Here Be Dragons!

Reading Rite

19/05/26

[Eyes light]

The Reading Rite is a gentle ritual for opening a silent mind to written words.

Place eighty-two feathers into the ritual stone, so thought may become language. Add sixty-four ink sacs, deep and dark enough to carry meaning across the page.

Set down one book at the centre, waiting to be understood, then place two amethyst shards beside it to sharpen memory and focus.

When the circle is ignited, ink rises like smoke and feathers turn in the air. The book opens by itself, its letters glowing softly.

When the ritual ends, the chosen soul gains the ability to read.

Last Mushroom

19/05/26

[Last Mushroom]

(Found in the cave where Sparklez and Kara were kept when they’d been kidnapped)

The Mage of Mushrooms was never meant for war.

Their magic belonged to damp forests, fallen logs, soft earth, and quiet healing. They gre glowing caps to guide lost children home and brewed spores that eased fevered dreams.

Then corruption reached the capital.

In the lower tunnels, where survivors hid beneath the streets, the Mushroom Mage stood alone. They filled the passages with living fungus, sealing cracks, feeding the starving and poisoning the rot that tried to crawl through.

But corruption did not kill them.

It learned them.

Black spores bloomed beneath their skin. Their own mushrooms rooted through their arms, ribs, and throat, twisting every breath into agony. They could feel each growth drinking from them, spreading, flowering, refusing to let them rest.

Still, they held the tunnels shut.

By dawn, the people below survived.

\\Rebel Diary 1//

17/05/26

[Unsigned]

(Found in a rebel camp in a cave by Maddy and Pyro)

Day 12

The cave has become quieter than I expected. At first, the dripping stone and pulsing mana kept me awake, but now the sound feels almost like a heartbeat.

Life grows everywhere here: moss on the walls, roots through the ceiling, tiny flowers opening without sunlight. It is beautiful, and terrifying.

Today, we received no message from the academy. That silence worries me more than bad news. Either the they are hidden well, or something has gone wrong. We cannot risk sending another scout yet.

The others packed some supplies, ready in case we must flee. I stayed near the pool, letting its warmth slow the darkness.

We wait. We breathe. We survive.

\\Rebel diary 2//

17/05/26

[Unsigned]

(Found in a rebel camp in a cave by Maddy and Pyro)

Diary — Day 17

The cave still breathes with mana and life, glowing softly in every crack of stone. I can feel the corruptoin slowing outside. There is too much energy here, too much pure life for it to feed properly. For one I can think clearly.

The rebels reported back at dusk. They are planted successfully inside the academy, hidden among students, servants, and scholars. Still, they must be careful. Whispers say spies of Storm have entered the academy too

The package was delivered. Our rebel carried it through without being caught. Soon, they will destroy everyone from within, quietly, piece by piece, until the academy belongs to us.

Now that we know our people are safe, it is time to return to headquarters tomorrow. No more hiding. No more damp stone walls. The other tents are packed and gone.

Only us left.

Me and Frank will go to collect some apples for the long ride home.

Spy Report

17/05/26

[Captain Cap]

(Found in the cave where Sparklez and Kara were kept when they’d been kidnapped)

The spy hidden inside the Dragon School sent only one message before silence took them.

Balance and Snake have been secured.

No one in the cave camp celebrated. The Mage of Balance was too dangerous to keep chained for long, and the Snake Mage had already bitten through some chains and whispered poison into another’s dreams.

Still, they had to be studied. The coming war could not spare the unprepared.

The other two spies had their task. But none had reported back. Now the cave felt smaller.

Footsteps echoed where no one walked. Torches bent away from the tunnels. Somewhere above, the Dragon School would soon notice two empty beds, two missing names, two powers stolen from under its roof.

At dawn, the camp would move.

I will be gone.

Before the mages came looking.

Last Decay

17/05/26

[Final Endings]

The Mage of Decay and Destruction was not born cruel.

Their magic simply ended things.

Flowers wilted when they passed. Iron rusted beneath their fingers. Stone cracked at their touch. For years, they were feared, while the Life Mage was loved. She restored what they ruined.

She grew what they broke. They were opposites, and everyone knew which one the world preferred.

At the capital’s final battle, corruption reached the inner streets. Life stood against it, pouring green-gold light into the wounded city.

Decay stood beside her.

For once, their power was needed.

They destroyed the rot before it could spread, crumbling infected walls, withering poisoned roots, turning corruption into dust. But the magic did not stop there. It crawled back into them, hungry and familiar.

Their skin greyed. Their bones weakened. Their heart began to crumble.

Life tried to save them.

Decay smiled sadly.

“Some things must end.”

Then they fell apart

Trident

17/05/26

[The Guardian]

(Found by Oli in one of the signal towers by the coast)

The Guardian of the Sea stood upon the cliffs below the capital where the waves struck black stone and salt clung to the walls.

They were older than the harbor bells, with a trident of pale silver held always in their hands.

Sailors said the sea listened when they spoke. Fisherman swore the tides bent away from the city because of them. When winter storms rose too high, the Guardian would lift the trident, and the waters would fall back like hounds called to heel.

They asked for no crown, no temple, no praise.

Only vigilance.

By night, they watched the dark horizon for anything that moved wrongly beneath the waves. By day, they walked the seawall in silence, a lone figure between the capital and the deep.

And when danger finally came from the sea, the people did not cry for a king.

They cried for the one with the trident.

Diary

17/05/26

[Farmer Tom]

(Found by Oli)

Dear Diary

Today has been like many others,i wake at dawn, eat a simple breakfast then i work in the fields. When i come home Margret always has a warm meal waiting for me, i love her dearly. she still wishes to learn to read

and write, but we are so busy it is hard to find the time to teach her.

Dear Diary

 Joyous day, Margret is with child, i can hardly wait for our family to grow. It mean i will have to work even harder but they will be worth it.

Dear Diary

Today we were told that there is a threat to the capital but the Queen is going to save us.

She is bringing new dragon riders, and they will protect us