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I was here again. The thought ricocheted in my brain as I stood in front of the train station. The lights flickered time to time giving the station an abandoned sense. Paint peeled from the walls and the railway was rusted and cracked. Benches lined the pavement beckoning you to a world of boredom. The monotonous sound of the clock ticking filled the room. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. It was enough to drive you mad. I turned and walked up the stairs eager to be released from the gloomy prison of the dark station.
The wind smacked me in the face making me gasp. It stung my cheeks and made my eyes water. What now? I had gone all this way yet there was no reason. The sun had surrendered to the moon and now an inky blackness crept across the town. The warden approached me slowly. Desperately, I looked for any form of escape. Behind me was a fence that lined the pavement. I quickly scrambled over it, tumbling onto the road. I ran as fast as I could and when I reached an alley I stopped. The warden's shouts had reduced to almost quiet murmuring.
Catching my breath, I slowly walked through the dark path. Each breath rattled in my chest like coins in a tin box. At the end of the alley, a silver gate stood. Behind was the library. The moon showered light onto the sanstone pillars giving them a silver glow. Everything else was webbed with shadows. I slowly walked up to the gate and pushed it. Creaking, it swung open. I shivered, not from the cold but from a foreboding sense. It was like someone was watching me. I slowly walked towards the heavy doors of the library. Each minute seemed to pass like an hour. Finally, I managed to yank the doors open. I stepped into the library surprised at how warm it felt. My spine prickled yet I was sure that no one else was there, right? Venturing deeper inside, the sense that someone was watching me intensified.
Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks. A voice was talking, but where did it come from? It was chanting a song like it was a spell, and as I stuggled to hear the words I felt goosebumps snake up my spine as I listened.
Tendrils of smoke curled around me making my eyes water. I sat up and immediately surrendered to a bout of coughing. I could see shelves of books in front of me and concluded I was still in the library. My hands were tied to a flat bed with ropes of a dark material. The smoke rose around me creating a barrier from the shelves. On further inspection, I realised that the books were all black and the titles were written in gold ink. A particular one caught my eye. It was a thick book around five centimetres. Instead of black, it was pure silver and decorated with gold symbols. The symbols were sharp and angled like broken sticks. The title was written in red ink and I squinted to read the letters, 'Umbra Magicae'.
A figure crept into the room silently. It lifted its head as it entered and I let out a soundless scream. The head of the figure was deathly white like wax, and where the eyes should have been, there were sunken holes of black. The figure was neither human nor monster, it was a skeleton. Bones clacked as it walked closer towards me. I felt its hand wrap around my skull and I gasped as bones dug sharply into my skin.
I was paralysed to the spot, the menacing aura holding me in a tightening grip. I tried to scream but no sound came out. The shadows engulfed me and I was thrown back at the force of it. The glowing purple light intensified and my arms tingled as the light brushed them. Nowhere to hide now. A voice spoke in my mind, slurred but enticing. I leaned in. No one will remember. I have come. A powerful blast of light threw me against the wall and the room glowed white, pure white that danced in spots across my eyes blinding me, then it turned black.
It hurt to look. Every light seemed intensified and sharp colours blinded me. Rubble and loose books created a nest around me, and I turned around painfully to see that a chunk of the wall was gone. I lay there in the rubble when something caught my eye. A shadow danced across my vision and I reached out to grab it. Though it was small, a shiver went down my spine as I held it, unnaturally cold. I quickly let go of it and it flitted around my head before retreating into the shelves. I stood up slowly, digging my feet into the ground as I wobbled. I was about to leave when something shimmered in my next.
I bent down and pulled it out. It was a medal rusted with age. It shined a dull silver and it was tied to a thick rope. I held it in my palm and stood back up. The shadow had returned and it was now examining me curiously. A book on a shelf caught my eye. It glowed a deep purple and floral emblems covered it. Reaching out I pulled it, but what came out was not the book, but a passage. Cogs whirred and the mechanism twisted into a door. Where the shelf was, there was now a stone archway with the words 'Umbra Regni' engraved onto it. I looked at the shadow and as if a cue, it disappeared into the archway. Taking a breath, I followed it into the unknown darkness of the passage.
