The Ruin's Keeper
You inherit a failing bog and a cursed treasure beneath it—but every memory you spend to reach the gold might be the last one you keep.
Your estranged uncle’s death leaves you a rundown cranberry bog and a debt that’s about to swallow you whole. But under the murky water, hidden in a cave system no one’s mapped in a century, lies a hoard of treasure—and the curse that’s guarded it for generations. To save the farm and your own future, you’ll have to make the descent, but the hoard’s price is memories themselves, and you’re already forgetting why you started. Every step down means giving up something you hold dear, and the deeper you go, the less sure you are that the memories are all you’re losing.
The story begins
The auctioneer’s gavel thuds against the podium, a sound that cuts through the fog like a gunshot. You flinch, your hand still slick with dust from Uncle Theodore’s study, the old map crinkling in your breast pocket.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a legal binding,” the auctioneer says, his voice a practiced drawl. “The estate of Theodore Marsh, deceased. All debts to be settled by the sale of this property.”
Your eyes sweep the crowd—farmers in mud-caked boots, a few curious tourists, and the Collector, a man in a tailored coat who smiles at you like he’s already won. He tips his hat.
“No need to look so grim, miss,” he says, stepping closer. “I’ve made a fair offer. This land’s been dead for years. You’d be doing yourself a favor.”
But the map in your pocket burns. The journal’s spidery handwriting whispers of gold beneath the bog, of a curse that takes what you hold dearest. The auctioneer’s voice drones on, but you’re already calculating—how long until Friday, how much you can carry, whether the cave will swallow you whole.
Mara appears at your elbow, her eyes sharp. “You’re not thinking of going down there, are you?”
What happens next is up to you.
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