Even before I opened my eyes, I could feel something was different.
The warm temperature of the bookstore gradually changed to a cold chill.
The smell of old books changed to the smell of dirt and stone.
The silence replaced with the sound of wind blowing through.
When I opened my eyes, I was no longer surrounded by books.
I was in a dark space with stone and dirt all around me. There was stone above my head with no space for sunlight to get through.
The only light allowing me to see was the book still glowing and now floating in front of me.
“Where am I..?”
I got up to look around, when I noticed that I was sitting on top of a closed casket.
Normally this would frighten me, but this casket was special. It was covered in gold, with elegant carvings along the edges.
It was jeweled with emeralds and rubies which shined brighter against the stone and dirt around.
It was unbelievably clean and beautiful. I got closer to the center of the casket to see characters engraved in.
As I approached closer to touch the characters, the glowing book floated up and down in an attempt to get my attention.
When I turned to face it, it opened up and the pages fluttered through to the end where the drawing of the map was.
“…?”
The book closed back up and flew behind me, softly nudging my back towards a tunnel. I saw a small circle of light at the end.
“You want me to go over there?”
The book pushed me a little harder.
After a few moments of thinking, I started walking towards the light.
The book returned to float in front of me, lighting up my path in the darkness.
As I walked, I glanced over at the glowing book.
‘Is this book alive?’ I wondered.
I was starting to think that this book had emotions. It was a feeling that went straight into my head.
Even at this moment I could tell that the book was feeling excited.
‘Have I finally gone crazy?’
I reached my hand over to it and the book softly floated down, landing onto my hand. I think it was happy that I reached for it.
I looked at the book cover to read the title I had seen.
“Faye Vyn…”
It didn’t seem like the title of a book but more like a name.
“Is this your name?”
The book glowed a little stronger, and I could feel it was happy.
“Then I’ll call you Faye from now.”
I opened the book to a random page.
“Hm?”
All the pages had turned empty. The only thing still there was the map at the end of the book.
“What happened to the story?”
The book shook, finding it hard to explain itself. I sensed it was frustrated and I could almost hear it letting out a sigh.
“It’s alright. I remember most of the story.”
I pat the book gently.
The books glow was no longer lighting my path, so I looked up to see that I had reached the end.
The first thing I noticed was how blue the sky was. The sky was always gray in my memories.
As I walked further out to the edge of a cliff, I saw green grass below, and mountains on the horizon.
A vast ocean to the right, and on the left a castle.
The castle was on the highest part of the land. Just outside the castle gates, I could see two other buildings almost as grand as the castle.
One was painted white with a big cross above, and the other painted red with an emblem.
The emblem was of a bird with a sword and wand behind it making an x shape.
Far to the right of the red building, I could see a lively marketplace.
Smaller buildings next to each other around a beautiful water fountain that was in the center.
Surrounding this kingdom was a wall that wrapped all around.
This wall had only one entrance which was a way into the marketplace. I could see a long line of merchants and commoners waiting to get inside.
As I admired the view, I realized I was miles away but was able to make out all the details.
All I had to do was squint a little, and I could even make out what jewelry was being sold in the marketplace.
“How is this possible?”
Faye shivered as it beamed with emotions of pride.
“You’re doing this?”
Faye opened up and fluttered its pages to a stop.
The page it opened to was blank before, but now it had a drawing on it.
The drawing was made up of many different circles, lines and characters that I had never seen before.
“Is this a… magic circle?”
Faye glowed and was happy I noticed.
I was shocked that Faye was able to use magic!
Not only did it have its own emotions and thoughts, but it was capable of doing much more than I imagined.
“And this world… it's the world from that story isn’t it?”
I grabbed Faye into a tight hug.
“You granted my wish.”
I loosened my grip on Faye, and the book floated back up in the air. It floated up and down, and around in a circle.
Faye was telling me I was free.
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