[Novela, The ghost of Hanan Baal] "The uncle Benjen and the mask"

Uncle Benjen arrived on the weekend as he had wrote, he came with a huge suitcases and other smaller ones that also weighed horrors. I saw the Serbs and even my father and Uncle Ben himself carrying them with a lot of effort. Uncle Bertrand, who was stronger among the three Scheffer brothers, also gave them a hand. But it was seen that he did it with a lot of effort which made my father and Uncle Bert grumble scolding Uncle Benjen who was the oldest of the three. Damon the Seru, who was even much stronger than Uncle Bert, gave a hand and you could see he was hardly trying. The entrance to the house was full of floats with Uncle Benjen's luggage. Xys carried a small suitcase which weighed on her. I tried to help her but Madame Bovary, who was the head of the serbs of the house, and the oldest serul among all, she strictly forbade me.
"Sir Khalain, let Xys take care of that," she said in her bitter old-fashioned military tone that gave of those frozen fears in the spine. She was the person who the least you Xysted to call you during a night walked down some dark corridor. Finally I let Xys take the little suitcase.
Uncle Benjen had trimmed his blond hair. He had it over his ears but had left the beard although it was quite careless. He was dressed in the color of dry leaves with elegant clothes but they were not ironed. However, it smelled of fresh wood, and not dirty, or the smell of clothing that are stored for a long time. I was dressed in a dark green like the leaves of the trees of a deep forest.

"Khan, my boy!" He exclaimed jovially. "Excuse all the fuss." He took off his matching hat and placed it on a rack. Then Madame Bovary reappeared with a tray of sandwiches. My uncle grabbed as many as he could and began to eat. "You see, I bring many things. Many are gifts. Others are unnecessary things that I intend to leave to you and your parents." At his feet was a suitcase which was bent to open after eating all the cookies. He pulled out a beautiful black hat like the night with a white ribbon and a feather of the same color. "It's for you, Khan." He shook my hair.
I took the hat and put it on my head. People were still entering with the uncle's belongings, while others went out to look for more. It was like being in the center of the city. "Thank you, uncle. It's a beautiful hat. Is not this a raven feather?"
"White raven, yes," he corrected. "It's a pretty rare bird. The hat it is not. Although it is made of very good materials. Woven by the hands of an artisan. But the pen is the most exceptional. You have no idea how rare it is to find an unfortunate white raven"

"It's true" Iadded. "The white crow is a bird which is unfortunate due to its own color".

"It's like your Uncle Ben in front his brothers Sieg and Bert." He let out a laugh. "Do not tell your father I told you that. Sometimes he has no sense of humor".

"Don't need to worry. My father usually has a good sense of humor"I pointed out.

"So your father has changed".

Xys returned surely to look for more suitcases by orders of Madame Bovary, but I called her so that she knew the uncle. I introduced him.

"This young girl is so beautiful. So she is the Seru who accompanies you". Said the uncle stroking her hair. "Let's leave the room and get comfy" he ordered.
"Mr. Benjen," said Madame Bovary, in the tone of one who threatens you with death. "It's a pleasure to have you back here in your own house, but the seru named Xys must still help carry all the luggage you've brought".

"Excuse me, madame but Please, please, please let me talk with my nephew and also with the lovely little Xys," said the smiling uncle.
"Xys must comply with her duties without further ado, Mr. Benjen. You know it's in that way"said the woman with her rigid and hermetic tone where no other word could possibly pass than her own.
"But I tell you I want to talk to them right now" Exclaimed the uncle.
"Mr. Benjen, this conversation is useless. I beg you to please attend to the fact that Xys must comply with her obligations to the Scheffer house immediately." Xys and I looked at the two each time they opened their mouths.
"It's okay," said the uncle with a serious tone. "I understand that Xys must do a lot for today. And that partly is my fault for bringing everything that is still out there-then the uncle pointed to Xys with the left and said, "Hey, be careful with that, it's delicate. Take it to the basement. That thing can not be here. It is very dangerous and could cause the house to explode suddenly, and as a tragic consequence it would bring us all flying through the clouds". He chukcled and Then he pointed to Damon. "Those are my clothes, please put them in my room. And Madame Bovary" returned to her with his serene expression. -"What about if I tell you that the serul called Xys, who is here next to me, myself, Benjen Scheffer, the older brother of the main family, I'm assigning her as a task to take care of me, and help me to rest from my long and tired traveling." Madame Bovary looked at him with such a harsh expression that she would have killed an ordinary man.
"It's okay, Mr. Benjen, you have a point," the harsh woman yielded. Then she apologized and left.
"That woman has always been bitter but she is a great person, no doubt," said the uncle, already sitting down with us and drinking a freshly squeezed orange juice brought to him by a seru maid.
"Do you really have something so powerful as to blow up the whole house?" I asked with a lot of curiosity and enthusiasm.
"Well, I must say that at least I would explode the house. In the worst case at least all within a radius of two kilometers, more or less. I don't know if we can really reach the sky in that way" drank the juice. "But let's what's important. This little girl called Xys is the one assigned to you. You have had lucky. She's lovely". Xys smiled like a doll.
"And my parents assigned her to me before I turned fifteen". The uncle also smiled and then nodded.
"Prusia and Sieg rely a lot on you, Khan.How are you doing with the Siege?"
"Uncle Bertrand is no match for me. And no other guys who practice with other styles more known in the management of the saber, such as fencing." The uncle laughed openly.
"In shortly you will be fifteen years old. You already have your serul. Sieg has not given you your sword yet?
"He… My father refused".
"And it seems that does not discourage you. In any case, it is just a piece of steel that is becoming more and more useless". The man stroke his beard and told us to accompany him but the maids just brought food and we decided to eat before on the uncle's orders. Then we were in front of one of his huge suitcases from which he took some notes.

