, it was still cold in Edinburgh early spring, but the air seemed to be even more freezing since this strange accents silences the crowd. The auctioneer hesitated for a moment, then got back to his usually business.
“Three Hundred third time, and...Deal! Congratulations to...Mr. Siegfried! And for our next object, ladies and gentlemen, I present you...”
The best thing about auction, even an illegal one, is that the atmosphere will eventually get overexciting no matter what happens. It took almost no time for other guests to forget about the unreasonable price then focus on the rest objects, but Mr. Siegfried, or rather a pseudonym, was not very enthused about it.
“You accept check?” Conversation continued behind the stage.
“Check, cash, card, anything... But this price is fairly high, even for a black-market. Why, if I may?”
“There might be a reason, there might not. Here is your check, and the only thing you will have.”
“Alright then, I bid you adieu, sir.”
Then off he went, back to somewhere on the earth, with his loot casually placed in his briefcase.
A week later, still the same place on the earth, in the most quiet office one can imagine, two men sat face to face at a table with only a paper on it. After fifteen minutes of staring and possibly thinking, the once-was-called Mr. Siegfried broke the silence.
“Like my new toy?”
“Three hundred million pound for a piece of paper, and they call me a bookworm.” Despite sharing the same taste with the host, yet the guest seemed to be confused with the price.
“In an illicit auction house, you might need to speed things up, usually with a high price.”
“But still, that price for a piece of paper... ”
“Not a piece of paper, my friend, a priceless page.”
“You mean this blank page with nothing on it... ”
“That's why it's priceless, with infinite possibility."
He grabbed the paper, put it back into his briefcase, then stood up, took a glance at the clock.
“And I shall depart soon, you wanna stay for lunch?”
“I think I'll pass. With this huge amount of money spent, I can probably imaging the food on the monthly special menu of the cafeteria in this site...”
"Relax, mate. I have my own plan for the money. So you'll still find grilled ribs and lobsters on the menu. Besides, I'll buy it for you. ”
“Very well then, I shall join you. By the way, you are going to...”
“There,” he pointed at the huge map on the wall, “where life begins…”
[/fold]
[align=center]Chapter 2. The City[/align]
[align=right]-Not Dead Eternal Lies[/align]
[fold]Three hundred million pound for a piece of paper, one must be insane, or drunk. But he is neither a lunatic nor an alcoholic, rather mysterious I would say. It has been three month since he departed, covered almost every corner in Afro-Eurasia world. He might be the most cunning target I ever followed, I almost lost him three times, but yet I’m here along with this city.
He and his seems-to-be friend, who was picked somewhere in Saudi Arabia, went directly to the middle of the city where a hole, or rather abyss, lies. Then they climbed up the stairs to the shrine hanging above the abyss. They eventually entered a secret chamber in the shrine, leaving a heave stone door shut, which I can’t open. But there is no need to rush in anyway, I will just wait them to come out, and have a treasure hunt through the city.
This city is old, much older than every other place I have ever been to. Yet, everyone, even me, would be astonished by the condition of the city. It seems after abandoned by its people for unknown reason, the city just lies here eternally like no time has passed. The city itself were shaped into a perfect hexagon by high wall, with only one entrance in the southern area. The highway in front of the gate leads way to the shrine. The rest of the city is highly symmetrical.
Two market places located in the west and east center, surrounded by residential area, where nobles and patrons lived near the shrine and commoners lived along the wall.
West side of southern area might be the cultural area with schools, libraries, art gallery and a research lab if I’m not wrong. East side was filled with entertainment building like restaurant, bath, theater and even red-light.
Northern part of the city was filled with workshops and factories of all size, along with treasury, granary and even arsenal. It seems they use this part as industrial and storage area.
As I was exploring the northern part, I found out that there was no wall to the north of the city, but a harbor and shipyard like area. There was even a lighthouse, which could not be use in navigation, with the city in the middle of desert. My guess is that this area was designed for air transportation, like an airport. So I decided to have a complete investigation of the shipyard, or aircraft factory. There might be something of great value which I could sell to whoever interested.
But suddenly a huge sound came for the middle of the city. Well, they might have already done their job, whatever it is. The strange harbor can wait. It is time to snatch their treasure, and get rid of them both of course.
This three month vacation turns out to be not that bad after all.
[/fold]
[align=center]Chapter 3. The Book[/align]
[align=right]-Everything Lies within Nothing[/align]
[fold]That was the best day of my life.
I have covered almost every big events during my whole life. Wars, Olympics, Global Conferences, none of those were as half exciting as my experience of that day.
I was being skeptical the whole ride, until the moment he showed me the city, still the most fabulous fabrication I have seen during my whole life. Although I barely looked at it in detail, still I was shocked by the view from above.
