The Village

Alberto Levi often felt that the village in which he lived comprised the entire world which his friends often talked about. Born and grown up in a rural Italian family, he had the roots to this train of thoughts which Alberto believed to be unmistakably true. Xaluzzi, the Italian village in which Alberto had spent his entire life was the start and end of the world for him. Little did he ever wonder or even try to wonder that there existed a much bigger, in fact very bigger world outside the boundaries of his village. Since childhood, Alberto was a very protective child for both his parents, as neither of them allowed any external influence on him. Both the parents, hardly made him figure that there was a world outside the village in which they lived. In fact, this was the case with all the families that resided in the village of Xaluzzi. Neither did their ancestors ever leave the village nor did they. Most of the children who were born in Xaluzzi lived their lives within the confines of the village.

In the year 1825, Xaluzzi was a small and beautiful village located in one of the provinces of Italy. The village was located on a hill and was surrounded by mountains all around. Xaluzzi as a village didn’t have a large population, but it did have its inhabitants who had resided in the village since the start of time. The Levi family was one of such local inhabitants whose entire lineage of ancestors had stayed at Xaluzzi. Since childhood, Alberto had accompanied his father to their small farming land. By the time Alberto reached his teens, he was an expert at various farming activities.  At the age of twenty-five he was married to Helena Iris who gave him a boy child within the next one year.  Alberto thought his life was complete with his world in Xaluzzi, his parents, the farm land, his wife and his kid. He even devoted lot of his time to the village’s local cathedral where his family would spend considerable amount of time.

It was a known phenomenon among the residents of village that the average life expectancy of the occupants of the village since ages was around a hundred years. Majority of the people who were born in this village had survived for a minimum of around hundred years. The secret to this was known to only the ancient settlers of the village who had passed on the lineage over to the next generations. For Alberto Levi, it seemed very normal that most of the people in his village survived for a hundred year at the minimum. Just a few days ago, one of the family members, who were the neighbors to the Levi family, had passed away at the age of hundred and fifteen. Over the previous few years, this secret hidden fact had started to make news over the other provinces in Italy. People in other towns and provinces would often introspect amongst them the possible reasons for such a life expectancy.

By the time winter fell in, the village had visitors. Some exploring party had accidently landed in the village due to which they had decided to accommodate themselves in one of the local villager’s houses. The exploring party consisted of three middle aged gentleman who had halted at the village for rest.  By the time this news reached Alberto, he was curious to meet the exploring party as he had never interacted with people from outside the village. Alberto had made up his mind that he would surely meet them within the next few days.

Often, the three strangers could be seen walking around the village and mixing up with the residents.

Two mornings later, as Helena approached the house from her early morning walk, she could watch Alberto running towards the house from the other side. She hurried towards him. Helena guessed that perhaps Alberto was tired after running the entire stretch of the house. Few minutes later Helena inquired about Alberto’s excitement.

“Those strangers have been found dead on the village road this morning, `” informed Alberto.

Alberto seemed very serious and afraid and Helena could observe his fear too. She asked about when he had come to know about the event. Alberto informed her that he was coming home after going to the Cathedral when he observed the three dead bodies near a bush on the village road.

“Did anyone else observe them?”

“I don’t think so. There were none at that point of time.”

Alberto’s parents were worried for him since it was the first time in his life that he had encountered something of that sort. Alberto could not sleep for the next three days. Often, he could hallucinate those dead bodies in his sleep or in his room.

Over the next few days, the news got out in the village that the three strangers were murdered the night before the morning on which the bodies were discovered. It was suspected that the murder was committed by poisoning. The news was communicated to the regional village head who in turn communicated to the rural police team which was stationed some ten kilometers away from Xaluzzi. It was perhaps years since the rural police team had entered Xaluzzi. Since the arrival of the police the peaceful village had become quite a messy one. With the police interrogating each and every house and its residents, it was taking time for the police to gather all the evidences. The rural village police investigation team was headed by a veteran named Ricardo. Ricardo was a resident of Xaluzzi but he had shifted base to the nearby village after his marriage.  Though Ricardo had had a very good reputation of being a thorough policeman, but he also was known to be strict and unforgiving.  For Ricardo the first and most important thing to do was to note the trial of events since the arrival of those strangers in the village.  On enquiry with the local village head, he had gained quite a sizable information on that front but still wasn’t sure about the method of murder. His only question was “What were the other two doing when one of them had been attacked?”

