Tattered Book (Bava Nisos)
Tattered Book
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- Location
- Hidden Nodule
(Bava Nisos) - Type
- Book
- Interact
- Yes
- Destructible
- No
Tattered Book is a book found in the Traversing the Titan jumping puzzle in Hidden Nodule.
Location[edit]
Text[edit]
A single excerpt of the book remains legible.
ADVISORY: This text has been delisted by the table of the arch-steward for seditious material. It is not approved for distribution. Existing copies are recommended for immediate destruction.
Persons found in possession of unauthorized literature are subject to penalty, including but not limited to: fines, detention, transportation, execution, and community service.
...It was the silence, Junon realized. It should have tipped him off.
Damn fool, he thought to himself, wings flexing on instinct. A fine mess you've gotten into this time. The seer trap had sprung before he could register its presence woven into the stone below him. It had been subtle. Pragmatic. Nearly mursaat.
The blue tendrils of magic binding him held fast, pinning him flush against the cold wall of the ritual antechamber. Shadowcraft? No; too reckless while the mirror network remained throttled. The Hidden Wings could no longer be trusted, either. Improvisation was the name of the game, now...and Junon's life would be the collateral.
For the moment, he affected a casual lack of concern. His attention turned to his seer captor.
Viaro the Tragedian regarded Junon with a cold kind of satisfaction, two of his four arms folded behind his back. The other two arms occupied themselves with the shadowstone dagger, as though mocking Junon for ever believing the relic would be left so carelessly unguarded.
His old friend Viaro. Who else could it have been? Deadly as any seer assassin. Twice as prideful.
"You're slipping." Viaro remarked lightly. The corner of his mouth betrayed his excitement.
Junon kept his own voice light. "So are you," he said. He returned the smile, hidden though it lay beneath his mask. "An invisibility hex? One of ours, I suspect. I thought subterfuge anathema to your kind."
"Failure is anathema," Viaro hissed. His face was close now, all lines and deep angles. "My fhogos shall do whatever it takes to save this world from your vile chaos."
"Will you?" Junon breathed.
Viaro's fingers found purchase on the facets of Junon's mask.
With each clasp undone, Junon's mind wandered. How many centuries had they known one another? How many of Viaro's forces had Junon killed? How many of Junon's forces had fallen to Viaro? In the end, only they were left standing, the two constants in the deadly calculus of war between their peoples.
When Viaro's hands withdrew, Junon's mask followed. For the very first time, they knew each other fully. Eye to eye.
"There you are," whispered the Tragedian.
For a moment they stood there, silent. A fleeting eternity.
The page is torn away at the bottom. The messy nature of the tear implies passion.
