A place to talk about anything Fantasy related. Really it can be anything from books, video games, artwork to film!
Sacrificial Lion 3
We have a clear majority in favor of following the passage to the book. So...
You follow the passage to the pillar with the book. Like the central room, it shows no sign of cracks or joins, though by now you're shivering too hard to look closely. The light here is the same odd, sourceless glow that made distance and perspective so oddly hard to judge. It might be coming from the walls themselves, but you aren't sure.
A few quick steps carry you down to the end of the passage... except it isn't the end. There's another doorway beside the pillar, opening to your left, that becomes visible as you near the pillar. You glance quickly down it, but don't see anything there. It curves to the right, descending gently at the same time. If there's anything down there, it's hidden beyond the curve.
The pile on the floor is indeed cloth, and you kneel and lift it up. It's a robe, the dark blue of the sky just before full night, with vine-like silver tracery along the cuffs and hems. The material feels soft and comfortable in your hands. You pull it on, and for a moment it feels as if it's moving... but maybe that's just because you're tugging it into place. Regardless, it fits perfectly. It feels as if it were made for you.
There is nothing under the robe, no boots or belt, and the floor is still cold against your feet. The rest of you, however, slowly begins to feel warmer.
Stepping forward, you examine the book. It's propped up at an angle, supported by a raised section of stone atop the pillar. The cover is leather, soft and smooth, and imprinted with three vertical lines of a flowing script that you don't recognize. A moment later, you realize that you've seen it before: the tracery on the robe is the same twisting, flowing script.
Reaching carefully, you touch the book. Then, after a moment, you open the cover. The writing is unfamiliar, indecipherable. You don't know if you're looking at some sort of letters, or if each strand is a series of connected ideograms. You're not even entirely sure where one figure ends and the next begins.
Then, between one breath and the next, it begins to make sense. The first line is something like The One Who Holds The Names. The next line reads, I speak into the beasts, and they know me. It seems to mark a section; reading it, you know where you would turn in the book to continue. Instead, you read the other sections, your eyes tracing the flowing lines of script down the page. I call forth the plants, and they open for me. I give voice to the heart of the fire, and remind the water of its name. My voice moves the air, and my words unchain the ground. Each one is its own section of the book.
Before you can read further, you hear voices. They echo softly from the curving passage, the one that leads beyond the short pillar. They seem to be chanting, but you can't make out the words. For a moment you can't think clearly enough to react, but you close the book and force yourself to concentrate on your situation. The chanting isn't growing any louder.
Do you...




No finish reading the book option? 😜
I'm sticking with the Choose Your Own Adventure formula of periodically refusing to include the option that the reader really wants to do.