Cassian rose from his bed feeling like a brand new man. His whole body felt light, full of energy. It was the first time in forever that he'd eaten till his stomach actually stopped crying.
He stretched and grinned. "Man, that was good."
He hadn't felt this satisfied in years. The warmth from the meal still lingered in his chest. He couldn't stop thinking about that girl either.
"I must properly thank her when we meet again," he muttered.
Then he paused, frowning.
"Wait… where the hell would I even find her?"
The academy was massive. He was just a cleaner buried somewhere in the forgotten corner of this place, while she was a student who probably had a dorm ten times bigger than his tent. He didn't even know her name.
If there was a one percent chance of them meeting again, that was being optimistic. She'd have to be crazy to come looking for him, and that was damn near impossible.
He sighed. "Figures. Beautiful girls always disappear after saving your life. Classic."
He squatted beside his mat and lifted it up, pulling the hay aside to make space. He slid the bottle of spirit wine underneath carefully like it was treasure. No one must ever find that.
He was about to leave his tent when his eyes fell on the book lying near the pile of junk.
"Oh yeah…" he murmured.
That thing. The old man's "greatest weapon in the universe."
He scratched his head. "Since the old man's gone, it won't hurt to take a look inside, right?"
With a shrug, he walked over to the corner and picked it up. The cover was rough, worn out, and smelled a bit like old dirt. He flipped it open casually, expecting some weird scribbles or ancient nonsense.
What he saw made him freeze.
His eyes widened. "What the…"
He turned to the next page, then the next, then another. His hands started moving faster as he flipped through it like a madman, his face changing with every page.
Nothing.
Still nothing.
Page after page, his confusion grew until it turned into full-blown horror.
"FUCK ME!"
The shout came out before he could stop it. He stared at the book in disbelief, his mouth hanging open.
"There's nothing inside!"
He flipped through again, just to be sure. Maybe the words were invisible or something. Maybe there was some trick.
Nope.
It was just blank paper. Brown, faded, useless paper. Not a single mark, not even a drop of ink.
Cassian just stood there staring at it for a long moment. Then his hand started twitching.
"This stinking old man messed with me!" he yelled. "The greatest weapon in the universe my ass!"
He threw the book at the ground and it bounced pathetically against the wall of the tent.
"I didn't even have any expectations, not even one!" he growled. "But holy fuck, this is worse than a scam!"
He picked it back up again, glaring at it like it personally insulted his ancestors. "You know what? You win. I believed for a second. Just one second. You got me."
He dropped it again and rubbed his face. "I swear, even in death that old man's trolling me."
Sitting cross-legged, he picked up a small stick from the ground and poked at the book. "Maybe it'll explode or glow or something. Come on, do something cool."
Nothing happened.
"Yeah, thought so."
He flopped backward onto his mat and stared at the tent roof, sighing hard.
"Can't believe I wasted helping him all these days for a a piece of paper."
Silence filled the tent again, only broken by the distant noises of students training outside.
Cassian turned his head to look at the book one more time.
"Greatest weapon, huh?" he muttered with a tired smirk. "Old man, if your ghost's watching, I hope you're laughing your ass off."
He closed his eyes.
"Because I'm not."