Bookcase Part 2

Needs serious editing, and a good transition

My parents had never permitted entrance into the library, though I had begged them many times before. I was allowed a small collection of wordy, educational books about science, latin and mathematics for my studies. They never spoke a word of philosophy, or theory. Everything I read was fact, black and white, and to the point. I doubted my parents themselves had ever even set foot inside, nor any of the servants. No, as far as I knew, I would be the first to walk through the great wooden doors in over fifty years. I seized hold of both copper door handles and with a tremendous effort attempted to pull them apart. Again I underestimated the thoroughness of the protection over the castle. It was locked of course. The door wouldn’t budge.  I groaned and threw my head back in frustration. Then a thought occurred to me.

I let my bag drop to the ground and I fell to my knees. I thrust my hand inside and began feeling my way through the messy tangle of my most precious belongings, the things I would never be able to leave behind. At last my fingers found what they had been searching for and closed down upon a brass handle. I hastily withdrew the key from my bag and lifted it up close to my eyes. The chamber here was nearly pitch black and seeing was almost impossible, still I could just make out a tiny inscription on the side, bibliotheca, it read.

I took the key and drove it into the lock, a perfect fit.  I held my breath. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure at any second it would alert someone to my activity. Slowly I turned my hand in a clockwise direction until I heard a small click. Excitement and relief poured through my body like I had just been dipped into a cool pool. I released my breath and turned my efforts now to separating the enormous wooden doors. In my great anticipation to see the library I had nearly forgotten my true motivation for gaining entrance to this room. I pushed with all my strength and felt the doors begin to give way to the pressure. I opened them just enough for my little frame to slip through before I turned and hastily slid them closed them again attempting to cover my tracks.

It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the sudden light.  I was standing in the largest room I had ever seen before. Colossal pillars reaching hundreds of feet up stood all around me and connected to a domed ceiling so vast I quickly felt as small as a mouse. Five equally impressive windows lined the walls of the great room. Through the window just south of me the light from a full moon poured inside the room filling every corner with its radiant beams. I stepped out from under the shadow of the doorway and into the light filled room. I raised my arms and gazed down upon them mesmerized, watching the light dance off my pale skin. I lifted my gaze and spun in a very slow circle, surveying every corner of the library. However magnificent the architecture of it was, it was nothing, nothing compared to the splendor of what lined the walls. 

Books. Books of every shape, of every color, of every size, lined almost every inch of the enormous room. They climbed up the walls reaching nearly to the ceiling. A vast array of sliding wooden ladders permitted access to each and every of the millions of pages surrounding me.