The sound behind them seemed to die down as they continued down the hallway, although the eerie not-wind and shadows continued to look them over. One of the shadows even seemed to form a somewhat friendly face and looked over the party in a surprisingly friendly manner. The next room they would find themselves in was large - a library, a massive storage of knowledge. The entire place was split into two levels, with a large hole cut into the center of the second floor to look down onto a large, glowing gem. Around the hole and the gem were shelves of tablets, books in pristine condition, and even a couple well-maintained pictures. There were a couple rooms that seemed to jut off on each side of the second story of the library, although the party wouldn't be able to see what was in them. At the end of each bookcase was a large statue, looking over the area as if protecting it. Some of the shadows seemed to enter and leave the books rapidly.

The party found themselves standing on the second floor, ahead of them a pillar raised flat to about chest height with an inscription on it and an extended hand. Directly beyond that was the large balcony that looked down.

---

Isabella watched the dancing shadows on the walls curiously as her guards followed in front and behind her. They were odd...no visible source, and they changed with each step. Obviously there was some trickery going on here with sorcery of some sort. Valora seemed intent on ignoring it, and Prescott seemed uninterested entirely. Isabella though, couldn't avert her gaze from them - what were they for? Magic always served a purpose of some sort. Story telling? Guarding something? Perhaps it was a trap of some sort, even.

"A library...?" Valora's eyes widened, the gem serving as a light source more than putting her a little on edge. Something like this...she shook her head. "Careful. We don't know what foul sorcery runs through this place." They still hadn't found any signs of the previous group, either. This was getting more and more worrisome as they continued.

Isabella quietly broke formation, heading to the balcony where she could see the large glowing gem. It was...magnificent. Beautiful, too. Oh, she wondered if she could have had such a thing back in the palace? It'd look so elegant in the throne room! Ah, a depressing thought...she'd not be able to do such a thing, now. Silently she turned to the flat pillar that was now behind her.

"Prescott, stay close. Don't split up - this place can't be anything holy." Valora ordered as sabella walked over to the odd extended hand, glancing at the inscription to see if she could read it - nothing but gibberish. Isabella pouted slightly. That was unfortunate. Oh, how'd she like to spend some time trying to understand it.

"Lets search the shelves a bit," Valora continued. "See if we can find anything of value. Records or something."

As the party proceeded to move along the shelves, they would see various books lining the wood - the vast majority of the books seemed to be preserved perfectly, as if they were only a couple of years old at most. Izzy would see a small collection of books in front of her - one in a thick, leather tome with a dragon on the front. Another was a small volume, the cover seeming fairly simple and having no writing whatsoever. A third had the image of a lady sitting one a stone in a pool of water, with a shackled ankle attached to a chain that lied beneath.

To her left Izzy would see into a room containing various instruments of the finest quality - the chamber also had a large table in the center, with various small glowing stones surrounding it. One the table were two things that looked like buttons, one of which was blue and another green.

What would Izzy and companions do?

---

Immediately, Izzy was drawn to the pristine books on the shelves. They looked so well preserved...how? Did being trapped down here, away from the elements aid in their preservation? They could have only been a few years old, at most judging from them. She reached for one of the books - one with what looked to be some sort of large beast on the front of it and opened it.

She couldn't read it.

Saddened somewhat, she flipped through the pages. She couldn't read anything, but the book had some illustrations in it! Oh, and they were so good, too! A handsome man of some kind was fighting a dragon! She could almost see how the fights would play out in her head. She ran a hand over the pages.

...

She shook her head, closing it. Thoughts of home wouldn't help her now, would they? She placed the book back on the shelf and reached for the second one. It was...much more...enlightening. The illustrations were proactive to say the least, and she couldn't help but to think back to Gracie and a few ideas they were giving her. Quickly putting the book back, she reached for the final tome that caught her attention.

The neat script at least compelled her to flip through it a bit more. Curiously, as the pages turned it became much more hurried and frantic. Was someone in a hurry to write something? Halfway, the letters changed from the completely foreign script to the same letters used in Raerith, though completely out of order and meaningless to her. Curious. Perhaps some sort of...common routes of trade were present?

"...!" Upon flipping to the next page, a small gasp escaped the princess quiet lips.

"Princess?" Valora called over, hearing the quiet expression, to which Isabella raised a an shook her head. She was fine. Valora shrugged and turned back to another nearby bookshelf.

"VALIANT, PRINCE OF DEATH"

It was scrawled onto the page in large, crazy letters.

It...it couldn't be her valiant, could it? She cast a wary glance towards the sword, breath quickening. This was a familiar feeling, wasn't it? Excitement that came with potentially learning something new. What were the odds? Very low, after all. She quickly flipped to the back. "Zeon" was written on the back of it - unfamiliar name. Perhaps she should ask around. Valiant could know, if this was indeed the same sword. The next pages alternated between Valiant and various titles with a name written on the back of each.

