I was late. Again. I had been unable to resist finishing the book. I grabbed my bag and flew out of the door to be greeted with a morning song from the spring birds. As cheery as the melody was it could not change my melancholic thoughts. I trudged through the day feeling bereft as I normally did after reading an epic saga, the only solice being the book shop on my way home.
I breathed the enticing scent of words, letting them pull me towards the next world that demanded to be discovered. On the cover a butterfly seemed alive mirroring the fluttering in my stomach on the way to the counter. The moment the book belonged to me I opened it and began my journey. I trusted my feet to take me home so my eyes could read unhindered as they soaked up an intriguing tale.
The sky had darkened but it wasn’t until the rain drops fell on the page that I looked up, my heart skipped a beat when I didn’t see anything I recognised. A lighthouse stood alone under a roiling sky, as I walked towards it, it grew in disproportion to the distance I travelled. Both curiosity and and wariness warred within me just like the storm clouds that pushed me onwards.
I was greeted with a magiqbot holding a pile of dry clothes and a fluffy towel. As soon as I took them it turned and disappeared down the corridor. The three people rushed out of a side room to warmly welcomed me regardless of my dripping attire, I mumbled my apologies for the mess and state of mind. One of them pointed to the floor and I saw that I was stood upon a beautifully ornate metal grate, she explained that it allowed the rain water to run off elsewhere as everyone that came arrived in much the same drowned state. Then one of the others took my arm and guided me to a set of stairs leading down, he told me that I would find my own space and discover everything in my own time after I had changed.
I later discovered that the rain water was used as part of magiq, it collected essence from each new arrival and joined us together.