The Inkwarden's Trial
In the kingdom of Verathen, books are not just repositories of knowledge—they are prisons for powerful spirits, elemental forces, and ancient beings. The Order of Inkscribes, a secretive group of magical scribes, serves as the guardians of these books, using enchanted ink and binding rituals to keep the contained entities from wreaking havoc. Each scribe undergoes a grueling trial to prove their worth: trapping a dangerous spirit into a magical tome without succumbing to its temptations. Failure often means death—or worse.
Isara, a quiet but determined apprentice, has spent years training under Master Corvel, a grizzled and cynical Inkwarden who believes her empathy makes her unfit for the Order. Isara is skilled at the technical aspects of scribing but struggles to suppress her curiosity and compassion, qualities that are considered dangerous when dealing with manipulative spirits.
Isara’s final trial arrives: she is tasked with binding Maroth, a cunning and ancient spirit of decay, who has escaped its previous prison. Maroth has been wreaking havoc in the southern provinces, reducing fertile lands to barren wastelands with its touch. Isara is given a single enchanted tome, an inkstone filled with blood-infused ink, and a warning: do not listen to the spirit’s words, no matter what it offers.
When Isara confronts Maroth in the ruins of a collapsed library, the spirit is not what she expects. Instead of a monstrous force of destruction, it appears as a graceful, shifting shadow with a voice like velvet. Maroth quickly begins to unravel Isara’s resolve, speaking of knowledge hidden from the Order: ancient truths about the origins of the Inkwarden magic, the flawed bindings in their tomes, and the catastrophic event the Order is unknowingly hastening by suppressing spirits like itself.
Maroth offers her a bargain: if she frees it, it will give her the knowledge to strengthen all the bindings and avert the disaster. If she refuses, it promises to haunt her every step until she or the Order falls.
Conflicted, Isara struggles to discern the truth. The idea of betraying the Order terrifies her, but she cannot ignore the possibility that Maroth might be right. As she hesitates, Maroth begins to dissolve the ruins around them, its decay threatening to spread to a nearby village.
In a desperate gambit, Isara performs the binding ritual. But as Maroth lashes out, she makes a mistake: a single rune in the ritual is misdrawn. Maroth is trapped, but not entirely. A fragment of its essence seeps into her mind, granting her a piece of its power: the ability to see and manipulate the threads of decay and renewal in the world around her.
Isara returns to the Order, the magical tome now sentient, speaking with a faint echo of Maroth’s voice. The book warns her of fractures in the Order’s bindings and hints at an impending event that could release dozens of imprisoned spirits. Isara tries to report this to Master Corvel, but he dismisses her as paranoid and reprimands her for her hesitation during the trial.
Meanwhile, Isara begins to see cracks in the Order’s foundation—literally. The bindings on several books in the archives appear unstable, pulsing with a faint, ominous glow. She realizes that Maroth’s warnings were not lies.