Ylana Maya - Day 12 "A written realisation"

Day 12

Take the first line of your favorite novel. Remove and replace the nouns and verbs, and write a story that begins with your new line. Delete the first line.

"The alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had bought."

The alchemist traced his fingers over a book that someone in the caravan had hidden under the supplies. How foolish of that young traveller, the alchemist thought; to hide such valuable books in obscure places and assume nobody would find them... Or did the alchemist have it wrong? Maybe this is exactly what was meant to happen... The soul of the universe communicates in such ineffable ways, and the alchemist was more than aware of the nature of existence.

The leather bound cover was in amazing condition, the gold laced over the cover conveyed an intricate pattern and symbols completely unbeknownst to the alchemist… A feeling of familiarity washed over him as he traced the cover, he recognised these symbols but he couldn't remember where he had seen them before, he certainly didn't know of the meanings these marks conveyed. It was all a mystery. A very exciting mystery at that.

The alchemist looked around him suspiciously, as if to check whether anyone could see him and the spectacle he had just began to discover. It didn't cross his mind that this belonged to someone else as he had grown to believe all belonged to everyone... he was not the sort to spend minutes mulling over the morals and ethics of any situation. He was an alchemist, it was for him to listen to the call of the universe and follow the omens thusly. This book was definitely a clue to him turning lead into gold, and this was exactly what his mission in life was. Once he had verified that nobody was watching him he slid the book into his inside coat pocket to read later.

The caravan had stopped for the night, so the alchemist took it upon himself to venture further into the contents of the heavy, leather-bound mystery. He sat away from the campfire and the other travellers and finally opened up the book to it's centre. Immediately the musky smell of aged pages entered his nostrils, this was a smell which brought with it a sense of nostalgia and intrigue. The alchemist began reading at chapter 5: Transmutation of Inferior Lead Consciousness. "The secrets of transmutation lie not in the material you have but the product you intend to create, one must truly consider the properties of both the initial and final product. Both the spiritual and the physical aspects determine the state of the structure of the materials in question...."

The alchemist read on for as long as he could. Only when the sun had gone completely down could he stop, to his very dismay.
He wished he could read and retain the whole contents of this book but Set had come to snuff out the light and that to the alchemist was a sign the universe was telling him that rest was far more important. Plus he could no longer see what was written on those pages, as it was far too dark.

The book had vanished when he woke the following morning. Who did it belong to? Nobody seemed phased that he had been reading their book, nobody looked particularly suspicious or even remotely emotionally impacted. It was just... gone and the travellers were acting just as they had done before he found the book. If someone had claimed it back they had no interest in confronting him for reading their book.





Thank you for reading!
I am unsure about the sentence, '...completely unbeknownst to the alchemist….. he recognised these symbols...', as it kind of contradicts, if any writer could give me assistance with this sentence that would be awesome!

Namaste!

Taken From: 
30 Day Writing Challenge
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho