A Childish Discovery

                  Brynhilda jolted awake.

                  She meant to lie down on the soft pillows and cushions of the couch for a few moments to rest her eyes in the late hours of the night. The sun streamed through the windows of her cottage. Brynhilda realized she slept until morning.

                  “Probably for the best,” she said to herself.

                  After freshening up for the morning, brewing some of her morning teas, and eating some breakfast, she returned to her study table to review what she learned. She made significant progress the night before, translating the Gumtal writings on the documents she pulled from her family’s basement library. Yet the only discoveries she made came as more questions. The first block of Gumtal text simply stated, “To read the secret language, follow the instructions, and you shall see”.

                  The instructions she hoped to find in the remaining Gumtal texts were not exactly instructions. If she translated the Gumtal correctly, the text seemed more like a manifesto. The text gave no instructions on reading the unique symbols, only general principles about hard work, practicing skills and keeping important information secure. It told her what she already knew. A unique secret language was used to hide important information. The documents contained nothing about translation. The only form of instructions came in the first line of text, a directive to “Follow the instructions, and you shall see”.

                  Brynhilda feared she missed a book that accompanied the supposed secret language. She returned to the shelves multiple times, looking for any other books in that area that might contain more instructions. Everything regarding the secret language seemed contained in the stack of documents wrapped in leather. After the rush of success, she faced yet another dead end. Once again, her only solution would be a systematic evaluation of all the texts in her basement library.

                  Brynhilda sipped on her tea as she re-read her Gumtal translation, double checking some of her work to make sure she translated it correctly. She hoped a fresh and alert mind might offer some insight into the mystery. After a thorough review, she ended in the same place she found herself in the night before. A stack of documents that only told her to “Follow the instructions”, a possible missing book of instructions, and a children’s book about a girl that could decode secret messages.

                  “A children’s book?”

                  Brynhilda thought for a moment, staring at the cover of the beautifully illustrated book.

                  “A missing book of instructions?”

                  “Nah…”

                  Brynhilda stared at the children’s book a few moments longer. It was the only other book she had. She picked it up and relived her childhood, reading the book again. The simple writing seemed to target a younger audience. She read through the adventurous story of the young magician that needed to read a secret language to save her village. Brynhilda laughed as it eerily reflected similar events of the moment, except for the need to save her village from an evil, dark lord. Although the thought of such an adventure made her smile.

                  Then, as the story developed, Brynhilda read about the young wizard being trained by an elder sage on how to cast the spell to ‘see’ the words. The description listed a very detailed and instructional guide to casting the spell. A strange shift in writing tones in contrast to the other sections of the story. The story talked about the level of magic skill required, the need for a physical connection between the magic and the page to be decoded, and it detailed the magic words to make the spell work, including a pronunciation guide.

                  “No…” Brynhilda shook her head in disbelief. “This can’t be.”

                  Brynhilda thought of the evidence. It seemed odd to her that a children’s book contained a pronunciation guide to the spell itself. The thought seemed ridiculous, nearly impossible to believe, but Brynhilda wondered if those were the instructions the other documents referred to. It was foolish to assume a fairy tale of magic and wizardry could, in fact, be a reality.

                  “Well, Brynsie, you’ve done far more foolish things in your life.” Brynhilda talked to herself since she already felt borderline delusional for what she planned to try next.

                  Flipping back to the documents from her basement archive, she found the page that contained the block of text written in the strange symbols which she now started calling Runic-Gumtal, she noticed there was even an outline that looked like a placement guide for a hand. Interesting evidence that the documents connected to the children’s book. She placed her hands on the page, and looking back at the children’s book, she practice pronouncing the words. After building her confidence in the pronunciation, she repeated the magic words.

                  Nothing happened.

                  She tried it several more times. Still, nothing happened. Unwilling to yield to the notion of looking foolish, she continued reading through the children’s story. In the story, the elder wizard stressed the importance of belief, and the desire to reveal the words.

                  “Follow the instructions and you shall see.” The words echoed in her mind. Brynhilda again placed her hands on the page, focused, thought to herself how much she wanted to see the secret text, and repeated the magic words.

                  Still nothing.

                  She repeated the words, then again, and then again, doing all she could to focus. Suddenly, her fingers began to tingle and feel warm. She quickly pulled away, rubbing her fingers together.

                  “That was strange,” she thought.

                  She again placed her hand on the sample page of secret text, repeating the words again, focusing on the outcome. Again, her fingers felt warm and tingly. She continued to focus and repeated the words of the spell from the children’s book. She stared at the text characters in the book, but nothing happened. Brynhilda did not give up. She could feel something in her fingers, so she kept repeating the words.

                  Brynhilda blinked several times as she stared at the Runic-Gumtal. She thought her eyes were failing her from staring at the characters for too long. The ink seemed to shift. She looked closer and closer, still repeating the magic words. The ink on several of the characters moved! They had to be moving. Then suddenly the Runic-Gumtal switched to Gumtal writing!

                  Brynhilda pulled her hand away, stepping up and away from her desk. She pat her cheek, feeling her face to ensure she was indeed conscious and not dreaming, looking around the room repeating facts she knew. She had to make sure that she was still in reality, even sticking her finger in the hot tea to ensure she felt it.

                  “Did a children’s book… just do what I think it did?” Brynhilda thought to herself, pacing back and forth. “A children’s book? How is this possible?”

                  She continued to cycle through her thoughts, numbering them on her fingers as they raced through her mind. Then she stopped and stared at the children’s book. “Follow the instructions and you shall see”. She thought about her grandmother and all the time they spent in that cottage. Something much deeper than she realized lie within her family heritage. Her soul surged with an overwhelming feeling of warmth, like memories of a home she never knew. Then her mind recalled so many things her grandmother told her that never made sense that suddenly started snapping into a realm of understanding like a chain reaction clicking into place.

                  Brynhilda tried to calm her breathing as her mind raced through the next steps she needed to take. As she began connecting everything she experienced with everything she knew about her grandmother and her family, she came to one conclusion.

                  “This is much much bigger than an old book.”