Elias returned to his small inn room, the leather-bound ledger clutched tightly in his hand.
The flickering mana-lights of the city outside felt distant, their vibrant glow a stark contrast to the cold, dead secrets he now held. He locked the door and placed the ledger on the small, worn table, its presence almost buzzing with a suppressed energy.
He lit a single, mundane candle, its flame a warm, familiar counterpart to the chilling power within him. He ran his hand over the ledger's cover, feeling the lingering imprint of fear and defiance from the woman who had hidden it.
This wasn't just paper and ink; it was a desperate plea from the past, a silent accusation against the Blackwoods.
Opening the book, Elias began to read. The cramped handwriting was challenging, filled with abbreviations and personal shorthand, but his newfound ability to perceive emotional echoes helped him decipher the nuances.
The ledger belonged to a woman named Elara, a librarian who had worked in the city during a time of immense political upheaval, roughly a century ago.
Elara's early entries detailed her frustration with the increasingly restrictive control the Blackwood family exerted over information. They systematically acquired and then "lost" any texts that even subtly questioned their authority or hinted at their darker practices.
But as Elias delved deeper, the entries became more personal, more frantic.
Elara had discovered something profound, something the Blackwoods were desperate to keep hidden. She referred to a "Great Severing,"
a historical event that paralleled the Blackwood Curse that had afflicted his own family. But her notes suggested it was far more widespread, affecting not just a single lineage, but a significant portion of the city's mana-attuned population.
Her research hinted that the Blackwoods hadn't just caused this severing; they had profited from it, using the ensuing chaos to solidify their power and systematically erase all traces of their involvement.
Elias's blood ran cold as he read her increasingly desperate observations. Elara suspected that the Blackwoods had developed a method to not only sever mana connections but to "re-route" it, to siphon it for their own purposes, essentially building their immense power on the stolen energy of others.
His grandfather's explanation of the curse, the "anti-mana" imprint, suddenly clicked into a more terrifying context. It wasn't just a negation; it was a perversion, a direct theft.
There were cryptic references to "Whispering Veins" and "Echoing Wells"—terms that sounded almost poetic but filled Elias with dread.
Elara believed these referred to the conduits or sources the Blackwoods used to perform this mass severing and siphoning. She hinted at an underlying network, perhaps even beneath the city itself, that facilitated their dark magic.
The entries grew more fragmented, laced with growing paranoia. Elara spoke of being watched, of colleagues disappearing. Her final entries were a frantic attempt to hide her research, to leave a breadcrumb trail for anyone who might one day seek the truth.
She described a hidden chamber, accessible only through a forgotten passage beneath the old city archives—the very library where Elias had found the ledger. She believed she had hidden the true, complete records there, records that would expose the Blackwoods' treachery once and for all.
The last entry was chillingly abrupt:
"They are here. May the truth endure."
Elias closed the ledger, his mind reeling. The implications were staggering. His family's curse wasn't an isolated incident, but a focused application of a much grander, more insidious scheme.
The Blackwoods weren't just powerful mages; they were parasites, feeding on the lifeblood of the city itself.
The silence of his room was broken only by the frantic thrumming of his own Embermark.
It resonated with Elara's story, with the profound sense of injustice and hidden truth. He felt a fierce surge of anger, a cold, hard resolve solidifying in his gut.
He needed to find this hidden chamber, these "true records." They held the key not only to understanding the Blackwood curse but to potentially reversing it on a grander scale. It was a perilous undertaking. The old archives were undoubtedly monitored, and the Blackwoods would not have left such a crucial secret unguarded.
Elias began to plan. He couldn't just walk back into the archives. He needed to be subtle, to use the unique abilities of his Embermark.
He thought of the Restless spirits he had encountered, the way he could perceive their lingering desires. He thought of the Blackwood guardian in the crypt, and how he had touched its corrupted purpose.
Perhaps the archives themselves, steeped in so much history and so many secrets, held more than just Elara's physical notes. Perhaps they held echoes, memories, even lingering spirits of those who had fought and failed against the Blackwoods. If he could find them, if he could commune with them, they might offer guidance, or even provide a diversion.
The true battle wasn't just against powerful mana-wielders; it was against a deeply entrenched conspiracy built on lies and stolen power. Elias knew, with a chilling certainty, that he was walking into a nest of vipers.
But he was no longer a scared, useless outcast. He was a Vance, wielding a forbidden power, carrying the burden of his ancestors, and the legacy of his grandfather. The time for hiding was over. He would find the truth, and he would make the Blackwoods pay.