Realm of the Runes: Blood Right

Chapter XVIII

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Dennis watched Lissa disappear hand-in-hand with Bobby, and mentally decided that interactions with children were not his strong point. Internally cursing his indecisiveness, he grumpily headed off on his own. 

After moodily stomping through the upper libraries with a scowl on his face, he wandered into the lower rooms. His booted feet made satisfying thumping sounds as he trudged down the spiraling staircases, so he kept going until he could go no lower.

The lowest room was a basement of sorts; an oblong rectangular hall surrounded on all four walls by bookcases. They stretched up from the tiled wooden floor to an ornately painted arched ceiling. 

He stood still for a moment, contemplating a row of globes orbiting slowly on gilded pedestals. There were many different planetary systems shown on the mechanical spheres, and he guessed they were rotating by the force of the aether.

This is so weird. I’ve never believed in magic, yet here I am - surrounded by it!

A row of Earth globes stood in the middle of the room, and he approached, his curiousity aroused. Astronomy and planetology had always fascinated him, and the unusual Earth models were intriguing. 

Several of them looked to be continents encased in ice, while others seemed have shrunk with changing sea levels. Oddly shaped continents and different terrains confused him.

Where in the devils scorched balls is England? Or America? I can't see either of them.

He frowned as he noted the change in magnetic poles, and the different sizes and shapes of the arctic and antarctic wastes.

These can’t possibly be… records of Earth’s history?

He began poring over the globes, comparing them and making mental notes about the order in which they were placed. 

This one here at the end is the Earth as I know it… these other ones are similar…

He began muttering and calculating trajectories.

“Gods wobbly jowls!” he swore aloud, glaring furiously and tugging an errant curl.

This globe shows the Cyrogenian period of the Ice Age, and it's shown at roughly eight hundred  million years ago… that's freakishly accurate!

He glanced at the other planets, doing mental calculations.

Holy unicorn turds! 

He chewed on his thumb and traced the equator line on one of the globes, his mind working furiously. The sphere spun alarmingly under his fingertip, and his eyes widened as he watched the continents slowly change under his touch.

A timeline?!

For once in his life, a creative string of swear words failed to reach his lips.

He touched one of the continents experimentally, and his vision immediately filled with ice caverns and people brandishing axes made from stone.

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He frantically tried to dodge a fur-clad hunter who was stalking straight toward him., but he wasn’t quick enough. To his surprise and abstract horror, the man appeared to walk straight through him. 

I’m invisible? Hah! Sweet!

He followed the man through breathtaking ice caves, which appeared to make up a kind of village. Houses with distorted ice walls were carved out of the cloudy blueish substance, and he touched it curiously. It was cold - very cold!