Recovered Fragment – Journal of Alric Vale (Jason's Father)
Location Found: The Dead Library
Date Unknown
Condition: Burnt edges, pages missing, black ink blood-sealed
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Entry One:
I never wanted him to be chosen. Jason. My son.
I buried the truth beneath silence, thinking fate would lose its scent. I ran from the Anchors. From the Watchers. From the Gate. But you cannot escape the Fold. It folds with you.
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Entry Two:
The Watchers came to me when I was seventeen. A boy, like Jason is now. They showed me the Anchors. Said my blood was the key to the third one. That I had to seal it.
They didn't tell me the cost.
Not until I stood before the Sky Cavern and my shadow tried to kill me.
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Entry Five:
I met Elias in the Spiral Mire. He was older then, but his mind was sharp. Said he had once been a Watcher, but turned away. Said the Anchors weren't gates—but graves. That inside each was something buried. Forgotten on purpose.
I didn't believe him—until I saw the Mirror Grave.
My reflection screamed. And then begged.
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Entry Seven:
Kael found me. He was hollow-eyed, his voice like flint on bone. Said he didn't want power. He wanted correction. He said the world was a mistake—that the Fold should never have existed.
He offered me a choice: break my son's fate, or let him open the Gate.
I broke it.
Or I thought I did.
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Entry Eleven:
I saw Jason near the Hollow Sea in a dream. But it wasn't a dream. It was a Fold fracture—a ripple in time. He was bleeding from his palm, and the Gate behind him had eyes.
It looked at me. And it remembered me.
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Entry Thirteen:
I don't know how long I have. My blood burns now—like the seals inside me are breaking.
If Jason reads this:
Trust Elias, but only to a point.
The Housekeeper Spirit lies, but not always.
And whatever you do—don't listen when the Gate calls you by name.
Because it knows your name.
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