A locked shelf clicks open without being touched. A thin black-bound volume drops beneath the suspended ring, striking the floor as its pages begin turning in a windless room.
The book opens to diagrams of the first seal, each root-mark matching the route beneath the eastern lectern. Beneath them, a passage appears in handwriting disturbingly like Coco’s own.
The first lines contradict the voices beyond the sigil: the Covenant preserved only what Coco willingly surrendered. The black ink pulses once, as though awaiting judgment.
Odran
That is not the account we were given. If the volume speaks truth, then the Covenant did not steal those memories from you.
Maelis
Or it wants you to believe surrender was your choice. Look at the wording, Coco. Does that hand remember more than either of us?
Odran remains at the threshold, shield guarding the sigil, while Maelis stays beside Coco and angles her blade toward the open volume. Neither approaches the eastern lectern.
Coco
The ink is older than the book’s opening, but the handwriting is mine.
“Confused on what this volume is trying to say, i try and pick it up and see if theres anything else that might help us understand whats going on”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +0)
Coco reaches for the black-bound volume. His ancient staff steadies the motion, its crystal guiding a small thread of innate magic beneath the book until it lifts cleanly into his hands.
The volume is colder than the scriptorium floor. Draconic heat rises through Coco’s fingers, resisting the chill, while his wary reputation keeps both guardians rigid and watchful across the ring.
With the staff’s crystal maintaining his concentration, Coco turns past the seal diagrams. Hidden writing appears between the lines, revealed by angled ink and a faint shimmer of protective spellwork.
The added passage says the memories were not simply surrendered. Coco divided them deliberately, placing each portion behind a seal so no covenant, guardian, or frightened version of himself could possess the whole.
Maelis
There. That changes the question. You were not merely a victim of the rite, Coco. You designed a way to remain free from it.
Odran
And if your hand wrote this, then you left yourself instructions. Read every mark before trusting the voices beyond the sigil.
Under the final diagram, a fresh line resolves beneath Coco’s thumb: “The first seal holds what I chose to forget about the night of the fire.”
+ New Item Acquired
Black-bound volume
“Are these memories something I want to remember if I sealed them away myself?”
NO (Unlikely, rolled 83)
The black ink settles around the sentence, and the answer becomes unmistakable. The sealed memory is not a treasure hidden from Coco, but a danger he once judged unworthy of carrying.
Maelis
No. You sealed it because remembering seemed worse than living without it. That choice may have been made under pressure, but it was still yours.
Odran
Then the first seal is not a promise to restore you. It is a warning from the person you were that some truths can become another kind of chain.
The volume offers no vision, no hidden command, and no invitation from the sealed memory. It confirms only the judgment behind the lock: Coco wanted distance from that night more than its explanation.
Maelis
You can still seek the truth without pretending you wanted it. Curiosity is not consent, Coco, and remembering is not an obligation.
Odran
Whatever waits beneath the lectern, do not let the Covenant call your refusal a flaw. You sealed it to preserve your freedom, not because you were weak.
The line beneath Coco’s thumb fades to ordinary black. Across the ring, Odran keeps his shield raised and Maelis keeps her blade ready, while the unanswered past remains safely behind its first seal.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the magic used to seal the memories