The woman wound slowly through the maze of corridors. Searching for the center. Turning at the right places as though she’d been here many times. It was all very familiar. She was drawn in one direction and went that way by instinct. The walls were close, the ceiling low; all made of smooth pieces of stone. There weren’t any windows, but the light was steady and plenty. It seemed to almost emanate from the walls themselves. Keeping one hand against the wall, she searched. Anticipating her destination. A towering room at the end of the corridor that knew would be there.

As she entered the large chamber in the center of the underground structure, the ceiling soared and the walls opened wide. The room was enormous. The feel of centuries having passed in this room was palpable. The very air resonated with age. There were a few stone tables and chairs, but no other furnishings. There were odd stone shelves that seemed to grow from the walls. The shelves were covered in books. The bindings were all one color and uniform in size and shape. There seemed to be nearly a thousand volumes stored in this chamber. On the nearest table, a few books were stacked. Stepping closer and peering at the covers, she could see no title or author on any of them. One book lay open; the pages were soft and not like paper at all. There wasn’t a conventional title page, just a single blank page and then what appeared to be a chapter list. Every page was covered in a delicate runic script. The runes glowed with a golden light and seemed to be part of the page, rather than inked there. The beautiful runes shimmered on the page and almost seemed to shift and move on their own. She couldn’t decipher the words. As she traced her finger across one line, the page started to disintegrate. She had time only to glance up quickly before the room disintegrated as well.