Burning Beneath

The book felt ancient in Sam’s hands. Its leather cover was cracked and chipped at the edges, as though it had been passed through countless generations. The pages, brittle and yellowed with age, gave off a faint scent of dust and time. She opened it carefully, the weight of it strange, almost alive, as if it were waiting for her.

The words on the first page seemed to swim before her eyes, blurred and difficult to focus on. Frustrated, she leaned closer, and that’s when she noticed it—certain letters shimmered. They weren’t static like the rest of the text. Instead, they flickered with a soft golden light and leapt off the page, floating in the air for a brief moment before fading back into the paper.

Sam blinked, unsure if she had imagined it. But then another letter glowed, its light brighter, its movement deliberate. A pattern began to emerge. She scrambled to grab a pen and paper, her pulse quickening.

This means something.

One by one, she jotted down the golden letters as they appeared, page after page. Her fingers trembled with the effort of keeping up, the words pulling her deeper into the book. The world around her faded until nothing existed but her and the puzzle forming in her hands.

Finally, she reached the last page. Her notes formed a phrase, a cryptic message that made her heart skip:

“Come find me.”

She stared at the words for a long moment, unsure what to do. Then, almost instinctively, she read them aloud.

The book trembled in her hands, and a low hum filled the air. She tried to shut it, but the pages refused to close. Instead, they flipped wildly on their own, faster and faster, the text vanishing as they turned. Sam gasped as the words disappeared, leaving the pages completely blank.

The book began to glow. She stepped back, but an invisible force pulled at her, rooting her to the spot. Before she could react, the book cracked open wide, impossibly wide, its emptiness stretching out like a void.

A rush of wind exploded from the book, whipping her hair around her face. She struggled, but the pull grew stronger, dragging her forward. Panic surged as her feet lifted off the ground, and with a final, desperate cry, she was sucked into the book, the world around her collapsing into golden light.

When Sam opened her eyes, she was standing somewhere else. The sky above her was an impossible swirl of gold and black, neither day nor night. The ground beneath her felt soft, pliable, like pages of a giant book. Strange trees rose around her, their trunks shimmering like ink.

In the distance, she spotted something that didn’t belong: a massive quill, its tip buried in the ground and glowing faintly.

Sam took a hesitant step forward, her voice trembling as she whispered to herself, “Where am I?”

The air around her seemed to respond, carrying a faint, haunting whisper.

“Find me.”