1st Entry:

  I, Galeon Von Banalius De la Sol, write these words in paper, for my mind cannot be trusted.

  My family has gone mad in the pursuit of power and have sought the aid of a monster beyond our realm. Elrizakolesh is its name, and I hope the ink preserves it, because nothing else will. When whispered to the guards or passing adventurers, they forget it a moment later.

  It was only a few days ago I was inducted into the cult. It was my 13th birthday. I’d asked for a new puppy, after old Tenson had passed away. Instead, I got the ramblings of mad men trying to convince me what they were doing was for the better.

  Now, I wait and I watch. For any opportunity to escape this madness, and maybe, free the people around me.

  34th Entry:

  I, Galeon Von Banalius De la Sol, took a woman’s life today.

  It was for another twisted ritual. I had half a mind to vomit but I knew if I did, I’d be branded weak by the others. There’s no one my age among the members of Elrizakolesh’s retinue. The closest is Jare, a boy of fifteen with an extra arm covering his mouth. It’s gnarled and bony appearance frightens me, and he doesn’t act the way normal men should.

  My father says I need to wait just a year more to be fully made a member. Whether that means I’ll sprout another disgusting appendage like the others, I do not know. But he does not tell me, and I grow more scared by the day.

  I have a plan. I don’t know if it will work, but I pray it does.

  156th Entry:

  I, Galeon Von Banalius De la Sol, do not deserve to live.

  I escaped, but only at the cost of my sister’s life. It wasn’t my fault. She’d twisted her leg. If I’d slowed down for her, I’d have been taken along with her.

  Her voice haunts me still. I came back the next day to rescue her, only to find no sign of Alisha, nor of Bellarevia. The town was gone from the map, a crater taking up the space where it had once been.

  Where am I supposed to go now? What am I supposed to do?

  162nd Entry:

  I, Galeon, heir to a house that no longer exists, do not want to live.

  I’ve gone from eating meals prepared by old master chefs, to rats from the alleys. The only game I can reliably hunt. Parasites riddle my body; my teeth are loose and my spit bloody. The only comfort I have is in these words.

  I’ve travelled as far as I can from where Bellarevia once stood and found nothing for myself. The towns and cities around do not know me, I have no resources, so what they see is a starved teenager too unseemly to even look at.

  Maybe If I go back to the crater, my family will take me back. Then at least, I would have the life I deserve as a son of Banalius.

  212th Entry:

  I, Galeon the pusher, have learned to shut my mouth.

  That was what the thug who hired me wanted me to learn. Rilvan is his name, and he had me pushing boxes for a month afterwards. What was inside them, I didn’t know. And the ones who peeked weren’t seen afterwards. I didn’t earn much, but at least it was enough for a meagre living.

  I’ve lost a few teeth now, and my body gets worse by the day. I look nothing like my father or the others from my house. No different from the peasants around me. And every night I’m plagued by nightmares of Bellarevia. The town calls to me. My home. My birthright.

  There is a constable coming around here soon. I should like to have a word with him.

  213th Entry:

  I, Galeon the well-paid, am happy for once.

  Rilvan’s operation was dismantled. It seems he was sneaking illegal magical weapons into the country, arming rebels to destabilize the nation of Teshina.

  I suppose I did my noble duty in preventing that, but that wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. No, it was the cash reward that I got in return. Already, I know the other thieves and mongrels in the city will be eyeing what’s mine. I should leave soon, I suppose.

  But where will I go?

  256th Entry:

  I, Galeon the traveller, found a nice inn to have a meal at.

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  There were many adventurers there. Scarred, muscled and bearing magical powers I envied. I talked to one of them, a wizard named Shannara. I should’ve known it was a scam at first, the way he charged me to check my magical potential.

  None, was what he said. He even made a good show of pretending to be sorry for me. I hated that look. Wanted to wipe it away from his mouth. But I know no spells and can barely wield a weapon.

  I want to prove that stupid wizard wrong. Therefore, I’ve joined a small expedition to an abandoned cave system. I hope to come back with riches for the future.

  257th Entry:

  I, Galeon the fool, found nothing.

  The caves were bereft of anything. The other adventurers there were just as annoyed, and we had to abandon our rogue in the mines. We didn’t do it lightly, but it had to be done. It had to.

  There were dark things down there, and the only bit of loot we managed to scavenge ended up being a broken necklace with the symbol of a phoenix emblazoned upon it.

  The symbol called to me, so I paid the other adventurers to let me keep it. We parted ways then.

  So much for camradarie, I suppose. A failed venture is all I got. I should move on.

  293rd Entry:

  I, Galeon the wanderer, am wasting my time.

  Today marks the fifth year of my escape from my home. 19 years of age, and I haven’t found anything worthwhile outside. I’ve stayed in a small town for months now. The people welcomed me, and I made friends with an innkeeper named…. Her name doesn’t matter.

  I’ve let this journal go to waste in the meanwhile. Sometimes I flip back to the old pages but find only pain within. Bellarevia doesn’t leave my thoughts, even though I’ve tried to bury it.

