Chapter 3: Ancient
Mike leaned against the wall, arms crossed. His voice was low but determined.
“Yo, guys. Next month, let’s drop out.”
AO blinked. “Bruh, why?”
“I’m serious, AO,” Mike said, stepping closer. “We can’t do anything stuck here. You’ve seen how they treat us—like we’re nothing.”
AO smirked and flexed dramatically. “Yeah, I know. I’m just too good for them anyway.”
Then his smile faded a little. “But what about our families?”
Jay, who had been leaning back on his chair, stretched. “I’m up for it. Not like they ever really cared.”
AO sighed. “Alright. Then I’ve made a decision. We’ll do it. We’ll leave… but first, we need to know what our magic is. We still don’t even know what we’re capable of.”
Just as AO finished talking, a teacher’s footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Mike’s eyes widened. “Shit—someone’s coming!”
Without thinking, the trio sprinted down the corridor and slipped into the library. It was empty, dark, and cold. The kind of place nobody visited unless they had to.
AO’s eyes lit up the second he saw the books. In his past life, he loved reading. He ran toward the shelves like a kid in a candy store.
Mike watched him, deadpan. “This monkey can’t be serious, bro…”
Jay sighed. “C’mon, man, the teacher’s gone. Let’s dip.”
But Mike and Jay started poking around too. Within seconds, they found something behind one of the shelves.
“I found it first!” Jay shouted.
“Like hell you did! That’s mine, Jaeger-boo!”
“Gorilla-ass thief!”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
As they argued, AO’s hands landed on a dusty, strange-looking book titled The Three Headaches. He squinted.
“Probably trash,” he muttered. But then he stopped himself. Don’t judge a book by its cover. He sat down and started flipping through it.
The pages were filled with tales of three gods:
Infinity, the God of Creation, described as weak and nearly responsible for the Queen’s death.
Hellfire, the God of Hell, who had supposedly killed 5,000 people.
And Blue Moon, the God of the Moon, who was “drunk on his own power” and thought himself greater than Earth itself.
It claimed that Lord Haze, the King of Earth, killed them all to save the world.
But AO frowned. Something felt wrong. The words… they were all too dramatic, too one-sided. Then he saw a passage that contradicted earlier statements. He read it twice.
“This is bullshit,” AO muttered.
“What’d you find?” Mike asked, peering over.
“This whole book. It's fake. The writer's just making stuff up. None of this adds up.”
Jay tilted his head. “So... propaganda?”
“Yeah. Someone wanted to rewrite history,” AO said, his voice low with frustration. “They lied.”
Angrily, AO threw the book across the table. It landed face-down—on the last page.
Something caught his eye.
In a scrawled, faded hand was a note… possibly written behind the author's back.
> “3… 2… 1…”
AO picked the book back up, eyes narrowing. “What does that mean…?”
Suddenly, the library door creaked open.
They all froze.
A tall figure stepped inside—the librarian.
“We gotta hide,” Mike whispered.
The trio dove behind a bookshelf. The librarian slowly walked in, his steps deliberate. He stopped when he noticed the book on the floor. Bending down, he muttered, “Someone was here…”
His hand glowed faintly with magic. “And they’re still here.”
“NOW!” Jay shouted, and the trio bolted.
They sprinted out of the library and down the hallway, yelling, “Oh my god, RUN!”
AO clutched the book tightly. “That 3-2-1 thing… it has to mean something!”
Back in the library, the librarian stood in front of the bookshelf. He noticed a gap.
“One book’s missing…”
His eyes narrowed. “Now who the hell took it?”
Minutes later, the trio burst into class, out of breath. Their teacher glared.
“You three… detention. Now leave my office.”
As they stepped out, AO looked at his friends.
“Guys… I think I found something important.”
To Be Continued.
