The summer night in the city was steamy and the smell of wet leaves wafted around the old library building. Martha, Adam and Lena were leaving the cinema, laughing at the absurd plot of the film, when, passing the library walls, they saw that the main door stood ajar, even though it was already midnight. The first to react was Lena - always curious and a little reckless. "Do you think anyone is in there?" - she whispered, looking at the others defiantly. Adam looked at Marta - the one who usually toned down their ideas - but this time she too smiled mysteriously. "Let's go, what's the harm?" The interior of the library was drowning in semi-darkness. The echo of their footsteps carried down the corridor, quiet as a whisper. As they passed the shelves of mathematics textbooks, they heard rustling. Someone - or something - was turning pages in the depths of the aisle. The light of a lamp was streaming onto a ruddy, old book. They approached and saw an old man in a dark cloak. His face was partly hidden by a thin beard and his eyes shone violet. He smiled at them, as if he had known of their arrival for a long time. "By entering here at this hour, you have opened a door not only to the library, but to something more..." - he began to speak slowly. Martha felt a tingling on the back of her neck, Lena trembled. Adam swallowed his saliva. The old man nodded at them and moved the book in one motion. The bookcase moved away, revealing a staircase leading downwards, where golden light pulsed and quiet whispers rang out, as if a thousand voices were trying to tell their story at once. "If you want to find out what real magic is, all you have to do is take that first step," the old man said, and his shadow swirled among the lights like smoke. The three friends looked at each other. They all knew that this night would change them forever.... Martha stood first on the stairs and.... there was a sudden, dragging sound - and the light downstairs dimmed.