The Tome

I wrote this story as part of my ko-fi based writing group's prompt for April 2024. It's inspired by a D&D party of mine, with Skylar being my own character from that game.

Prompt: Everyone else is positive that the dusty, ancient tome you found on your last expedition is a long-lost spellbook, with the grimoire containing magics long thought lost to this world. You, however, are pretty sure it's just a cookbook.

I also used this prompt as the basis for my Storytelling Collective Comics Challenge this year, so I'll share the comic at the end of this.

The journey had been long and, right now, Skylar wanted nothing more than a nice bath and to collapse into a warm bed for the night. But, of course, it couldn't been that straightforward. They still needed to eat something first, and there was the matter of the book to settle.

Maggie was thumbing through the pages of the thick tome (grabbed hastily as they had run from the haunted ruins before the geists could catch up with them), her eyes afire with the furious curiosity Skylar had seen soo many times now and knew the two of them often shared, even if they could sometimes butt heads over it.

"It has to be some sort of spellbook," Maggie stated, voice full of confidence. Skylar tried to focus on the plate of food in front of her. Regardless of her thoughts, she didn't have the energy for a debate tonight. "Ugh, it's so old that I can't translate it though!"

Maggie pushed the book back into the center of the table for everyone to look at, her face now worked into a scowl.

Esther took a quick look, shrugged, and sat back again. "Well, it's not anything I can read either."

Safrax took a much closer look, squinting at the faded text. "Me either, but it sure looks like a spellbook."

"Agreed," said Edward. "The text is older than I've seen before, but there are other books like this in the archives around here, at least the ones the church hasn't gotten to yet."

Edward pushed the book towards Skylar next. She could feel all their eyes trained on her.

"Skylar," said Maggie, smirking antagonistically. "You're being awfully quiet. Don't want to tell me I'm wrong for once?"

Skylar rolled her eyes. This was bait and she didn't want to take it.

"Didn't you say you studied old languages?" Edward asked, too earnestly for her to dismiss it. "Can you read it?"

Skylar sighed, pulling the book towards her. She knew her friends wouldn't stop asking her to at least look, and she had to admit to being curious herself.

"Well, I hate to disappoint," she said, after scanning a few pages. "But I don't think there's much magic in here."

Skylar looked up, grinning at Maggie specifically from across the table. "Unless you consider ancient bread recipes to be magical."

This story was originally posted to my ko-fi page. Follow/support me there for behind-the-scenes and early access to my work.

And if you liked this story, please consider liking/commenting/subscribing!