The Great Astrolabe of Einsem

Excerpt:

“What is this?” Eyda asked, flipping through the delicate pages. On them were a series of complex diagrams showing circles of various sizes, labeled with numbers and shapes she did not comprehend. A few pages in, she saw the familiar image of the Astrolabe’s face.

It shows how the Astrolabe works.

“Where did you get it?”

Upstairs in a trunk.

“Is this why you were outside?”

Something is wrong with the Astrolabe. This might explain.

“But the Astrolabe can’t be wrong.”

It’s a machine. It can break.

“I thought it was magic. Isn’t that what the rituals are for?” 

Yes. But it went wrong. Might be why Wilhelm and Agnes are missing.

“What do you mean?”

Wilhelm did not run away.

Eyda believed him. She did not think Wilhelm ran either. And Wolfgang knew his brother better than anyone. Still, she kept her fears about the truth to herself.

“What do you think happened?”

Taken by a monster. 

This declaration did not comfort her at all. 

“What kind of monster?” Wolfgang took the book from her and flipped through the pages. Finding what he sought, he returned it. Staring up from the page was a nightmare. It was almost human, but not quite. It had lidless eyes, sunken cheeks, and no lips to hide its teeth. But the eyes were wrong. The sockets looked as if they had been filled with multifaceted gems, more like insect eyes than human ones. Underneath the image the author had written a single word: Uhrwächter.

Published by K. A. Lindstrom

A traveling nomad with hermitic tendencies.

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