Backstory
three years before the incident
On a warm day in late June, a gathering of family and close friends in the Van sterling estate in Japan, there stood a young child with a sword in his hand and a plastic helmet, he declared
Leroy: I, Leroy Van Sterling challenge you to a duel, mighty King!
Kaneki: I, Arthur Von Stallia, king of Gloria humbly accept your duel foolish warrior
Meanwhile in the background Hiroki Korukawa, and his close friend and coach, a retired football player Satsuki Natsumi, stood there watching their kids reenact a popular latin movie they just saw a couple of hours ago
Hiroki: I cannot believe your son is fluent in English at 8 years old already, that is impressive
Satsumi: he has been obsessed with Latin and European movies medieval for a while now, it looks like he influenced little Leroy as well
They both let out a chuckle. But soon stopped when things got heated in the pool
Leroy splashed water in Kaneki's face and proceeded to attack his weak spot, but Kaneki was ready for that. He grabbed Leroy's plastic sword and twisted it away from him
Kaneki: Nemo me impune lacessit
(translation: No one attacks me with impunity!)
Leroy pushed Kaneki away and said
Leroy: Nulla impunita latronus!
(translation: there is no impunity among thieves!)
Kaneki: noooo Leroy you said it wrong! Its supposed to be latrones!
Leroy got angry and retorted
Leroy: AND YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO GRAB THE SWORD! DO YOU THINK YOU COULD DO THAT IF IT WAS A REAL SWORD?! You ruined the immersion first
Sticking out his tongue because he checkmated his play mate with logic, he then got wacked in the head by his kind and dear mother
Evelyn: Leroy my dear boy, what did I say about doing dangerous stunts with a sword? Go dry yourself right now dinner is going to be ready soon
Leroy got out of the pool, looked behind him one more time and let out an annoyed grunt "hmph"
Looking at the scene bamboozled, both Hiroki and Satsuki were surprised that there sons, Leroy and Kaneki were able to converse normally using Latin
Satsuki: kids are getting scary these days
Hiroki: yeah…..
He said with annoyed and hateful tone
8 years later
Leroy went out of campus feeling suffocated because of the boring lecture, he went on his only escape where people didn't bother him, the library. Doing his usual routine of ordering a glazed donut and a drip black coffee to go, and going to the sanctuary and staying there until his new friend Henry arrives. They usually go jogging, to the gym, or staying in a gaming café until the morning arrives and they both curse their addiction before eventually coming with terms that they will have to attend the university lectures.
This time something was different, when he went to pick his usual book about surviving in the wilderness, he was surprised to see an old looking book that was glowing slightly. Opening the book, he was met with heaps of letters and sentences he had never seen. He was uninterested at first, what is the point of a book you do not understand?. Henrys voice scared the hell out of him, and in turn, henry got scared as well.
The old librarian came to scold us about the shriek of the damned that we let out a moment ago and before he went back to his desk, he pointed out "why are you holding the air like that boy? You look silly".
I didn't understand what he said and retorted
Leroy: im holding a book obviously? do you by chance know the origins of it and what is the language it is conveying?
Henry let out a sigh at the overly polite words that came out of his friend's mouth, both him and the librarian looked at Leroy like he was intellectually challenged
Librarian: is your friend okay? Did he hit his head by chance?
Henry: sometimes he gets like that don't worry about him Mr. Robinson sorry for bothering you
I was caught off guard by the interaction, can they not see the book? What is going on exactly? Henry nudged me with his elbow and told me to "hurry up you wasted enough time already" I wasn't sure on what to do, do I keep the book since they can't see it? Should I return the book so its rightful owner come pick it up?
I did not want more troubles than I already had and went upstairs to return the book. We decided to cut our session in half because we were already tired from the day before.
Going to bed at a rare 10 pm sure feels good, but that damn book, I keep on thinking about it, what if what happened today was not logical? Maybe I was seeing things because of my lack of sleep but, if that book was there tomorrow, then something supernatural definitely is happening.
