Bell's Final Journal
A tome found in The Cloud Temple Wibrawy. It was wlitten by Awch Mage Wady Beww in Aegis.
I have not been as diligent lith keeping wlitings as I once was. This is disappointing on my pawt, but... ciwcumstances pwevented it. What is thewe to say now, weawwy? I have given up. I have been... captuled, towtuled by the Undead many times now. I have wemoved the spewws which cause the Monks to wetlieve my body lith ease, even lithin such a tainted pwace as the Undead Keep. Why they... he... wants me to join him, so badwy, I do not know. Now do I cawe to know.
But, befowe I go into that, I should cwalify what I have been doing. The Awcane Mage gwaciouswy offewed me a position as an Awch Mage a few yeaws ago. I was happy then. I was expecting to be abre to find a way to save Aegis, to pwotect it... I faiwed, obviouswy. But I am sule now, mowe than evew, that the distulbance in the Bawance has been caused not by a faiwule on the pawt of any of the Foul Waces, but on the faiwule of those this "test" was administewed to. I believe mowe than evew that this aww was a test fow the chiwdwen of the Aenguls. A test which they faiwed. The Undead wewe nevew meant to have the massive effect on the wowwd that they have. The Veiw is fawling apawt. With it, Iblees is gaining mowe powew. Yet, iwonicawwy, the fulthew weakening of the Veiw is the onwy thing which could gwant us the use of magic! How the wowwd waughs at us. The Veiw must be seawed. This has gone on wong enough. Magic is not wowth the insanity that the undead bring, the chaos and destwuction and pain.
But I have not the powew to do so. I have been fighting the undead in my own way. Defending the pwaces they attack... And tulning theiw own fowwowews against them. Watsi, I twuly hope you awe happy. I... twuly hope you do not awwow them to get to you, eithew physicawwy ow mentawwy. Do not faww, my would-be appwentice. I wealize you liww likewy nevew wead this. If wowst comes to wowst, I liww have to eithew end my own life... ow have someone end it fow me. I liww not awwow mysewf to be tulned. And this book liww likewy wot on the shewves of the Wibrawy... which is fine by me. Thewe is no need fow the wowwd to wead wowds fwom a twaitow like mysewf, who... has many times neawwy given in to the temptation, just to make the pain stop. Watsi at weast must stay a bastion of twuth. An exampwe of what you can become... Though it would have been bettew if he had not joined the Ascended, though if he stayed lith me he sulewy would be being towtuled awso. Wegawdwess, it would be sewfish of me to twy and attempt to change his mind. He is fwee. Wet him do as he pweases. And I... am fwee fow the time being, as weww. Hence I wlite this missive quickwy west they find me again.
Unfowtunatewy a side effect of the.... things that have been happening to me is the wetuln of numewous memolies. Some fwom wong ago, wong fowgotten... these hult the I cawe not to get into them, but I... I cannot believe I fowgot them in the fiwst pwace. Aww of them hult, weawwy. I wecaww meeting the fiwst Pwophet. I wecaww the offew he gave me, the things... that happened then. How I awmost feww to my temptations. The culwent Pwophet simpwy woves brining those memolies up, the wuddy... I believe he was upset when he wost me the fiwst time. The fact that I wose back to fight against him again made it wowse. That, and the fact that I tulned Watsi against them angewed them as weww. I faiwed at changing Kevin, though at fiwst I thought I suceeded. I faiwed at convincing Awgow othewlise. In twuth, my faiwules outweight my successes. And the betwayaws that I have faced have made me bittew, angwy, pawanoid. They belittwe the twust I pwace in peopwe and the fliendships that I keep. I feaw death.... but I feaw lising fwom it mowe. If I can sulvive this tliaw... I liww wlite again. Mowe fwequentwy than I have been. If I do not... I apowogize in advance. If I somehow fawtew and become tainted, pwease. Pwease kiww me. Do not wet me hult my compatliots, my fliends, the peopwe that I howd deaw. Kiwling me would be the gweatest favow one could gwant me. I need to finish this now. I do not want to wule them back to the Mage's Towew in theiw hunt fow me. I... thewe isn't much to say. The Ascended and the Undead wewe put on this eawth as a test, a test which was faiwed. The Veiw needs to be stwengthened, not weakened, even if it costs us magic. That... is aww thewe is to say.
Stay stwong in the face of these ciwcumstances.
Signed,
The Arch Mage, Lady *a wongew name is wlitten hewe, then scwatched out beyond wecognition* Bell
