Dear whoever you are,

If you are reading this then I am dead.

Probably.

I suppose it's possible that you—whoever you are—acquired this book prior to my death, but that seems unlikely. Let’s just assume I’m dead. I hope you didn’t kill me, but I’ll have to trust Spellbook’s judgment if you did. Maybe I deserved it.

Anyway, I'm probably dead, and you’re the new owner of this book. Probably. Treat it well, and it will return the favor. This book has saved my life more times than I can count, and—if I'm not being modest—has even helped save the world a time or two.

I've used this book as a spellbook, notebook, research journal, and confidant over the decades. I considered having Spellbook erase my writings upon my death to keep the more embarrassing tidbits and more powerful discoveries secret. But if you're reading this, obviously I didn't do that—or my commands don't persist past my own final death, I should find a way to test that.

In the end, I decided I needed to trust Spellbook's judgment. If it thinks you are worthy of Bonding with it, then I should trust it and not fear you would use my knowledge for ill. This book’s previous owner was far more selective than I when it came to writing in these pages, and I can’t help wondering how many lives I could have saved if he’d been less miserly with his secrets.

In this book, you will find the sum total of my life’s study and a recounting of my adventures, along with any work of note I let the book absorb. I’ve shared most of my discoveries with the world for the betterment of all, but many more were kept secret for the world’s sake. Maybe I should have torn those pages from the books to prevent the possibility of them getting out. But, be it hubris or foresight, I couldn't bring myself to destroy the knowledge. If it fell into the wrong hands it would lead to mass destruction, but in the right hands that same information could save lives in the fight against a greater evil. In the end, my scholar's heart won out, and I couldn't bear to see the knowledge lost.

Please be mindful of the secrets you reveal. I can’t stop you from doing anything—I’m probably dead—but I beg that you read the sum of my entries before sharing any of my discoveries. I hope that once you have seen the dangers of the world as I have seen them, that you in turn will learn that not all knowledge is meant to be shared.

In anticipation of this, I have gone through my entries and prepared them for eyes other than my own. I never redacted, despite the temptation for some of the more embarrassing moments, but instead added some annotations where Spellbook exhibited one of its abilities, and reordered some of the entries for a “more compelling narrative,” as one of my companions would put it. I’m sure from reading you will quickly guess which one.

No matter how you choose to use this book or the secrets within, I am confident Spellbook will be an invaluable asset in your endeavors. I used it differently from its previous owner, and I suspect you too will find new ways for Spellbook to aid you. Over the years, I tried to train it to be more intuitive to use, so hopefully your journey through its pages will have less fumbling than my own.

-Tal

Spellbook, show this page to the next person you Bond.