Codex text
A page torn out of a journal:
I don't know how Taeryn and I are still alive. But we shouldn't be.
We'd been combing through old journals, missives, anything that spoke of the air feeling greasy. That seemed to be the sign of the mysterious circles, and even the broken ones had given off some of that same quality.
We found what we were looking for in an old scouting report from Clan Sabrae. They'd found a collapsed section of the Deep Roads that seemed to lead under the ocean—or at least they reported the smell of seawater.
So Taeryn and I went there. We got a little deeper than the Sabrae scouts, and we found another of the circles.
Then we saw them.
They looked like a person, though oddly dressed. Grey robe, grey helmet, and a mask.
Then they moved. Fast. They were suddenly in front of me. And they were reaching out—but there was something wrong with their arm. It was changing, shifting.
I've fought ogres, demons, and more than one templar. But I've never been so afraid, or so sure I was going to die. I couldn't move.
Taeryn saved me. She hit it with an arrow in the chest. It stumbled back, and that broke the spell. We ran. But we could feel it behind us, and it was getting bigger.
We lost it. I still don't know how. But I'm not looking for these circles anymore.
Let the past keep its secrets.
—Saeris, First of Clan Ersallae