Darwin soon reached a framed doorway where he figured Tessa must have gone and gasped as he entered it.

​

He'd thought about the library for years but had never considered what it would look like if ever found. The sheer size of the chamber sucked away his breath as he cast the tiny light about. It struck furniture, shelving, and pillars in a room whose underground size defied belief. It was like one of the giant caverns whose pictures he had seen on the Internet. The ceiling arced overhead six or seven meters and felt larger by curving downward toward the side walls, themselves more than fifteen meters from where he stood.

​

Above him, artists had painted a perfect nighttime sky with constellations rendered in gold stars and their astrological figures outlining the star patterns. It was executed in the same rich colors as the entry chamber, but with more precision. The sheer amount of dark blue pigment would have kept an ancient factory in production for years. The sky was interrupted by four stout columns, each a meter and a half in diameter. These resembled the columns in the entry room in style except for the capitals which were carved in a simple ringed Doric style and reminded him of the Karnak temple in Luxor.

​

Except for Tessa’s footfalls across the room, there was no sound. Deep inside the mountain, the chamber was so preternaturally quiet he could almost hear his heartbeat. And there’s something else, the light? Yes, that’s it.

​

Moving his light across the floor, he noticed a radiance. Travertine tiles, like the marble columns, were polished to an eggshell gloss and the reflected light activated the ceiling depending on the concentration from the beam. He looked upward while sweeping the torch and saw his eyes did not deceive him. The gold in the constellations winked and gave life to the night sky. He felt an ache in his jawline and realized he was grinning.

​

“I see it, too. Isn’t this fantastic? Come look at this,” said Tessa, moving to the far wall.

​

He walked across the tiles to wooden racks built into the space and fitted tightly against the sloped ceiling. A quick glance showed the shelves ran the circumference of the chamber broken only by the doorway. He touched the wood. It was smooth, and he peeled off a small piece and sniffed it.

​

“Cedar,” he said. “The Egyptians used cedar, right?”

​

“Yes, the wood for shipbuilding and resin for mummification, and also.” She paused and gently rocked a wooden box from its place on the shelf. Cracking sounds from the ancient joints reverberated in the chamber. “To hold papyrus rolls intact,” she finished, now supporting the box with both hands.

​

Darwin shined his light on the contents.

​

“Oh my…” Tessa’s voice faded as if in reverence.

​

Perhaps ten tightly rolled scrolls stood on end, each spooled on dark wooden dowels. Darwin’s nostrils registered a mixture of wood resin, dust, and ancient straw. Tessa shifted one hand beneath the box and reached into it with the other. Darwin put a hand on hers, holding it back.

​

“Wait,” he said. “I want to see them, too, but we need the right equipment.”

​

“We need to confirm…” she said, resisting his grip, but he held firm.

​

“I’m serious, Tessa. This is fantastic, but you’re an archaeologist, a scientist. This chamber is confirmation enough. What the hell else would be in here. C’mon,” he withdrew his hand. “Let’s come back tomorrow and do this right.”

​

“You’re right,” she said and slid the box back. She stood for a moment like she would pull the box out again, and then said, “We need to look at the rest of the space. These lights won’t last.”

​

“Agreed,” said Darwin. As Tessa turned to go, he looked around the chamber, estimating the number of scrolls. Must be thousands.