[b]Library of Violetly Toasted Books[/b]

Suddenly, Piper understood. The beautiful violet fire who was the best librarian ever was named Mali. Mali was the keeper of the library, responsible for ensuring the fires stayed lit and the books sorted. She liked visitors, and would like to aid Piper in finding what she was looking for.

Suddenly, Piper realized that she was thinking to herself, and that she had just asked herself a question which she hadn’t asked. What?

Oh. Mali communicated through telepathy. That was it. Mind magic was confusing, it could be hard to tell which thoughts were your own. Well, it was certainly good that there was a librarian here, this way it would be much easier to find information on the history of the Blanklands, and more importantly, the curse that created it. 

Piper suddenly became aware that she wasn’t where she had thought she was. She was now sitting on a comfortable chair, in a cozy, firelit room walled by bookcases, rather than a hallway. Before her, on a table, sat a stack of ancient-looking books. Somehow not startled by her sudden repositioning, she decided to inspect the books.

The books, somehow, were exactly what she was looking for. She didn’t dive into them yet, but they all had titles such as [i]The Mysterious History of the Continent[/i], [i]A Land of Myths and Legends[/i], [i]The Great Geographical Mystery[/i], and [i]Thee Inner Workings of the Uncharted Mismakinges[/i]. They all looked to contain information on the Blanklands and the way it worked. With luck, she could piece together enough information to locate the focus of the curse, and understand it.

Piper smiled, and grabbed one off of the stack, and began reading.

[b]Yaxato Woodlands[/b]

Enrique nodded in what he hoped was a reassuring fashion. Good to hear, this was the easier route. He could be more direct. 

Enrique noticed a downed log nearby, and went to sit on it, gesturing for his illegal friend to follow. When they were both seated, he spoke.

“I have no doubt there are rumors of how no explorers ever come back from this land, outside of its shores. It’s certainly a notable phenomenon. The reason nobody ever leaves here is not because they are eaten by vicious monsters, or die at all, it is because of the creatures you have been, ah, acquainted with,” he said. Good, lead up to it slowly. Ask a few other less meaningful questions to disguise it.

“They are called the Vigils, as far as I understand. They no doubt have another name for themselves, but that is what we men use to call them,” he continued, “When a newcomer to the island makes it beyond the beach, they attack him, and strike him with a sort of venomous tentacle,” 

“The venom, as I will call it, infects itself into the skin of the man it touches. It is impossible to remove. It won’t kill you, on its own at least. There are some things that, in combination, it will, though,” he warned. Nearly there...

“Firstly, if you were to ever directly expose the wound to seawater or enough sea air, it will eat away at your heart and announce to the fishes that you are there to be eaten. You cannot leave by swimming, or even by boat,” he said. That much was true, at least. 

“Second, your own lifespan will henceforth be determined by whether or not you’ve been deflowered. Virgins tend to live longer, the jungle beasts are less attracted to them,” he continued. There, that ‘question’ was out of the way. Hopefully he could determine from the man’s reaction whether or not he was, in fact, still in possession of his virginity. It didn’t actually have anything to do with the Vigil’s curse, but Aldrich didn’t have to know that. Nobody did. The Vigils didn’t care.

“Third, there exist some... Less than morally upstanding individuals within the land’s shores. If you ever meet a man who smells strongly of rotting fish, despite looking impeccably noble and clean, or a group of primitive-looking men with large knives, flee as soon as you can. Do not let him know you are not a native, under any circumstances. They will hunt you and kill you with powers even I know not,” he warned, “I frequently travel the coast, and I have lost foreigner companions to both. Multiple times to the fish man,”

Enrique sighed. He hoped he could stick around with this man, that he wouldn’t be lost to the various horrors of the world as others had. He had gotten rather tired of not having anyone to talk to. 

He continued to sit, waiting for the man’s reaction. He needed to be alert for just how he took the information.

[@Horrid]