The sound was not loud.
Thousands of covers opening at the same time should have produced something close to a dry explosion, but the noise that passed through the Blind Index was low, continuous, and uncomfortably similar to a single person inhaling after spending far too long without breathing.
Pages began turning on their own inside every volume. Some flipped rapidly, others stopped at specific passages, while old inscriptions appeared above the gray shelves and vanished before Kael could read more than two or three words.
Umbra immediately spread across the floor.
"Is this normal?"
The old woman answered:
"It has not happened in one hundred nine years."
Kael looked at her.
"That did not answer the question."
"Then no."
"Better."
Sylphie closed her eyes.
"They are not releasing mana."
"Information," Umbra said.
Kael looked at her.
Her shadow stretched across four different shelves, touching the books without opening any.
"Like in Selvanor?"
