It was a bad omen, that’s why nobody wanted to take the book at that time. It meant that if they were not going to be careful, they would end up as the book’s next victims. The previous king later on took the book and displayed it near the Eliran castle to serve as a reminder for everyone to be cautious all times. And for so many decades, people had been obedient. The Armethians from before still had fear.
Trapping the citizens inside a book was the worst and the biggest punishment the ancestors could do to their own people. However, the Armethians were confident that the ancestors would not be able to do that since they had lost the elemental crystals which were the main source of their magic.
Because that kind of punishment required a lot of magic that could only be found in the elemental crystals. The Armethians had completely forgotten the fact that when the most powerful supernaturals died, including Crono and Alexandros’ family, all of their magic was brought back to the nature and the ancestors could use it to generate a very powerful spell.
Because of what happened, I was able to prove one more thing. If there were people who feared death the most, those were the rich and the greedy ones like the members of the council. They couldn’t die thinking that they had so much wealth to take care of.
After the punishment, the council had abandoned their plans to wage war. They surrendered all of their weapons to me and begged for a peace talk.
This time, I didn’t believe in the officials’ sweet promises anymore. I was well aware that if they didn’t need something from me, they would have killed me already. I sent them all to prison including their soldiers. I had also given my family, and all the people who passed away, a proper burial. I had also used the power of the dragons to slow down the fire from the incense.
Without that, I don’t think we would have lasted for even a month.
Over the past years, there were only two people who had managed to come inside our book. The first one arrived nine months after we got trapped while the second person came a year and a half later. Both of them were humans that’s why it was obvious that the book had landed into their realm.
It was easy to find out whether there was a guest in our kingdom or not. The snow would fall as if to welcome the newcomer.
But the humans never lasted long no matter how good we treated them. Right after those mortals filled their pockets and bags with all the gold bars, they rushed to leave. And we could not stop them because they were the ones who were in control of the book. They could get in and out whenever they please.
As soon as they left, the snow had vanished which had weakened all of us. Most of the citizens, especially the youngsters and the elders couldn’t leave their houses anymore since they had grown weak. We had experienced a terrible draught.
I was the only capable to work on the incense. That was where I put all my attention to while half of the Armethian population had never ceased to use their magic to create rain. After so many years, the citizens relearned to work with each other.
I was just frustrated that it took them this long before they figured that they had to change. If we weren’t put into this situation, I was sure that none of them would change. The citizens would still remain obsessed over the elixirs, they would wage war every now and then just because they could.
The mortals must have felt our desperation. And they didn’t want to be responsible for all of our lives. I couldn’t blame them if in the end, they chose to leave. After all, who would want to live in an unfamiliar place where you know no one?
The instant the ancestors punished us, we knew there would be no way out except for death. We later on found out that the two male humans who had arrived had no families to return to in their own kingdom. Both of them lived lonely lives.
But no matter how lonely the two seemed to be, in the end, they would still go back to the place, people and culture that they were familiar with. Mortals would always choose what was familiar rather than the unknown. That was in their nature. I had met several adventurous humans in the past. Some were edgy and restless; they had been jumping from one place to another as if the mere thought of finally settling somewhere would make them sick.
But at the end of the day, at the end of all those traveling, of all those escapades, who would not want to go back home?
How I wanted to come home as well. Every single day, I tried to go back. The exhaustion I felt as the King before had tripled. There were more things I needed to do now while we were waiting for our savior.
I didn’t need a mortal who would stay in our realm forever. I was not that ambitious. What I needed was just someone who would care to stay for a while. If there were guests, I wouldn’t have to work on the incense and I would have the spare time to craft a spell which could open the portal.
I begged the mortals before to stay for even a month. I had offered them everything I possessed. But in the end, they only stayed for about a week or two. And then they resumed traveling to return to wherever they came from.
I had no idea if those mortals had managed to come home, though. As far as I knew, it was easy to get inside the book but it was difficult to get out.

The guests could easily go back to the book, but that wouldn’t guarantee that they could land in the place they wanted to. The mortals could be trapped inside the book. Even if they leave Arameth, there was always a possibility that they may have ended in a different land, in a different page, or chapter.