The Library Beneath the Lake

They say the lake outside Eldenbrook used to be a quarry — deep, silent, and cursed. But divers who explored it told of something stranger than rock: a stone staircase winding downward into darkness.

No one believed them until the drought came. As the waters receded, the staircase emerged, slick with algae but unmistakable. At the bottom stood an iron gate with words carved into it:

“Every story must return to its source.”

Librarian Mara Finn led the team that entered first. Inside, they found shelves — thousands of them — and books sealed in glass cases, perfectly dry. Each volume had no title, just names on the spines.

Her name was there too.

She opened it against protocol. The pages were blank — until she touched them. Words appeared in her own handwriting, describing everything she’d done that day. Then came the next paragraph: what she would do next.

When the team returned to the surface, they said Mara had stayed behind “to finish her chapter.” But when they checked the book again, her name was gone. Only the word “Returned.”

Now the lake is full again, calm and cold — except for nights when you can hear pages turning beneath the water.