Chapter 20: Heated arguments

"Look, you are all cleaned up, good as new. Now, mind telling me, what... are you?" Zora asked right away.

"Don't tell me you really can't read! Are you f*cking kidding me? I am the inheritance of the greatest necromancer of his time and now I fall into the hands of a filthy commoner kid, who lacks the most basic of abilities, such as reading? Whatever gods rule nowadays, all of them must've forsaken me for sure..." The book broke out into some litany of its misfortune. What a talkative book, or rather, whiny book.

"Stop crying, for gods sake. It really makes my head hurt. I can read, I was able to read the front cover, but I understood nothing of what was written inside you."

"Oh, so you do know how to read. At least something. It seems like you really are my new host, so I'll at least try to whip you into shape, as per my master's orders." said the book with a slightly lower volume and less spice in his voice. "The front cover was enchanted with a special magic to translate into the closest word the reader has in their mind that matches the book's capabilities." he explained. He sounded like he was trying to teach a monkey the alphabet, annoyed and purposely slow. "Actually I always wonder what my host reads on my front cover, it tells a lot about them. Mind sharing?" he asked.

"Sure. What I read is the 'Necronomicon'." Zora replied, using the English name of the book. This got the book confused, rightly so.

"What is that? I've never heard of something like that. It sounds almost like you just made it up..." the book replied with malicious glee in his voice. He thought he just heard the 'kid' throw up a random lie, and for some reason he really wanted to catch him at it. He had no idea...

"You have no idea... Where to begin? Whatever, it doesn't matter, you don't have to know. You are just a book, are you not? It is quite enough that it is the 'Book of the Dead' in a fictional world. Is that what you are? A book about necromancy?" Zora answered. He didn't want to go through the trouble of explaining something as complicated as reincarnation to a... book. He gave up long ago trying to make anyone understand that he is more than what he is supposed to be. It was awfully hard to get any noteworthy information out of the book though. Talk about irony.

"I don't have to know?! I beg your pardon, little monkey, but its not wise of you to keep information from me! Our fates are now intertwined irreversibly. I will help you become the best yourself you can be, and for that I have to know everything! Don't you dare leave me in the dark about anything! I say... this is preposterous... It's not enough that I am forced to help someone like you, you even dare to think of keeping me in the dark?!" The book brought back his previous spice and spite, talking like he was lecturing his dog that just pissed on the carpet. That was the last straw though.

"Okay okay okay, just shut up. Jesus Christ I have no idea how god damn ancient and important you are, but if you won't stop with the attitude and the long-ass monologuing then I won't hesitate to burn you to the f*cking ground! Now, can you cool down a bit, or do I have to bring the heat?"

It isn't easy to make Zora shout, the Necronomicon did a fine job for sure. He spent who knows how many years in different lives, and by then he lost most of his anger. He was unable to muster up any kind of emotion for his daily life, he just flowed with whatever waves were going his way. But evidently people, or a book, with that kind of attitude can still bring certain emotions out of him.

"Sure, I see you feel like you are some sort of hotshot, huh? Well, for starters I am dead sure you can't harm me, even if you tried your best. I am magically protected. How do you think I'm supposed to survive the centuries otherwise? Now out with it, what is that I don't have to know about? And whats with this kind of talk? Jesus? Is that a person? Or is that just a saying? I do wonder..." the book responded with proper interest in his voice.

"Well, if you really want to know, I'm an other-worlder, I reincarnated here after living in different worlds for one or two hundred years. Jesus was a person in my first life, yes. It seems like I still can't get rid of this stupid expression. Happy now?" Zora said, still fuming. He wasn't really used to having to control his impulses, so he just blurted out the truth. It was most probable, that the book will just laugh at him or give him the attitude again. He really wanted to have a reason to try and burn the book for real. So he prepared himself for the counterattack, but instead of a rain of insults, he just listened to silence, as the book said nothing.

After half a minute of void in the conversation, the book finally responded. "Is what you said... Is that true?" he asked dumbfounded and with much less edge in his voice. This sudden change left Zora a bit confused too, so he needed a second to get his bearing together, then in a renewed calm voice he replied: "Yes."

He only tried a few times to explain his origins to anyone. It never worked out. Most of the times he managed to get away with people treating it as a joke. Sometimes it backfired though, and got him into trouble. This time he got a unique response. He was starting to get interested.

After a whole minute of muted waiting, the book was the one to talk again.

"You see... My original creator was someone like you. He was a reincarnator too."

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