Forbidden Gates: The Book of Celestial Magic

1- A Letter for My Sister

Dear Catherine,

 How are you? I’m alright, not much harm done, but I’m doing fine. It’s been crazy here, so many things has happened since I last saw you. How’s Tom? I miss him too. I’m guessing you’re probably dying to know what happened here, and how it all came together. Well, don’t worry I’ll tell you every single detail about it.

I find it weird that after all of this, it seems like nothing changed, but I guess some things are better off the way they are, peaceful and beautiful.

Now where was I? Oh yeah, I was about to tell you what had happened. It all began after you left.

“Good morning class. How are you all today?” asked Mrs. Imminent. For a woman of her age, Mrs. Imminent sure was loud. Mrs. Imminent is my Astronomy teacher; she’s been working here in Qatar for several years now. I guess she likes the peace and quiet here; I’d take peace and quiet any day too compared to New York, and I did, thanks to Mum and Dad of course. If we didn’t have that move I would’ve never had this relaxing life here, it’s a nice change from the busy streets there. I guess I’m just the type of guy who likes the serenity, even though it’s boiling hot in here.

“Good morning Mr. Bayer, glad to see you early today. A nice change from your usual late excuses.” she tells me. I usually just smile back, because why not? It’s so annoying how I’m always late though, but that’s not my fault! Remember when we were kids and we’d usually stay up just to watch the stars?

Well the previous night was different. Somehow, the stars weren’t present and it was just a dark sky. Due to their absence, I got bored waiting so I went to sleep instead. The world’s not the same like it was back then.

I remember you telling me the different constellations, but what I was mostly excited about was my first constellation star, the Aquarius. It was the first time I recognized a constellation on my own, and was I overjoyed or what? Those were great times.

 I also remember you showing me the rest of the Zodiac constellations, like for example, you showed me Tavros, formally known as Taurus but you chose the ‘Greek’ way or pronouncing it. Then you went on about the different names of that very Zodiac, that in Sumero-Babylonian it’s called ‘The Steer of Heaven’ which in later context after looking at a dictionary it meant ‘The Castrated Bull of Heaven’. Probably easier if you just said that rather than the word ‘steer’ but I guess you can learn something new every now and then, and because it does sound odd if you say castrated bull.

I miss those times.

“We’re going to have a trip to the Museum of Islamic Arts this week. Have your parents sign these slips and don’t forget to bring them in tomorrow. Remember, no slip no trip.” said Mrs. Imminent. I grabbed the sheet of paper and stuffed it inside my bag; I’m not too worried on losing it.

The class then went on for several hours; I guess being in Sixth Form has its downs. In the board Mrs. Imminent was talking about the “Uranometria”, the very first atlas to cover the whole celestial sphere. Sounds difficult right? Yes, yes it is.

I didn’t really pay attention to the lesson; I could just look it up later online.

“Mr. Bayer, can you please tell me a type of constellation found within the atlas of Uranometria?” asked Mrs. Imminent. I wasn’t paying much attention and was just flipping through my textbook so I didn’t really notice or hear her, but thankfully Dawn was there to kick me by the shins just to wake me up.

You remember Dawn don’t you? Dawn Sanchez? My best friend since I came here to Qatar, which was like I don’t know, six years ago? Light-skinned, brown haired and rosy cheeks, you even called her an American when clearly she was Filipino. Well anyways, after kicking me ‘hard’ in the shins, I was able to wake up from my morning daze and stood up in unison to her attack.

As you know, I am an actor, so these skills come in handy sometimes. “Yes Mrs. Imminent?” I asked innocently. She looked at me suspiciously whilst I held a nervous yet calm grin in my face. I glance across the room for any help, and once again Dawn was to the rescue.

“Sam, Mrs. Imminent asked give her ‘a type of constellation found within the atlas of Uranometria’ and I think one of them would be Sagittarius, also known as the Archer.”

She answered a Zodiac name, of course! I read a while back about a Zodiac that caught my interest, one of significant difference, ‘One of the constellations found in the Uranometria would be Ophiuchus.’ I answered.

Everyone looked at me in confusion as the star wasn’t even mentioned by Mrs. Imminent. But then I notice that in the board we’re a series of stars she’s listed, but somehow Ophiuchus wasn’t present.

“Erm… that is correct Mr. Bayer. Please sit down.” Mrs. Imminent tells me.

