63 Ymiden 716
The university, situated within the crown of Rynmere, occupied a flat section of land, beautifully landscaped with colourful wild flowers, and neatly kept trees and shrubs. Framed by four tall towers, one at each corner, the middle of the university building opened up into a roofless garden with a decorative maze fashioned to depict the sigil of Rynmere, the Jacadon. Through the entrance way, a long desk ran along the west and east wall, each manned by a member of staff who specialised in their administrative fields. Visitors were met by the sight of a long swinging pendulum which hung from a domed ceiling and sunk into its mirrored equal on the floor, trimmed in gold and lined with a dark mahogany wood. Beyond this was the exit to the central maze, and either side of the pendulum led guests down hallways that would take them in a simple circuit about the building, which via either route, would led them back to the exact same spot beside the pendulum. Along these paths one would discover double doors to the laboratories, classrooms, and teacher offices.
The university itself stood three stories high and sank another four into the earth, the lighting here said to be powered by a special plant that grows in one of the forests in Rynmere, kept in glass orbs and hung from ceilings and walls on bronze chains. Malcolm's classroom was on the first floor and backed onto the open garden at the centre of the building, the sun shining in through the high windows.
He sat at his desk, surrounded by piles and piles of paperwork, essays that needed grading before the day was through, work that had stacked up while he had been away on leave. It was a troubled dream in which the man did not realising he was dreaming, everything just as it should be, just as it was right down to the coloured chalk that sat below the blackboard. The classroom was empty and quiet, in fact, had the man not stopped to listen and hear chatter in the halls, he might have almost been convinced that he was completely alone.
