Aveline stepped off the last stone stair and into the underground chamber.
The basement had been carved directly into the bedrock beneath the Arcanum. Rough stone walls stretched into the shadows, lined with shelves overflowing with books, rolled parchments, glass vessels, curious minerals, coils of copper wire, gears, polished rods, and countless metal pieces whose purpose she could not begin to guess.
Every workbench was cluttered with half-finished contraptions, as though their creator had simply abandoned one idea to chase another before either could be completed.
Her gaze drifted to the center of the chamber.
There, mounted upon a heavy stone platform, stood the largest creation of them all.
