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The Name That Bleeds
The name won't stop echoing.
Quillborne.
It isn't just written in the library of erased things.
It's inside him — humming behind his teeth, pulsing behind his eyes, like it was always there.
But Kael doesn't remember it.
Worse… he feels like he should.
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The Ink That Disobeys
He opens the journal again.
Instead of clean pages, he finds a full entry already written — in his own handwriting — though he never wrote it.
"On the tenth day, the Quillborne remembers he was once the Scribe."
"But the ink was never his. Only borrowed. Only cursed."
He tries to tear the page out.
The paper doesn't tear.
Instead, it bleeds.
Black ink pours from the fibers like blood, coating his hands. Words crawl across his skin.
"To erase the Scribe is to become him."
He screams, but the ink runs down his throat like liquid silence.
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The Paradox of Memory
Kael stumbles to the mirror. His reflection blinks before he does.
He wipes the ink from his eyes, but underneath… there are letters burned into his iris.
KAEL
KAEL'ITH
Q—
The last one fades before he can finish it.
He rushes to the torn parchment from the forgotten room. It's changed again.
"Identity confirmed: Quillborne."
"Role: Replacement Author."
"Condition: Failing."
Beneath that, four chilling words:
"The Scribe is not gone."
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The Voice Returns
From the journal, a voice not his own whispers:
"A lie can only live if someone believes it.
But when the lie believes in you…
you are no longer the writer.
You are the written."
Kael feels his hand move. Not by choice.
The quill rises. He watches in terror as his fingers dip into the ink — ink that now hisses when it touches parchment.
"Quillborne. You have begun."
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The Loop Begins Again
The next page writes itself, in ink that glows faintly red.
"Chapter 1 – The Feather and the Lie"
Kael blinks.
That's already been written.
But below it, a second line appears:
"This time, don't forget who you are."
And then a final signature:
— The Hollow Scribe
Kael drops the quill.
The book doesn't fall.
It breathes.
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