The second to last, read simply:

"VALIANT, SLAYER OF THE DIVINES"

Isabella paused, running a hand over the tomes pages. Divines? If it was the same sword, then...perhaps the names on the back of the pages were once god-like beings that he had slayed? Then...this sword, assuming if it were the same one she had...well, he'd be broken into so many pieces if he was ever found inside the Monarchy. Flipping over to the last page of the book, Isabella nearly dropped the book.

...no.

It...it couldn't...

What was her name doing there? It was on the second to last page - with only one more blank page after it. On the inside of the back cover, was the word 'Failure'.

She closed the book quietly, putting the small book into a satchel at her waist. She'd find someone to maybe translate it later, for her. It was...perplexing to say the least, and made no sense whatsoever. Put into a slightly somber mood by the discovery, she headed over to the room with the Instruments.

"The nobles back home would pay a fortune for these." Prescott mused as she walked over. Indeed - they seemed like they were extremely high quality. Isabella nodded silently. They certainly would have been expensive. If they could somehow take them back, they'd make a fortune.

Walking along the instruments, Isabella ran her hands over a few of them. She had never played them before, so she didn't try, but she could imagine the pleasing tunes they would have made. The choir back home would have loved them.

"Switches of some sort?" Valora frowned looking at the table. They certainly seemed like they could do something, and it was within their mission parameters to find something of value. If it was a song or something, this seemed like the place it would be. "Careful you two - at the ready in case anything happens." With a cautious press, Valora pressed the blue button.

The table would for a moment activate - a light would shine on the center of the table, and after going in a circle a couple of times dissipated. An unpleasant erZKZZKZK happened as whatever magic made the table work seemed to a have failed. A couple of seconds later a pictograph lit up elsewhere on the table - displaying a stone much like the glowing ones resting on the tables edges being placed in the center. A couple musical notes seemed to surround the table in the blue pictograph.

---

"...well that was underwhelming." Prescott chuckled.

"Well if you're so eager to have something exciting happen, how about you press the second button." Valora glared, motioning to the green button. Prescott held his hands up, shrugging as he walked over to the table. What had it done? Isabella hadn't a clue. It definitely didn't do what it was supposed too. All it did was show some magical image on the table of those stones from before. Some connection, maybe? She couldn't really say. Perhaps they'd know more when Prescott pushed the next button.

As the button was pressed down, a small gem would appear the center of the table as if by some sort of magic - it would float in the center ... doing nothing?

However, Izzy would notice that when a sound happened - a shifting of clothes, the subtle clanking of her guards armor - the stone would glow slightly brighter before calming down once again.

What would Izzy do?

---

The party watched the stone float towards the center of the table, but ultimately do nothing. Valora frowned, staring at the stone as Prescott gave an underwhelmed breath of air. For a few seconds, Isabella herself simply looked on with impassivity. She had been watching it, but...really, could that be it? Could it be? Isabella reached out towards the crystal on the table, picking it up gently with a hand and running her fingers over it. So pretty and enthralling. She wanted to keep it.

"...recorder?" Isabella replied softly to her companions.

"Wait, really?" Valora narrowed her eyes at the rock and then glanced at the contraption. "A...recorder? Some sort of magic scribe is what you're saying this is?" The guardswoman frowned as Isabella nodded.

"Well that makes this easy." Prescott chimed in. "If these crystals can somehow record things then maybe there's one around here we can bring back to Lord Hasingwrath?" Isabella shook her head, glancing at the stone in her hand again.

"Princess Isabella is right." Valora rebutted. "If this contraption is what plays it, they likely don't have one in the keep." Sighing and shaking her head Valora continued. "Lets keep looking. I'd like to be out of here before evening falls." Valora began to walk away as Isabella put the small stone in her satchel next to the book, Prescott following the two of them out.

As the group of them began to explore the library again, they would find all the books just as they had been left. There was another little room nearby - a quick inspection would reveal that it appeared to be a studying hole, where a few basic amenities for the most dedicated of students could use. There were a few notebooks laying around here - but a quick flip through the writing would reveal that the little hole was likely used by a singular person.

On the opposite side of the balcony there were a couple other rooms to be looked into. Another one of which appeared to be oddly filled with various weapons, similar to the one upstairs - however the yellowish blades were clearly some sort of bronze. Various glaives, spears, swords, shields, and other weapons were put on display in the room. A more thorough examination would reveal that the weapons were likely there to be examined rather than used based on the way they were mounted on the wall.

The final room had another table in the center, and a constellation being held up by some sort of mechanical mechanism. If the princess decided to enter the room, she'd see that the table in the center were really several large dials. The first set the furthest out seemed to have the numbers one to 50. The second dial went from one to seven. The third dial really was a set of four smaller dials, each going from one to ten. There was also a staircase nearby heading downstairs towards the crystal and more of the library if Izzy was finished examining the upper story.