"What is a sword un front of a gun? Even with the familiar abilities to turn on a sword in flames, or to make it hit with the force of lightning, you must have a close combat against your opponent in order to finish it off. In that process, someone with a gun like this" pulled out a weapon of the color of wood whose metal parts gleamed ominously. "and a bit of aim... boom! There is no Siege worth. Not in a fight against another man should I aim".
"That's true, uncle," I said meditatively. "However, siege is more than hand-to-hand fighting.
"Yes I already know that. But it's not my point, Khan".
"Then… What is? I can't see it".

"My point is that we can can move forward. The Siege is a combat style. The weapons are something else. Of course, the style of combat is realized through the handling of the long and short swords that in other times were called katanas. This combat style obtains its wonders in the Bahunian steel with which the weapons are forged, obtaining those unique engravings that are given during the same process" he continued to take things out of the suitcase and the small bags of it. "properties of the rune, and through the strength of will and the previous engraving of the runes after having forged the sword any of us can make them burn in flames, or unsheathe them with the force and speed of lightning, just as once I saw what your father did with ten armed men to defend Prusia. Too bad he did not manage to save Laura, your sister. "He said with a certain sadness. However, he did not stop to take things out of the suitcase until he showed me two small pistols that would fit perfectly inside little pouches in a cape. They would be impossible to see or perceive.
"The truth is that I have never had the details of that story" Isaid with sadness.

"Someday you will. I promise that when you turn fifteen, I'll tell you everything, understood?" He placed his hand on my shoulder." Now, what I was going for. I wish I could take the Siege to the guns. Regrettably... Unfortunately" he said now paying attention to a sheet of papyrus that he had taken out of his clothes." I can not get a process that allows me to make runes shaped like bullets. Something is missing. You can burn the protection runes on the weapons so that the heat of the fire or the heat of the lightning affects them. "He said showing me the engravings and Xys as well. She looked at him worriedly. "But that's very easy. On the other hand, when a bullet is fired, it becomes fragmented. The engraving of the rune is fragmented enough so that it loses its meaning. And so instead of turning this bullet into a ball of fire, or into a lightning bolt launched as the centaur god was supposed to do, it comes out that" he raised his hands as if demonstrating his frustration.

"Is a simple bullet, and you're done?" I joked.

"A simple bullet. That's what comes out. Nothing else. It has no game". He has no joke-his breath had run out, so he took a deep one. "I want to be able to find a way that does not happen. Then, Khan, you're going to thank me".

"Can I help?"asked. I had always wanted to help my uncle Benjen since I was a child. Before, when he lived with us, I observed his inventions with great amazement. He spent hours and even days in his workshop without leaving it except to receive the personal orders of steel, wood or silver that the Burgos family brought for him. In his workshop he created lamps that illuminated without the need for any fuel, only runes were needed. Once he perfected the first lamp, he created several more. From one day to the other, he replaced all the lamps in the house for these new ones. They illuminated the house in a more harmonious way but the only drawback was that they could only light it, or Uncle Bertrand; but my father or my mother; also Damon and Madame Bovary. It was hard for me at first, so I could only light them one at a time. I needed training with the runes. Or rather, affinity with them. Of course, this was not the only great invention of Uncle Ben. He also created a coffee pot and a teapot that warmed by themselves. Also some species of armor which made you practically immune to the iron tipped arrows thanks to a process of runes and magnets.
"We've finished moving your things, Benjen," my father said, pulling us out of our conversation. "And it's good to have you back.
"A pity it will not be for long, Sieg," he said, and the two embraced. A minute later Uncle Bertrand came in and hugged him too. Finally my mother arrived. "Prussia, my dear, it's so good to see you again after so long" and gave her an energetic hug.
-It is a joy that you are going to be with us to celebrate the fifteen years of Khan. At that age children become men". My mother had that melancholy tone that could sometimes be said to be sarcasm.

"I would not miss my only nephew's birthday for anything in the world," replied the uncle, looking at Uncle Bertrand, who looked annoyed. "I see that you have already given Khan a seru, but not the sword. You still keep the traditions".

"The traditions of the family are important, Benjen. This house has strong ties to customs, honor and family, "said my father.

