Two things: A notice and a recorded dream.

[allegedprisoner]

Journal Entry

Sender: Luca Balsa
To: Everyone
Subject: Received a strange note by paper bird.

To those who were previously in the Index: Has anyone else received a letter delivered in the form of a live paper bird? I don't mean to raise any alarms, but it said the Story Eater might have followed us here somehow. Perhaps we ought to inform everyone else about the fellow just in case?

To Eli Clark and anyone else who was invited to Orpheus Manor (Forgive me if I got the name of the place wrong): Looking through the above letter and my previous entries in this journal, I remembered something that might explain some discrepancies. It seems while my soul was in the Index, the Story Teller who brought me there put a copy of my soul in my original body. Which allegedly got pulled into a strange hunting game in which he was prey? I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this, but I apologize for any confusion or inconvenience my doppelganger may have caused.

Recorded Dream

Sender: Luca Balsa
To: Everyone
Subject: Dream recording

[ Luca's in an old mansion... Abandoned, by the looks of it. There's dust and cobwebs everywhere and the sensation that the whole place may collapse if he stepped on a floorboard funny. But he knows there's something for him here.

What might be here? He's not sure, but it could bring a revelation and was rightfully his. He passes by a large portrait of a man whose face had melted into the canvas, paint dripping down the canvas and further obscuring the figure. There's a neglected book case nearby... This may be it? Luca starts taking books off the shelves and starts thumbing through them. Notebook after notebook, but it's hard to make out the scribbles on the pages. There's a copy of some adventurous novel placed among the journals, something about a man lost at sea...

A loud noise interrupts Luca's perusal. Footsteps! Someone must be here with him!

He closes the book and shoves it under his arm. He must not be seen here! He can hear his heart beating in his chest as he makes for the window, knowing full well that going through the door could bring him closer to the other fellow. The room seems much larger than he first imagined it to be, but he makes it through the window just as he heard someone opening the door...

It's a short fall. He lands on his side, and wakes up. ]

Comments

[fatedmahou]

So they're tied to storybook characters? I can't say I've heard of it, but I get what you mean. That sounds like a useful ability. [A shame it was gone now.] Mahou also typically specialize in certain abilities based on what their hopes and desires are tied to. I saw a lot of different kinds of magic back home because of it.

When you say destroy from the inside, do you mean change how the story was intended to play out? [She certainly can.]

[allegedprisoner]

You practice magic, then?

No, I generally speak of near-total obliteration. Our efforts to repair the stories usually led to changing them drastically, but that still fixed them all up.

[fatedmahou]

Yep! I specialize in nature and healing magic, but I'm capable of using other magic as well.

That's horrible. I suppose it's for the better, even if it means changing them. ...Or maybe not. I guess it depends on the situation.

[allegedprisoner]

I see. That might be useful in a place like this.

Don't worry, we managed to get the realm to a state where it can recover on its own.

[fatedmahou]

Thank goodness. Hopefully it's more useful here than it was back home.