*several pages are missing from this ancient-looking journal - the leather is faded with water stains and torn in several places, revealing the books inner binding. What once may have been a rich dark brown in hue has been reduced through the years to a dingy faded reminder*
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page - *there is a large stain obscuring this number, and it covers the remaining numbers as well*
Date 5--
*the writing here is shakey and scribbled, stained in places with what appears to be both blood and water*
Success, no. What a ------, a nightmare. So much blood, so much ----. Something went horrendously wrong. We got another Master Crystal, but it doesn't seem to work - ...------- somehow. And along with it came ----------. Some THING. I'm writing this as I'm dying - I can't get out of the -------. The ---ng is gone. It ---- so many of us to ------- instantly.
I hope someone finds this journal - enchanting living matter doesn't wo--, please don--- try it. No ---- Master Crystals, -- more. No more...
*the journal ends here abruptly, pages remaining unfilled and unwritten in*
Date 5--
One of our own, who was severely wounded during the fight against the ----- -----, came and asked that the experiment be --------- on them. Perhaps the animals are too ----- and too stu-- to successfully accomplish what it is we seek to do here.
I am filled with -----, this sou--- exactly like what the ---- mages we fight ------ would do, and I -- --- like it. I spoke my ------- to A----- on the matter - after all, I ------- my best friend was ---- to the accidental -------- of our own ------- -------. But he plans to move forward. He ------ the bene----- would be too great to not try.
We will be performing this ritual tomorrow. I can't sleep.
Date 3--
Az---- has rearranged the elemental ------. But that only seemed to make the poor creatures --- faster. This is becoming --------- to watch and I'm starting to ------ joining this research team...
*several pages are missing, the jagged edges indicating they were ripped out*
Date 3--
Another string of fail----. We've tried chickens, cats, dogs, and one mouse. Each of them were filled with the elemental energies and while they seemed to start to ----, to ------, they suddenly just...explo----. Popped, like a bubble, but far more ------. I'm glad I'm not on the cleaning crew.
Date: 3--
We're starting with -------; small creatures that really can't fight back, for one, but also won't be missed if something goes wrong, as I have a feeling it will.
------- wants to oversee this work himself, so he has set up a ---- for himself, while we share a -------. The facility is a ------- of elemental bala---, some of the best enchantments have been used to stabilize and ---- it. We cannot risk letting the ---- get to us again.
---
It was a failure. We tried to en----- a small dog by attempting to replicate what we think might have happened in Ri------. It took a bit of fiddling with the ri----, and the placement of the --------, but we seem to be no closer to making another Master Crystal.
Date: 2--
I've been reassigned. A new ------- has been opened in the nearby hills, alongside a small bit of farmland, an orchard. It's peaceful there, but I'm afraid our ---- will be anything but pea-----. It was decided that enchantment of orga--- matter could be just as us----, if not more so, than the enchantments we've already ---------.
After all, how great would it be if we could enchant ---------? Instead of making trinkets that ---- with each use and ----, we could have permanent --------- to, say, breathe underwater, or cleanse ------ directly upon co-----? And the powerful -------- - that's what they are, those uniquely powerful enc--------- we craft-- down by -------- - they are wonders. A wand that can simply ------ whatever it is pointed at. A beautiful ---- that moves one to tears the moment they hear it, or puts them to sleep - a masterwork instru---- to be sure.
I'm excited about the new work. But I also dread it. What if it all goes wrong again?
Date: 2--
It's been a few months since I've written here. I don't want to describe the ------- of wh-- happened, but we had to ----. We had to leave K------, it was for the best. We failed ----- people so deeply, the Fir-- ----- came in, as Seen, and --------. Wave after wave of --------, that's what it looked like, though it was only an army of the ---------- we'd ever ----.
So many lives lost, we could not abide by it. We will make a new home in Sha--- by the sea. Their ------- matches our own, and we can ------ each other in this struggle against the -----. We will also be moving the ------ Crystal. That's going to take a great deal of focus and ------. And I don't think we want to risk doing it too much. It's questionable, just how ------ it is.
Date: -----
After the catastrophic events near -----------, the facility has been shut down. What a waste, and how heartbreaking. We were making such progress, and the wonderful ----- we had already enchanted were far more powerful than what we'd seen before. They also ----- ----- longer.
But with the deaths of At---- and L---, we can no longer continue. Our ------- was fascinated by the large ------; we've decided to call it a Master Crystal. I do not know what will happen to the --------- that were sealed by shackles to the -------, but I suppose that's not my problem now.
We're moving the Master Crystal back to ------ to study it further. Az---- seems to believe that it holds -----
*the rest of the page is illegible*