DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from 'Stargate: Atlantis'. They're not my property.


The ride in the jeep began back to the Bronze City the next morning. John tried to get some information out of Juliana but neither she nor anyone else was willing to share anything with him or Elizabeth. The road soon turned into a familiar path for Elizabeth, reminding her of the one they took to reach the village. She wondered if…

"Stop!" Juliana then shouted. When the first jeep came to a halt, she jumped out if it and hurried behind the bushes. Soon enough she began calling some of the men.

"Damn," Elizabeth thought. She found it after all. When two of the men returned, they pulled Elizabeth out of the jeep while the ones sitting in the front seat made sure John stayed in his place. She was brought to the same tall rock with the warning engraved on it.

Standing next to it, Juliana nodded towards it. "Read it," she ordered the archeologist.

Feeling uneasy, Elizabeth crouched down and touched the stone's surface as if it had been the first time she had seen these engravings.

"And, no lies," Juliana reminded her.

Elizabeth looked up at the woman. "It's a warning," she told her and stood up. "You're not allowed in there if you're not a member of the Emperor's court."

Juliana smiled for the first time. "Good." She then said something to the others. The engines to all five vehicles were turned off, and footsteps, voices, the unloading of crates and other materials, were all heard in the background.

Elizabeth knew what all this meant as she turned back to look at Juliana. "You knew what the letters meant," she said.

"Yes, even though my ancient Krolevian is not as … good as yours."

When John joined them and saw the stone, he sighed annoyingly. "Oh great."

"Plans change," Juliana said.

"It's not as if you let us in on what the original one was about anyway," he told her.

Juliana laughed. "You both like to explore and here's your chance."

"Yes, and having you to keep us company will make it all the more 'pleasant' for us," he replied. Instead of giving him a response, Juliana ordered four of the men to push the big rock.

Dust and darkness greeted them once the heavy rock was removed. "So, who's going in first?" John asked. A flashlight was thrown at him and one for Elizabeth to catch. Looking at it, he licked his lips and sighed. "Or how about I keep my mouth shut next time…"

Elizabeth was the first to set foot inside the tunnel when an arm in front of her prevented her from going further.

"No," Juliana said. "She is more valuable to us… You go first," she told John.

"Nice to know I'm valued around here," he replied sarcastically.

The white circle-shaped light revealed stone steps leading down. The unexpected amount of age-old dust forced him to cough out a couple of times as he slowly made his way down the stairs.

It took some time before they finally saw the end of the stairs where the majority of the brown ground was covered in water. The depth was shallow as they began walking in it. The walls made of brown bricks revealed nothing to the visitors in this almost too narrow of a corridor. As they walked, the ground became higher and the water level lower. A door almost crushed by time and human beings before, stood at the end of the corridor with pieces of fallen rock and dirt.

With the help of two men, John removed the rubble, allowing this 'expedition' to continue.

They came inside a large room with thick pillars made of bronze and on their surfaces images of sharks and serpents engaged in fierce battles. In the middle of the room was a large green circle mosaic on the floor and when Juliana stepped on it, the room suddenly lit up. A hollow animal growl and a human voice echoed from an unknown source.

"What was that?" Juliana asked searching with her flashlight despite the uselessness of it.

"This part of the city – if we're close to the Southern Wing – should be haunted."

"Ghosts?" Juliana looked at him.

"In other words."

The woman shook her head. "Only in children's tales."

"Perhaps Sergio was right," one of the men said cautiously.

"Sergio was always a superstitious fool!" Juliana warned him.

"About what?" John asked but received only a glare from Juliana before she turned her back.

Elizabeth gingerly approached John. "Haunted?" she asked with a whisper.

"No, I just made that up… although that huge cat we saw on our first visit is beginning to give some credibility to it," he whispered back. The disturbing sounds were repeated followed by two deeper ones. "And that."

The room appeared empty with only a few broken vases and dishes. It gave Elizabeth an impression that someone rushed in a hurry through here.

"Keep moving," Juliana advised the two and the other fifteen men that followed them.

The rooms which came after this one seemed even more chaotic. Here too, were crushed vases, ripped tapestries, damaged shelves and even rugs.

The door of the last room led to more stairs going up. More dusty darkness met them at the other end. It felt like another large room, a hall maybe….

