吾待魂归来，与尔返故居
楚文王初年，迁都郢。楚怀王即位后，物至丰，军至盛，国人亦众。
楚怀王信臣屈原，名正则，字灵均。其身长九尺，面若冠玉，为富家子弟故衣着甚究，常着常著绿素衣，予人衣带飘飘谪仙人之觉。屈原早为楚怀王所信，为左徒，兼知大政。其人正直，颇有才情。屈原虽贵，少常居于民，遂以善待贫穷。怀王甚信之，每有新令必咨于屈原。周慎靓王四年，屈原为楚怀王左徒，从事变法改制，而与之改令。政之数年中，屈原变法改立，与贵戚争衡。楚之势大变，贵戚将削焉，遂有贵戚多患屈原。
Are You Awake?
In this town earth meets sky
Where expanses of dry black clouds
Muster on top of pines and sycamores and once golden church tops.
No one’s been out since last week, doors watched
And closed by angry spying rain
And the expanses of dry black clouds.
In an Angel's Mask
Hereby starts a compilation of the later life of Aurora Scarlett Ophelia, youngest of the Ostelen. All sources are cited. May her sould rest in heaven, far from the Gods.
August 18th, 1380, Rosama’s Tavern in the City of Monceur, far from the War. Retold by Reynolds Graves, who was fourteen at the time of the narrative below. Reynolds seems to have forgotten quite a few details but remembered upon prompting. Slightly edited for literary effect and grammar correctness.
鸣沙山的凤凰和月牙泉的龙
相传炎黄阪泉大战结束后，九天玄女丧尽神力，魔化为旱魃。其三年神不归体，浑浑噩噩，无处可去，魔力失控，所行之处寸草不生，最后被黄帝压制修为，在吐鲁番盆地旁的火焰山修养，待其神力归来之日。
𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒛𝒆𝒏 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔
Good people of the tavern, lend me your ears as I take you on a journey to a land where winter holds perpetual sway. Let the warmth of this hearth and the mirth of this gathering embrace us all as I, the humble bard, spin a tale of unlikely heroes and a quest that defied the very fabric of possibility.
𝐄𝐜𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐬 · 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧
The Grand Finale
The second day of the third week of their staying, Murin suddenly senses what’s wrong.
The books.
The tea that Illium keep inside their walls as a great secret.
The knowledge of the Guild.
She tells her suspicions to Siorial only after three more days, having doubted her thoughts and her thoughts of Cyril turning her mind upside down.
But she decides to ask him.
“Cyril?”
𝐄𝐜𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐬 · 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱
In the Hut of the (Supposed) Dark Mage
They stay in the hut for more than a week. The boy is friendly and welcomes the girls in (as soon as they lowered their quote, ‘frightfully large’ weapons) and they settle in.
Murin had tried to ask the boy about the Mage but the boy had only replied, “I’m the only one who lives here.”
𝐄𝐜𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐬 · 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞
Back on the Road
The Sisters rest within Illium that night. They take their resting place on the second floor of the guest building in the city, close to the General and City Elders’ homes. They are honoured as the saviours, even if several hundred men had died before their belated rescue.
Murin insist on staying in the city for five days rather than Siorial’s preferred one day, a little because of the General’s warm retainments and the comfortable rooms, which contrasted sharply with what they would then face on the road again.
𝐄𝐜𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐬 · 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫
Upon the Fields Outside Illium
There is chaos everywhere. The mute child fends for itself with a short dagger and thinks about screeching crows and a block of simple grey stone.
It looks at the other persons on the field amongst the bloody radiance of the setting sun and the cover of the dust. There are quite a few struggles going on, but most of Illium’s soldiers were dying or on the brink of stepping through that gate of no return.
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢ë 𝐔𝐩𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫
—Betrayal of the Elders
There were originally two races in Udan, Land of Tragedies, Elves and Dwarves.
Firstborn were the Elves, wondrous, light-footed and joyous, who learned magic from Nature itself. They were followed by solemn Dwarves, children of iron and skilled at crafts.