It is my sad duty to announce that the author of this book has been found, lifeless, in Cecelyne's endless desert, a day out at most from the border. Jacint, the Prince Upon the Tower, who stands here today like a bastion on a road of sand, swears It is true and no embellishment to the truth, that I was directed by Orabilis, the end of all wisdom, to investigate the strange occurance of the death of a pack of metody, by sand poisoning, here this day.
The creatures were dead, but not at my hand, and I found no mark on any of them save that of the sands of Cecelyne. The being I refer to as 'the author' was also found dead, unmarked, with this manuscript in his possession.
Equally, I found the author's body, unmarked, dead, possibly from thirst, but without any gross marks of abuse, dead, on this very spot.
By the laws of Malfeas, as they cover the death of those that venture into Cecelyne's endless desert, it is declared that the author committed suicide, by walking into the endless sand, with insufficient water.
— The Broken-winged Crane, end of Laboratory section
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