The sudden burst of light agreed on the assumption that this was another hall… but a hall filled with scrolls – many, many scrolls. Bronze, old shelves on pillars more than two-hundred meters tall surrounded the visitors.

But it was at the top of these shelves that ten pairs of dark, animal eyes observed them, unbeknown to the visitors.

"My God…" Elizabeth's jaw dropped in awe as her eyes took in this remarkable find before her. Mixed with the floating particles of dust, the sections that were distinguishable by large images on triangle plates with writings beneath them, housed thick volumes of paper in many different colors. "So it does exist!" She spoke quietly, unable to suppress a grin of wonder and amazement.

The floor of this elliptical-shaped hall featured a mosaic of two gray felines shown to guard a bronze-colored, opened scroll.

"Explains why they didn't write much on walls," John spoke, astonished by the size of the library.

Everyone observed this place with astonishment, but it was Juliana who seemed somewhat skeptical. "This looks like the place where they stored all the records of the city, Weir?" she asked whilst observing the images on the plates.

"It has to be. The Library of Time," Elizabeth replied. On one plate was an image of a two hands – male and female – joined together with 'Names' written bellow; another had and image of the sun and moon and 'Days'. The categories were many: from architecture to art… to war and strategies.

"What do you know, they did have something on the military," John said, approaching that section. "About a thousand records at least…" He placed his hand on the first green scroll and gently moved his fingers across it to make sure it felt as steady as it looked. He then pulled one out with the size of a pumpkin. The state of the paper was incredible, preserved almost perfectly by the forgotten time in this hall.

Shining a flashlight over the text, Elizabeth stood close to him. "It's a… record of a battle … one of many with the Wood tribe." Touching the paper, Elizabeth shook her head slowly. "The quality…"

John looked up at higher shelves. "How do you suppose they reached the upper ones?"

"I don't know," she replied. There were no ladders or stairs visible. "What I also find strange is the lack of evidence of how this library was guarded…" Elizabeth stepped away and then slowly spun around, looking for clues. Surely there would be something to indicate that this important hall was well-guarded. Her flashlight beam slowly traveled down to the floor. She sighed sadly. These people had an enormous admiration for these creatures.

On the white surface of the scroll where her foot had been, Elizabeth noticed something in tiny letters. Whispering the translations, she kneeled next to them. "John," she then said alarmingly. "Put the scroll back where you found it."

"Why?" he asked, still looking at it.

"Just do it!" she quickly stood up. "All of you! Don't touch them!" she shouted at the other who had gotten their own curiosity for the written documents.

"What did you find?" Juliana asked her.

Pink gas emerged from the floor in front of the shelves where the scrolls had been removed. Those who didn't run away suddenly fell on the floor when the gas entered their lungs.

"What was that!" Juliana demanded.

"Apparently we didn't pass their security check," Elizabeth replied. She was relieved when she found John next to her, managing to escape the strange gas that went no further than the narrow space next to the shelves before disappearing again.

"Ground or sky…" Elizabeth nodded to the floor, reading the rest, "they protect the records of time from those who do not belong here."

Seeing the four men who had already died sent an uneasy feeling through Juliana. "Why didn't you read that before!"

"It was not easy to notice," Elizabeth told her.

The brown-eyed woman was not pleased by her answer. She grabbed Elizabeth by the throat and pushed her to the ground. Two men held John back, preventing him from doing anything. "Next time, give an earlier warning, Weir!" she hissed at the archeologist.

Beneath her grip, Elizabeth tried to nod. Releasing her, Juliana stood up and distanced herself from the two. "We go," she told them, turning slightly to tell the others.

The circular floor of the two cats suddenly opened, swallowing John and Elizabeth inside its darkness. When again it closed, Juliana stood there, unsure of what had happened. "Perhaps this city is cursed…" she whispered before cursing out loud.


John's heavy breathing was the only sound after the brief chaos of screams, falling rubble and somewhere… the flow of water all circling around her in the darkness when they fell. She called for him; he responded.

"Guess that's the ground part…" he said. "You know, you'd think that all these mechanisms of theirs would start malfunctioning after five thousand years."

