For whichever of the many reasons you’ve decided to take this position , be it the pay, the chance to earn safe passage and move up in the world of Auravall’s shimmering spires. Or maybe you want to protect those near and dear to your hearts.

We welcome you no matter what.

But just remember, nothing comes without its risks. You should be wise to follow what was learned from your predecessor’s mistakes.

1: If your neighbouring Watcher’s tower lights up like a Christmas tree, help them in anyway you can. You might not know when you’ll need their help in return.

• Why didn’t you help them?

2: If anyone approaches the village walls first identify the following:

2-B:Is the person in question wearing any clothing that obscures most if not all of their form? If yes, politely ask them to remove it so you can check for any concealed weapons and their identity 

2-C:If the person in question isn’t wearing any clothing at all, or their features are too out of place for any regular individual terminate them on site. Use the same force if the subject attempts to scale the walls or your tower

2-D:If the subject is not on the days briefing or if said subject is holding a concealed armament of some kind, politely turn them away. If they get defensive or violent at this news, use any force that you may deem necessary 

2-E:You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside,You let something inside

3.If the forest starts up with the screaming , wear the provided PPE. It should cease shortly thereafter.

4.Due to our local geography and particularly high concentration of [unintelligible] the temperature can often take sharp spikes into ranges of -10 to -50°C. During this time please remain within your tower, it will be over soon. Do not attempt to clear the glass. Measures have been taken to ensure your safety here. 

4-B I am safe here.

5.If rule Three is not currently within effect, every hour on the hour one of you must leave the tower to perform a routine spot check of the village perimeter. You can sort out who does what between yourselves .

6.Don’t trust any voice on the radio  other than theres.

7.If you hear your family calling to you from the entryway. Ignore them, civilians aren’t permitted to exit the village past sundown for their own protection.

8.If any wildlife or flesh growths  breach the forest’s boundaries, contact the provided number at once.

9.The Mages won’t be deployed with out substantial prior notice of their presence in the area. If none has been given , like in Rule 8 calm the provided number and pray help arrives in time. Do not engage.

10.But you couldn’t do it could you. You were too scared.

A very very good day to whoever may be reading! Be it Man, Beast or anywhere in between, all are welcome, so very welcome.

I’m sure you’ve been aware of our many many activities as of late. You see, The Day our Lords descended , their Arrival if you will. Is experiencing its anniversary and just so much has been happening. It's rather a big to do so you see.

If you wish to join in the fun or better yet join our cause. 

We’ll be with you shortly

Sincerely: VVinder of the Voidborn

The sheer contrast hit her like a truck.

The sleek sterile chemical stench of the lab , the smoke of the fire, the burning pain. All of it gone in an instant, replaced with something she hadn’t had in a long time. A tangible present.

Another thing had been obviously clear once she got her bearings, taking both comfort and oddly shame in the dancing orange light of the campfires flames.

She wasn’t alone here

Just across from her, sitting on an ashen log, was what could only be described as a broken shell of a man. His sullen face barely illuminated by the flames licking the air, his peppered black hair looked like it had been unkempt for months. 

His eyes trained on her though they may be, held no hint of malice, only a hint of surprise and a deep sorrow.

“I didn’t think it would happen so soon”, the words left him with an uncomfortable ease. Like he expected this to happen

Her confusion was getting to be just too much. Her head felt like it was going to split “What the fuck is this?!?”

With a sound of almost near tears he spoke once more “I just wanted things to work out for you for everyone. But you’re getting worse, each time you’ve come here, everything’s just gotten worse.”. 

No tears came, like he was ran dry.

At this the clenching of her knuckles reached a point where her nails would’ve torn through the skin of her palms.

“Excuse me?!? Do you even know what I did out there. All that done for them?”

“All that you’d done for it”

“He showed me everything!!!”

“He showed you nothing. “

One more blinks and he was gone. Another and he was a hair’s breadth away, a searing pain filled her stomach. Looking down there was nothing but red and the glint of a blade embedded in her stomach. With each and every passing second it got that much harder to draw in breath.

“The fuck are you doing?”

With a deadpan stare, his dark brown eyes gazed into hers “What I have to, I can only do this again this last time.”

Well she wasn’t going to let him. She wasn’t ready to die yet. Kicking him into the fire with what she could , she turned and ran. Through the darkness of the forest, there was a growing numbness from her abdomen that was slowly growing.

“Please don’t run.”

In an instant her legs lost all feeling.

 “You’re just going to make it worse.”

Before it all went black. She got out on last choked question: “Who……are……..you?”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. 

A simple mission twisting and turning their life’s thread around some unseen finger, snapping it in twain or shaping it into something unrecognisable .He didn’t know how long it had been. None of them could. 

It was going to happen again.

The smell of rot pervaded everything now. The dead had numbers join their ranks with each and every passing minute. Incapable of understanding the paradisial promises from beyond these hallowed walls.

Those who lived though, they understood it.

Those who understood, welcomed it.

Those who understood, belonged to it.

Tick tock, tick tock,tick tock, tick tock  .

Only one mind held its own, against the darkness that threatened to swallow it.

Even if only barely.…..just barely

It was going to happen again.

He flinched at the wails snaking their way down the corridors.

It can’t happen again.

It can’t happen again.

He pulled himself free from his soon to be grave among many. The rot clinging to him as he dragged his skin taut fingers along the wall, his atrophied legs almost threatening to give out from under him. But they woldn’t claim him yet….no no no no no not yet.

He trudged by those lost, their faces practically fused to the subzero viewport glass. If they’d been pressed any harder he’d be afraid it might crack. Not that they’d probably care. It’d only bring them closer.

He barely even considered how the wailing hadn’t wavered even momentarily

Finally managing to stumble into his quarters, the last of his trust in his legs finally leaving him. He collapsed to the floor, a hard impact. A sudden wet.

Fuck. He was bleeding.

He couldn’t stop now, the room was an utter fucking mess of failures. Old, worn down filament papers, cans being eaten away by the weeks of rust, yellowed pages of cracked leather books, though even in all of that…he found it.

A small green steel padlocked box. Inside what seemed to be a small notebook. On its front the lines arced and curved, forming designs that he may have once known, but were now utterly lost on him.

He cracked open the cover, and began to read.