A Map of Missing Arms

Elena discovered the enigmatic parchment while cataloguing forgotten cartographic records in the dusty basement of the Provincial Archive.

The vellum felt unsettlingly warm, its surface covered with an intricate web of streets that predated the modern city grid.

Tiny crimson droplets marked specific locations, each one labelled with a single word written in a trembling hand: arm.

The ink glistened under her flashlight as if still wet, though the date in the margin claimed the document was centuries old.

She sought out the head archivist, a gaunt man named Thoreau whose eyes were as hollow as ancient well shafts.