Elizabeth rubbed her neck as she let out a small groan. Her hand reached behind her where she heard his voice. She wanted to feel his presence to make sure her ears were not jplaying tricks on her after the brief chaos of noises from before. His warmth was felt when she touched his shoulder; his hand took hers and squeezed it. "I'm okay," he replied as if he could sense her urge for knowledge of his state. She closed her eyes briefly in another form of relief by this.

Her eyes were then immediately drawn over to the white light of the undamaged flashlight next to the wall. She wondered how they survived as the ground beneath them was made of stone and the fall felt… strangely long. Elizabeth immediately grabbed her flashlight. She pointed it around them and found them to be in a small room. Directing it at the ceiling, she saw the hole between the rocks through which they had fallen before. In the absence of better lighting the rocks appeared blue, even gray at times.

A sudden sharp sound of metal turned their attention to the far right side of the room. A small pipe sticking out of the wall began spilling out some kind of liquid. As it began to fill the space and approach the two, it passed over an old human bone – devouring it in the process.

"Not good," John said as he and Elizabeth suddenly stood up. Taking his own flashlight, he scanned the room for possible exits but nothing came in view…except…

"Come on, I'll give you a boost!" he told Elizabeth, pointing at the hole in the ceiling. When she stepped on his hands, he lifted her up where she managed to get a secure grip on one of the rock's ledges and climb up. The dangerous liquid was approaching fast. Grabbing onto her hand, he managed to secure a foot on the wall before jumping up and grabbing the opposite ledge just when the liquid reached a dangerously high level in the room.

"That's some security system," she said with a heavy breath.

Looking up, John was dismayed to find the smooth walls of the tunnel too far apart to allow them to climb up.

"Hey, look," he heard her call to him. Following the light, he saw the end illuminating a man-made hole in the wall behind him. The size of it appeared big enough for a human to crawl through. "Well, this wasn't done by accident," he said and turned completely towards it. They entered the hole, crawling inside it, only to see an empty space at the other end with a drop that saw no end. There was only one rope connecting this end to the other, more distant one. Above him he only saw a ceiling of rocks. John turned off the flashlight as there was decent visibility here. When asked what made him stop, he replied, "How were you in gym class?"

"I did okay. Why? More vines to swing along?" Elizabeth asked.

"More of a rope," he said. Grabbing the rope, he pulled to both sides to make certain it was still strong enough to hold. "Makes you wonder how they put it here in the first place," he mumbled. Holding onto the old rope, John shimmied out of the hole and began hanging above the unknown height.

Crawling up to the exit, Elizabeth saw him slowly making his way along the only line connecting the two sides.

Only the hands and legs that held to the rope and the ceiling were in his view as he kept moving, but a sudden familiar noise suddenly forced him to move his gaze to his right. "What the - ?" Giant wings and a sharp beak zoomed towards him. He could not see the creature in whole but he felt the painful stab on his left arm. The brown-skinned, featherless creature attacked him repeatedly, trying to remove him from the rope. It was ready to strike once again at his eyes but a sharp rock suddenly hit its left eye. The creature let out a painful scream and spun towards the origin of attack.

Retreating deeper into the hole, Elizabeth watched, hoping her attempt to drive the winged creature away had worked. Instead of fleeing, the red eyes watched her as it flapped in one place, as if waiting.

Although feeling pain, John used this diversion and hurried along the rope which continued inside the other hole.

The winged creature looked prehistoric but no species she recognized; and it continued looking at her, waiting for her. Swallowing nervously, Elizabeth hoped desperately it would lose interest and leave them both alone. "John, are you alright?" she shouted over to him while her gaze was locked with the creature's.

"I'm wounded!" he shouted.

"H-how bad is it?"

"I'll survive!"

"Good…" Elizabeth whispered. She switched on the flashlight, pointing it towards the creature. It moved its head disturbingly to it but it lasted for a few seconds. Seeing what it had done to John, Elizabeth knew the chances of her passing this drop safely would be equal to nil as long as that sharp beak and claws were there.

Then suddenly it moved its gaze away, responding to something invisible. It then flew away, leaving the rope bare and somewhat safe. Using this chance, Elizabeth carefully grabbed a hold of it with her arms and legs. Slowly but securely she reached the other side where she noticed a small tunnel and a faint light at the end. Knowing that John had been injured, Elizabeth hurried to it and looked down below the opening on the other side. She saw the flashlight and a couple of feet away was John, sitting down and leaning on the wall.