Everyone is still looking at me in confusion. I guess they were just wondering how I was right about a type of star that even Mrs. Imminent wasn’t too sure of, but I know Ophiuchus exists, it was one of the stars listed by Johann Bayer, the creator of the atlas Uranometria. Yeah, I do study every now and then too you know.

The bell finally rings and it was time for the first break. English Literature was next, so that was a relief. Usually on breaks I spent my time doing some errands in the New Library at the School’s Main Site, but today I wanted to visit the Old Library at the Sixth Form Center because they say it’s got so many books from the past, and I just thought that maybe I could find some that will interest me.

When I went inside, the library was really weird. The books were great however, it’s just that they had a significant difference from the New Library; they were all so dusty, as if no one had been there in a long while.

I found many great books; A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, Don Quixote by Cervantes, and The Crimson Year by Will Creed. But what truly stood out the most was this book, I didn’t know why it was there but it seemed pretty new, almost like it was recently placed in there.

The book had a peculiar front cover, whilst most of them were just blank and covered using leather, this one was different. This particular book had a beautiful front cover: an illustration of the Sun and Moon intersected, the moon covering a part of the soon, and with the lively orange curving rays of the Sun were quiet blue shards that seemed to be frozen sunshine rays, and the whole thing almost resembled a compass.

 It was quite thick, but not as thick as the books I’ve read like Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart or Inkspell; it was fairly thick. The front cover had a title, and somehow I was able to understand it. “Celestial Heavens” it said, though the ‘Celestial’ bit was written in Latin; that being it said ‘Caelestis’, and it was curved on the top of the Sun and Moon illustration. Meanwhile, the ‘Heavens’ part was written in Greek which it wrote ‘Ouránia’, was placed curved on the bottom of Sun and Moon illustration. Below the ‘Heavens’ part was a name: Ioannis Bayeri Rhainani. An odd name too.

It was weird the way how the Librarian was just staring at me when I tried to borrow the books, almost like she’s in a daze of some kind. She just sat there, smiling with her pale cheeks and her pale skin. After scanning each book, she would just place it on the table like a robotic machine. When I finally handed her the Celestial Heavens, she took the book and flipped through it, then returned it back to me without a word.

“Erm, I would like to borrow this book please?” I ask again.

She turns her head to the left and stared at the window for a minute or two, then back to me. “This book is not the property of the Library. Would you like to have it?” she asked.

I look at the book. It’s a cool looking book, why would I not want it? “Yes, I would love to have it!” I reply. She oddly smiled at me, showing all of her teeth, and handed me the rest of the books I borrowed. For a young woman of her age, she sure seemed peculiar.

I didn’t exactly know what the contents of the book were, I just happen to have seen the front cover and it made an impression on me. The way it is; how it’s formed and how it comes together; it’s very majestic.

Since almost everyone will plan to be late for English Literature class, they probably went to the Main School Site just to be at least 10 minutes late while waiting for the bus to take them here in the Sixth Form Block, so as usual I stayed in the room right next to the English Lit room and read there.

The other books were interesting, but Celestial Heaven was even more interesting. Once I opened the book, the very first thing I see is the book plate. Somehow, even though the title is in two languages, the book plate was written in English. It says ‘This book now belongs to _____’, and naturally as someone who likes to put his name on things, I wrote my name on it.

‘Samuel Bayer’

Odd, why would it say ‘This book now belongs to’? Did the author know it was going to be passed on or something? I mean why use ‘now’? Maybe they just ‘This book belongs to’ would be the norm, but this has the word ‘now’ in it. I guess I was making a fuss over nothing, so I decided to just forget about it.

After the bookplate, the rest were…..unusual. On the page right after the bookplate, it says ‘To Samuel, may the stars guide you’. I didn’t really want to think of it much so I just thought to myself then that it was a coincidence, but little did I know that it was so much more than that.

Class began. As usual I’m first at class and Mr. Thornville’s mad because everyone is once again, late for his English Literature Class.  It’s really irritating sometimes when a teacher is complaining and you’re the only student at class. It’s like you’re being forced to interact, even though you don’t want to.

I just smiled constantly as he babbled on about how irresponsible my generation is and that there are only a few people like me these days so I should never change blah-blah-blah. There are times when you would accept a compliment wholeheartedly, but I wasn’t even sure that his was a compliment. It was hardly a compliment! Then again, what would I know about compliments right?