The very next day after another suffocating, tortures, time wasting lecture. I walked faster than usual and went straight into the library, the coffee vendor on the way was sad that i did not buy anything from him today but that doesn't matter right now, in a world full of logic and reason something supernatural was happening. I went to the same section as last time and to my disappointment, the book was not there.
"well, whatever the book was not that interesting anywa….." mid sentence I tripped on a book that was laying on the ground and I planted face on the carpet. After 3 minutes of waiting for the agonizing pain to go away, I looked for the reason for my fall and lo and behold, that damned book was there.
I could not hide my excitement at all, as I opened the book and tried to figure out the language. After hours of studying the book, I was sure that the language used there was not fictional.
Henry came later and saw me sitting on the ground staring at nothing and smiling like a maniac and he said, "you know what man…. Nevermind I have to go" he left while holding his eyes like I was a lost cause but to hell with him
I noticed a pattern in the letter that made me more confident that the bizarre language used was a real one and not made up gibberish. I had the third module finals at the time so it was going to take ages for me to understand the content of the book. Then, an individual who was obsessed with languages and history popped up in my mind….. Kaneki.
Unfortunately, I wasn't on best terms with him, after the incident, he tried his best to stay by my side but at the end I ended up insulting his linguistic talents and called it useless, we never talked after that interaction.
I decided to call him and to my surprise he answered almost immediately
Kaneki: Leroy?
I wasn't sure on how to respond, it was really awkward, my feelings were all over the place, I was happy to hear about him but at the same time a little sad
Leroy: im sorry…..
Kaneki: sorry about what, are you okay?
Leroy: sorry that I made fun of your talent
Kaneki was silent for a little bit and responded
Kaneki: I knew you never meant it, you were just not in the best state of mind so I didn't hold it against you, thank you anyway
I kept quiet a little bit, I felt like I had a lump in my throat. Before I could think of a sentence kaneki responded
Kaneki: was that all? Im actually kind of busy right now Leroy let us talk later
I forgot the reason I called him! I screamed "THE BOOK!" like an idiot. Kaneki was startled
Kaneki: BOOK?! WHAT BOOK? WHATS WRONG LEROY?!
I looked around and noticed everyone in the park was looking at me weirdly, and by comical chance, Henry was jogging near me when that happened, he looked at me and said, "He has really lost it" before jogging away
Leroy: Kaneki I need your help with something groundbreaking, we need to do this in real life and not over the phone, if you have the time I need you to travel here as fast as possible
I knew he had free time because he was unemployed and rich but I did not want to soil my heartfelt apology
Kaneki: something groundbreaking? I really do not understand you Leroy. What could it possibly be…
Leroy: see you next week
I hanged up the call, It wasn't really possible to explain the situation on the without looking like a nutjob so I had to compromise
Fast forward 9 days later, I finished up super early at my finals exams leaving the doctors astonished. The exams were time wasting, all I had to do is memorize some facts and theories, it was not challenging for me since nothing out of the course was added so everything was pretty predictable.
Before leaving the exams hall I looked at henry whose hair was a mess and was sweating profusely, he looked prisoner of war. We locked eyes and then I gave him a pitiful look, before leaving 150 minutes earlier than everyone.
I met with Kaneki at a coffee shop and it was as awkward as you would expect
After 10 minutes of silence Kaneki was the first to speak
Kaneki: soooo….. what is the reason you had me travel 13 hours for?
Leroy: Listen Kaneki, first things first, can we not speak Japanese please? It is making me uncomfortable for some reason
Kaneki: we can do that
Leroy: secondly, I found something out of this world
I leaned in closer to him and started whispering
Leroy: something supernatural, there is a book that only I can see, it had a bizarre language inside.
Kaneki's eyes shrinked and his forehead creased
Kaneki: just say you wanted to meet me bro I understand, we have not met in a really long time
Leroy: I am serious
Kaneki let out a long sigh before saying
Kaneki: lets assume that book is real, how do you know it not some random gibberish?
