Merla followed the backs of the three adults before her.

They were exploring an area that Eliott had claimed wasn’t there before; he called it the stacks. From the looks of things through the dim lighting, it seemed like a place that was used for book storage. However, it didn’t make sense that such a place existed when the library above them still had empty shelves and used lots of second-hand books bought from out of town.

From what she’s seen so far, the books here seemed to be on subjects that were unheard of in their small town.

She kept the pace with the others and eventually found that they had stopped before a wooden doorway. Merla looked around and settled her eyes on a discarded book on the floor.

It read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the book itself was smaller than she was used to and was much thicker than most books she had ever seen.

The title raised some questions in her mind. Who was Harry Potter? What was the Philosopher’s Stone? What was a philosopher?

A voice rang out which prompted her to drop the curious book. Maybe she can pick it back up when their exploration is over.

“Merla, I think we got the door open. The key Eliott gave seems to have worked, but it immediately disappeared into particles of light. The danger he warned us about must be true then,” Thearessa warned. She saw the older woman’s eyes glow a slight blue.

“It’s best to keep your guard up lass and stay behind me. If what Eliott said is true, this place is one conjured up by Source itself.” Septimus visibly shifted his sword stance and motioned her over to stand behind him.

She nodded and stood behind the three of them once again as Jack pushed the doors open.

CREEEAAAK~

The large doors slowly swung open, revealing a rather large atrium. Its outer walls were lined with marble shelves full of books, statues, benches, and unlit sconces. The center of the room beheld a beautiful starry orb silently rotating above a raised dais. And the ceiling…

It was a “night sky” filled with twinkling “stars.”

The sight was the most beautiful thing Merla had ever seen and the most miraculous as well.

Source manifested all this.

Who would believe that a starry sky existed beneath the grounds of an old library?

She immediately ran forward and pushed past the bodies of Thearessa and Septimus to admire the beauty of the room from a much better perspective. The stunned adults behind her were also in awe at the new scene.

Merla laughed as she spun around, forgetting where she was, and admired the “sky.” She then looked back towards her chaperones for this adventure and smiled at their own reverie.

“Isn’t this amazing? Mister Eliott said Source was magical, but I never even thought of this!” Her expressed excitement snapped them out of the dreamlike state.

They all walked forward in different directions. An experienced eye could see that they had never let their guard down; the two men even made sure their backs were within a jumping distance away from the other in case of a nasty surprise.

Thearessa’s eyes still glowed a light blue, but eventually faded as she caught up with Merla’s smaller figure.

“Aunt Thea, are there scenes like this outside the town?” Merla asked with wonder as she studied the layout of the room once more.

“A sky beneath the ground… This is a first for me. But the country does have its own beautiful landscapes that you might like, ones I can certainly say are less dangerous.” Her tone gave away the slight nervousness she had.

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Merla caught on immediately, “Is there something wrong with the room? I didn’t feel any Source fluctuations.” Small blue birds started to glide off her body, spreading throughout the room. She eventually got a clear vision of the room’s layout, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

“We’re the only ones here Aunt Thea. Are you sure that it’s dangerous?”

Thearessa held onto the young girl’s shoulder in response.

“Septimus. Jack. Do you two feel it two? I feel like we’re being watched, but I cannot tell where it’s coming from. My eyes failed to show me where they were, just that they are in this room.” Her voice echoed throughout the room.

“I felt it the moment we entered this place. I would also bet they’re in this very room, but I haven’t found anything on my end.” The hoarse voice of Jack replied from another section of the room.

“Was Eliott sure we would be fine down here? I’d feel more at ease with his experience … we know almost nothing about Source related things but of that, we were told the past few days.” Septimus replied. He was in front of one of the statues, a sword’s length away.

“Did you two check out that orb yet? Eliott said there might be some explanation on why this place- the so-called stacks appeared.” He moved away from the statue to a nearby shelf and picked up a book.

Lord of the Rings the title read. A frown made its way onto his face.

“A repository of unknown books of origin appearing out of thin air. This is enough for me to call the kingdom’s army here.” Septimus muttered to himself before putting it back.

“You do have to find it quite interesting though. Everyone who is gifted with Source gathers and this place randomly surfaces directly beneath our meeting place. It would be the perfect conspiracy to entrap us all if Eliott accompanied us.” Who knew when Jack found his way back to Septimus’ side. The man now held a book in his hand and another stuck out from the hem of his pants.

“The topics of these books are novel as well, all of which contain stories of kingdoms or legends I’ve never even heard of. Are they fiction or real?” Jack asked in amazement before making eye contact with Septimus over the book pages.

“I’d rather we investigate and leave as soon as possible before anything unruly happens.” Septimus gave him an eye roll before cautiously making his way back to the two women that accompanied them.

The two found Thearessa and Merla circling around the rather conspicuous orb. Both of which were muttering things beneath their breath, if not for the differing facial features the two could’ve been mistaken as relatives based on actions alone.

Merla then surprised them all as her hand reached forward and touched the rotating orb.

Within her mind, the information of the orb made itself known to her.

[Ball of the Twilight. An orb that brings forth a projection of the Twilight’s fixed sky. A mysterious object suited for an avid collector’s treasury, otherwise, it is well suited as a gift or worth a pretty sum.]

She gasped and let go before falling into the arms of her Aunt Thearessa.

“Are you crazy girl! Daring to touch an object of which you know nothing about, I thought you would know better!” Thearessa scolded her, but her concerned tone and action of checking for any anomalies made her heart warm.

“I- I’m fine… but the orb is harmless. Touch it. It- it tells me the information about it.” Merla stammered and made her way out of the concerned hands. She gestured to the orb.

“It’s supposed to be just a centerpiece I think, nothing as bad as we all thought.”

The three adults looked at each other before Thearessa and Septimus both gestured for Jack to touch the orb. The man grumbled and sighed before reaching forward to touch the orb.

He fell silent before also gasping and taking steps backward.

“The girl is right. However, its origin is of a place I know nothing about. Do you two know of a place called the Twilight?” Jack looked at his two “peers” who made him take the plunge. Unfortunately, both acceded to his guesses as they both confirmed that the Twilight was nothing within the realms of the country’s borders.

“You can both touch it, it is harmless. At least there aren’t any anomalies on my own body.” He smiled at both of them.

Both Septimus and Thearessa took their turn in contacting the orb and providing a similar reaction as Jack and Merla.

“It’s all strange, isn’t it? First, the stacks appear, then we find out most of the items within it are all unknown to us.” Thearessa wondered out loud, her hand once again making sure never to leave Merla’s shoulders. The victim grumbled quietly to herself.

“So do we tell Eliott nothing about our discovery? This room seems to be a dead-end-“

Septimus was interrupted mid-speech as the room started to shake. All of them immediately felt the sudden rush of Source emitting from the orb they had all just confirmed was harmless.

Dense blue light, Source, gathered around the orb before expunging itself towards the marble dais and spreading throughout the room like a small flood. The energy all but disappeared before it even hit the shelves.

The small crew of people was in shock but immediately found themselves in a combat formation with Merla behind all of them.

Flufafafa~

Flufafafa~

Then the fluttering of pages filled the air.

To their surprise, the books they had all commented on levitated into the air. Most opened themselves and flipped their pages, others flapped their covers like wings, while a fair few emitted pages that orbited around them.