| Number
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Story
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Name
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| 1
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"My name is Nyriad, and I am... many things. A protector. A sister. A Siren. But, above all else, right now, I'm... [sigh] lost. I can only hope that, by looking back on the circumstances of my arrival, I might... find some clue that will lead to my escape. It started, as these mysteries so often do, with a Vault. I can only hope it will end differently."
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Lost
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| 2
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"I fell through the arch into a sea of green grass and warm breeze. There was no return portal. I don't think that's by accident. I could fool myself into thinking it was because no one would want to leave a paradise such as this. But a Siren knows a cage when she sees one."
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Paradise
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| 3
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"This planet is beautiful. Teeming with life, fertile and ferocious in equal measure. But it is also empty of any human presence. I've shouted from hilltops, lit signal fires, left messages in every language I know on every high place I passed. Nothing. If this planet is a prison, it's sorely lacking in prisoners."
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Empty
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| 4
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"I've had no lack of food and water since I arrived. My old life prepared me well for survival. But my powers have added another need. As a leech, it seems, I must feed regularly. I coaxed a small animal out from the hollow knot of a tree. A forager, like me. The way it darkened... turned hard... I think I will try to leech from the tree next time. "
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Survival
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| 5
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"Imagine my surprise when, after leeching a sip of life from a great tree, I felt the warmth of a sister. Another Siren! One who had touched the very same tree, who had fed on the same life. But I'm here now, with the power that was hers. Which means she's... gone... I have no doubt this world was her grave."
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Warmth
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| 6
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"There is something else in the life here. I can... taste it, sometimes, after leeching. Somehow, it always leaves me... hungrier. For someone who feeds through the bonds of the phase, it's almost... intoxicating. I haven't eaten real food in days. I need to find the source of this soon, or I may wither to nothing."
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Hungrier
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| 7
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"I've lost count of the days. It's somewhere in the hundreds, and I have nothing to show for it. Why am I still here? Why keep going? As one of only six Sirens in the universe, I always assumed there was some meaning in it. But here my powers are... pointless. What good is the power to feed, if I can't grow?"
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Meaning
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| 8
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"I've left the grasslands to explore the mountain range. It's freezing, and the wind tears at my thin cloak. But there is less to leech up here. The abundance was killing me. I've also found evidence of life. Ancient life. Civilization, even! Unfamiliar glyphs, artifacts... But now no one remains."
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Life
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| 9
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"I spend my days scouring for relics of the ones who lived here. They may hold answers to the mystery of this place. Perhaps even a way to escape. The craftsmanship is reminiscent of the Vault arch I came through, if not an exact match. They are made of something peculiar—a golden metal. At first touch, it felt familiar. It is that same withering I feel when I leech life on this planet. This metal, this is the cause. But I have little use for something hungrier than I. Unless I need a quick way to end things."
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Metal
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| 10
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"Yesterday, I attempted something I have seen my more experienced Siren sisters use to communicate: I opened my mind, called out to them. My hope was to reach Iris—I've seen her step from one planet to another in a moment and a flash of fire. Instead, I heard nothing but my own voice, rebounding, amplified to a scream."
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Rebounding
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| 11
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"I spent most of yesterday paralyzed from psychic shock, watching the shadows crawl past me. As I lay in the grass, I realized: I will die here. Alone. The only notice of my passing will be a girl somewhere out there in the universe looking down at her skin and seeing tattoos that weren't there the moment before. It was at that moment I noticed another shadow. Moving against the others. There is someone else here."
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Shadows
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| 12
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"I saw the other again from a distance, loping along a high path, the setting sun at their back. They were little more than a smudge against the brilliant gold. I raised my hand in greeting, and their long shadow extended its own in reply. And then they vanished, as though the sun itself swallowed them up."
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Gold
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| 13
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"I awoke to find him watching me, the sun again to his back. The Shadow. He stood there, silent, his shadow tracing the minutes along the ground. Then he spoke, the way a thundercloud speaks. He asked me what my purpose in being here was. I told him I'd come by accident. He turned to the sun, stared at it, as if daring it to blink. Then he shook his head, and left. For some reason, I didn't think to follow him."
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Thundercloud
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| 14
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"The Shadow visited again today. He asked, in that... inhuman voice, if I required anything. I laughed and said all I need is a way off the planet. He did not laugh. He said he wanted to show me something. He led me out of my shelter and pointed to a far off stone, huge and unnaturally straight. He must have moved it there himself. A gift, he called it. He said I couldn't plan for the future without marking my past. That I must plan my life here. Then he left. I believe I have met my jailor."
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Gift
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| 15
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"A veil shrouds this planet. It dims the stars and, I suspect, hides it from the outside world. I now realize this was what blocked my call to Iris. My voice is too weak to pierce this veil... for now. I must find a source of power that does not sap me. The Shadow knows I cannot call for help. But he doesn't know my strength."
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Veil
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| 16
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"I realized something about the strange golden metal in the artifacts. Though it absorbs power at the touch, that energy must be collected inside. If I can find a way to access all that power... I will need a great amount of it to pierce the veil, and these artifacts are mere trinkets. I have a plan now. I will not die here."
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Power
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| 17
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"I've gorged myself. Fed on every source of life and power in my path. There is fire behind my eyes. My marks glow and spark like a brand in the rain. The Shadow knows my plan, or, enough to guess, anyway. He means to starve me. The beasts have been slaughtered, which once ran free and wild through these lands. The trees, whose roots gripped this soil for centuries, lay torn and gasping on the ground. Even the stones bear the scars of his savagery. But in the rifts of these wounds, I feel the faintest shimmer of gold scraped off his claws. The Shadow hides his light, but I... I will burn it out of him."
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Scars
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| 18
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"Name yourself, shadow." — "Timekeeper." — "Why do you imprison me here?" — "That is my purpose." — "No. Your purpose is to be my beacon." — "Ugh! Let go... what are you trying to do?" — "IRIS! HEAR ME! FIND ME! BRING ME HOME!" — "NO! [gasp] A failure. Humans are resourceful. I will have to keep closer watch."
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Failure
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