Isabel: The Candle Face Book That Could Save or Doom Us
|
|
Time to read 3 min
This entry marks the day I finished piecing together Isabel from Mr. Smoe's scraps: eleven books, each eight pages long, with eight notes per page that flip independently. By my math, that's about 2.96 × 10^79 ways to read the whole book, more than anyone could ever finish. I plan to publish it with Mr. Smoe as the main author and myself as co-author. Aaron warned it could be a trap to spread Candle Face's name. I think the knowledge is worth the risk.
February 23, 2025
I can hardly believe it, but I've finally pieced together "Isabel." For weeks, nearly 18 hours a day, I sifted through Mr. Smoe's boxes, aligning his crude numbering system with my own. I stitched scattered scraps into one complete manuscript: eleven "books," each eight pages long, with eight notes on each page that flip independently, so every position can show any of eight notes. If my math is correct (my son holds a Ph.D. in math, not me), that's 16,777,216 ways to read a single book, and there are eleven of them. Taken all together, that yields about 2.96 × 10^79 possible variations to read the entire book. At three minutes per reading, it would take 1.69 × 10^74 years, far outlasting our universe. It's no exaggeration to say no human could ever finish it.
Yet "Isabel" is only eighty-eight physical pages, a seemingly brief work. The gap between something so compact and so infinitely long feels magical, as though each note is its own 300-page novel. I'm convinced the secrets needed to contain, or even end, Candle Face lie here, woven through the story of La Llorona's forgotten daughter. If Isabel was indeed murdered by her mother, that alone makes her a victim. Being overshadowed by two brothers who rose to godhood only deepens that wound, fueling centuries of anger.
In light of all this, I've decided to publish the manuscript with Mr. Smoe credited as the main author, since these notes began with him. I'll list myself as co-author, the one who cracked the code and assembled the puzzle. That feels right. I couldn't have done it without him, and he couldn't have shared it without me. Together, we've produced something that might be the key to halting Candle Face's threat. Or, as Aaron from GenX Paranormal Investigations warned when I told him about the manuscript, it could be a trap, a master plan in which Candle Face uses us to spread her name and power worldwide. What if she left these scraps for me, knowing I'd solve them, to turn this book into her vessel? Maybe so. But a double-edged sword can cut both ways, and while her legend grows, our understanding of her grows as well. Knowledge is power. The more we learn, the better our odds of shattering her power and freeing every soul she has trapped.
Time will tell which side prevails. For now, "Isabel" stands as a vast puzzle, each note ready to shift and reshape everything we think we know about Candle Face. If we're careful, if we remain vigilant, we just might free our world from her hold for centuries to come. Every shift in the text could be one step nearer to dismantling her story or granting her the strength to endure. It's up to us.
Arthur Mills
Arthur Mills served for more than two decades as an Army Intelligence Warrant Officer, specializing in piecing together what others missed: patterns, threats, enemy intent, and clandestine activity. He trained intelligence professionals, built threat models, and briefed commanders and world leaders on global threats and battlefield strategy. After retiring from the military, he moved into private investigation, focusing on missing persons, human trafficking, opposition research, and domestic terrorism. He holds a degree in Counter Terrorism Studies.
He has been writing books since 2006 and is an award-winning author. He publishes under his own name, though much of what he has written has appeared under pseudonyms. Readers may already know those titles without knowing they are his. The separation is intentional. His books invite readers to interpret what is hidden, and so does the way he publishes them.