Look, I know what you’re going to say, ‘Everyone likes you Sammy’. But it’s not the truth alright? I know people hate me, I guess not everyone, but I know lots of people do. Try Spencer. I know he acts all nice to me all the time and treats me like one of his friends, but I feel like deep down inside he hates me. I don’t know why, but there’s just something about his glares behind my back that gives me that idea. Spence has been my friend for quite sometime now, and I do like him mind you, but I feel like he’s not the same as he was before. He’s not the same good old Spencer that I used to hang out and play tricks with; he’s changed a whole lot after we entered High School, or Key Stage 4, or whatever. But let’s forget about him and focus on why other people hate me.

I haven’t told you about it yet, but it was during Year 9. I guess I was becoming more aware of how people took advantage of my kindness, more like stupidity, and stood up for myself. I guess ever since then that smiling goody-goody boy was gone. Okay so maybe not everyone took advantage of me, but since then I’ve changed. I’ve become bossy, I always argue with my friends, I act like I’m so much better than everyone, and now look, I’m early at class just so-

Forget about it.

It’s been fifteen minutes and not a single word from my classmates. Where are they now? Mr. Thornville hasn’t stopped complaining. He’s still going on about the worthlessness of this generation, and that we ‘millennial’ should look out because if we don’t, our future could be dark blah-blah-blah.

Once he finally stopped, another 10 minutes had passed and no one came yet, so he decided to go to the main site and search for them, and instructed me to read a book while he was gone.

What happened next will totally blow your mind.

So since I was alone, naturally I was bored. So I grabbed the book I got for free from the Library earlier and began flipping through it. The contents were weird, and they were written in Latin too. So as I continued to flip through a book full of nothing but text, I came across an illustration. I couldn’t quite make what the illustration was, it looked weird and unrecognizable. Right next to it was a text written in Latin, but on the top it was somehow English. It said “Stand up in a space. Read the content out loud.”

I looked at the book, then outside to check if someone was there. No one. So I stood up within a space, and began to chant “Ahem- okay. Uh, let’s see. Per virtutes stellarum, per vires de Saturn et Uranus, procedo Aquarius! Recludos est januas de Uranometria!” and all of the sudden, the book begins to shimmer and float!

As I back away, the book seemed to be following me. Then suddenly, it flew up in the air fast, and landed on my hands. Almost as if forcibly, my hands open the book at the same exact page and lightning strikes began to occur. They were coming out of the book! I began to feel electrified, and I could see that flickering light was appearing on my arms too! The shimmering continued to grow lighter, thus I threw the book on the floor.

A figure comes out; I wasn’t quite clear what it was then, so I only saw a figure of light.

My hands and arms were still flickering with light, so I was in a panic, when suddenly the figure approached me. “You are not worthy of the power! The gates shall bind you and you will be finished! The power is not for you, it will never be yours! Suffer the fate of those who have come before you and die!” and as it said this, it grows feathery wings. It then lifts its hand up and more flicker of lightning occurred! The flickering lightning then formed into a huge lightning bolt and using its left hand, it throws the bolt towards my direction! As it flickered in a great amount of speed, I stood there, paralyzed and clueless with what to do.

In desperation for safety, I did what any normal person would do, I place my hand right in front of my face and cowered in fear; and maybe conjure up an awesome force field too. The attack was stopped, and the force field disappeared. I look at my hands, ‘Did I do that?’ I asked myself. I begin to hear the creature swore in what sounds to be Greek, and then it stood by the window and flew off.

After that, I passed out.

“Mr. Bayer, wake up!” I heard a man say.

It was Mr. Thornville! I looked around in confusion, ‘What happened? Was I just dreaming?’ I asked myself as I observed my hand to see if that shimmering light burnt me. No sign of anything; no burns what so ever. After that I searched through my bag to see if the book was there, and it was! Then I flipped through the pages, trying to look for the mermaid illustration, but turns out it wasn’t there.

So I thought I was just dreaming then. It was all just a dream, and that craziness was just something that I made up in my head. The whole thing was a dream. But little did I know that it meant so much more. During my constant self-thinking, I didn’t realize Mr. Thornville was looking at me furiously, so when I finally looked at him, well let’s just say I had an after school detention. As it turns out during the time he “went to check up on them” I fell asleep while reading ‘A Town Like Alice’ in which he insulted me because the book should not be slept at as it is ‘a true work of art’. Last time I stay here to be early again, that’s for sure.