Over the next seven days, Ricardo had almost investigated all the houses and its inhabitants. Only Alberto’s house had to be enquired into. The next Sunday, Ricardo visited the house where the stranger had halted during their stay at the village. Though the house seemed clean of any misdoings, there were certain traces of a greyish white substances at the corners on the floor. On detailed examination by Ricardo with his hands, and by smelling the same, Ricardo concluded that those traces were that of a substance with which he and his ancestors were very accustomed to. Ricardo recalled the fact that such traces could be found perhaps in each and every house in the village but couldn’t understand the reasons for those traces to be found in the house occupied by those strangers.

 

“What were those strangers doing with this substance anyways?” was the only question that kept him thinking.

Through the routine inquiries Ricardo had come to know that the three strangers were seen walking around the village and inquiring about the climate, water and also about the diet which the villagers generally had. All this made Ricardo guess and recall an incident which had occurred some fifteen years ago.

Some fifteen years ago, a visiting party to the village had suddenly disappeared and were not to be found until the dead bodies of each of them were discovered outside the village. The investigation couldn’t reach any conclusion and the case had to be closed down. It appeared to Ricardo that perhaps the current incident had some similarity with the one that had occurred fifteen years ago.

 By the time Ricardo reached Alberto’s house, Ricardo had mapped the nearby surroundings in his mind. However, Ricardo still had no information on the fact that Alberto was the first of the village residents to view the dead bodies.

The entire day was passed by Ricardo enquiring into the statement of the Levi family. Everything seemed in order except one thing which Ricardo had observed when he had just taken a tour of the house. He had observed the same traces of greyish white substances on the stairs and near the wall corners. It really didn’t surprise Ricardo that those same traces were also be found in Alberto’s house.  Over the next few days, Ricardo decided to keep a close watch on people of the village. Post the interrogation, which was a first of its kind for Alberto and family, their life moved slowly back on track with the daily routines again continuing as before.   For Ricardo, though Alberto seemed to be quite innocent and honest, there seemed to be a sharp reasoning ability to his every answer.  It also intrigued Ricardo when he learned that Alberto was a person who had never attended school.  The mystery of the murder of those strangers slowly had taken a back seat and the life of villagers returned to normal.  Ricardo in the meantime continued with his slow and steady inquires and investigation.

Three months later Ricardo had returned back to the village and looked happy. On a Sunday afternoon, he rounded up the entire village including Alberto’s family. It surely wasn’t much of a difficulty for Ricardo to finally arrive at his conclusion which he would inform to the villagers.

Xaluzzi, since the eleventh century itself was surrounded by mountains which were rich in Iron, Silver and an ancient naturally forming chemical powder which was greyish white in appearance. There was never a name given to that substance. The greyish white naturally forming chemical mix substance could only be found in and around the Xaluzzi and this fact was only known by the ancestral inhabitants of the village which was passed generations after generations to the inhabitants. There was abundance of these in the mountains around the Village.

It was this greyish white substance which the villagers and their ancestors since centuries used in the form of a liquid drink by mixing up with water. There were stories from generations after generations that the gods were happy with the inhabitants of the village and so they were blessed with this substance at their backyard. The substance was the only reason that had made it possible for the village to have a life expectancy of a minimum of hundred years for majority of its residents. Generations after generations had mined the substance from the mountains and stored it in their houses.

  So, when some rouge explorers came to know of such resources, they had planned to explore the mountains and in turn would bring in their gangs to mine the resources. It was during such exploration when the three strangers had come across the rich mountains and the nearby village which would give them the perfect cover. 

When the dead bodies of the strangers were checked at the rural village police headquarters by some experts, it was discovered that the case was not of poisoning but of substance abuse or excess consumption of a hazardous substance. It had taken its effect within a period of some five to six hours. Ricardo informed the villagers that the three strangers had got their hands on that ancient greyish white substance and in greed had consumed them in excess during their dinner that night. Generally, the quantum which the villagers often took was near to one pinch in every twenty-four hours in their drinks. But it seemed to Ricardo perhaps that those strangers had consumed the same in excess quantity. The result was that the adverse effect of it or the overdose effect of it took place over a period of five to six hours resulting in their death at the time when all the three were on an early morning walk.

 The entire group of villagers who had accumulated were stunned. They had never imagined in their wildest dream that something like this could have ever occurred. They were even more surprised that when Ricardo concluded that the death of the four visitors, some fifteen years ago, and the dead bodies of whom had been found outside the village, had taken place in the same manner.

Next morning Ricardo left and with him the entire chapter of the death of the strangers also exited the village. The topic and the fact that anything like that had ever happened in that village was never discussed ever again.  As the sun shone its rays on the mountains all around the Village of Xaluzzi, a reflection of light was created that blessed the Village. 