  I think I understand my listlessness now. I need to go back. If my family still lives, I need to rescue them. Without it, I will never have peace of mind nor a place of belonging.

  321st Entry:

  The innkeeper’s name was Alisha. I should’ve known I couldn’t forget, when she reminded me of my own sister so much.

  I’ve been on the road again for a while. But this time for a different purpose. Over the past few months, I’ve been investigating occult occurrences in any place I could find within Teshina.

  There should be something, but my leads are taking me nowhere. I put myself in more and more danger every day trying to uncover these secrets. The country hides a dark underbelly, filled with monsters both human and completely inhuman.

  They practice dark arts that make my stomach turn, but to which I find myself attracted to nonetheless. There are summoning rituals for even the meek. Ways to restore health and provide power. If I used those… could I too be more than what Shannara told me I was capable of?

  325th Entry:

  I, Galeon the Arcanist, completed my first ritual today.

  It was nothing untoward. I just needed the carcass of a rabbit, a tooth from a goblin and some other odds and ends. The ritual was complete within ten minutes, and I came out of it with a new set of teeth and feeling nowhere worse.

  I cannot lie; it was an elating feeling. But I’m quickly running out of funds and resources both. I need a way to earn more, but I think I’ve already found it.

  368th Entry:

  I, Galeon the Ritualist, am a miracle worker.

  My little shop runs like clockwork. I’ve garnered a great many materials and a large selection of clientele for my rituals. For them, I need no magic, but only the knowledge within my books. I’ve read those same books cover to cover, just to glimpse a bit more of the knowledge behind it.

  Though I’ve done this, I still grow no closer to finding the truth behind Elrizakolesh. I need a greater source of knowledge than laymen and customers. I need someone arcane.

  There is a special ritual contained within my books. Circles of the Elders Vol. II. It tells of a way to summon a creature of great magical might and knowledge and ask it but three questions. The materials I will need to gather for this ritual are expensive, but I think I can manage it. I just need time.

  384th Entry:

  I, Galeon the Warlock, have finally gotten power of my own.

  The summoning ritual went more successfully than I could’ve ever hoped. At first, I thought I had failed. That the symbols or symmetry of the circle were wrong. But then arcane power welled up within, and I bore witness to the face of a true Lich.

  That was what he called himself at least. Bathed in robes brimming with power, the man was a skeleton, bony white with only a flicker of light in his eyes. He seemed amused more than anything with my presence and asked how I’d managed to garner his attention.

  I answered truthfully and asked him the first of my questions, which he was bound by the circle to answer truthfully himself.

  “What is Elrizakolesh?”

  The lich, still unnamed, answered.

  “An Elder God. Stuck in the Far Realms.”

  That gave me a lead. But then he asked what I planned on doing with that knowledge. When I told him, he laughed. He balked at my lack of magical talent or skills. It was an embarrassing experience, and I held onto my phoenix necklace for comfort the entire time.

  That seemed to get his attention, and the lich muttered something about an external spark giving me what I needed. I did not understand, but he requested my second question.

  “How do I reach Elrizakolesh or the Far Realms?”

  “You cannot.”

  That was his only answer then. It was depressing. But he added an addendum that it was only with my power I couldn’t. I had but one question left, and so I asked him.

  “Where can I earn power beyond my own?”

  A contract burned, appearing in the Lich’s hand as he offered it to me. He asked me to become his warlock, to finally gain the power I rightfully deserved as a noble. All it would take would be servitude to him for my entire life.

  I balked at the terms and refused. Somehow, the Lich escaped the circle then and offered me his hand. When I took it, my mind and soul separated from my body and I was whirled to a realm beyond my imagination.

  And within it, trapped like a snow globe, was Bellarevia. But it was surrounded by a barrier that monsters outside could not pierce. A perfect little bit of civilization within the confines of the Realm.

  I wanted to go further, but the Lich pulled me back and reoffered the contract. I didn’t even know his name yet. When I asked, so I could make sure it was not a devil, he refused to answer.

  I called him Blank. He chuckled, and I signed away my life.

  Final Entry:

  I, Galeon the Warlock, have reached the end of this little journal. It was a gift enchanted by my father to able to hold much more writing, and with an enchanted pen to go along with it.

  But I need neither now. I’ve closed down my shop, stowed my belongings and brought all my gold along with me on this journey. Blank sends me to a faraway land, and I’ve met a few adventurers willing to come along with me.

  Among them is a Paladin that seems to irk Blank, and an eclectic monk. I’ll try to make use of them, but their goals and mine are separate. Blank needs the ashes of a phoenix, and I want answers.

  Thank you for being my companion through the past decade. I’ve written into you my pain and my emotions, but I do not think I can bear to carry you with me any longer. Even if I get my family back, my life is now in the hands of a Lich. As soon as he fulfils his end of the bargain in returning my family and town, I will be his.

  I, Galeon Von Balanius, Warlock of Blank, write my final words. Live or die, There will not be another page to read.