When she reached him, Elizabeth examined the wound and was slightly disturbed at the site of some green saliva entering the ripped flesh. She wished not to do this but the bleeding needed to be stopped. As she tore off some of her shirt and wrapped it tightly around his arm, he flinched, trying not to let out a painful moan to it. "How do you feel?" she asked him.

"A little freaked out by what just went inside me," he responded to the sight of the saliva.

Elizabeth took out her flashlight and began scanning the room. The small artificial light couldn't provide much visibility and she only managed to see the legs of a stone table and some colorful images of different animals on the floor beneath it. On the surface of the table she saw numerous pots made of clay, others of green glass. She noticed a small diamond on the opposite wall. She walked over to it and carefully put her hand on it. As she did so, the floor suddenly lit up, improving the visibility greatly. Because her hand had remained longer on the precious stone, slowly the ceiling was soon lit up as well. Many objects, similar to the ones on the table, she saw on shelves that continued further down in what seemed like a long room. On the walls were many tapestries of different colors and rich with text, some even being decorated with "charts". On the smaller stone tables with engravings of many creatures of which she recognized only two – the cat and the "bird" from before, Elizabeth even noticed some opened scrolls and the silvery writing instruments next to them. She was, once again, amazed. "What does this look like to you?" she asked of the room, observing it like a child with candy.

"From here… looks like a lab," John answered.

Elizabeth nodded slowly. She approached some of the tapestries where images and text were shown of embryos and other stages of the feline's life; others displayed geographical data; while another had images of human wounds and steps of curing them. "This is unbelievable. They're like charts of what research they did. Biology, human medicine, geological surveys… Let's see what's in the other section…" She walked deeper into the other room.

Waiting, John leaned his head back in the silence. He wanted to show his amazement but his body was beginning to respond against his wishes as sweat began to leave it. "I was right!" he then heard her yell out in excitement from the other room.

"About what?" he asked.

"You have to come and see!"

"Not sure I can do that!" he told her. John heard footsteps before seeing her remerge in this first room once more. He saw her excitement change drastically when she approached him.

"Why are you sweating so much?" she asked worryingly, squatting down next to him. Trying to wipe the sweat from his forehead she felt his skin to be on fire. "Oh my God, you're burning."

"Funny, don't feel it. In fact, I'm freezing," he replied, trying to remain calm.

Elizabeth unwrapped the makeshift bandage only to see the wound being almost healed but the color of the blood being replaced by a combination of white and green. "Stupid bird really did a number on me," she heard him say. Elizabeth looked at his face: the countless times he swallowed the never-ending amount of thick saliva, trying faster to breathe. She secured the wound again, and then gently tried to wipe as much of the sweat away from his face. "Let's see what I can find around here." Leaving the flashlight with him, she hurried around the ancient laboratory, trying to find something that could aid them.

John groaned as his breathing increased. Whatever was in that saliva had sent his body through what felt like a whirlpool. He could not tell time anymore which was why he didn't know how much had passed before he saw Elizabeth kneeling down next to him with some glass boxes, stone instruments and other objects for which he felt too unwell to try and identify. Elizabeth broke one of the glass boxes with a sharp stone from where she took out two green and red leaves. He could only watch. Speech was out of his reach.

She put the leaves in the green glass bowl where she added a white liquid from a vial. She then broke another glass box that contained some seeds and bones. Elizabeth placed them in the bowl and began crushing them with a blunt, stone instrument. "How do you feel?" she asked while preparing the mass. Elizabeth looked up at him and saw his eyes closed. "Shit!" she tried to feel his pulse… and it felt weak. "It couldn't have spread that fast!" But remembering how many attacks he received from the creature, it shouldn't have been surprising. Uncovering his wound, she applied some of the remedy to it. Elizabeth swallowed, remembering what she had read on the tapestry. She took the sharper, thin silvery instrument, applying it with the remedy and then slowly inserting it beneath his skin. Watching his reaction, hoping this wouldn't add too much to his pain, she only saw his face be peaceful which alarmed her even more. She then tore away a part another part of her shirt and wrapped it around the treated wound. Removing her jacket, Elizabeth placed it behind his head to give him the smallest comfort she could, whether he could really feel it or not. Slowly removing her hands, she sat next to him, praying the remedy would work.