The room seemed to glow with a soft blue light, bright enough for one to read by yet not so bright as torchlight. Long bookshelves covered two of the walls completely, holding tomes dedicated to everything from botany to history, though the contents of one entire section were devoted to magic. In that section, a spot stood empty, the books on each side of it leaning toward one another as if to hold the space for the missing volume.

On a third wall, a door stood between two small tables, one with a beautiful worked crystal bowl sitting on top of it, the other empty of any adornment. The center of the room was clear, except for the large design drawn onto the floor with some metallic substance. The lines of the drawing pulled the light of the room toward them, making them glow with an undeniable power to any onlooker. 

Along the last wall stood a large plain writing table, and at that table, sat a man, his head bent over the book that was missing from his shelf. The table was covered in scrolls and papers, but the book was the only one of its kind on that surface. In the middle of the table, back along the wall, a small globe was held aloft with two sculpted marble hands. The globe was carved to appear as the moon, and some magic lit it from within. It was the globe that cast the blue light over the room, the light that made the seated man's black hair appear to be blue.

With a sigh the man sat up, reaching one hand behind him to knuckle at the small of