Relics
Power is never free.
The relics listed here are not tools. They are bargains. Debts. Curses wrapped in usefulness. Some grant strength. Some grant knowledge. All of them take something in return.
If you seek one of these objects, know this: the cost is always higher than you think.
The Chain of Breaths
A chain of black iron links, thin as wire, with a small pendant at the center. The pendant is warm to the touch, even in winter. Those who wear it claim to feel stronger, faster, as if their body weighs nothing.
But the chain demands payment.
Wearers report shortness of breath. Fatigue. The sensation of drowning even when above water. Some say the chain is stealing their breaths, storing them for later use. Others believe it is simply killing them slowly.
The last known bearer was a swordsman named Elias. He wore it for six months before collapsing mid-fight. When they found him, the chain was gone. His lungs were filled with black fluid.
"I could move like the wind. I could fight for hours without tiring. But every night I woke up choking. And the dreams... I dreamed I was drowning in a place with no water."
— Elias, two weeks before his death
Warning: If you find this object, do not wear it. Do not carry it. Leave it where it lies.
The Red Cloth
A strip of red cloth, no larger than a handkerchief. It never tears. It never stains. And it never stops bleeding.
Those who carry it claim it has healing properties. Wrap it around a wound and the bleeding stops. Tie it to a broken bone and the pain fades. But the cloth itself bleeds. Constantly. Slowly. And the blood is not yours.
No one knows whose blood it is. No one knows why it works. And those who use it too often begin to notice changes. Their skin grows pale. Their eyes sink. They stop feeling hunger, thirst, pain.
They stop feeling anything at all.
"It saved my life twice. But after the second time, I couldn't remember my daughter's name. I threw it away before I forgot anything else."
— Anonymous account, recorded in Greyhollow
The Mirror Shard
A fragment of a larger mirror. The glass is smooth, dark, and reflects nothing. Or so it seems.
Those who look into it see themselves as they will be. Not as they are. Not as they were. But as they will become if they continue on their current path.
Some see themselves dead. Others see themselves crowned. Most see nothing at all, which is somehow worse.
The shard was last seen in the ruins of Hollow Ridge, clutched in the hand of a corpse. No one has retrieved it. No one wants to.
"I looked into it once. Saw myself old, scarred, alone. Sitting in a chair with my sword on my lap. I wasn't smiling. I wasn't crying. I was just... waiting. For what, I don't know. I never looked again."
— Account from a survivor who entered Hollow Ridge
[Additional entries to be added]
There are more. There are always more. But not all relics are worth recording. Some are better left forgotten.