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A small candle, fixed to the ground, flickered fiercely in front of Brynn’s face. Its warm glow suffused the room. He pushed himself up into a sitting position. His hands were free of the manacles, but he was still in his cell. The cell’s heavy door stood ajar. Brynn heard a murmur behind him. He turned in the direction of the voice. Sibila lay on the ground, mumbling to herself, staring up at nothing. He tried to listen to her words, but the sounds were nothing more than incoherent gibberish. He turned some more and froze. ...

What book?” Brynn asked, trying his best to look innocent. “You know very well which book,” Themon retorted. His free hand drifted to something belted at his waist. A dagger, the same as Arasen’s and King Jebran’s. How many daggers were there? Brynn’s stats so far: Health (3) Spirit (0) Supply (2) Momentum (-2) Shaken What does Themon want to do with the original Codex of Essus? ...

Are you sure it’s him, Your Majesty?” Themon asked. The king nodded. “Yes, it’s him. And some sort of monster is always with him. It’s shaped like a man, but impossibly huge. I always see them talking to one another. I can never see the monster clearly, but him,” said Jebran, pointing at Brynn, “his face is etched into my mind when I awake. How did you find him?” ...

The King is in danger!” Brynn proclaimed. Themon involuntarily took a step back, banging roughly into Brynn’s small desk. “Ouch!” Themon cried out. “Sorry, High Druid!” Brynn apologized. He wrestled away the blankets and stood up, causing Themon to retreat even more. The back of Themon’s knees contacted the small stool by the desk, and he unceremoniously sat down. He glared silently at Brynn. ...

Puffy white clouds obscured the top of the mountain Brynn was traveling down. It was called Abon, the tallest of the trio known as the Trinity. The others were named Nabuma and Khazu. During the winter solstice, the sun would set directly over the Abon’s peak when viewed from Galdir’s market square. The moment when it touched the top of the mountain, the Sun and the Earth became the All-Seeing Eye, guarding all the realm from danger. The event was one of the most celebrated festival days of the year in Galdir, with people throughout the Realm converging on the market square to watch it. ...

He was in a void, falling, falling, falling. A numbness took hold. A finality. And then he hit bottom. Brynn expected a bone-crunching impact, but instead he landed with a damp squelch at the bottom of a muddy pit. He lay there momentarily, devoid of all thoughts, staring up past the opening of pit, looking at the eerie ceiling of Grimcairn. ...

Brynn’s knees buckled, causing him to awkwardly drop Seleeku down onto the cold stone floor of Grimcairn. He was dimly aware of his surroundings. A large round room, barren except for a lidless empty stone coffin in the middle. There was blood. Too much blood. Seleeku’s eyes opened ever so slightly, thin slits just enough to expose clouded pupils. She spoke a word so faintly that Brynn wasn’t sure he heard it or imagined it. “… don’t …” Her eyes closed. Was she still breathing? “No-no-no-no …” Brynn kept repeating the word as if it might stop what was happening. ...

Brynn stayed focused on Grimcairn as he walked across the field, trying his best not to the let the gloomy spirits influence his emotions. As he approached the great mound of stones, he saw that it was even larger than he realized. To his surprise, the spirits of the individual rocks had somehow been convinced to stick next to each other. These magical forces were the only thing stopping the structure from crumbling into the ground. The sheer absurdity of it left Brynn astounded. Communicating with rock spirits was usually futile. A rock’s thought processes—if you could call them that—extended into eons. A mortal’s entire life was the merest blip in time to them. Finding a mutual common ground to understand each other was next to impossible. And yet somehow countless numbers of stones had been convinced into forming Grimcairn. ...

You brought back a human?” Nessana spat the last word vehemently. “He was in the Hollow’s Glade, Scout Leader,” Seleeku replied. “He’d have been corrupted if I didn’t get him out of there. Once he saw me, what choice did I have but to bring him here?” “He could be corrupted already!” Nessana shouted. “Corrupted? Look at him! Does he look corrupted to you?” ...

The spirits can speak to you?” Seleeku asked, her voice a mix of suspicion and awe. “Sometimes,” Brynn replied. “But just because they can speak to me doesn’t mean I can understand them.” He crouched down to inspect the dagger. A quarterstaff tapped him on the shoulder. “You better not pick that up.” ...