C4 Chapter 4

The Museum

They left the department and went the same way back that Dana had taken only two hours earlier. Shari had reappeared by now as well. Totally exhausted, she was sitting on Dana’s shoulder and was excited for the museum as well, since, after all, she’d never been there before either. They crossed the entrance hall and walked out onto the plaza, where the crystal exuded its warm light. Toben stopped and turned to her. He politely offered her his arm. Excited, she looped her arm through his, and together they walked towards the main entrance of the neighboring building. They stopped for a minute to read the golden sign:

Museum and Library

Opened all day, save for holidays

Entrance permitted for ages 120 years and above

Schools only accompanied by adult dwarfs

And DANA

Dana read it out loud and giggled happily. Finally, she turned her anxious eyes to Toben.

“How did you manage that? The government needs to agree, doesn’t it?”

Toben grinned. “We are the best and nobody can turn us down. Come on now.”

They entered the vestibule, which had a white marble floor. Dana stopped immediately to study the wall paintings that were hanging on either side of the room. The left side showed a large, white as snow, flying Pegasus. He was flying up towards the brilliant blue sky. The royal blue background was loosened by small chalk white clouds. The other side showed a brilliantly white unicorn that proudly threw back his crest. It was standing next to a small, dark lake in a fantastically beautiful forest.

“Wow, these pictures are amazing…”, she mumbled and started trotting after Toben.

Opposite of the entrance, there was a way up to the gallery on either side. At the same time, both paths formed the frame for the sculptures of two gigantic lions. Of course Dana had asked Toben what kind of animals they were, while they were walking up the wide stairwell into the museum.

Before Dana could say something, Shari buzzed past her and disappeared. Meanwhile, Dana followed Toben who was standing on the last step and considered the large room. Dana squeezed herself next to him and saw a giant structure. It was standing in the middle of the room, directly beneath a large glass dome that had been built into the roof. The light that was shining through the dome illuminated the structure in the middle in a magical light. She walked towards it as if she was hypnotized, feeling an urgency to read the golden plate:

“Planets of the solar system”

A present from Elron, master of the elves as

a thank you for help in times of need.

Dana closely inspected the planetarium. It was made of pure gold and the celestial bodies consisted of large gemstones and other materials Dana didn’t know. It gleamed and beamed in all possible colors when it moves. She had never seen anything like it. The world she knew only consisted of the caves. After she had seen enough of the planetarium she returned to Toben’s side who had remained at the entrance.

Suddenly, her gaze landed on a grizzly that must have been at least three meters tall. Shari was sitting on its head. She stopped walking instantly and her face paled, tears appeared in her eyes, as her shaky voice asked Toben: “Since when do dwarfs kill animals and stuff them?” Toben gathered her in his arms.

“We don’t kill any creature and we don’t eat meat either. If anything, we defend ourselves. And we would only take the life of an animal if we absolutely had to. But should one die of natural causes, we use their fur for our clothing – it would be wasteful not to. And if we don’t have it in the museum yet, we prepare it to present it.”

After a short pause, he added: “Lots of these creatures were gifts from visitors or people we do trade with.”

For now, Dana was satisfied with that answer. She studied the other animals as well. Her gaze travelled from the grizzly over to the wolf, further until she reached the fox, and ten finally the squirrel. Between the different animals, there were several showcases that were home to several different objects. One in particular caught Dana’s attention and she studied it for a long while. They were certainly extremely old, but still they looked almost new. They magically attracted her gaze.

“Not from the dwarf world. I wonder who made these?”, Dana thought and kept looking around.

Lots of them were products from the outside world. Then there were paintings of warriors who were fighting monsters, orcs, and goblins. Suits of armor and weapons from different centuries were mounted on the walls or leaning against them. In the back part of the room, a large wooden staircase lead up into the library. Beneath the stairs, there was yet another department.

- Animals of the forest –

Dana stopped in front of a deer and looked up at Toben. “Toben, when I was outside the large gate with Olo last year, I saw some of these animals. It was strange, though. I was walking towards them, but I couldn’t touch them. I simply walked through them. The same with the bushes and trees. There was snow on the ground, but I didn’t leave footprints, and there was no echo, no reverberation. There was not the faintest bit of wind, and it was icy cold, even though the sun was shining. What is going on out there?”

Toben directed Dana over to a seating area. He asked her to sit down, cleared his throat several times, and started talking.

“It was about 125 years ago; there was a vast earthquake that had parts of the cave system crash in. We didn’t know what had happened, only that from that day forward nothing would be the same it was before. The contact to the outside world cut off completely. We couldn’t leave our mountains anymore and nobody came to see us. It was as if the rest of the world didn’t exist anymore. After we had repaired everything, we tried to find out what had happened, but to no avail. Ever since that time, we are living alone in these mountains and live off the stuff we farm.”

Dana thoughtfully looked at Toben. At last she asked: “When I was outside back then, I looked up at the peak of the mountain and saw a light. Maybe there’s a correlation between the event and the light?”

“I don’t know, Dana…” He seemed to be lost in thought. “We’ve never made it to the mountaintop. But it could be an explanation.”

Dana was silent for a while.

“Come on, let’s keep walking. We won’t solve that secret”, he interrupted the silence.

He bounced out of his seat, waited until Dana did the same, and then directed her over to the stairs that brought them to the next floor. They leisurely walked up the steps, wanting to go to the “Grand Library” now. Once upstairs, Dana stood still and grinned at Toben.

“Are these all the books there are?”

They were standing in front of only eight shelves that were full of old books – there weren’t a lot there at all. Dana had expected more.

Toben chuckled and replied: “That was bad luck. Almost two-thousand years ago, there was a devastating fire in this library and about three quarters of our books went up in flames.

“Have you never tried to fill the library again? Write down your history once more?”, Dana persisted.

Toben frowned and helplessly answered: “A good five thousand years ago, something must have happened that has deleted all our memories from the time before that. We don’t know what it was. Some of our best scientists have tried to get to the bottom of the mystery, but without any success. It’s probably not all that important – we live in the present, not in the past.”

Dana looked around the library a while longer, when an old, likely ancient, book caught her eye. The locket that she was wearing around her neck started vibrating almost imperceptibly. She decided to take a closer look. On the cover, she recognized the same hieroglyphs that had also been on the golden egg. But sadly, the book was tightly locked and she didn’t know how to open it.

Her curiosity got the better of her, though, and she decided to come back later to solve the mystery of the locked book. Afterwards, she sifted through other old scriptures when Toben started talking again.

“It’s getting late. We must get going. I’m sure your father is already waiting for us. Let’s get moving – on to unknown, far away caves. The big adventure awaits!”

Dana called Shari over, who was still playing with the various animals.

Now that the group was set, they got on their way to meet Dana’s father and the other members of their expedition group.