(Excerpt found in a manuscript of the letters from the monk Arev “the Pilgrim,” which was scheduled to be copied and transcribed)

I did not know Prince Ronne Boduognatos long, but from my relatively brief stay, I understand why he now carries “the Crow" as an epithet. Even back then, he was crow-like; solemn, intelligent, observant. When I first met him, he was a youth of ten, and his mourning mother requested I stay to give him an education. While he was the ruler of the Principality of Danan, even that early an age, considering he was still far from the age of majority, the regent was instead his cousin Creusces Delav, a foolish and avaricious man of many vices and no wit. As such, at the time, Danan looked very different then, being a land of lawlessness and misery, raided on every border, and united only in name. I am told now that it appears quite different but is no less sinister.

I was not sure what I was expecting of the young Prince, when I finally met to tutor him. Perhaps I expected him to be rapacious and impetuous, like his cousin, or gregarious and genial, like his mother. Rather than mimic his kin, he was cold, focused, and terrifyingly canny. He had arrogance and ambition, traits the noblesse often profess as ideal and natural, yet he was no fool.

At first, he had believed he had nothing to learn from me and said as much. Being quite young myself then, I had sought to prove him wrong in that regard, pulling upon my own extensive education and travels to find things he could learn from me. I was successful in that regard. I had expected him to feel humiliated or angry, but that was not so. The moment he realized I could teach him things, there was never a more attentive pupil. He learned ten lessons for everyone I taught. I soon realized with shock that even though he had the arrogance to rival emperors, his humility in learning put me to shame.

My stay in the Principality of Danan was short, I did not even stay half a year. My justification was that I had stayed too long in one place and must continue my voyage, but that was a lie. In my old age, I realized I was scared, envious of this child almost half my age, who time and time proved to me my inadequacy.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Since leaving Danan, I have heard many stories, rumors, and superstitions regarding the Crow. I heard them say he deposed his cousin and took his rightful place. I heard them tell of the widespread revolts of the local aristocracy, who had grown fat and authoritative under the fool Creusces. I heard them tell of the final holdout, the Siege of Monde, where the Crow refused to let them surrender, forcing them to stay inside the castle, until every single one of the inhabitants had died of starvation or had lost their minds, and resolved to cannibalism.

And then, after that, it is hard to tell which stories they tell are true, and which have been made up by fanciful minds to scare children. They say he—like his namesake the crow—plucks out the eyes of his enemies to eat. They say his favorite punishment is to use flames to force famished rats burrow through his victims, and that his eyes are as black as his hair. They claim he was the one who first unleashed the Endless Plague. They say his neighbors sent envoys that were mildly impolite, and he chopped off their hands and feet and made them crawl back to their kingdoms on stumps. They claim the Crow survived a stab to the heart and laughed at his assassin. They say even the Devil fears the Crow.

I have trouble reconciling the memories I have with the child I taught, with the rumors of the entity said to even scare the Devil. The adolescent who showed so much humility and insight that even I—an ascetic monk from birth—was humbled; could not possibly be the same person said to be the most terrifying individual to ever plague the earth. The fact that many merchants I have spoken with claim to prefer traveling through Danan, citing the inhabitant’s great wealth and the safety of Danan's roads; makes me think the rumors of his excessive cruelty to be false, yet even they tell of desiccated corpses hanging from the gates of his capital.

I entreat whoever reads this back home to send people to investigate and give me peace of mind. I am now too old and weak to travel as much as I once did and am now too far away to even hear rumors of Danan. I am almost to my destination, but I fear that my lack of peace on this subject will continue to trouble my soul and rob me of the truth I travel to attain.

And if this takes too long to get to my brethren back home, and I am unable to complete my journey because of it, I entreat all that read this. If you too seek enlightenment and truth, and travel to attain it, as I did, seek to be humble in everything, and do not travel too quickly, else you leave your mind with torments and regrets that weaken your will.