After passing through this room with an extra bedroom, Angor continued on for two hours and kept seeing the same room. It felt as if he was walking on The Redbud, but went from worker shacks to the rooms intended for talents.
“So the rooms here were arranged in the same way?” Angor guessed. Maybe he would come across bigger rooms later, like those for Apprentice Wizards on the top level of The Redbud.
Angor found many objects in these bedroom rooms. There were weapons, glasses with unknown contents, several alchemy items… However, they all disappeared not long after Angor took them from their rooms. The same thing happened to the parchment scroll.
Angor did not know what was going on. Still, the items vanished before his eyes, and he could only accept the fact in frustration, believing that such strange things should happen in the Nightmare Realm.
After walking for another hour, his idea was proved. He found a bigger room along the stairs. This room had a bedroom and two extra compartments.
Angor did not find anything useful in the new room. The one additional room seemed to be a closet of some sort. Dust rushed at Angor’s face when he tried to open its door, and there were lots of decayed pieces of clothes on the floor. Nothing else.
Disappointed, Angor moved on.
Angor ran into the same rooms as well in the next hours. They also had objects of unknown purposes in them and would disappear after Angor took them away.
The only things useful to Angor were books since he could record them in his hologram tablet. Angor even took some time to check his recordings and made sure the pictures of the books did not disappear like the other items. Looked like his “recording tactic” worked fine.
After confirming this strange fact, Angor began choosing what items he went for. He no longer paid attention to miscellaneous objects, and only looked for anything worth recording, such as spell runes printed on vases, characters written on unknown scrolls, wall paintings, books…
With this tactic, he progressed on the stairs a lot faster.
Angor finally reached the end of the stairs.
There were two exits with light coming out from them. The exit leading away from the stairs, and another wooden door beside the exit.
Angor did not intend to escape right away. He glanced at the exit and focused on the wooden door next to it. He believed this was the last room he could search.
For some reason, he had a strong feeling that the special channeling method book should be inside this room.
The room was obviously different from the previous ones. The door alone was twice as bigger, about three meters high. Angor did not have to bend down to enter the room this time.
With a bit of uneasiness, Angor stepped into the last door at the end of the stairs.
Golden light blinded him for a while. Angor looked carefully and found himself standing in an endless hallway, and the light was coming from the golden bricks on the floor, which was reflecting bright candlelight.
So many things were pulling Angor’s attention. The candlesticks on the walls were made of gold as well. They were embedded with precious gems. Those large fluorescent orbs on them were giving out enough light even without the candles.
He walked down the hallway. Apart from the expensive-looking candlesticks, he also saw oil paintings in various styles. There were portraits of beautiful women, wildlife, countryside fields, oceans, and boats… They were all different, but Angor could still recognize that these were absolute masterpieces.
Those drawing skills were obvious to anyone. Ordinary folks could easily see the vividness and emotions coming from the paintings.
Every painting could have been a unique treasure in a museum, yet they were openly displayed along the walls without obeying particular orders or classifications. A painting showing despair or frustration could be placed across one showing positiveness and happiness. Maybe the owner of these paintings did not understand them very well.
Angor took a guess that whoever owned this place simply wanted to show off his wealth. Golden floor, gem decorations, famous artwork… all mixed together. This man had no idea he ruined everything.
Angor went on while shaking his head occasionally, disapproved of the decorations.
Beyond the unamusing hallway was a large living room. A long desk and chairs were placed in the middle. There were two other hallways on the sides and a pair of stairs leading to the second floor behind the main seat.
The living room was decorated in the same luxurious manner. There were many rooms around, and exits in different directions. Angor walked around the living room without finding anything particular, so he went straight to the second floor.
According to his experience, the hallways on two sides should lead to the rooms for servants, kitchens, and bathrooms, so he did not go there first. Owners usually lived on higher levels. However, he was not a hundred percent sure. He had already seen those bizarre decorations, so there might be something weirder.
There were three rooms on the second floor, two of which were bedrooms. Telling from the interiors of the rooms, one of them seemed to be the owner’s room, and the other belonged to the owner’s daughter. Angor found some notes in a small drawer in the girl’s room. More importantly, he could read these notes. They were written in the universal tongue.
“Dear Margaret, oh how I miss you. The foul air in the forest, the vicious guards in the city, and spreading sins in the Stairs of Hanging Prison… they cannot prevent me from longing for you. As I miss you, flowers bloom, birds sing, wind chants, hearts pound. O, Margaret, you’re so beautiful, like the bright moon at the end of the month, illuminating my hollowed heart, like…”
Angor only read a small part of it and already got goosebumps.
It was just a sickening love letter!
So the owner of this girl’s room was called Margaret, and the notes were from her admirer.
Angor checked several more notes and realized they were from the same individual since they all had the same handwriting. Angor did not find any useful information between those disgusting lines. One sentence was enough to conclude these notes: I know you don’t love me, but I love you, and that matters.
The love letters from a one-sided lover.
Angor soon reached the last piece of note, which only had one hastily written line on it.
“Oh, Margaret! The disaster is coming, we have to leave. I love you, sweetheart!”
“Disaster?” Angor looked at the word and recalled seeing the garden ruins in Sunders’ crystal ball.
Did the Garden of Labyrinth become ruins because of this “disaster”?
Another line was written below but in different handwriting. This line was written in prettier, ornamental penmanship.
“I love you too, dear Augustin Noah.”