Book/Lunar Hourglass

Lunar Hourglass is a personal journal written by an explorer named Moss before the start of the story. It details a fox pack's journey to find the titular artifact over the course of a little over a season.

It was originally found in the Thorncherry Fox Den, and now resides in Azalea's Library for safekeeping.

Text
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Moss' Personal Record

subject:

THE LUNAR HOURGLASS

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08/summer

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I first heard of The Lunar Hourglass many many seasons ago, before we'd even heard of the Window to Nowhere. Legend has it that the Hourglass was created by the Gods themselves. Of course, I take this rumor with a grain of salt, but its existence intrigues me.

Over the seasons, I've collected very little information about it, making it difficult to start a proper expedition. The pack and I have developed a sort of vendetta with the Hourglass. The mere idea of it has been elusive enough to keep itself hidden... until now.

Big Ears heard whisperings about the Hourglass during our time in Branning. According to what she'd heard, the Lunar Hourglass only appears when specific conditions are met, though the exact circumstances remain a mystery. When Big Ears pressed for details, the Branning townie shrugged her off, saying that it was only a story. That said, he told her he'd heard the rumor from an archaeologist in a city called Vivianne.

The pack and I quickly got our things together and ditched the Branning den, heading towards Vivianne to learn more about the Hourglass.

12/summer

---

Thanks to Long Tail's brilliant navigating, we arrived in Vivianne within only a few days despite its distance. Long Tail managed to find a shortcut that cut our trip time by at least a few days. I'll have to reward him with a few extra berries this evening.

Vivianne is a massive city, easily one of the largest our pack has visited. Finding the archaeologist would've been much harder had his face not been plastered around the place like some kind of historical celebrity. The signs guided us to a large, multi-story library near the heart of the city.

The archaeologist, known as Professor Taro, was of feline origin, and appeared to be interested with our pursuit of knowledge. I asked him what he knew of the Hourglass, and Taro quickly removed various books from various shelves. He pointed to several passages referencing the creation of Hourglass, and noted how each of them used the word "cycle", giving him the idea that unlike many artifacts, the Hourglass isn't in a stationary place, and can only be accessed once every "cycle".

Of course, he had little idea what the "cycle" could refer to, but he offered a suggestion. "Given its name, The Lunar Hourglass, perhaps it could be dependent on the phases of moon." It was a solid theory, one I was thinking myself, but Taro continued, offering a problem.

"This is only one half of the puzzle, as the Hourglass is likely tied to some location here in Clamor."

Unfortunately, Taro could only give us theories and not answers. He offered us a copy of a book about the moon for the pack to study, on the condition that we return it should we find ourselves back in Vivianne. We made our way back to the den to discuss what's next.

14/summer

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After a couple days of studying various images of the moon and its cycle, we were beginning to lose steam. As usual, the Hourglass was being its usual unhelpful self, refusing to reveal even a hint as to its whereabouts.

Just when we were about to pack it up and shelf the Hourglass once more, Odd Eyes made an observation. "See these cave images?" he'd said, pointing. "They're supposed to be showing moonlight coming through, but look at this one." He pointed to an image of a dark cave with a round light shining on the floor.

"That's moonlight, but it's ONLY moonlight. There's no cracks, no rocks in the way. It's just the moon."

He paused to catch his thoughts. "This is the only cave in this book where the entire moon shines through into it. It could be worth checking out."

Then check it out we shall.

22/summer

---

The moon book pointed the pack and I to a cave somewhere outside the small mountain town of Gravelhead.

It was a long journey for what was essentially a shot in the dark, but it was a shot all of us were excited to take if it brought us closer to the elusive Hourglass.

The cave was small, inside and out, but like shown in the book, had a large, circular hole through its ceiling, allowing pure moonlight to shine down through it. Long Tail and Small Paws stayed outside to survey the area, while the rest of us looked around for any sign of the Hourglass.

I debated in my head what the plan was: should we set up a den here and check back nightly, waiting for each phase of the moon to shine into the cave? It seemed like a lot of time to put into an unremarkable cave. Fortunately, Olive made a massive discovery.

Scrawled into one of the cave walls were a series of symbols, barely visible in one of the few spots untouched by moonlight. While they were difficult to make out, it was clear they weren't Clamortongue. Odd Eyes took note of the symbols and copied them down, and we left for the night.

25/summer

---

Despite our best efforts, neither Odd Eyes nor myself could discern the meaning of the symbols. We'd been going back on forth on whether they were a language, or whether they were instructions or a diagram.

We'd spent the last couple days digging a den outside Gravelhead to set up our base of operations around the cave. Olive, Odd Eyes, and myself returned to the cave nightly, waiting for the moonlight to take shape and form itself into the fabled artifact... but it never did. We'd once again hit a dead end.

28/summer

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The pack and I decided it would be worth the trip to return to Vivianne and speak with Professor Taro once more. If he himself could not determine the meaning of the strange symbols we'd found, surely one of the books in his gigantic library would provide the answer. Despite our physical and mental exhaustion from the expedition thus far, we packed up our things and fled the Gravelhead den, once again traveling to the massive city of Vivianne.

33/summer

---

Professor Taro, in a bit of humor, would not speak to us until we'd handed him the book of moons like we'd promised. Afterwards, he was happy to attend to our request. Odd Eyes showed him the symbols, and we hesitantly allowed Taro to copy them.

