Mandrasath shifted, his claws digging through soft sand. His eyes felt heavy, unwilling to open nor did his lungs seem willing to draw a deep breath. Mind meandering to focus on breath, his mind stopped. He could not draw any breath.

The library is mine.

Not since the great hero epidemic of the previous age had Insey been considered the jewel of the continent. Well worth beholding and marveling at its resplendence. Now, however, the city crept through the current age mostly as a bygone word, a place to be avoided, or if absolutely all else proved impossible, one spent the absolute minimum of time there. All else had failed for Khestri.

Art is life and the countryside was Aeric’s canvas. His talons clenched the branch as he tilted this way that appraising his latest work.

I leaned over the table, holding back the medallions hanging about my neck when the doors thudded abruptly open. “The cosmos is out of balance!” Heardu screamed has he raced into the chamber. How that man managed to outmatch elephants in running I still hadn’t figured out.

Shifting in her chair, Letia leaned away as Redom slide into the sit next to her. At least he didn’t have the audacity to look at her. Even so, she couldn’t keep her lip from curling back. “He shouldn’t be here.”

I looked between the scrap of paper, the only thing handy when I’d answered the call, and the townhouse. This was the place, but something was off. I glanced up the rows of houses to my right and left. Same architecture. Same design. But no basement doors on any other, and no basement windows anywhere.