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I stepped closer to her, discovered the date, then the elegant inscription.

Blairville, Est. 1793.

In a tiny corner, another, much smaller inscription read: Cast Anno 1801 by Gable's Forge for Vanderwood

“I thought Vanderwood had the university built in 1866?”

“That's when the university opened. Construction began decades earlier,” she explained to me. “And as far as I know, 1793 is just the official year of the town’s founding. According to historical Quatura records, the settlement of the island and the development of civilization began as early as the 1770s.”

Nodding slowly, I scanned the map, then the floral wood carvings on the edges of the dark table.

Why was everything here so dust-free?

“Holy shit?” We all turned to Miles, who had stopped in front of the wall next to the stone stairs. “Are those... masks?”

I walked over to him and inspected the white and black deer and stag skulls, as well as their different pointed antlers and the brackets on which they were mounted to the wall.

Most of the skulls were white, only two, including their antlers, were completely black. Another one was completely white, including its antlers. The other skulls had black or brown antlers of various sizes. One was even decorated with feathers.

Beneath the masks were small wooden plaques, each bearing an engraved gold plaque inscribed with a Latin-sounding word in elegant lettering.

botanica

orchidaceae

myosotis

hydrangea

lilium

nymphaea

aquilegia

anemone

verbena

“Seems so...” I murmured in amazement, resisting the urge to touch them.

Miles touched the antlers without hesitation and laughed softly, a fascinated sparkle in his eyes. “Crazy.”

“There are more here,” I heard Julie say, and we immediately moved on, walking along the wall, past a large mirror with a dark antique brass frame, next to which stood a black wooden fashion doll wearing a simple black cloak.

Another wall with masks presented itself to us.

But these ones were different. They weren't real animal skulls, but actual black metal masks decorated with floral patterns.

There were no holes for the eyes, but I was sure that one could see perfectly well through the many perforations in the floral patterns, although these masks had to be heavy.

Each mask was unique with its floral elements, and the shiny metal antlers spanned a wide spectrum of form and color, ranging from large to small, blunt to sharply pointed, and glowed in hues of gold, silver, and bronze.

However, the only completely black metal mask in the middle stood out in particular. The black metal antlers were elegantly curved and immense, and thin black metal chains hung from one side to the other, attached to the pointed tips, crossing over one another a few inches in front of the mask, radiating elegance and something divine.

“I wonder if they are wearable.”

I reached for Miles' raised arm.