Then we entered the shrine, he put his hand into a hole on the left side of the chamber’s wall. Then the door of a small chamber opened. I was way too excited to feel scared and followed him in.
Even more bizarre than the previous part of the story, the internal size of the chamber was much grander than the shrine itself. In the center of the room was an altar, which had an opening book on it.
“Just enjoy yourself in this gorgeous room, I shall get my work done immediately. You might find something in here very interesting, or rather…familiar. But don’t go too far, for I will need you in a moment.” His mouth hadn’t opened since we entered the city, and naturally I took his advice.
The room was filled with book, written in even known or unknown language, from hieroglyphic to even computer program. There were certain books on the shelf, which I believe I can find the very same one in my family library. Those were said to be descended from my ancestors. Were those the copy of my books, or my books were the copy itself? After fed up with all this brain hurting thought, I decided to watch him working on that book.
He didn’t seem to care about me, or rather neglected me, and still devoted himself into every page of the book. After finding something, he suddenly opened his briefcase and took out a blank piece of paper. Then he started to write on the paper with odd symbols and pictures.
“Please insert this page into the book between page 156 and page 159.” Five minutes later, after finally completing one side of the paper, he gave me both the paper and the book and ordered.
I literally had no idea about either the single page or the rest of the book, but I did what he said, and amazingly that piece of paper became one page of the book, like they had never been apart.
He put the book back to the altar waited a few minutes then went out of the room. I followed him out, prepared my heart for everything that could possibly happen. The hole under the shrine was filled up with strange symbols all over the ground.
“Here he comes.” He grunted.
“He?”
“The Shadow, master of infiltration and assassination, or as I interpret, The Death.”
[/fold]
[align=center]Chapter 4. The Ritual[/align]
[align=right]-Even Death May Die[/align]
[fold][align=center]Hunter, Sheep and Wolf stand on ground
To the north the wolf will be found
The Sheep seems still lost in maze
Then the Hunter smiles and says
“Welcome to the ritual Mr. Death
It is time to harvest with the scythe
May rest of thy soul live in peace
For a small part will soon decease”
Lone wolf respond with no word
His face shows him feeling bored
From his jacket a pistol shows
Wolf points it towrads the his foes
Suddenly an earthquake strikes the city
But every single building stands firmly
Only the Sheep falls unconscious
And the Wolf is no longer vicious
Instead of begging Hunter for the spare
To his eye does the Wolf straightly stare
Mysterious spell casted by the Hunter
Teleports the Wolf to the ritual center
So finally begins the ancient ritual
Which has never been tried for actual
Hunter throws to the fiend with his prayer
Soon enraged devils depart from its layer
First come the storm with the lightning
Soon the flame burns with frightening
Then huge floods wash away the fire
Mixes with the earth creating a mire
From the sacrifice light beams shine
Which directly flies toward the shrine
Hunter speaks out the final word
Harmony clears out everthing blurred
[/align][/fold]
[align=center]Chapter 5. The Servant[/align]
[align=right]-Tinker, Successor, Servant, Spy[/align]
[fold]The man finished writing his book, then put it into his brief case.
Fifteen minutes later.
“Time to go home.” He waked up his company, who was sleeping in a tent.
“Ah…My headache…All I remember are the ground, the man in black and the earthquake…So, after that…”
“Just a little ritual to purify his soul.” Explained the man, and pointing to the third guy who also seemed to be sleeping.
“How is he?”
“Still breathing…”
“Is he alive?”
“Who knows. Besides, I will soon turn him into a piece of priceless paper. Dead or alive, as they said.”
“Um…”
“You don’t have to understand that. So what’s your next plan? I recommend you to write a book about this adventure. People gonna love that craft, if you know what I means…”
“We should come back here soon with a team, I have this camera full of evidence…”
“About that, you see…” He went outside the tent,
“It is gone. So, good luck with your camera.”
“That’s a pity. But don’t worry, as far as I checked, the film is not broken.”
A month later, still the very same place on earth.
“When was your last full body scan?”
“I haven’t had that since like…ever.”
“How about I develop this roll of film?”
“Funny joke, my master.”
“Now that you are here, do you have any other appearances I can choose? You see, it would be very weird to go out followed by a skeleton.”
“Of course, my master, you would like a bud or a blooming rose?”
“How about a nice, old butler?”
“As you wish, except for the nice part.”
“Even better. Yet another harmony restored, how many left, Al?”
“One, two…um, infinity?”
“I guess I’ll cancel my dinner plan.”
“No need to rush it, my master, since you are lying in the world following the same rule as I am.”
“…Good point, I’ll just feed myself and then go back to work. You can come with me and I’m buying you a giant lobster, since I’m quite loaded right now. It seems the price of one’s head could really reach the sky in three month, especially when he disappears from his usual business.”
[/fold]
