The Library was enormous.

  There were thousands upon thousands of books.

  It took him nearly 20 minutes to walk across one wall of the first floor, and that was just the main room.

  All along the way, there were hundreds of doors. Each one he peeked his head through simply held more books within.

  It was insane.

  This was a collection far beyond any he had seen before.

  He was fairly certain that not even royalty had such lavish collections.

  He was calmer now, the walk had given him a chance to adjust to what was happening.

  So he couldn’t help but get a bit excited.

  He was a bookstore owner and a self-proclaimed literary geek. He grew up with books. They made him happy.

  Especially when they were all that he had left.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  Now he had what could, quite possibly, be the most lavish collection that has ever existed. What book lover wouldn't be excited by just the prospect of owning a normal library?

  This thing was so large he was certain he could never finish all these books in one lifetime.

  It was amazing.

  Albion walked as quickly as he could. Searching each and every floor. Passing through every room he found methodically, looking at everything interesting thing he saw along the way. And by the end of the first day, or what he assumed had been a full day, he had explored the first floor... mostly, he wasn’t exactly sure.

  The library was just too massive. So he gave up and decided to just peruse a bit here and there on each floor.

  Even then...it was still a long time before he reached the top floor.

  He had been walking for a while now, but somehow he wasn't hungry, or thirsty. Just a little winded. He didn't think about how strange that was at all. He was just to focused on the strange world around him. So much knowledge veiled in a cover of darkness.

  He didn't spend any time on introspection.

  Instead, he was focused on the door in front of him. He had seen a faint glow coming from this direction when he reached the top floor.

  His curiosity wouldn’t allow him to ignore it.

  It looked exactly like his ring. Pitch black, with white carvings all along its large arched frame, glowing dimly in the labyrinth of shelves. He noticed that the frame seemed to glow brighter when he approached it.

  It was resonating with the ring.

  When he was standing just before its threshold, it swung open with a creak to reveal a massive room.