For shadows’ grasp
to be broken

Though counted among the greatest and most beloved magicians in the world, he had, in truth, missed much of life itself. A hermit by nature and sour of temper, he kept to his solitude, with books for his only companions.

Yet when old age drew near and he could not bear to leave the earth behind, he sought to outwit death itself. In defiance of mortality, he transformed himself into a mind flayer. Thus he purchased long centuries more, but dearly; for there are bargains by which a man preserves his days only to lose all that made them worth keeping.