AFTERLIFE (DreamNotFound)

The beginning?

"Are you joking, aren't you?" Sapnap looked between George and the book incredulous.

"I'm not!"

"If that's true, then why it hasn't been used yet?" The black haired asked, folding his arms.

"Because the spell it's hidden!"

George was shaking, his mentor spoke a lot about this book, an ancient book written with a long dead language, but he never mentioned that they had it in the library. George analized it's cover, and then notices that the back of it was in a more common language, simply saying "Basics of nature", that could explain something, that was the most common book that a beginner alchemist could read, and it's a book with a lot of copies, so no one will paid attention to it, but then when you look at the front, it's in that foreign language that even to George was hard to decode. That was the most stupid and genius way to hide such an important book.

"It's hidden, so what are you expecting to do with it?" Sapnap replied, George was stuttering.

"W-well, I will f-find it! Imagine it, if I find it, I can bring people back to life! I can bring Dream back!"

George noticed that Sapnap's eyes sparkled a little hope, but he shook his head inmediately.

"George, I know that Dream was very important to all of us, and I miss my best friend like crazy. But Dream is gone, how can you trust an old book to bring him back?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but what if we got a chance?"

Sapnap sighed, he know that George can be a stubborn little gremlin, so why and try to stop him? it was just a book, after a few weeks of try to get the spell, he will give up and let it go.

"Fine, wathever, you're the alchemist here, see what you can do." Sapnap shrugged and George smiled.

"I promise that a I will bring him back, and the kingdom will be safe again."

"Woah you really want to disturb his eternal slumber just to get him back to war don't you?"

"No! But you know that his help will be well received."

"Fine."

And with that, George proceeded to find the spell. And it was the hardest task that he ever faced. And it wasn't just because it was all written in a dead language that he could barely speak, it was mostly because the letters were also written backwards! Like if they writted the whole thing facing a mirror, a broken mirror. He just managed to translate the first chapter in two weeks, sometimes Sapnap would pass by an get dissapointed at seeing George still struggling to get every single paragraph well translated.

"When will you give up?" Sapnap asked, yawning and stretching against the couch.

"When I die." 

"Well, no offence, but I hope it happen soon."

"Thanks for having faith in your second best friend, Snapmap." George makes sure to pronounce the last part with extra sassiness.

"Don't call me that!" Sapnap hissed, but that only made George chuckle. "I have faith in you, but I don't have faith in that book, I think you just got scammed with those legends, dude."

"Yeah, I know it's not a great trust source, but it's better than nothing."

"If you say so." Sapnap stretched again. Then he got up and looked the page of the book that George was working on. "And what is the book about anyway? pretending that there's not a secret magic thing in it, what does it says?"

"It's like a bible about the life in the land, explaining how it emerged, how it grew and how it dies, it's just like folclore and philosophy, there's not real proof to explain that it's the very real origin of life."

"That sounds so interesting, but then my teachers will makes it sooooo booooring." He groaned.

"Yeah, things can get so boring when you are forced to learn them." George agreed.

"What's that?" Sapnap signaled with a finger at the corner of the page, George followed it's direction.

"Oh, just those numbers that tells you which page are you on."

"Really? I thought it was just a doodle made for a kid, that doesn't look like a number at all."

"Yeah, the culture that used to speak this language didn't like to make it easy for the ones learning to read."

George looked at the number, and Sapnap was right, it just looked like a little kid's doodle, but it actually was a '78'. However, George noticed something weird, the letters looked too big to only say a number... like it was also written something else.

"Wait a second..." George frowned, then looked up at Sapnap. "Pass me that black book over there." George gestured to a thin book laying in a table. The prince obeyed.

George opened his notebook and looked for a certain page immediately. He was right, there was something else.

"What's wrong?" Sapnap was confused by George's sudden reaction.

"Sapnap! Look!" George pointed a finger at the number again. 

"What I'm suppose to look?"

"This doodle it's too big to be only a number, but, "George flipped the page." this one doesn't, it simply says '77'."

"And?"

"It's only in this page! But also in this, and this, and this one. " George flipped some pages, showing that only ones had the extra letter, but not all of them.

"You think that it could mean something?" Sapnap was now a little impressed.

"It may be a secret message!" George chirped, feeling joyful, after two weeks he finally got a clue.

It was such a simple way to hide a code into a book, SO SIMPLE to an alchemist's eyes that no one would pay attention to such a silly way, once again, it was so stupid that it was genius, and George couldn't have noticed it without Sapnap's curiosity.

"Oh my god Sapnap, why are you still in classes? You're an absolute genius!"

"Am I?" Sapnap coughed, suddenly putting his fists on his hips, making an heroic pose. "I mean, of course I am!" George laughed, then Sapnap looked back at him. "And why?"

"You noticed a detail that I would've never bothered to look at!"

"Woah, I'm so thankful to not knowing how to count."

"Thanks for being a curious child!"

"Okay, you're welcome, but now, can you find the message?"

"Not yet! But I'm so close now... Oh? And why so interested now? I thought you didn't believed in the book?" George teased.

"Hey! It was my discover, I have the rights to know what does it says."

George laughed again, and Sapnap too. He was so excited now, if there's a real resurrection spell hidden in the book's pages, George was so close to find it, and so close to revive Dream.

But he better hurry, Sapnap didn't mentioned it, but the reason why he was now hoping it to be real, it was because a messenger got news of the South Kingdom, it was getting ready for another attack, and it was kind of rude to admit, but they really needed to drag Dream back to life, they needed him more than ever.