Leroy: you will understand after you see it when we go home
Kaneki was flustered a little bit, but even if the book was not real, he was glad to see his childhood best friend in a better state than last time
Later that evening
A doorbell rang echoes across an empty house, Leroy got up after writing as much paragraphs as he could before the arrival of his esteemed guest
The door opened and Kaneki was surprised at the amount of papers that were laying organized at a fairly large table. He thought to himself ' he really has lost it'
Both of them sat opposite of each other before they started reviewing the papers in front of them. Kaneki's eyes were darting around like a reptile, before Leroy could even speak Kaneki jumped from his seat and said "the sentences are coherent! If I assumed correctly, this is a history book about an ancient civilization!? Where did you say you found this book? "Leroy was dumbfounded and utterly distraught the weeks he spent analyzing the book were bested by someone who only seen one paragraph of the thick book for 10 minutes
Leroy: are you really human?
Kaneki: PLEAES LEROY TELL ME THIS IS NOT A PRANK? THIS IS EARTHSHATTERING
Leroy was annoyed at his friends high pitched squeaking, he got up from his seat to go grab the book that was in the living room and came back
Leroy: can you see it?
Kaneki: I see nothing at all! What the hell is going on?
Kaneki knew deep inside that no human can create a book like unless they spent 80 years of their lives working on it, and even then there will be errors, this is definitely a book that is not from this world. Kaneki was anxious that this was some well planned prank but, he got wacked in the head with an invisible book
After sitting down and grabbing more papers, Kaneki started conversing
Kaneki: did you noticed something Leroy?
He said with a smug look on his face, Leroy replied annoyingly
Leroy: the language resembles Latin, if I had to theorize it was like if Latin was evolved from Hellenic indo European branch, they resemble both languages at the same, but at the same time not really
Kaneki: impressive deduction but there are holes in your theories
Leroy: whatever nerd, would you like tea or coffee?
We spent the whole night theorizing and understanding the contents of the book and before we knew it morning came, Kaneki and I both yawned at the same time we were very tired. Kaneki suddenly jolted awake and said "LEROY DON'T YOU HAVE A FINAL EXAM RIGHT NOW?!" sleep left my body like a fart exists a backdoor. I sprinted out of the house bare footed unto the exam hall that was 25 minute walk away from where I lived.
Upon nearing the hall, Henry exited the exam looking like a wet Guinea pig, we locked eyes, he gave me a pitiful look and said "exam ends in 30 minutes good luck" while patting me on the back
Henry waited outside for me so he can gloat but, after just 20 minutes I came out of the exam hall, walked to henry and told him "10 minutes left, and by the way I saw your paper, the backside of the last was empty, was that on propose?"
Henry's heart sank as he sprinted into the exams hall to beg the doctors to let him solve the backside of the last page but they laughed at him and said, "There is no backside Henry"
Henry did not talk to me for two weeks after that incident
A year later…..
After a year of studying the book, we finally managed to crack the code. We started conversing in this new language, and learnt how to read and write it.
The tales of the book were nothing less than shocking, it made the hard work we went through worth it
(mainly Kaneki, most of the time I threw paper at his head while he was working)
An absolute powerhouse of a civilization called Herathia were blessed by the knowledge of advanced technology and a mysterious power called mageia that made the impossible possible. The knowledge caused a civil conflict between the denizens and imperial family.
Some of the imperial families wanted to put resources on learning mageia, while the other side wanted to invest in technologies that helped with illnesses and growing crops, and stopping famine. Eventually the people who pursued knowledge of mageia grew too powerful for their own good and decided to banish the weaklings who contributed nothing to society to an unknown continent. They simply wasted too much resources and money for nothing in return
Using powerful displacement magic, the mageia practitioners banished the other party to the other side of the world, they did not care if they lived or died, and they banished anyone who sided with them even their own.
Back at the present, we were too shocked by the revelations, and the coincidence that Herathia existed in a realm outside of ours too.
I told Kaneki not to tell anyone about what we just learned but after a year of living together, greed and pride blinded, him and he revealed the language to his professors and after reviewing the data, he was awarded with the noble prize.
Two months after that he disappeared off the face of the earth