I placed my paw on the prehistoric book. It looked like it was made from leather, but I was scared to think what kind. Grabbing it with my Aura on instinct, made the book glow. As it did, I could feel the book becoming attached to me, to my soul, my Aura. I screamed at this painful process as Robin just stared at me in horror. “AAAHHHH!!” I kept screaming until I ran out of breath. I was lightheaded and I felt like I had something grasping onto my Aura. I felt around, and the overwhelming sense of death was gone. All that was left was Me, Robin, and this book.

I almost fell to the floor after losing my strength. Robin rushed over to me. “Calvin!” was all she could say. Her emotions were rampant. But they were only singular, grief. She started to sweat from her eyes as she looked at me. I smiled as I touched her cheek. It felt so warm now. I was tired from all of this, and just wanted to sleep, but I had one last thing to do. I shakily stood up with Robin standing close to help. “We have to go back to our rooms. Otherwise they might know what we did.” Robin was shocked, she had completely forgotten about how they were doing this under the kingdom's nose.

I tried walking, but it was too difficult, so Robin picked me up in her arms. I was 20 so normally I would find it embarrassing, but right now, I was too tired to care. We moved back silently to the staircase. I felt for anyone nearby the best I could, but got nothing. “Ok, we can go.” I said tiredly, and weakly. We made it around the courtyard to our windows. Robin looked at me with concern in her eyes before starting to walk to the front gate. “Stop… I can do it.” I spoke as I tried moving myself from her arms. Robin felt conflicted to say the least, but let me down. I then picked her up in a bridal carry, and began walking up the side of the building. We made it to Robin’s room, and as soon as I made it I passed out.

I woke up like I had a bad hangover. My head was killing me almost as much as when I first got here. I groaned as I got up. I judged it was mid-day according to the blinding light assaulting my eyes from the window. “Ugh…” I covered my eyes from the flash of burning light. I looked around the room to see I was still with Robin, who was hugging me in her sleep. I would have blushed, but I could feel her emotions of fear. ‘She must’ve been shaken up. I still am…’ I had flashbacks to what happened yesterday play through my mind. The stench of death in the air. The chill in my breath. It was all so close. I literally brushed with death. I felt chills just remembering it, and shook my thoughts away, to hopefully put those memories in a place to forget.

I sighed and just crawled back into Robin’s arms. I didn’t want to admit it, but I felt like I needed to be hugged right now. I wrapped my paws around Robin as best I could, but with how small I was, they only went just past her arms barely reaching her back. She squeezed me tighter in her asleep state. I could still feel fear in her mind, but as I was rubbing her shoulders I felt another emotion slowly alighting. I don’t know exactly what it was, but it gave the feeling of nostalgia again. I smiled and closed my eyes as I enjoyed feeling Robin’s emotions calming.

We both stayed in that position. I was just letting all of my own past experiences be washed away in her sleeping embrace. I almost wanted this to last forever. ‘It’s been so long since I’ve actually been this close to someone.’ I enjoyed being together like this. I knew Robin would never feel anything more than comradery, friendship, or perhaps even admiration. However just for now, I was able to be this close to her.

It was then that the door suddenly opened. I jumped from the sudden noise. I had already gone long enough feeling others through walls, that when someone snuck up on me, it was worse. Especially after what happened last night. Apparently the speed in which I woke up, woke Robin up as well. We both sat up next to each other in a daze. I looked at the door to see what was the cause of the noise. We saw both Vivi and Nami staring at us wide eyed. I could feel the shock and surprise they both had. However Vivi was also feeling a multitude of other emotions, I was too tired, and dazed to decipher.

At this point I could feel Robin suddenly hugging me again. She didn’t seem to notice that Nami or Vivi were staring at the scene. I could feel relief and joyfulness radiating off of her, as she held me. I was having a hard time trying not to smile from how she was truly worried for me. She let me go and stared at my face. I met her gaze and felt her relief. “Are we interrupting anything?” Vivi asked with an overly sweet tone.

Somehow even with the past experiences, I was still frightened from Vivi’s attitude, and burning rage. All concealed with her prim and proper smile. I shrunk down a little as Robin was freaking out internally. It was hidden well, but I could feel her emotions going haywire. She stood up and away from me while thinking of what to say. I tried to get up, but was still woozy. I fell back down on the bed, as I felt something drag me back down. I felt dizzy as I tried standing back up again. 

The girls were starting to understand there was something off about me. “Calvin… Are you ok?” Vivi was the first to notice and address I might have a problem. Nami and Robin noticed next. Nami was confused, most likely thinking I still had some alcohol in my system, while Robin was feeling anxiety again. Overwhelming anxiety. I then could feel something else. Something beckoning me. I could feel how close we were connected. Like it was also part of me. Its Aura was a lot like mine, but different in a way I couldn’t describe. 

I crawled to the ground because standing would make me dizzy. I crawled under the bed where I could feel it calling me. I grabbed the book that I got inside the tombs and brought it out. Nami and Vivi recoiled at the sight of the book. Robin was prepared, but still felt ill just looking at it. I got a better look at the book at this point. The leather was old and worn. It felt dry, and almost mummified. The binding of the book was made of some kind of twine that I hoped not, but guessed they were made from dried intestines and sap as glue. All of the paper was Papyrus that seemed to be in better condition and had some kind of layer to stop from molding. The rest of the book had it too, but it seemed that it didn’t stop it from aging in another way. The strangest part was, I could feel it taking my Aura for itself, and the more it took, the more the book looked to be protected.

I stared at the front cover of this ancient text. It was all in poneglyphs or hieroglyphs. I couldn’t tell each one apart. “Robin… You know what this says don’t you?” I could feel Robin’s emotions skyrocket as I asked my question. She felt frightened of just thinking about what it said. Vivi and Nami then stared at Robin. They were shocked stiff at all that was happening in such a short amount of time. Robin pursed her lips as I just stared at the book, fearful of what it might say. “Books of Thoth Vol.1 Book of The Dead.”