Page 1 of Clarity

One

Acurse.

It had to be.

What I’d done to deserve the fate I’d just happened on, laid out in front of me in unambiguous terms in the ancient grimoire I’d just delicately unpacked from tissue, I had no clue.

But a curse it certainly was.

I ran my fingers over the words on the crumbling parchment—dark, red-brown lettering with an odor suspiciously reminiscent of… copper.

Lingering, after all this time.

This was a hard-won artifact, hunted down over years of searching, scheming, lying, bribing… but I’d done worse for lesser treasures. When I finally found it, it barely felt real. The merchant knew it was valuable when it was discovered buried in a trunk with a bunch of other old books, but no ideahowvaluable.

I’d purchased the whole lot to avoid showing my hand, resisted the urge to insist on showing up in person.

Honestly?

I’d have paid triple the asking price to get my hands on it.

To get one of my family’s ancient texts back into my possession, to maybe understand the genesis of our… decimation.

And indeed, I’d found a written accounting of our history, from before it happened.

Words foretold, instead of remembered.

Larivye.

Seeing my name written there, centuries before I was born, had set my chest aflutter.

The words that followed made my heart drop into my stomach, sitting like a boulder of acid.

Dramatic?

Maybe.

But… my supposed fate was one I couldn’t fathom.

I slammed the book closed, unable—or maybe just unwilling—to let the words sit there in the open, uncovered and available for anyone to see… tobelieve.

I couldn’t believe it.

Wouldn’tbelieve it.

Except the nagging voice at the back of my mind told me it wasn’t really a choice.

It wasn’t something I could run from, not really.

But it wouldn’t stop me from trying.

I hopped up from where I’d been seated, knowing exactly what I needed.

The talisman.

I went first to where itshould’vebeen, and couldn’t find it.

Then I looked where itcould’vebeen, and it wasn’t there either.

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