"But Benjen has cut his hair and does not carry his sword," Uncle Bertrand pointed out.
"What Bert?" Uncle Benjen prevailed. "It's just a cut. Also, the swords are outdated. You can tell me if you want me to be the black sheep of the family because, although I appreciate our honor, our name and our family, there are things that I can not continue despite being the elder brother". He concluded in a mysterious tone. My uncle and my father gazed him. Then they laughed, to my surprise and to my mother's. Xys was in silence like a doll as always.
A while later we were having lunch. My mother asked Uncle Benjen if he had married in secret. Or if he had a girlfriend. He, on the other hand, answered openly with the following words.
"I live traveling the world discovering and rediscovering the magic and the sciences that little by little are being forgotten. Love is a form of science. I have learned that you can not be alone all your life, but lacking in love. Yes, that it! You can not be lacking of love all your life. The human soul claims to love and claims to be loved. The soul needs to absorb the feelings of another soul, in order to assimilate them, and thus finally reward them to be enriched. It is a process exactly the same as bees with flowers and honey. A heart that does not love is progressively suffocating. In that moment he struggles to breathe but as he can not, he loses his few strengths until finally withering".

Days later, and also after continuing with my daily routine, I was helping Uncle Ben in the workshop. I was able to create my own lamp after two days. My uncle congratulated me. But it was not a lamp like the ones that were hung on the wall but one that fit perfectly in the belt buckle of my pants, or on the side of my shirt at chest height. That same day, the uncle was so happy that he gave Xys a book entitled "Manual of fantastic animal zoology" by Elton Scheneider. A simple book that was a bestiary but more serious and by that I mean that it was in biological as well as historical terms. Instantly Xys began to read it.
"Soon we should start talking about the design and billing of a spectral mask." Uncle Ben commented.
"A spectral mask?" I asked. I really did not know what he was talking about.
"Yes. A spectral mask" he answered looking in a leather cover book. He passed the pages while commenting" it is evidently a mask, Yes. But it is not just any mask, Khan "He found the page" It is an artifact that is realized through alchemy. Before they were quite common but at some point they disappeared."
"But are they useful for something?"
" of course. They cover your face so that nobody knows it's you beneath of it".
"Like any other mask?"
"Correct."
"So?"
"So what?"
"I mean what is special about this mask. If it only covers your face, I do not see what to strive for in it using alchemy". Uncle looked at me.
"It's that you're not used to correctly asking the questions. You are straight and cold as a arrow like Sieg. You lack some of the subtlety and ingenuity of Prussia. I do not want you to be an asshole like your father". He finished. "A spectral mask is a mask that is made through an alchemical process". He pointed to the page with his finger. It was written in a language I did not recognize but that Uncle Ben could easily read- "a mask that you yourself must deposit with a soul. It can be the soul of an animal or a person. Or something that is not animal or human. It can be... It can be the soul of a being from another world, like a fairy, like a nymph or even a god. "And that mask in turn will make you unrecognizable except for those who see you put it on." He paused. .-Well, that last one is evident in any mask, but this one gives you some eyes like the serus, and a voice like a spectrum. In addition to speeding your reflexes. Of course, as the opposite effect, if you leave it for a long time, finally the soul of what you have put into it will take over you". He let out a laugh.
I was quite animated and interested in making a spectral mask. It would be something that I would like to see. It reminded me of the ghost of Hanan Baal, who when he died and then reappeared in the world of the living, put on a mask in which his beloved had deposited the very soul of Hanan. "When will we start?" I asked.
"When at least have an idea of ​​how it is done".

Later, being alone in my father's office, he had just shown me how to access the secret room of the house, where all the rune books were, as well as the steel reserves and many other things of great value to our family. All this was in fact in a basement below the basement which could only be reached through an intricate road that only some of the Scheffer family knew. It also served as a safe place in case something happened. Of course, access was more difficult than what I am telling you, but we are going to what is really important at this moment.

"Your Uncle Ben is a great man". Said my father, but ir sounds more like a question.

"After all, it's your brother" I answered him. My father gazed to the distance for a few seconds. He was dressed in dark blue and still wore his coat even in his office. It seemed as if something worried him deeply.

"He is a melancholic man. The melancholic men refuse to deal with other human beings, even those of their loved ones. These men are told that they are full of "black bile."

"But I do not think that means something bad, do you?"
My father frowned and looked at me. "Of course not," he replied. "Black bile within a man can mean, according to an ancient philosopher, an exact and unequivocal synonym of genius. Many artists of all kinds are usually men or women full of black bile. What matters is how it empties. In it lies the genius, not in containing it inside rotting the flesh like the kiss of a snake that leaves its poison in your blood". I had understood what my father wanted to say.

"Uncle will leave at any time, but not soon," I said in a calm voice.

"That's his nature," my father replied. "But this is also his house. So he can come and go whenever he wants. But Khan..." he said looking at me now very seriously. So scary. "Your uncle, as I told you, is a great man. One very melancholic. He is someone beyond his great smile and sometimes too heavy sense of humor, he spends his time thinking about all the "maybe", and "what would it have been like if..." of the things he could not do out of fear and lack of conviction . People are so weaving possibilities with infinite pasts have only that: a cobweb of countless pasts and no future. But anyway" my father got up "lets continue with your lessons." And he brought some runes in which he ordered me to carve the right words to isolate the sound inside a room.