DREAMTREADER’S CREED, CONCEPTUS 7

A word of caution, Dreamtreader. Beware of Garnet Province in the district of Verse. The Libraries are there, and they are a vast and priceless treasure. Like most treasures, the Libraries of Garnet Province can be dangerous, even for the Dreamtreader. You see, there are many secrets there, especially in the Inner Sanctum. Much of this hidden lore is open to the Dreamtreader, required reading, even. But there are some volumes you must not read. You must not even touch them! These are the Masters' Bindings, and these great tomes are as far above the Dreamtreader’s wisdom as the stars are above the Waking World.

It is precisely because you must not read the Masters’ Bindings that you almost assuredly will want to read them. Resist the temptation, dear Dreamtreader. Resist with all your heart, mind, and soul. To give in would be your undoing.

The Sages guard the Inner Sanctum jealously. And well they should, for the temptation to read the Masters’ Bindings came over them once. It drove them mad. What is left of them became the Scath.

Sometimes called the Soul-stolen or Felshades, the Scath are utterly conscienceless, ruthless, and maniacal. They are bound to evil just as they are bound to the Sanctum. It is their home, their prison, and their tomb.

But becoming a Scath would be a kind penance for the Dreamtreader. You see, a Dreamtreader who delves into the Masters’ Bindings will become something far worse. But this fate is beyond your reckoning. It is something of which none but the Masters can speak.

Know this, however: the Inner Sanctum has since been sealed behind a door that is impenetrable to the Dreamtreader. It can only be opened or sealed with a particular one of the Masters’ keys. And for many Dreamtreader ages, the Masters' Bindings have been safely sheltered. But now, the danger is greater. The Shadow Key was stolen . . . and then lost.

Lost, but not destroyed. If you should find this “Shadow Key,” use it not. He who unlocks the Inner Sanctum will release the Scath to do mayhem in the Dream and Waking Worlds . . . and will slowly transform into something so wicked that it is beyond imagining.