"I have good news and bad news," Taro said after studying the symbols for a short while. "The good news: I've identified the symbols as Enderian."

He explained that because the realm has no moon, many beings from the End become fascinated with it. Given where we'd found the symbols written, this seemed like a logical conclusion.

"The bad news: I don't know Enderian. I can't translate for you."

Odd Eyes glanced around the library. "Surely you have book on the topic?"

Taro shook his head in disappointment. "The End is a peculiar topic. Many deny its existence outright. Fools, of course. But studying that which is from another dimension is rather difficult if one has not been to said dimension, would you not agree?"

Our visit proved only moderately helpful, but it was another piece of the puzzle solved, and one step closer to our prize.

All we had to do now was find an Enderian to translate, a task which, as suggested by Taro, would be easier said than done. The End is... unknown. It's uncommon for travelers from the End to make an appearance in Clamor, after all. But when one does, I'll be ready.

41/summer

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It's been over a week since our visit with Professor Taro.

We'd decided to make a den near Vivianne, but the busy nightlife of the city made sleeping difficult, particularly for Pink Nose, who suffers from insomnia on even the best of days.

Things haven't been great. With each passing day, I can feel the pack becoming more antsy, their fear of never finding the Hourglass becoming more and more likely. Like most of us, Odd Eyes hasn't been sleeping much either, as he's been pouring over his research in an attempt to translate the Enderian text by himself. He believes he's made out a couple words, but I worry about the toll this task is taking on his health. If this continues for much longer, I'll have to give up on the Hourglass once more, this time... maybe forever.

The pack comes first. Always.

66/summer

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After a few tough weeks, we've decided to give up on the Hourglass and explore elsewhere. There are too many things to discover in this world to be bogged down by one elusive artifact. I've decided we'll stay at the Vivianne den for a few more days and give the kids a chance to relax and enjoy the charms of the city. I've toyed with the idea of searching for Heaven's Eye in the meanwhile, so we might be heading for Claton Cliff next.

You've won for now, Lunar Hourglass.

87/summer

---

The Lunar Hourglass seems to be toying with us.

During our expedition for Heaven's Eye, we bumped into an Enderian in an alleyway in Jogg City. Odd Eyes, in all his wisdom, informed us not to look them in the eye, which was difficult to do knowing they were the key to continuing our journey towards the Lunar Hourglass.

I hesitantly explained to the Enderian our situation and showed them the symbols, which they were surpringly happy to translate. I hurriedly scrawled their words.

When the Enderian had finished, they handed us the symbols and wished us luck, then vanished in the blink of an eye. I felt somewhat disappointed I couldn't ask them more, perhaps as a gift to Professor Taro, but we'd gotten what we needed. I looked over the translation and...

It was a poem.

"When the moon is at its brightest,

And hangs highest in the sky,

Nol's Hill opens a gateway,

through all of space and time."

"When light shines down upon it,

A moon bound to the floor,

The hourglass turns over,

And reflection becomes a door."

"But time waits for no one,

Sand trickles from the top,

When it all falls to the bottom,

With it you shall stop."

01/fall

---

We'd once again found ourselves in the city of Vivianne. With the Enderian text now translated, our next step was determining the meaning of the poem. It read almost like a riddle, begging the pack and I to solve it so that we could claim our prize.

Professor Taro had little insight more than myself. "Nol's Hill. Is that a place?"

We'd checked Long Tail's maps over and over, but found no mention of Nol's Hill within any of them. If it was a place it was one we hadn't visited, which given our backlog, was both impressive and infuriating.

We decided to hole up outside the city once again and take advantage of Professor Taro's library in hopes of cracking the riddle. For the first time in a while, the pack was invigorated with the idea of finally finding The Hourglass. Soon enough, all our hard work would pay off.

04/fall

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After a few days of researching in Taro's library, Odd Eyes (because who else, frankly) came across a single mention of Nol's Hill in a geography book. The name refers to piece of land and village that existed over 1200 seasons ago.

Lucky for us, the book also included a crude diagram of Nol's Hill. Odd Eyes and Long Tail were able to work together and pinpoint Nol's Hill on one of Long Tail's modern-day maps, finally giving us a solid destination. The Lunar Hourglass is so close I can almost taste it. It's sandy.

15/fall

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Given the unique nature of the area, the trekk to what was once Nol's Hill took a while. Long Tail's navigational skills had never led us astray, but we stopped reguarly to double check the maps anyway. Finally, after what felt like forever, we were within reach.

We decided to take a break and set up camp in Thorncherry, a small village within a day's walk from the Nol's Hill location. We made up a den and got things ready for the following days, where with any luck, we'd be able to add our most sought artifact to the collection.

19/fall

---

Long Tail is going on a solo mission today to scout out Nol's Hill. Given the place is hundreds of seasons old, it could look very different from what little we've seen of it. I offered to send Wide Fang with him, but Long Tail insisted he go alone.

I respect his decision, but I can't help but worry for his safety. I know it's part of being a parent, but still...

Regardless, once he's completed his investigation and updates his maps, the pack and I are ready to head out. This Hourglass will be ours before the season is over!

21/fall

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Something is wrong. Long Tail should've been back by now. What if something... I don't even want to think about it.

The pack comes first. Always.

I need to find him.