I, Ad Dakhla, scribe and chronicler to the court of the Sultan of the City of Bronze, do here set down the story of the Sword of Regret. Once, it is said, a man of Korton so regretted an action he had taken that be appealed to the Dreaming Moon and fabled Vloles to grant him a means of undoing it.

In response, he was sent the Sword of Regret. By slaying 100 souls that it designated through the shifting engravings on its blade, the Sword would allow the hand that held it to erase one regretful mistake. Though not a violent person, the petitioner nevertheless took up the sword and killed those it bade him. When the time came, his sincere regret was acted upon, and the act undone.

However, with nothing to regret, the sword could never have come to him in the first place, for there was no reason for him to ask it of fabled Vloles on the Dreaming Moon. Thus, he found himself, instead, a murderer and hunted. It is said that his journals, now held in the archives of Korton, and eyewitness accounts corroborate this, though I have not been able to find either myself.

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!
Advertisement