Arthur and the Invisibles 5: Legend of the Forest

Chapter 5: Distant Memories

The door to the study creaked slowly open as Arthur peered inside, a warm, comforting feeling spreading throughout his body. He quickly stepped inside, but left the door ajar as to not attract attention. Although this seemed rather pointless, as it wasn't like he wasn't supposed to be in here. In truth, Arthur just wanted to be alone in here. Because for many a month, this had been his own little world. 

His grandmother had been right, he had spent more time in here over the past few years than anywhere else in the house, even his own room. Countless hours spent within these walls, marvelling at the artefacts left behind by his grandfather. And everything was exactly as he remembered: the musty, yet comforting smell that ignited curiosity within any individual who entered, countless objects that seemed to hold no purpose, but could hold untold secrets to the observative, and a layer of dust just fine enough to give every corner of the room a glistening ancientness to it.

Arthur moved further into the study, weaving and bending his body around all matter of ancient obstacles that lay within the room. He arrived at the small desk, which was littered with pens and pencils and all matter of assorted paper. Arthur smiled amusingly, deducing that it was possible that not even his grandfather knew what all the things in his own study were. He moved his head upwards, to observe the multitude of books that lay in the bookshelf above him. He gently raised his hand to their elevation, moving his finger along the rough, but somehow smooth, leather covers of his grandfather's records. He closed his eyes. He could almost feel the raw history encased within these pages, the fantastic adventures his grandfather had experienced during his youth. Arthur opened his eyes again and smiled, reaching up to grasp one of the books while marvelling at yet another similarity between himself and Archibald.

"Woah!" Dylan's voice sounded, at such an unexpected volume that Arthur exclaimed in fright, the book slipping from his fingers and landing facedown on the desk.

"Jesus, Dylan! You gave me a heart attack!" Arthur complained with a humorous tone. Dylan smiled guiltily as he entered the study and made his way towards his friend.

"He he...sorry about that." He stated before the guilt faded to amazed curiosity again. "What is all this stuff?" 

"It's my grandpa's things. He was a great explorer in africa back in his day." Arthur explained, pride glowing from both his face and his voice. Dylan shook his head in amazement.

"You and your family really are one of a kind, Arthur." Dylan stated kindly. Arthur grinned. He has no idea. He thought as he reached for the fallen book. He was about to place it back, but his eyes fell on something behind where the book had originally been placed. It was another book, but thicker and covered with a greater amount of dust, looking like it hadn't been touched in months, maybe years. But what made Arthur hesitate was not the book's unexpected appearance, but that it had opened a door in his memory that hadn't been opened for a long time, and despite the fact that its cover shared the same leather cover as all the others, he was certain he recognised the book. Placing the first book back onto the desk, he reached his arm into the darkness. The cover was so dusty his fingers slipped on the book the first few times, but he finally managed to get a good grip and pull it from its shadowy hiding spot.

"What you got there?" Dylan asked as Arthur lowered himself down to the floor, placing the book in front of him. He gently brushed the cover, which didn't actually reveal anything, so, with Dylan having sat down next to him, he grasped the book by its side, and opened it.

The page they landed on bore many incredible drawings and pictures, but the greatest of which was a magnificent painting depicting a vivid golden sunset on a vast African plain. 

'Every night this magnificent sunset was all ours. Its precisely on this landscape that your mother came into the world. While I was having a baby, you grandfather was painting this.'  At this point, the memories were so strong that they were flooding off the pages and circling the room. Arthur's eyes widened. "This one of your grandpa's journals?" Dylan asked. Arthur turned to his friend with a grand smile.