The Secret Library of Ishikawa

 

Fuyuko Tanaka looked at the ancient manuscript with unbelievable excitement and anxiety. It had taken him more than seven months to decipher the ancient codes that were written on the manuscript. The manuscript was one of the many that was discovered by Fuyuko’s archaeological explorers while they were in search of an ancient Buddhist site that according to the legends existed at the site, but what the explorers had got were a box of ancient manuscripts that had no value to them but had caught the interest of their head, Fuyuko. 

Fuyuko Tanaka had always wanted to become an archaeological explorer. He believed that humans were sent to the world to discover unknown truths which were left behind by the previous generations. Neither did his parents stop him nor did his friends. By the age of twenty-seven Fuyuko was ready to join a team of explorers who were planning to visit an ancient quarry near the ancient town of Osaka. Japan as a country had had a rich history which Fuyuko felt consisted of a lot of geographical and environmental secrets hidden from the world. Though the profession of an archaeological explorer was not of much prominence in Japan during the seventeenth century, Fuyuko and his team believed in what they were up to. They had always believed many years later their discoveries and research would change the outlook of the world towards the history of human civilisation. The year was 1705, when Fuyuko had finally at the age of forty become a head of an exploring party.

Fuyuko had grown up with his family in the Japanese city of Kyoto, which was also the capital of Japan. For Fuyuko, it was very important that he moved out of the city to explore the unseen world. Destiny surely had a different plan when Fuyuko got his majority of explorations within the province of Kyoto. It was during one of such explorations when Fuyuko’s team had found those ancient manuscripts. For Fuyuko, those manuscripts had actually been a bigger discovery than their actual plan of Buddhist sites. Something hinted to Fuyuko that the manuscripts had something important hidden in them.

Post the manuscripts were found, it took Fuyuko seven months to decipher the ancient Japanese languages and code. Astonishment had hit Fuyuko. He had actually come across a description about an escape of ancient Japanese king who once had ruled many provinces in the ancient city of Kyoto. For weeks, he revised his entire process of breaking the ancient Japanese language to be sure that what he interpreted was true. What Fuyuko was not sure was whether to share his discovery of the contents of the ancient manuscripts with his team mates who had actually forgotten about the discovery. After days of thinking, Fuyuko had different plans. He would share his discovery with his childhood friend and who was also a geographical navigator who loved discovering new places in Japan. Kaito Nakamura would surely be an excited fellow after learning his discovery, Fuyuko thought, as he packed his belongings to travel to his friend.

Kaito Nakamura was forty-three years old in 1705. Happily married with two children, Kaito spent more than six months in a year travelling around the country. His discoveries had won him accolades from the Empire.  Though Kaito had imagined for some rest at home for the rest of year, little did he have any idea that his friend Fuyuko Tanaka would appear at his house with a discovery that would change his plans for the rest of the year.  It took more than two days for Fuyuko to make Kaito understand the entire information stated in the manuscripts. Kaito observed that the manuscripts were old but still intact due to the quality of cloth used. The entire manuscript was written on cloths which survived the test of time. Though the browning of the cloth made Fuyuko take more time to interpret things from it, both had observed that at the end of all the cloth pieces an inscription of ancient Japanese language appeared which both of them interpreted as Hina Ito. Probably the writer of the manuscript, they had concluded finally. Both had never heard that name before, but they surely had heard the name of the Japanese king that had been mentioned in the manuscripts.

Atsuko Ishikawa was a fifteenth century Japanese king who had ruled many of the provinces in and around Kyoto.  He had also been a great scholar and a collector of ancient books and manuscripts from all over the world.  Rarely people had come across such a great king who was equally a learned person. Atsuko hardly relied on any advisor or his friends for any decision making with regard to his provinces. What intrigued both Fuyuko and Kaito was the fact that being a conqueror, Atsuko was also a great reader of ancient books and manuscripts. The manuscripts which Kaito held also described about the loot which Atsuko had acquired from his conquest. Jewels, diamonds, metals and gold, everything was stored in an underground house in his palace which was located on the eastern border of Kyoto. Both wondered that they had passed by that famous palace on numerous occasions which was in isolation now, but little did they know that the same broken palace was once a store house of rich jewels, diamonds and metals. But what interested both of them was the fact that the king also had an underground safe house where he kept the collection of his books and manuscripts. It was mentioned in the manuscript which Fuyuko had brought that Atsuko had a secret safe house under the palace for books which could also be referred to as a secret library. During his recreation time, Atsuko would often spend hours reading the books and manuscripts. Some years later, one of the rebel warriors by the name of Mayo had attacked the province of Atsuko. His prime aim was to loot the jewels, diamonds and metals which Atsuko had plundered from all over.  There were attacks before, but rarely did Atsuko allow any of them of get any hold. But when Mayo attacked, Atsuko and his army had been defeated. Atsuko had been taken hostage in his own palace. Mayo and his group searched the entire palace for the treasure but couldn’t get anything. Finally in frustration Mayo killed Atsuko and left the palace in anger for other loots. The library of books which Atsuko had made did not interest Mayo. He had entered the library in search of the treasure but seeing only books he left the library with a huge grunt. As time passed by, the palace become an isolated place. The people of the province had many a times gone into the palace in search of the treasure but came out disappointed. Over the years, the palace weakened and in one of storms broke down. For Fuyuko and Kaito, it was a simple conclusion. They wanted the books which perhaps were still there under the palace in the underground safe house.

