Chapter 116: Historians’ Tower II
"Please, follow me inside!" Master Doko requested, his voice echoing faintly beneath the towering archway. He was more like a walking statue.
Ren stepped across the threshold, and the breath caught in her throat.
The interior was nothing short of extraordinary. This was extravagantly unreal! Vaulted ceilings soared high above, each ribbed arch intricately carved and painted with sprawling, celestial frescoes. Colors danced across the curved stone, depicting forgotten legends, ancient wars, and crowned figures whose names had long been swallowed by time. But this place remembered them; vaults twisted upward like the spines of great tomes stacked upon each other; each level, she realized, must hold a hidden Chapter of history.
It was more than a library. It was a sanctum.
Magic thrummed in the very air, silent yet present, calm and reverent, like a held breath. Even the light was otherworldly. No windows graced the walls, no candles or greased torches. Instead, floating crystals hummed in suspension, casting a soft, silver-blue glow that poured over the marble floors like moonlight. These people hardly could realize daylight or nightfall.
"Master Doko," Ren asked quietly, her gaze still lifted to the marvels above, "may I ask a question?"
She did not doubt that questions were welcome here. Curiosity, not status, was the only currency of value within these walls.
"Of course, Milady," the old man replied warmly.
His manner, like the rest of the Tower’s keepers, was strikingly different from those who clung to courtly titles. Here, no one bowed or scrambled to impress, no disgusting flattery here. A few figures passed her without so much as a nod, their eyes fixed on their scrolls, lost in their own pursuits.