The Obsidian Chime
By @john1208
I woke up suffocating inside a sealed glass cenotaph suspended miles above the fog-trenches - an impossible place meant only for the honored dead. I soon realized I had survived my assassination by swapping souls with a recently deceased, clumsy apprentice. Haunted by my past, I leaned into my new identity, playing the cheerful, babbling airhead to quietly watch over my grieving, platonic life-partner, Karsan. We were finally finding a melancholic peace together, until Olyana returned. She is Karsan's ex-girlfriend, the one who abandoned him during his political exile, weeping that she was leaving 'to spare him the burden of caring for her.' Now that Karsan is powerful again, she wants her place back. To eliminate me, Olyana 'accidentally' shatters my magnum opus - a delicate memory-tapestry - crying that she was only trying to help my clumsy hands. She expects Karsan to comfort her. Instead, he coldly uses his authority to completely blacklist her from the city's resources. But the real trap is mine. The shattered glass is designed to reconstruct itself, projecting her deliberate sabotage to the entire assembly. When the truth is laid bare, will her wealthy patrons finally abandon the monster behind the tears?
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