The Great Library

Library Wandering

• Textualized Paths

  The Graduate’s Library:
  You opt to enter the much-lauded Library that the Wizard spoke of. You find it to be a wondrous place from the moment you open the great oaken doors that previously barred your way. The construction is immeasurably massive, and constructed from floor to ceiling out of a combination of books and the reflective surface of dead computer screens.
  
  
  It was as if this Master had gone with brick and mortar through Alexandria itself, then raided the Apple Corporation for artistic emphasis. After walking through what feels like miles of endless texts you enter a large central room constructed of similar materials.
  
  Your guide, previously silent throughout this trip, finally spoke up behind you. “Can you feel it? This room houses some the objects I spoke of.” You pause at the Wizards words, and as if coming out a daze you finally stop and view your surroundings.
  
  The first thing you see that gives off that strangely immense feeling is a marble statue in the center of the room, one of a plainly Grecian design, yet as you draw closer to it you find that it is of a surprisingly grotesque construction. It is the image of two people, beautiful woman and a handsome man, locked in what first appears to be an embrace.
  
  
  However with more than a cursory glance one can see that the man has a short sword wedged into the chest of the woman, and she in turn has a knife worked deep between his shoulder blades. A plaque at the foot of the statue reads: “Troilus and Criseyde.” You feel, should you touch this maudlin display, you will be taken into the Master’s thought stream. Do you? YES. NO.
  
  To the right of the statues you notice another path. You follow it, and eventually find yourself in a reading niche, a very personal feeling cubbyhole that any scholar might envy. In the center of this well-lit chamber is a chair that appears to be composed of open books. On close inspection one can see innumerable words scrawled on those open pages, overarched by the massive name PANDARUS scrawled at the top of the chair. Once more you feel the pull of the Master’s thoughts. Do you enter the thought stream? YES. NO.
  
  Once back in the antechamber you can see a staircase that was half-hidden by a stack of books, as if haphazardly placed there. You wonder for a moment if this place is reconstructing itself even as you travel through it, and the voice of the Wizard springs up from behind you, “Oh yes, this place is mutable, as mutable as the mind itself. The master may well have wished that you view those other objects before considering this path. A rather curious construction, is it not?” Should you follow the stairs upwards you will find yourself in a room that overlooks the previous antechamber, and within it is still another Grecian statue, this one in the shape of the Roman God Apollo.
  
  
  
  Seated to the left of this statue is still another carved piece, this one hewn from ancient wood, and marked with the grinning visage of the Nordic God Loki.
  
  
  
  The thought stream atwixt these two statues is powerful, and you find it hard to resist the prideful pull coming from it. Do you enter the thought stream? YES. NO.
  
  With this upper chamber thoroughly explored, you return back downstairs, ready to explore again, or else to go:
  
  Back to the entrance hall.