The Mask

Item from acotar-mist-and-fury by

The Mask is one of the three objects of the Dread Trove, an ancient made thing of unspeakable power that can command the dead and bend their will to its wearer.

The Mask is a relic from an age before the courts were born, one of three objects made by the Cauldron or something older—no one living knows for certain. It grants its wearer dominion over the dead, allowing them to command spirits, raise corpses, or simply silence the restless voices that haunt the world. But the Mask is not a tool; it is a hunger, and it remembers every face it has ever covered.

Appearance

Forged of smooth, dark bone that seems to drink the light around it, the Mask is shaped to fit a face perfectly, its eyeholes empty pits that promise a cold, silent eternity. Fine, almost invisible cracks web across its surface, like veins in ancient marble, and a faint, icy mist clings to it even in the warmest air. It feels heavier than it should, and those who hold it swear it whispers—not in words, but in the sound of earth falling on a coffin lid.

Also known as: The Mask of the Dead, The Bone Mask, The Third Face, The Silent Crown

What They Know

• The Mask is one of the three objects of the Dread Trove, alongside the Crown and the Harp, each tied to a different aspect of death and dominion.
• It was made by the Cauldron—or by hands that served it—in a time before the High Lords, when the land was ruled by things that did not have names.
• The Mask has been lost and found many times across the ages; each time it surfaces, war and plague follow, for it draws the dead like a beacon.
• The Weaver in the cottage is said to have once worn it, or something like it—the stories are unclear, but she is certainly old enough to remember.
• It is said that the Mask can also hide its wearer from death itself, making them invisible to the forces that claim the dying, but at a cost the living should not pay.

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