The Arrayist

Chapter 2: The World within the Shell

A year passed, it was a few months after Teo's birthday

Since the day he had met Cien the turtle, Teo was running out of the house daily to go to the old well.

He would often leave the house as soon as he ate breakfast, then come back right before dinner.

Talwin and Fei was happy, finally they got some alone time while Teo was out.

For the past year Teo had been reading the turtle's book, he would've probably finished half the book, but as soon as he progressed it became more complicated.

The turtle Cien would sometimes watch Teo, but most of the time he would sleep.

Teo didn't want to continue on until he understood the section completely. Unlike previous books, he often asked his parents or uncle Ishwin if he didn't understand it.

He sometimes asked Cien questions about the book but Cien refused to help and said: "If you can understand the first quarter of the book by yourself, then I'll help answer your questions after that" and went back in its shell

Thus his progress was slowed. He would often find words he didn't understand in the book. He would remember the words or wrote it down and then asked someone within the village for the meaning.

Running around town, he became more known as the kid who asked difficult questions. His parents though literate, could not answer all his questions, so they directed him to ask a person who might know, namely Wirn.

Wirn was the village's wisest person, although there was no library in town, he had the biggest collection of books in the whole village. He even wrote some books on his own. He was born in the village, but as a young lad, after his experience within the academy he traveled to 3 different empires then eventually came back when he was too old to travel.

....

Back in the well

"Mr Cien, I don't think I can keep on coming back here soon" Teo said with a disappointed tone.

"Giving up already?" Cien chuckled

Teo shook his head "No, I have to go take the divination rite soon, So I won't be coming back for 10 years"

"Divination rite? I see" the turtle looked at Teo and was thinking, then suddenly said "Hmm.. Okay, I'll let you read it a bit more"

Teo tilted his head in confusion. He knew that the old turtle had a very stingy personality, but he loved to gamble and would always keep his word. Cien the turtle would not give something out for free unless he wanted something in return.

"I'll let you bring the book with you, but you have to bring me along" the turtle said

"Umm.. I'm not allowed to bring a pet with me" Teo said

"A PET?!" the turtle was shocked. He never imagined that this young boy would call him a pet. In his mind, the child was nothing more than someone to pass his time.

"Listen here boy, I am no one's pet. If anything you are my pet, got it?" Cien said proudly
Teo nodded and was reluctant to upset Cien any more

Cien soon recovered his shock then continued "Don't worry they won't know that I'm with you. You just have to carry me around for a while, I'm being quite generous here." the turtle replied

"I don't think I can carrying you in secret, you are pretty heavy" Teo said

"Don't worry about my weight, I'll hide within your body. And for your information its only my shell that is heavy, I by myself is pretty light"

Teo thought inwardly 'but isn't your shell part of you?', he was too afraid to speak his mind in case he would lose all rights to read the book

"Come, show me your hand" the turtle commanded

Teo put his hand in front of Cien and suddenly -SNAP-

"OUCH!" Teo's finger was bleeding. The turtle bit his finger and a small cut appeared on it
Teo was shocked, he never thought that this turtle was so violent.

Cien was licking the blood on its cheeks then looked at Teo

"Sorry kid, I needed some of your blood. This might hurt a little" said the turtle then started glowing a green myserious glow. The turtle then turned into light that shot into Teo's chest.

The light penetrated through his body and intense pain as if a knife was carving through his chest.
From the pain Teo fainted, after a while the pain vanished.

....

A few hours later Teo woke up.

The turtle was no where in sight, Teo looked around and looked for the book it was also gone. He tried to remember
what happened before he fainted.

He had experience pain from exercises in the dojo but it was nothing compared to the pain he felt during that strange phenomenon

Teo ran out of the well and looked around.

"Who are you looking for?" A voice rang inside his head. It was Cien's voice.

"Mr Cien? Where are you?" Teo asked

"I'm inside you" Cien replied

"Inside me?" Teo thought that he might've eaten the turtle, he couldn't remember what happened after he fainted

"Yes, look at your chest"

Teo peaked inside his clothes and looked. There was a mark on his chest. It was a tattoo.

The figure was a turtle shell with a turtle's head protruding out.

"This.." Teo was surprised

"This is what I meant when I said to bring me along" the turtle continued "Since you still can't go in by yourself, you just need to wake me up and tell me when you want to read the book"

"Can I read it now?" Teo asked

Then suddenly his consciousness drifted into a hazing cloud. Soon he found himself in a plain, near some unusual trees that was pointed as if it was like a sword. Nearby there was a huge pagoda, in front of it was a large pond and some chairs. He saw a figure of an old man.

"Welcome to my home" the old man said

Teo immediately recognized the voice. "Mr Cien?"

"Ha ha, how do you like my place? pretty nice right?" Cien replied

It was more than nice, it was incredible. In the nearby trees was a hammock. It was a tranquil place. The weather was perfect, wind lightly blew and the sky was blue.

"This is inside my shell, as you can see over there, is the book, you can sit on the chair and read it" Cien pointed near the chairs then continued "I'll be sleeping over here. If you want to go back out, you just jump into the pond"

Cien headed for the Hammock where he slept

"This is inside his shell?" Teo was amazed, he walked towards the pond and touched the water. It all felt real. He then walked towards the entrance of the pagoda.

He tried to push the door open but couldn't.

"You aren't strong enough to enter my pagoda, ha ha, besides you need my permission to enter" Cien said smiling with his eyes closed.

Teo turned to the book and continued reading.

.....

Time passed

It was already midnight. Teo was still inside the world within the shell.

Inside the shell it was still day, the sun didn't seem to move at all and Teo lost track of time.

"Kid, are you sure you can keep on staying here?" Cien finally got up and looked at Teo

"Its already dark outside you should head home" Cien's voice reverberated and suddenly he was back outside.

He was laying down on the ground and the moon was high up.

Teo quickly ran back towards his house.

Talwin, Fei, Ishwin and other adults was looking for Teo because he was out so late.

When they found him, Talwin and Fei scolded Teo.

"Ha ha, don't be too hard on him" Ishwin said "He might be just nervous for tomorrow"

Tomorrow was the day he had to take his divination rite.

Surprisingly, that night, he couldn't sleep a wink. His body wasn't tired at all and he just stayed awake and went within the shell until morning.