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 Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 3:20 pm
Word Count — 578
Despite the expectation of storms on Jupiter, Sessrumnir hadn’t anticipated the rain. Then again, it didn’t help that he was thinking in terms of Earth’s knowledge of the planet. Everything he’d ever learned about Jupiter had him expecting to appear in a sea of clouds, the gas giant providing no solid ground for a Wonder to exist.
And yet, skeptical as he was when he spoke his knight’s oath out loud, Sessrumnir found himself inside what must have been a giant structure. Wind was howling outside the solid walls, and flashes of lightning could be seen through what appeared to be thick blocks of glass. Around him, and what must have been at least seven stories up, were millions of what looked like books.
Sessrumnir had found himself in the middle of what must have once been a library. ‘Once,’ crossed his mind because it was obviously in disuse now. The floor was thick with dust, covered in holey carpeting, and scattered with furniture that had probably seen better days as they rested, mostly broken, on the floor. There were three large, empty fireplaces he could see, with a wide mantle to separate the flames from the books. They would have surely kept the place warm at one point in its heyday.
Books and loose pages were scattered about, left in a hurry, or maybe it was decided that they were not important enough to preserve. Many of the shelves within reach had holes in the walls of books, as though someone, or many, had torn them off for the hell of it.
It was a sad sight for someone who enjoyed reading. Still, curiosity caught hold of him, and he bent down to pick up a book on which he’d just trodden.
He snorted ironically at himself as he glanced over a page — he should have known there wouldn’t be anything written in English here. Surely that would be too convenient. Instead, there were symbols and squiggles and things he couldn’t even begin to imagine what it meant. Hell, it might just be a huge library of pointless squiggles for all he knew.
The book was placed on a table as he made his way around the room, looking up at the walls of books raising high above, higher than any library he’d been in before. There were no corners to the room, but instead appeared to be completely circular, balconies every twenty or so feet up, allowing easier access to the shelves above.
The ceiling was a dome, made completely out of the same thick glass that appeared as breaks in the shelves, columns maybe half a foot thick every ten feet, rising up the full height of the room, allowing a surprising amount of light to flood in. With all the cloud cover and distance from the Sun, one would think there would be no light available, but he was wrong.
Wondering if he should be more intrigued about this place, Sessrumnir shook his head and turned towards a large, ornately carved wooden door. For now, he just planned on exploring, but as he passed a table close to the exit, he picked up what looked like a mostly blank page, torn from a book, and a stick of Jupiter’s equivalent to graphite.
Library — was all he wrote for now.
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 3:23 pm
The Bath House
Word Count — 463
The hallways of Sessrumnir weren’t as dark and gloomy as he was anticipating. Yes, they were a bit damp from the humidity, which left a musky smell wherever carpet was left, but the thin columns of thick glass as he’d seen in the ‘library’ let in a substantial amount of light. Here and there were a few places for lanterns or torches, but none were available to light. He didn’t have anything with which to light them, anyway, so there wasn’t any point in lamenting over their absence.
Not knowing where he was going only bothered him a little. If he had any problem with getting stuck somewhere, he was fairly certain he could just teleport back to Earth, or however else he managed to get there in the first place.
For now, he was following the main hallway, figuring that if there was something of importance, it would be at the end of those halls, rather than the smaller ones that led off in every which direction. A couple times he came across dinning areas, or at least rooms with long tables and benches, all in various states of disrepair.
However, what he found at the end of the hall he was inspecting hadn’t been something he was expecting. After finding himself in a library, he was surprised to find what looked like a room for bathing. Once again, like the library, everything was circular. The room was enormous, and there were other rooms that were attached, out of view, but all connected by one body of water. Even the smaller, circular pools in the corners were connected by a channel of water large enough for a man to pass through, but thin enough for someone to step over.
It was an intricate layout, and while the pools were mostly empty of water, he could see that they had been well used. The way they were set up seemed less like a place for someone to come and bathe, but more for recreation. There was even an island of sorts, connected by a bridge to the center of the largest bath, a stone pedestal and bench in the middle, as though it was a place for someone to give speeches from.
Around the edges of the room were faucets that may have poured water into the pool from various locations, filling it all up at once, seeing as how they were all connected somehow. It was an interesting set up, and one that reminded him a little of the bath houses in ancient Greece or close to it. A place for socialization and fun.
Without more information to go by, Sessrumnir pulled out the piece of paper and graphite he’d taken with him from the library and wrote down baths.
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 3:49 pm
Teaching Astronomy
Word Count — 551
Sessrumnir tried to let the fact that there was not a soul in the place aside from himself bother him. It was to be expected, what with everyone living on Earth these days. But why? There had obviously been a grand and sophisticated society living here at one point. Well, he wasn’t entirely sure just how grand or sophisticated they really were, but they obviously had scholars who wrote the thousands of books and scrolls in the library he’d discovered. There had also been some kind of social aspect to his Wonder, seeing as there were plenty of meeting rooms for many people to get together...
But what was the purpose of it all? What was so different about this place that made someone want to destroy it...? Had it just been abandoned? Was it time that had caused the place to fall to ruin? Or had there really been some kind of war, forcing people out, or even causing some of the damage?
There was a lot for Sessrumnir to think over, and since he’d been there for almost a full three hours, he thought it might be a good time to head back home. Before he could, there was once last door that caught his eye. It was like many of the other doors, wooden on the outside with metal hinges holding it up, but there were different carvings on this door. It looked like diagrams of the solar system, but not in a way he’d seen diagramed before. Perhaps the people of Sessrumnir, and Jupiter by extension, had a different understanding of the space around them?
Pushing open the doors, the Squire was finally able to put his recent findings together — it all made sense...
He’d just entered a room that was filled with stadium seating, as though people sat to hear someone lecture. There were pieces missing out of the sections that could have been used as a writing surface, worn down with age maybe. At the front of the room was another desk and shelves of dozens of books and strange objects that seemed familiar but were obviously foreign to him. There were globes of different sizes, some that still had gases swirling inside. There was a large telescope in the corner, and maps of what looked like stars... Star charts...?
This place had been a classroom of sorts, he was certain of it. This whole place had to have been a university or something of the like...
Out of the corner of his eye, something moved causing him to jump. A young boy had appeared at the front of the room, and he was holding up one of the globes to show to the room. Sessrumnir couldn’t hear what he was saying, but from the look on his face, he had the attention of all those who were there to listen. He turned to write something on the board with a piece of chalk and vanished.
Now that he was sufficiently freaked out, Sessrumnir took a step back from the room, shutting the doors behind him. Had he just seen his ancestor...? No... he knew it wasn’t that the moment he thought it.
He’d just seen himself in another life. A memory? Whatever it was, he would have to investigate it some other day.
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