The following essay was written by Argus Ackle, a professor at the University of Northshire. It was published twenty years after the court rulings on citing the works of Shiloh A. Wrun.
The document has not undergone any external modifications. Copies of its original published form are neither in the possession of The Library, nor in the possession of any associated distributors.
Due to the unavailability of copies of A Man on the Run, it is impossible to determine the contents of the original extracted quotes.
Shiloh Wrun was once quoted as saying that words have power and that when combined into a story they form the most powerful magics. At the time, scholars overlooked the potential meaning of this quote as one of arrogance over the acclaim his works had received prior. However, with the disappearance of Shiloh Wrun from all realities following his trial, I believe another interpretation has revealed itself.
Two hundred years before Wrun published his first work, sending ripples across worlds as a new author accomplishing what few achieve, Abacus Definch penned their final work: A Man on the Run. While it lay unpublished and untouched in his workshop for years, it would eventually be found among Shiloh Wrun's library and made available for access to a select few. I was one of those few.
The story starts unlike many of Definch's other works, who typically would begin at the birth of the protagonist, by beginning with an old man writing a letter to the reader. It begins:
To the greatest story I have ever told,
In this letter, Definch explains the importance of libraries, of stories, and most of all, words.
Be kind to those around you and do not speak ill wishes. The words you read and those you write linger in the world and have power beyond any otherwise known. They hang in the air, they follow you, whispering to the flora and the fauna nearby. They send warning and deliver wishes. And only some are able to decide what those are.
In this, Definch provides the anchors that hold the rest of his story together throughout the rest of the text. He presents to the reader a premise; this is not just a story told in words, but a story told of words. It begs the reader to let the story envelop them and to take them wherever they go. But it also warns. It warns the reader to not let the words become them or to stick around too long, for words are dangerous as well.
As the text goes on, the narrative blurs between the prose of letter-writing and that of a story. The nameless recipient of the letter begins to speak back, engaging in a conversation with Definch, and Definch begins to listen. The nameless character shares many sites they have seen, people they have met, and books they have read and written - thanking Definch for the advice earlier on.
And the things you will see.
The things I have seen.
At the conclusion of Chapter 2, the elements of the letter are almost completely replaced with prose, outside of a few distinct moments. Chapters three through thirty-five describe adventures of all genres - such as political stories of rebellion, heartbreaking tales of lost love, and mystery stories of betrayal and rebellion. As a result of these mixes of genres, it has been theorized that Definch had been attempting to create a form of proto-collection of his unpublished works. Of note, however, is that several of these stories, particularly the ones beginning at the fifth chapter, display unique writing styles from those of Definch. Such distinctions include deviations of metanarrative, stories included present a more circular nature in opposition to the linear style of Definch's prior works, and a lack of ending.
In prior works by Definch, endings had always been hinted at from the first page and Definch had often said that endings were what they wrote first because it gave something to work towards. However, in this book, the collection reaches its final pages just after Chapter Thirty-Six with no conclusions or resolutions. Instead, Definch concludes with a short, two page, final chapter. In this final chapter, the character thanks Definch for all that he was able to give him through the power of stories and wishes him well, promising to impart this wisdom to the world. In the final words, Definch leaves the reader with a short return to the opening lines:
Never forget the power of stories, for, without stories, we are nothing.
From the greatest story you have ever been a part of.