The book looked old but well preserved. Although the pages were ashen and their border was eroded by ti, so extracts could still be read. Uriel opened it and realized it was a diary of so sorts, then he began to read it out loud.
"I want to explore Texas before coming back. Those were my parting words and I ant them. Because exploring ans to subrge oneself into the unknown, to unravel the mysteries of what lies beyond the very limits of reality. It's been long, too long, and Polly dear must miss terribly as so do I.
So days I go out at night with my good ol' pipe and I wonder what led to uproot my life and face the hardships of the southern wilderness. But then I rember the exact mont everything begun.
I was sick, so very sick. No doctor could heal , I visited every parish, hospital, barbershop, but no one knew what was wrong with . It was then, at the verge of death, that an old Indian man with a na too long to be rembered was presented to .
He was a Navajo that ca from the west, and he told all those wonderful tales of beautiful lands, islands within islands and single trees standing at the center of the world.
My feverish dreams mixed with so of his stories, but I rember them. Stories of heroes of past tis, of grim creatures and of evil n who could wear the skin of their victims.
But among all those stories, the one that stuck with was the one about an enchanted tal with prodigious qualities, so strong and sacred it could drive away the darkness and defend mankind from beasts and evil gods alike.
The witch doctor strapped into my bed and started singing old songs alternating between his tongue and English, and then one different to anything I've heard before. He then started burning herbs and the room was filled with dense smoke I couldn't even see him anymore.
All those herbs, his dicine I reckon, they made sothing. They turned into sothing. I was a boring man, that I was, but I woke up with a bold heart and a longing for travel. My ho, my office, the streets even, they were too small for . The city was no longer my ho and I only found peace in the endless horizon walking under the moon."
Uriel didn't miss how the owner of the diary ntioned an old Navajo doctor, and he wondered if it was the sa one he had read about before as it also ntioned the skinwalkers. Nevertheless, the true mystery was whose diary it was.
There were a few hints, but Uriel couldn't be certain and he started turning the pages to find the answer.
"When the first stone of the San Antonio de Valero mission was set, no one knew about the true value of that land. All they knew was how the Apache, the Comanche and the Siux all fought for the land. Sothing worth fighting for is also worth sothing, they must have thought.
But the land had value of its own, just like the old Indian man said.
For that land had long been guarded by n, to prevent the creatures of the night from scouring the earth. You must never go there, he said, you must never gather the three relics, he said.
It's been years now, and I laugh every ti I rember his warnings, while I smoke my tobacco with the pipe in one hand and the prodigious hatchet in the other. It was only because of him I could find it, and I'll never part from it."
Uriel started pondering about the possible implications of what he just read, but the group was losing their patience as none of it seed to be helpful in any way. But he knew better, the ntion of the hatchet was all he needed to know it was Crockett's diary, but there were a few interesting points that could further his research.
The ntion of a language unknown to Crockett was weird, as he most likely could tell the different dialects spoken in Texas. The fact that he couldn't recognize it could an it was the ancient language Uriel was able to read.
Then, there was the ntion of the skinwalker and evil gods, there was too much new information and he really wanted to study it to his heart's content, but ti was limited and he could only read the diary until dawn.
"I don't understand how co this place went unnoticed for so long, why no one ca to extract the prodigious tal, and yet everyone seems to want this place for a reason.
It's been years since the states bought Lousiana from France, and now they're claiming they also bought Texas. Are they in their right mind? Very much so, soone must have told them about the prodigious tal, soone must have betrayed .
Let them play their political gas, everyone has an agenda these days, but in my na I, David Crockett, declare that the independent Nation of Texas will forever be free."
The next pages were crumpled and most of them was just unintelligible gibberish that made it difficult for Uriel to read.
"I'm so close to finding the entrance, I know it in my heart, but they just won't let . The xicans, the Indians and even the republicans, they're all sided against us. I must tell soone about the tree...
[...]
Santa Ana draws near, they're here to seal this place and I can't allow that, not after getting a taste of what this tal can do. They're hundreds if not a thousand, but two hundred Texans and Texians will spell the death of them."
A whole portion of that page was missing and Uriel was left with no choice but to skip to the last page.
"I found it, but It's the end. Now I get it. I finally understand my mistakes but it's too late. I should have listened to Santa Ana. There's sothing within that place, sothing that sends nightmares to the creatures of the night... and now it's awake."
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