Selected Entries from Ymir's Diary, Vol. 1:
ENTRY: I am on assignment to Therembold. Yozi cult activity has been theorized. Three of the five Cardinal Signs have been observed: black symbols of coiling ivy that appear upon the walls of the city and seem to grow during the night; unexpected coloration changes in local flora; and seemingly coordinated activity amongst animal life. My suspicion is that agents of Laerad are involved; I will learn more once I have entered the region.
ENTRY: I have rendezvoused with local agent Remembrance of Seven Tears. She has examined the location thoroughly and discovered pockets of activity within the city, but I am concerned that the corruption has spread far deeper than it initially appeared. The Essence of powerful beings lingers in places within Therembold. Remembrance has provided a list of potential agents, but I have been unable to verify it: I cannot locate any evidence that they are involved. Someone is directing this, but who?
ENTRY: Something we did not forsee is about to occur. Somewhere in the process we were misled from the true goals of this organization.
ENTRY: Victory, at a heavy price: Therembold is no more. The Strangling Ivy is burnt and its roots plucked from the earth; the demons that dwelt within the City's heart are gone. The land where the city once stood will never be used again. While those of the Twilight's blessing work to deal with the ramifications of this loss, it falls to me to wonder: how could this have transpired?
ENTRY: I have my suspicions. The timing and the access available to the cultists in this city is suspicious. Someone within the heart of the Deliberative must have provided the access that let the cultists gain access to the Centers of Transmution and Elation.
ENTRY: There is no one to report my suspicions to. No one else can be judged to be sufficiently trustworthy. I must investigate further.
ENTRY: When I work with Remembrance next, I will be on my guard.
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ENTRY: I find myself involved in... personal matters. There will be no entries in this space for the following two months.
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ENTRY: He is missing. Something... why? How? I... I need to do something.
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ENTRY: The rescue was successful. Talmuda was not harmed. He says that they did not reveal their identity or purpose to him; merely robbed him of his Essence and kept him disoriented; yet we received no demands, and no one came to retrieve him. The force keeping him prisoner presented no resistance; I was easily able to dispatch them. Why were more powerful guards not used to secure such a valuable prisoner?
ENTRY: This was not the work of a Yozi. Do I dare speak to my theory?
ENTRY: I have found additional evidence that supports my theory. The Lost have not acted upon our affairs since the end of the war; what would it mean for them to begin to do so now? I must investigate further.
ENTRY: We are... to be married.
ENTRY: No entries in this space for the following two months.
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ENTRY: I... have stared into the face of... something greater than myself.
ENTRY: I journeyed to Rintoko as I have to many other places.
ENTRY: There was cultist activity. I acted to put it down.
ENTRY: I fell with the dark god Siram into a cold place.
ENTRY: We fought for a very long time.
ENTRY: He was there. He was.
ENTRY: Erevel.
ENTRY: He's been there, just below the root of the world.
ENTRY: When I looked into his face, I saw everything.
ENTRY: I saw how they built the world from nothingness. I saw how we rose up against them, how Talmuda tricked them and shattered their kinship.
ENTRY: I saw that Erevel struck back at us, and that he had secretly betrayed us long before the Sun glanced upon the first of us.
ENTRY: But I did not see how.
ENTRY: I will never be the same.
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ENTRY: I have suspected that one amongst my fellows was compromised, but today I learned for certain. The Lion that has hounded our borders, who calls up the dead to strike against us, is a Solar. Rosada has been a traitor since his very Exaltation. It is unambiguous, now. He must be stopped. I know; I more than know, for today, I finally unwove the lock that held the cabinet in his chambers; I found what was stored within.
ENTRY: I have in my hand his sword, his symbol: the Daybreaker.
ENTRY: I must tell Talmuda. I must tell him today. We can solve this together.
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ENTRY: We were all wrong, even No one knows what I now Even at our very creation, the Primordials betrayed us Stop.
ENTRY: Everything the Solar Deliberative has accomplished is in danger.
ENTRY: bloodstained I kept my secret for years, but Talmuda had a secret too.
ENTRY: I will refer to it as the Lacuna.
ENTRY: All of this time, I did not realize -- ever since that day, he harbored the goal of working with our enemy. Talmuda... he slew Auna, he cast Nyx into chains... but when Erevel called upon him he came to believe his words... that the war was over, and that the good of the world lie in their alliance... that only together could the most glorious new world arise.
ENTRY: That without his aid, the Lacuna would lay low all of Creation.
ENTRY: I do not know what the Lacuna is. But it was at the heart of our betrayal.
ENTRY: It is what I caught a glimpse of, beneath Rintoko.
ENTRY: We knew that only one of us would leave. I could not stop it.
ENTRY: I held the weapon, and I struck true. I slew a traitor to the Solar Deliberative.
ENTRY: smudged out text
ENTRY: I had to consult the Orrery. I looked into the stars. All that played into my betrayal was laid out clearly before me. I know what I must do.
ENTRY: Kiriath was there. Siram was there. They will pay, for what they did. For what I had to do.
ENTRY: But not yet.
ENTRY: Now, I wait.
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ENTRY: It is finished. He is entombed far below the earth. Nothing will ever free him.
ENTRY: This is the last entry I will ever make.
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