Unbound

They settled into a study of sorts. A fireplace sat behind them, cast out of iron in the likeness of a curling, serpentine Dragon. The interior of the fireplace, however, was filled with more books. As was the mantel, which had a number of dog-eared tomes beside a collection of small ivory monster skulls. The walls were lined with built-in shelves filled with yet more books, along with glass cases filled with dust-covered oddments and baubles. Pedestals and platforms crowded the space, same as the rest of the house, save for around the small, low table and the three high-backed chairs.

While the rest sat, Felix remained standing, his eyes taking in the eclectic panoply around him. On the wall leading back to the entryway were two iron beams, and between them, held up within a shimmering glass case, was a section of another wall, this one made of stone and no more than three feet wide. The edges of it were crumbling, as if it were removed from some ancient ruin. On its surface was a weather-worn bas-relief sculpture of a winged beast and a figure astride it. According to the plaque bolted to the glass case, it was a part of a structure in Amaranth that was believed to have been a communal meeting hall.

That’s definitely a tenku.

There were many other things, strange and mundane. A rusty iron key hung up on a hook, surrounded by a copper cage and an elaborate warding array. There was no description for it, no plaque, and Emperor’s Vigilance was unable to pull anything from it. An uncommonly strong resistance imbued the key, which made it all the more intriguing.

There were notebooks, gilded and plain, inscribed with names of authors Felix had never heard of, held in special cages on the shelves. Along one wall, there was even a collection of bells, descending in size and tone, each one marked with a single glyph, spanning the elements from light to shadow.

Most unnerving was the triptych of mirrors that hung just above the fireplace mantle. They reflected the room they were in, but each one showed something slightly different. In one, the center one, Felix could see himself and his friends, yet the others were not present, and even the rooms were furnished differently, the rugs colored or textured in new ways, different chairs, and in one, it was practically empty. Emperor's Vigilance called it a Whetherglass, an enchanted item using illusion to fashion potential scenarios for whatever it reflected.

Eerie.

There was also a two-foot-tall glass case containing a swirling cyclone of red sand. The plaque beneath it labeled it as "Corpsewind - Crimson Sand - Scorched Expanse." A second plaque was drilled into the pedestal below the first, reading only “UNIQUE.”

Emperor’s Vigilance!