Each time I close my eyes, even if just for a few seconds, I feel it. I’ve asked others, and many have said they feel it also. I struggle to describe the sensation. But the darkness I see when my eyes close somehow grows deeper every second, like I’m falling into the depths of a great ocean. I feel like something can see me, is drawn to me. And it’s getting ever closer. This kind of constant pull at my soul.

The worst part is, I believe it is still coming closer even when my eyes are open, but I just can’t sense it unless I block everything else out.

It’s these pens, isn’t it? The Reachers, are they drawn to them like a moth to flame? Or are they drawn to us, the Arcanists? Do the spells we cast imprint us somehow, calling out a challenge to those across the planes of existence that there are those who would defy the natural laws?

I have thought to test the theory, but to leave Ilsor…it is unthinkable. If a Reacher were to find me without the only means I possess to defend myself, I would never live to tell others what I have learned.