It was decided that it would only be Fuyuko and Kaito who would be involved in this activity. Involving anyone else would increase the risk of the information getting leaked. They would start for the palace three nights later. Fuyuko in the meantime gifted Kaito two new Kimonos which he had brought for him. Kaito always loved this traditional dress. Kimonos had always been his favourite since childhood. Although Fuyuko had always loved to wear Yukata, which was a type of summer Kimono, but often on festivals Fuyuko could be seen in full-fledged Kimono. For the next few days, Kaito and Fuyuko planned all the details about the visit to the palace. They had decided that it would be better to visit the palace in the night when the entire province would be asleep.

Once they had started for the journey, both in their own heads were full of anxiety and excitement. They were thinking about the books, the kind of literature which they would be introduced to. Fuyuko, who wanted to travel the world, thought, reading those books would surely give him a glimpse of the unseen world. It took them more than three nights to reach the palace. They had walked all from Kaito’s house to the eastern border where the palace was situated.

Both had seen the palace after a considerable gap of time. Though they had passed the area many a times before, they never gave a serious look at the old isolated palace. As they stood in front of it in the silver light of the night moon, the broken palace seemed haunted and dangerous. There was no evidence of life around apart from two of them. Kaito started to walk towards the palace while Fuyuko looked on.

“Don’t worry. I have got a statue of our god with us. No evil can come near us and here take these two lockets. It has some verses of our local prayer written on it.” Fuyuko took hold of the two lockets.

They both walked in silence.  Though the area nearby was covered by weeping willows and Japanese maples, the front of the palace was full of broken bricks and scattered mud. As they entered the palace building which was half broken, a ray of the silver moon light helped them walk the way inside.  Neither did they have any map nor did they have any clue as to the location of the rooms in the palace. Only thing that they knew was that they had to somehow get into the underground safe house. To Kaito, it seemed as if this building hadn’t been inhabited since decades. There was no trace of any human survival or presence and use.  Candles were used to trace the way. Both of them moved slowly, looking at every corner for any way or path to get into the underground area. Though they knew that they would not get anything on first floor, they climbed it with the help of a tree that had grown inside the palace. Using the trunks and branches, they climbed on to the first floor. They entered a big room which had been full of mud and dust and looked around.

“Must have been the sleeping room for Atsuko,” Fuyuko said looking all around.

The bed still was there but was tarnished completely by rodents and insects. They looked all around but could not find any secret chamber or stair. Tired, Fuyuko rested against the bed, an act which pushed the bed. As the bed moved ahead, the flooring below the bed opened up with a rash sound. Surprised, both looked below the bed. They went near to the open floor and looked below. It was completely dark for the human eye to observe anything. They lit two more candles and went down one by one. Both held the candle in their hands as they walked.

Kaito looked around. “So, the way to the underground was through the bed on which the king slept.”

“The king surely trusted none of his companions or soldiers.” Fuyuko said as he looked all around in astonishment.

Within the shades of the lights of candles, they could see an earth of books and manuscripts kept on wooden shelves covered in dust, mud and rodents. Fuyuko could wait no longer. He fixed one of the bigger candles on the ground and walked near the book shelves.  Kaito too walked towards the opposite shelve. Both got one of the books from the respective shelves, dusted the mud and rodents and opened up the book to see the contents.  As they simultaneously opened up, they saw something that they had never expected. In between the book, a space was created by tearing out the pages of the book with the back kept intact. In the gap there were small jewels and diamonds. Both looked around to see each other.

They looked at each other in silence.

“Oh my!” Uttered Fuyuko.

Over the next one hour, both of them opened up at least a hundred books. All the books had jewels, diamonds, and gold pieces hidden inside the space created within them. In the light of the candles, Fuyuko and Kaito were sitting in front of a mountain of jewels, diamonds and metals along with gold. Fuyuko looked at Kaito with a grin.

“Now you know why Mayo never found any treasure in this palace. The king hid them in all these books. He had guessed that someday there will be an attack. He also knew that books would be the least thing that an attacker would be interested in.” Fuyuko and Kaito looked at each other with a smile. They both knew that, now they could travel the whole world with this fortune.