I walked away from the dreaded manor clutching the battered book close to my chest inside my cloak. I carried on for a short time down the road, as the things I passed seemed to contrast completely with what lay behind. Flowers were blooming and grass was as green as ever, acting as the blanket to the many varieties of trees. I felt much happier and confident now, so I sped up and carried on towards a village.

I passed a sign post saying Draynor Village and was stopped by an old man. He was relatively tall and he seemed to smell of fish for some strange reason. He grabbed my shoulder in a friendly way and burst out, “Hello there! You look lost. Here, come in.”

He directed me towards the door of a house so I stepped in without disagreeing. He pointed to a chair by a glowing fire and I sat down, accepting my warm welcome. He carried on, whilst looking at a map on his desk, "You make yourself comfortable because I can tell that you are tired. I shall show you around later, Duke. Oh yes, by the way, my name is Ned.”

Ned didn’t say anything else nor did I question how he knew I was a Duke. Instead, I sat comfortably in the small living room by the fire and pulled the book out to have a look. I pulled my monocle out of my pocket and put it to my eye. On the front of the book, I saw that, engraved upon it, were fading gold letters. I pulled the book closer to my face and saw that it read, Alter Libri Consulo Credo Novitass.

At reading this, I could tell immediately that it was written in Latin. From childhood teaching, I could just about tell that this meant, The One Book of Interests in Strangeness. I had no idea what this meant so I put the book down to my side for a second to think. As I did so, Ned began, “Is that an interesting book you’ve got there?” I stood up and walked over to him, leaving my book behind.

I replied, “Quite. One of the most interesting I have ever come across. Written in complete Latin, you know? What is that map you are looking at?”

He looked at me, slightly surprised that I had walked over to him, then turned back to his map as I pocketed my monocle. He told me, “Just a map of our world. I’ve drawn it all myself. I travel, that’s why. I’ve been places nobody has ever even dreamed of. Of course, you do sometimes get overexcited so I failed to note down their locations. What you see before you is a map of the boring world we know.”

I placed my finger to the parchment to inspect the areas he had drawn. It was an excellent map indeed; he must have traveled quite a lot. From the things he had in his room, and the aroma about him, I supposed that being a sailor was his profession.

We talked no more so I returned to my chair to inspect the book closer. I opened the front cover to reveal stained yellow pages. The ink was only just legible. The words were mind-boggling in their entirety. I could only just manage the title. I saw that it began, in English, “This book contains…” Then Ned arose and threw some stones at me.

At first, I was outraged and tried to duck to stop them hitting me. However, the stones stopped in mid-air just before me. I stood up and grabbed them. As I turned them over, I noticed they were runes. Ned informed me, “The required ones for translation. Place them on the cover of the book, state your language and they will disappear, as will the Latin words to be replaced by their English counterparts.”

Again, I did not question him. I simply did what he had suggested. He walked away to study his map again so I placed the runes on the book and muttered, “English.” The rune stones immediately disappeared, as did the fading gold writing on the front cover. Suddenly, bright gold shining English words appeared. It read clearly, The One Book of Interests in Strangeness.

It had worked, so eager to read it, I pulled out my monocle and opened the book. I then began to read the now perfectly legible and understandable book:

This book contains the truth about all strange happenings in the world. Never before has such a thing been written, as any abnormalities in the world are frowned upon. Therefore, this book is an extreme rarity only found in the secret shops for Dark Wizards, such as the shop you purchased this from.

Let us continue into the interests of strangeness about the world. Here are the contents:

I looked through the many-paged list, an incredible amount of things started with the word strange. I reached the end of list, hoping that it would contain the thing I was looking for. I placed my finger on the last one, but nothing. All it said was something about weird and wonderful people. I slammed my fist on the side of the chair and knocked my monocle off my eye.

It landed on the page on the last words in the contents list. However, this had nothing to do with weird and wonderful. New words had been magnified by my monocle, ones previously invisible. They said, 'The Strange Monarchies of Our Time.' It went on beneath it, 'These words have been sealed only to be found by the man with the monocle. That person is YOU. The text found here is for your benefit. Read well, it is about people you know. Turn to the last page and place your monocle upon the book once more.'

I hurriedly turned to the back of the back, placing my monocle upon it. New words were revealed, ones about the royal family of the Kingdom of Misthalin:

The library of Varrock contains much information, not all is correct though. They know scarcely of the first to fifth age, this book knows all.

There was a time before the so called first age, therefore, the first age, as you know it, was in fact the second. In this time, a strange wanderer by the name of Gerald Misthalin walked the earth. He was an extremely disfigured man, with a wooden leg and wooden eye.

His appearance made people run, though he was no harm to anyone. He, of course, became sick and tired of this behaviour so he decided to use it to his advantage. He gathered other misfits and he drove the 'normals' out of an area in the East.

They then began to build a palace that would stand in the centre of their new city, the city of Varrock. This was to be in the Kingdom of Misthalin.

Soon after, Gerald died with no family around him. He had no heir so the rightful owners were now the misfits that had helped him. They took on his surname and carried on running the country without telling anyone.

Many generations ran the country, and after a while, they were not told they had not descended from the original Misthalin family. The secret of this was made sure to be kept a secret forever. It was therefore placed in an unallocated city that went by the name of Canifis. Unknowing werewolves were placed to protect the secret and so long as they lived, nobody would ever know the royal family’s secret.

The latest in the line of the misfit family is known as Roald. Over the years, the deformity in children has been lost and he is viewed as a 'normal' unlike his unfortunate ancestors. Like others before him, he believes his true name is that of Misthalin.

When he dies, it is the prophecy’s telling that he shall have no heir. This book is the key to finding the rightful owner of the Kingdom of Misthalin. Stand in a place where the deformed stay. Noted by a traveler on his map to be the island of wooden legs, hooked hands and one-eyed men…

There was more text but I had finished reading. I jumped up and ran over to Ned. I scanned his map hurriedly and saw an island I had never seen on a world map before. I shouted, without knowing, “This island! Have you been here before? What is it called?”

Ned looked bewildered and he stuttered, “Err – I – haven’t been – no – not sure what it’s called.” I cursed at his reply and then Ned blurted out, “But my father! This map used to belong to him. That island was drawn by him. The only thing he said on his deathbed was something I couldn’t understand. I think he said something like, ‘…one hooked legs.’ No idea…”

I then bellowed, “My god! This is brilliant! Ned, you are to take me to this island. Now!” I grabbed the book and my cloak and rushed outside with Ned, we then set off through the small roads as the sun begin to set. I saw water glistening in the distance; it was my next destination.