---

"And what have we here...some sort of star map?" Valora mused as she gazed at the constellation like structures in the ceiling. Several large dials were in the center of the room, the furthers one from them seemed to be numbered one to fifty. The second, one to seven and the last was a set of four smaller dials from one to ten each. "Likely used for navigation of some sort...that's the only thing stars are good for." Valora said, sounding particularly sure of herself.

"I dunno, ma'am." Prescott replied. "This place isn't anything like we've seen before. Maybe they used it for something else?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno...maybe for something academic? This place looks like a library. Maybe they were using it to observe the stars? Record them or something."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard."

As Valora and Prescott continued to have a back and forth, Isabella ran her hands over the dial - starting with the largest, she turned the dial so that it read six.

Isabella would hear the moving of gears in the background after the dial remained in its position for a while. The sky above shifted slightly, rotating in the night sky as the moon began to creep into view, going from a new moon gradually to the next stage. It was rather obvious that the stars were backlit by something, the 'night sky' above them shining brightly even as they sat there.

---

A few gasps of surprise from both Valora and Prescott followed as the ceiling overhead shifted scenery. It was beautiful! She wanted to know so much more about this! How it was built, how the stars were lit. By the same crystals or something else entirely? Ooh, if only she could spend more time here and learn...

"Princess, warn me next time before you go touching dials." Valora sighed. "Come on, we need to hurry it up." Motioning for the two of them to follow, Isabella frowned lightly, disappointed Valora didn't want to try and understand this better. Well, that was fine she supposed. She was right, they needed to hurry. Giving the dial one last rub with her hand, she followed Valora down the stairs with Prescott bringing up the rear.

Leaving the constellation behind, the party decided to head downstairs. The area was comparable to the one upstairs - a few smaller rooms with a large central library. In the center was the gem that one could see from above.

One of the four smaller rooms held mannequins of various sizes posed in strange ways - a couple were lifelike and realistic, while others were more cartoonish or even fantastical. Bins in the side held what appeared to be components to construct one's own mannequin, and various art supplies were containing within.

The second was a another reading hole similar to the one upstairs. The third was more interesting - it held various pieces of jewelry from over the ages. The room began simple, with dates beginning in the negatives heading towards more positive numbers as the jewels grew more and more extravagant.

The final room was more botanical in nature - various vines, plants and flowers grew within. Although it would be hard to make out from within the main area, there were a couple small iron cages being held on the table. Shelved in a corner were small sacks that each had a well-drawn and descriptive name of a plant within.

---

The next few rooms were fairly uneventful. The downstairs area was just another library with few things of obvious interest. It'd take too long to do a thorough sweep of the place, and many more hands then they had. Isabella wanted to stay and look, but Valora motioned for them to keep moving. A smaller room off of it seemed to just be a dressing or show room of sorts. The mannequins standing, eyeless sentinels to the ancient structure. The next, was a simple reading room and the third seemed to be a jewelry room of some sort. They decided not to take any, lest they disturb something they shouldn't.

The final room seemed to be a garden of sorts.

"A garden...indoors...huh..." Prescott slowly panned his torch around the room.

"Well, I'll give whoever built this place that at least...perhaps the nobles back home would like to try such a thing." Valora walked into the room, careful to avoid stepping on anything that seemed too important or dangerous. "But how'd they get them to grow down here?..."

Isabella hung back a bit, observing the garden as a whole. How did they grow in here? In such darkness! Plants needed sunlight to live, right? That's what she read, anyways. Maybe there was something on the tables? She should look around before Valora wanted to get moving...

In the end, Isabella didn't find much of interest in that room nor an answer to her fundamental question. It didn't take long before the party began searching the bookstacks near the music room for them to find whole books detailing out what appeared to be songs written on pages. A couple of those later, and Valora told Izzy that it was time to go. And she was right - this place was fascinating, but without a translator it was also largely pointless.

Just as the group began to leave, Izzy would hear Valiant's voice enter her mind. "Something's strange here ..." A couple of seconds passed as he sensed Isabella's curiosity. "... the air or something."

The sword didn't seem to know why though, as it didn't respond to any further questioning. As they left the room though, the gem in the center lit up brightly and six streams of light flew into the satchel the Princess was carrying. The princess would feel a strange warmth in her backpack before dark streams flew out of the books, hit the walls, and dragged dark, ethereal figures out before them made of twisting shadow and smoke.

The first had long hair that seemed to be of various different shades of darkness - in her hands was a flute and in her shadowy face it was easy to distinguish the violence she intended. She had beaming red eyes that seemed to contrast with the somewhat simple ethereal dress she wore. Small streams of light went across her skin like tattoos.

The other figure had a long longsword similar to Valiant in length - and upon brief observation even in features. Dark plates covered the figures body, revealing him to be some sort of knight. A cape drifted behind his back dramatically, and as he lifted his sword to a hostile pose he waited for a moment, observing each of the companions as they prepared themselves.

Something gave the sense they weren't here to negotiate.