The Untold Story

Chapter 1

I was nervous. I was on my way to an interview that could make or break my career at the National Library. I glanced over at my notes about the person I was going to interview: Rhohedon Ronyo. Despite my love for detailed research, my notes were shockingly sparse, for although the library contained information on the majority of the realm's population, there was very little on Mr. Ronyo. Thunder crashed as lightning wrought a fiery path across the sky as I approached a large iron gate, silhouetted darkly against the black velvet of the clouds above.   At first I wasn't sure I was at the right place, but as lightning lit up the sky, I saw the giant back to back capital Rs on the tall wrought-iron gate.  I pressed the buzzer on the gatehouse and received a curt:

"What?"

"I'm Elaesa DeMoch," I said, slightly intimidated by the rather dark scenery and apparent wealth of Mr. Ronyo. "From the National Library. I have a meeting with Mr. Ronyo.". Without a response from the intercom, the gate swung open silently. I drove up the driveway, gravel crunching under the tires of my vehicle, the tall dark hedges pressing in either side of me.

As I pulled up to the mansion, I parked the car and took several deep breaths, taking in the smell of fuel from the vehicle's engine, laced with stale sweat from the car's previous driver. When I'd gotten my composure, I got out of the SUV and walked up the dark marble steps, finding myself in front of two large, ornate doors. It took all of my willpower not to have my tail curl between my legs at the fear that gripped me. Upon closer inspection of the house, I began to grasp the sheer size of it. Dark stone walls rose high above, lost to sight in the mottled darkness of the clouds. The slight scent of a fire confused me, for I had seen no chimneys on the mansion on my way up the drive. I hadn't been able to see much of the roof at all, just a sort of blurred outline, as though a number of trees grew on the roof.  Not knowing what else to do, and seeing no bell for the door, I grasped the ornate knocker and knocked once, slightly confused at the lack of echo inside the house. A house as large as this one would echo considerably, unless lined with tapestries or carpets. While I waited for someone to answer the door, I combed out my red fur and attempted to relax. I jumped when the butler, an Ursur, tall and thickly built like the majority of his kind, opened the door. I hadn't heard him coming. 

In silence he looked me up and down, seeming to analyze me. I desperately hoped he couldn't smell my fear, as well as the faint sheen of sweat on my forehead, despite it being a cool night. After he stepped aside so I could enter, I noticed at once that everything was decorated oddly. It seemed that I had stepped into an ancient forest. The floor was a carpet the color and texture of moss, a deep green, and soft to the touch.  The walls seemed to be conspicuously missing, or made up of numerous fake tree trunks packed next to each other. Taking a deep breath through my nose, I was shocked at the scent of live trees pervading the air. I walked up to the nearest trunk, a birch of middling size, and put my hand on the bark. Amazed, I realized that the trees around me were quite real, and very much alive. Looking around, I noticed that the atrium I was standing in was a small copse of beeches and river birch. Craning my head back, I followed the trunks as high as I could and saw the branches woven together above me as a roof. Even as I watched, a leaf fell and made its slow, looping journey to the ground. The butler caught up a broom and swept the leaf into a small pile of others near the door. Curious, I began to walk down a long hall of pines to my left, only to hear a rough cough from the butler.

"The master will see you in his study. This way," he said in a voice that sounded like stones breaking. Taking out a lantern that seemed to contain numerous fireflies, which cast everything in an eerie yellow light, The Ursur led me down a maze of halls and open... meadows, for lack of a better term. After a time we came to a room entirely closed in by tall oaks. I looked to the butler, waiting for him to open a door, and then realized that there wasn't one.