He’d managed to find a city, or the remains of a city, and had set that up as his home base. He could now teleport directly there when he went back so it was easy enough to work on mapping out the place from his camp.
Camp was starting to be a good word too.
He’d found the remains of a building to claim as his own. It wasn’t anything fancy just some crumbled walls but he’d tucked his tent inside and even made a store of food and supplies. His little home away from home as it were.
That was where he found himself that day setting down his things and flopping onto the futon. Tucked onto a small shelf he’d brought with him he had his lamps and a couple of notebooks where he’d been making notes and drawing maps as he explored. The maps were probably terrible but they worked to let him know whether he’d been to an area before or not. After pulling out his ipod and headphones from the backpack he tucked it away into his alcove, snatched up the notebooks and small travel bag, and headed out toward a part of the city he hadn’t explored yet.
It was what he had dubbed the eastern edge and he’d been saving it for last. The streets heading that direction seemed to be more decorated which meant that was probably where the important things were.
As he reached a drop off he paused, vision clouding for a moment ….
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”I don’t understand your fascination with the fish. They’re pretty but you’re always out here”
He looked up as he heard his cousin’s voice and laughed at her position. Hands on her hips she was half pouting half glaring at him from where he sat on the edge of the little bridge. It was true though. He was easy to find sitting along the edges of the artificial rivers or any of the large ponds. “I like them. It’s relaxing and helps me think when I can just watch them swim along.”
At her huff he pulled himself up, straightening out his robes, and offered an arm. “I promised you a tour of the new wing of the library though didn’t I? They just finished it last week and it’s beautiful. You’ll love it.”
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He shook his head as his vision cleared and the view in front of him faded from the original paved and lit roads to the dusty ruins it was now. The wooden bridge wasn’t there anymore and neither was the beautiful clear water. The multicolored koi were long gone too but for a moment he could still see it all, smell it all, and it made his whole body ache. “It needs to be put back.” He wanted it back, all of it.
Running a hand through his hair he made his way carefully down into the old river bed and across to the other side of the road. A bit further down there was a bench that was somehow still in tact and he paused to sit down and pull out the map notebook. He draw the bridge, both how it was now and how it had been before, and the path he was walking down. Off to the sides he guessed used to be flower beds and trees with the winding paths that seemed to make their way through a lot of the asteroid’s city. He knew he was in what had been a garden now. There were other benches, both ruined and in tact, and depressions in between the broken stone paths. He’d seen places like this in visions in other parts of the city but this had probably been something bigger and better.
When he was done with the map he got back up and headed deeper into the city. Most of the day was spent mapping out the area around the park and seeing what he could find. The remains of buildings were usually low stone walls and he knew most of the buildings had been built of wood so they would have crumbled long ago. The foundations were all that had survived.
The deeper he went the most stone buildings seemed to be taking over. Things meant to last, things that needed to last.
The roads were worse here almost like someone had pulled down buildings to block them. As he climbed through one of the blockades and dropped down onto the other side he knew why.
Rising up at the end of the street in front of him was what he’d been looking for. A huge building entirely made of carved stone with graceful curving walls and huge windows. All topped with a massive glass dome that had been painted with gold to map out the stars and planets they helped.
The Great Library of Arsinoe.
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“Oh god … it’s still here…”
”Look,” He uncovered his cousin’s eyes when they were finally in front of the new wing. “They just finished painting the dome yesterday.”
“.... Stars. It’s huge! And that’s where you’re going to be working now? The official archives.”
He nodded as he tugged his cousin along with him toward the doors. There were two large lanterns carved into each of the massive doors. Gold bowls set into the lanterns held deep orange flames and as they got closer the doors swing open as if they weighed nothing. That was one of his favorite parts. Some sort of system the Mauvian’s had put in which they never explained but that worked beautifully.
Inside the floors were marble and there was a large greeting room so guests could be directed to the correct parts of the library to find their books or teachers. Behind that was an open area lined with shelves and books of every size. They were still moving some of the books over from the older libraries but everything was now going to be housed here. It was much safer in the stone walls and the new library was in a better position to be protected if need by.
The huge glass dome covering the library glittered in light. All the stars and planets mapped out carefully to match their alignment during the new years celebrations.
He explained all of this to his cousin as they made their way inside and wandered around.
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Shaking his head again he sat down on the street to catch his breath. That one had been stronger than the others. He could feel Cordy’s arm on his still where theirs had been crossed together. He could smell the books, feel the cool marble through his slippers, hear the hum of voices as people studied and asked questions. There was the breeze that ran through the library to keep in fresh air and keep everything just the right temperature and the slight tang of fresh paint that came with it. He could feel how much his heart had swelled showing his cousin the new library and how proud of it he had been to see it finally open and running.
Rubbing his eyes he tried to shake off the feelings knowing if they kept going he was going to feel how heart broken he’d been seeing everything falling down. He’d seen that once and didn’t want to do it again. “Now I know where it is though.”
The day was gone though as his watch chirped at him with how many hours he’d been exploring. He’d have to go back to his camp for the night and tomorrow start moving things. Now that he’d found the library he wanted to make his central base closer if not inside. This was where he needed to be.