Chanyeol.

I’m a curious guy, but people always tell me not to be so curious. I never understood why they would want to me to just sit still and do the same boring routine instead of going out and having fun.

---

It all started with that book. That one little old book that caught my interest. It was just sitting there, out of the way, and my eye managed to catch it.

I walked over and picked up the book from the shelf. It was very old and it had leather cover. I opened it and read what was inside without hesitation. On the first page there was a diagram. There was a sketch of a triangle inside a circle, but the sketch wasn’t rough, more of a mathematically precise diagram. Inside the triangle there was a key hole, and that was what intrigued me the most. I closed the book and walked over to the librarian’s desk, I wanted to know what this book was.

“Excuse me, do you know what this book is?”

“Hmm… No sir, I haven’t see this book before. Where did you find it?”

“Just over there on the bottom shelf.”

“I don’t see any barcode on this book, I don’t think this is one of our books.”

“Oh, I see. Could I take it and read it for a while though?”

“I guess, I’ll make a log for it, but you’ll have to return it per normal policy.”

“Yes, thank you ma’am.”

She checked out the book for me, and I went on my way to go home and read it. I stayed up very late reading all kinds of mysterious things in the book. There were so many things left only half explained in the book, and it was only a half narrative of sorts. There were some pages with just writing, but it was more filled with diagrams and fancy labels.

I decided to cross reference what I saw in the book and looked them up on the internet at home. I spent hours upon hours filing through page after page of dead ends. Every tiny little thing I had seen in the book I had looked up, but to no avail. I couldn’t find anything that would explain this book. I eventually decided it was time to turn in for the night and went to bed.

I tossed and turned thinking about that book, what did it mean? Those diagrams couldn’t have been fake, they were too detailed to have just been made up. I eventually fell asleep, but only for a little while. I woke up fairly early to a cool breeze on my cheeks. I sat up immediately, and saw that my window was wide open. Which was odd, because I hadn’t opened it all month during this cooler weather.

I got up to close it, and looked around to see if anything had blown away, and luckily nothing had. I decided to start looking through the book again now that I was up, but to my surprise there was something new next to it. Next to the book was a folded piece of paper with a note on it.

‘I saw that you had taken my book.

Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble, I’m actually glad you picked it up before someone else did. It was intended to help you find something. I was wondering why you hadn’t started looking for the secret, but I was the one who forgot the map.

Travel there and you’ll find two secrets waiting for you. One is a secret about the book, and the other is a secret about you.

-Kai’

At the end there was a picture of a triangle with a fancy pattern inside of it, maybe that was a crest of some sort that he identified by. I put the note down and opened the map. There were even more cryptic diagrams and words scribbled everywhere. I looked at where this ‘secret’ was supposed to be, and it was only a few hours’ drive out from the city I lived in. I immediately packed a backpack of necessities to take along with me and organised myself before getting in my car and driving down to this place. When I got out I saw the land in front of me spreading far out, it was really beautiful.

But when I took a close look, I saw what appeared to be an abandoned shed. I walked closer, and it was more and more intriguing. I walked in, the floor was covered with old leaves and sticks, and there was old, rotting furniture here and there. Maybe someone had lived here before? I sat down on a chair that didn’t look too rotted and decided to read more of the book and what was on the map. If I couldn’t find the secret, at least I could have fun remembering these patterns and diagrams from within the shed.

I felt a cool breeze blow through the shed’s rotting walls, and it felt relaxing. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sounds of the wind blowing the leaves across the floor. It was just such a beautiful moment.

I opened my eyes and saw a rock I hadn’t noticed before the wind. It was a grey rock with a pattern engraved onto it. I picked it up to analyse it further, and although it happened in the blink of an eye I swear I saw a blue flash go through the engraved pattern. I flicked through the pages in the book and found a pattern that looked exactly the same as the one engraved on the rock.

I felt a rush of excitement, was this the secret about the book?

I hurried around the rest of the room, carefully looking for more of these stones. They were hiding though, some in smart places like between rotting floor boards or in chests and on top of shelves. Eventually I found twelve of them, and they looked exactly like the twelve diagrams in the book. I wished I could’ve continued looking for the stones, as now that I had found them all that rush of excitement was over.

However I laid all the stones out on the ground in front of me and looked at them. I felt another strong breeze coming so I closed my eyes and decided to enjoy the sounds of the late afternoon dancing in the wind. It was the most fun and relaxation I had had in quiet some time. But I heard something in this wind, something strange.

I gathered the stones and put them in my backpack along with the book. I looked up to the sky, and saw something off in the distance. I was so excited I couldn’t help but hold a dorky grin on my face. I saw the figure in the sky get closer, it was a big beast with wings. It came very close, and although I should’ve run, something drew me to it.

It came very close, and I’ll admit when I saw the size I did start to feel my adrenaline running. It landed nicely in front of me, and when I had a good look at it, I couldn’t believe what I saw.

A tall, mighty phoenix.

I thought they only existed in folk tales.

In my aweing of how well behaved this beast was, I saw something appear out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see a man walking towards me with a smug smile on his face.

“You’ve found him I see.”

I jumped, startled at this new person next to me. He smiled and asked if I had found all the stones, and I nodded as I pulled them all out. He squatted down with me and arranged them into a particular pattern.

“This is the way these stones should be arranged. Everyone is opposite their partner while also being under their sun. This one is your symbol.”

He pointed to where mine was and I stared at it in awe, it was so beautiful, but I didn’t know why I had the symbol.

“Why do I have a symbol?”

“Well, do you remember what mine was?”

I nodded and pointed at his symbol, and he smiled at me.

“My power is teleportation. Opposite me is telekinesis, he’s my partner. Because we’re partners, once we both are aware of how to use our powers, we become stronger. Your power is flame, and opposite you is flight. Flame and flight are very special because you have extra power, your phoenix.”

“Is that my secret?”

He nodded, and gathered the stones to put back into my backpack.

“Go to your phoenix, show it your power.”

I walked over to my phoenix, and I brushed my hand against its side. It looked at me with trusting eyes, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier to pet such a beast. I stepped back and lifted my hand. I concentrated, and a little flame burnt bright in my hand. It was a beautiful flame, and my phoenix lowered its head to feel the warmth from it.

“Touch your phoenix with the flame. It won’t hurt him.”

I slowly reached out to touch my phoenix with the flame, and it closed its eyes while I did. When the flame came in contact with its feathery exterior, the ends of its feathers burst into an even brighter flame. It flew up into the air and seemed to do a celebratory dance in the air, showing off its new bright colours.

“Isn’t your phoenix beautiful?”

---

I’ll always be curious after this. If just a little curiosity got me this entirely new perspective on life, what would a whole bunch of curiosity get me?