Familiar pages turned before his eyes, as though he had recaptured a feeling from long ago. Ruger held his breath and focused, brimming with anticipation. Only when he successfully turned the thick page did the corners of his mouth finally lift in a relieved smile.
A long-forgotten sensation returned, sending a wave of dizziness rushing to his head.
Ruger abruptly snapped the book shut with a crack, startling Mahama beside him awake. He looked at Ruger in surprise.
But Ruger had no desire to talk to Big Guy just then. He forced an apologetic smile onto his canine face, then lowered his head again and slowly opened the book.
That thick page seemed no longer to be a simple sheet of paper, but a stone slab, its hard surface bearing only a simple symbol. Since it was a two-page spread, it would be more accurate to call it two stone slabs that fitted together when laid flat. Ruger gradually noticed certain details. Only when both pages lay flat was the simple symbol complete, and the degree of dizziness varied with the angle at which he opened the book. He slowly opened the pages again, paying attention to how he felt.
The sight of the Black Book making several Kobolds' heads explode was still vivid in his memory.
Perhaps the proper procedure was to begin by opening those slab-like pages just a little. But Ruger wanted to approach and study it more fully from the start, to face it directly rather than lift a corner of its veil.
This world was far too changeable, with far too many geniuses and capable people. Even someone more than a thousand years old could be called a youngster.
As his thoughts wandered, Ruger finally endured the dizziness and managed to lay the Black Book