The wind smacked me in the face making me gasp. It stung my cheeks and made my eyes water. What now? I had gone all this way yet there was no reason. The sun had surrendered to the moon and now an inky blackness crept across the town. The warden approached me slowly. Desperately, I looked for any form of escape. Behind me was a fence that lined the pavement. I quickly scrambled over it, tumbling onto the road. I ran as fast as I could and when I reached an alley I stopped. The warden's shouts had reduced to almost quiet murmuring.
Catching my breath, I slowly walked through the dark path. Each breath rattled in my chest like coins in a tin box. At the end of the alley, a silver gate stood. Behind was the library. The moon showered light onto the sanstone pillars giving them a silver glow. Everything else was webbed with shadows. I slowly walked up to the gate and pushed it. Creaking, it swung open. I shivered, not from the cold but from a foreboding sense. It was like someone was watching me. I slowly walked towards the heavy doors of the library. Each minute seemed to pass like an hour. Finally, I managed to yank the doors open. I stepped into the library surprised at how warm it felt. My spine prickled yet I was sure that no one else was there, right? Venturing deeper inside, the sense that someone was watching me intensified.
Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks. A voice was talking, but where did it come from? It was chanting a song like it was a spell, and as I stuggled to hear the words I felt goosebumps snake up my spine as I listened.
Tendrils of smoke curled around me making my eyes water. I sat up and immediately surrendered to a bout of coughing. I could see shelves of books in front of me and concluded I was still in the library. My hands were tied to a flat bed with ropes of a dark material. The smoke rose around me creating a barrier from the shelves. On further inspection, I realised that the books were all black and the titles were written in gold ink. A particular one caught my eye. It was a thick book around five centimetres. Instead of black, it was pure silver and decorated with gold symbols. The symbols were sharp and angled like broken sticks. The title was written in red ink and I squinted to read the letters, 'Umbra Magicae'.
A figure crept into the room silently. It lifted its head as it entered and I let out a soundless scream. The head of the figure was deathly white like wax, and where the eyes should have been, there were sunken holes of black. The figure was neither human nor monster, it was a skeleton. Bones clacked as it walked closer towards me. I felt its hand wrap around my skull and I gasped as bones dug sharply into my skin.
I was paralysed to the spot, the menacing aura holding me in a tightening grip. I tried to scream but no sound came out. The shadows engulfed me and I was thrown back at the force of it. The glowing purple light intensified and my arms tingled as the light brushed them. Nowhere to hide now. A voice spoke in my mind, slurred but enticing. I leaned in. No one will remember. I have come. A powerful blast of light threw me against the wall and the room glowed white, pure white that danced in spots across my eyes blinding me, then it turned black.
It hurt to look. Every light seemed intensified and sharp colours blinded me. Rubble and loose books created a nest around me, and I turned around painfully to see that a chunk of the wall was gone. I lay there in the rubble when something caught my eye. A shadow danced across my vision and I reached out to grab it. Though it was small, a shiver went down my spine as I held it, unnaturally cold. I quickly let go of it and it flitted around my head before retreating into the shelves. I stood up slowly, digging my feet into the ground as I wobbled. I was about to leave when something shimmered in my next.
I bent down and pulled it out. It was a medal rusted with age. It shined a dull silver and it was tied to a thick rope. I held it in my palm and stood back up. The shadow had returned and it was now examining me curiously. A book on a shelf caught my eye. It glowed a deep purple and floral emblems covered it. Reaching out I pulled it, but what came out was not the book, but a passage. Cogs whirred and the mechanism twisted into a door. Where the shelf was, there was now a stone archway with the words 'Umbra Regni' engraved onto it. I looked at the shadow and as if a cue, it disappeared into the archway. Taking a breath, I followed it into the unknown darkness of the passage.