[Puzzle] Came to the Kingdom an unusual malediction, ravaging the realm and spreading wide without restriction endemic was this pain, and the key is how it left the Watched deeply scarred, wrists bound and deprived of their vision

These were times of conquering and expanding. In the first few years, the armies began to venture out into the world when they discovered the Lake that would become sacred to their kingdom.

It had been a difficult raid, with lives lost in battle and few supplies remaining, but despite low morale, those who lived to fight another day stubbornly marched on, hoping there would be greener pastures ahead.

It took a few days of wandering and nights spent hungry and cold before they came across the valley. They arrived by night, and aside from the singing of cicadas, it was quiet and desolate; it seemed like a safe haven for their tired bodies to rest. The prince who led them planted a flag, which made a rush of light spread through the grass, as far as the eye could see, to claim this place for the kingdom before they marched cautiously into this unknown place, cold and blue under the moonlight.

The prince lit a fire with a snap of his fingers, and they broke bread around it as they prepared to sleep for the night. One of them, however, a young Day Watcher, was restless - though as lacking in energy as the rest of them, the sight before them of the empty valley woke in him the need to explore. The Eye Lord appointed to this specific faction warned him not to stray far, for there might be creatures around, and should he disturb them, their army might not be in a condition to defeat them.

The young Watcher shrugged this advice off, trusting his own skills and instinct, and soon enough, he was out of sight.

The army slept a few hours as the Eye Lord stood watch, as his kind usually did during these raids when a strange noise was heard through the valley. The Eye Lord stood straighter, more alert, looking into the distance, and he saw the Watcher running back. He quickly woke the army in case something had followed him. However, they soon realized he had come alone.

The Day Watcher was carrying a strange look in his eye and looked incredibly agitated. There was a trail of gold liquid running down his mouth.

When asked where he'd been and what he'd seen, he was incoherent. He spoke of fish and light and old kings, things disconnected from the questions he was asked, as though he were no longer in the present.

It was something he said that caught the prince's attention, something he recognized; his aimless rambling matched the story of a king from generations ago, though he spoke as though he had lived it.

The Watched spent the rest of the night ranting and shivering, meeting his feverish death by dawn. His body glowed for a brief moment, much to everyone's surprise, before it went completely stiff.

The army then decided they needed to investigate what had happened to him in case of danger. They burned his body as was customary and set out to discover what he had encountered.

They marched on despite their exhaustion until they came across a lake. It was still and crystal clear, almost glowing in the sun. The army clamored at sight, for their water was running low, and so was their food. They approached, and the Watchers were thrilled to find the Lake full of fish. However, these fish did not seem ordinary: they were golden and bright, unlike any fish they'd seen.

Though the prince instantly remembered the Watcher's rambling involving fish, and the gold running down his chin, it was too late to warn the army, for most of them were already drinking and sinking their teeth deep into the flesh of the trout and salmon of the lake.

That night was one of mourning. The Watched they brought along, as well as the Eye Lord and the prince, spent it tending to the ill Watchers, who were all now running their mouths in delirious rambling, spewing gold and shaking as they remembered things they had not lived, but seemed to know by heart.

They were all dead by sunrise, and the few that did not eat that night reported back to the king. It was then, as they recounted the strange tales the Watchers had told, that the wise king understood. The fish held the souls of those fallen, and those who fed on them had become poisoned by the memories of the dead. And so, the lake was claimed for the kingdom, and it was declared sacred; a place many would later walk to in silent pilgrimage, to pay tribute to those who came before, never daring to approach its waters.