Fragment IV: Lucian - The Quiet Hand
From the Lorekeepers of the First Blood
Translated by Bryanna Thorvold, Archivist of the Forsaken
They call him the Quiet Hand of the North.
But his weapon is his mind—and his mind will not shut off.
Lucian sits in his chamber, surrounded by scrolls. Runes. Patterns. The alchemy of their transformation mapped in careful, obsessive detail. He has catalogued every symptom, every variable. The way the hunger manifests. The triggers. The cost.
He has fed tonight. The vessel left hours ago, satisfied and unharmed. His body is balanced. His mind should be quiet.
So why does he still feel broken?
Through the bond, he feels the Wolf's self-destruction. The Defender's grief. The Warden's bone-deep exhaustion.
He feels her most clearly. Always her.
Arless. The girl he loved before he understood what love was. The woman he betrayed n a rage he cannot take back.
He told himself it was protection. That she would be free.
But he stole her choice. And she has not forgiven him.
Lucian's hands shake as he dips his quill. Another notation. Another pattern observed. If he can understand the curse, perhaps he can control it. Perhaps he can become something other than dangerous.
The Warden's footsteps echo in the hall below. She has fed and left.
She does not know he watches. That he always watches.
That through the bond, he feels her loneliness like his own.
They call him the Quiet Hand. But his violence is internal—a self-punishment without end.
He feeds to survive.
But survival is not the same as living.
And the woman he would live for?
She will not let him close enough to try.
_____
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