The following excerpts are copied from Sand’s Diary. Unlike in the popularly sought after copy of The Travel Log of Sand Ashōran, these excerpts are unedited (mostly) and unabridged (also mostly), taken directly from my diary.

P.S. Please don’t try to go to these places. You will not have a very good time (if you even manage to get there). Just in case, I’ve changed up the names of the locations.

P.P.S. Thank you to those that have purchased this incredibly more expensive copy instead of the edited and polished up one. If you have both in your possession, I must ask you, why would you do this to yourself? Regardless, many thanks to you, dear reader, for supporting my travels. I would’ve eventually got the money somehow (is what I tell myself), but this makes it so much easier. (it doesn’t help that much, but my sister has informed me that I should thank you, so, there you go. Thank you.)

Entry 1

First entry, huh?

It feels good to start on a new page, in a new journal. I've grown accustomed to writing my thoughts down during my travels, and have finally procured a whole shipment of empty books. After I ran out on my last trip, I vowed to not make the same mistake again. So, here's to a new page. Another journey.

I have to admit, I am still at my sister's house as I'm writing this, and not actually on the journey like I usually am when writing. There's been a delay in the schedule and I will not be able to depart until later today, but I just couldn't wait to get started on a fresh new page.

For the start of this journey, I have decided to go over to the Niraupa islands, just off the Sykaigan coast. I planned to go visit them last time I was out and about, but an injury has forced me to call that expedition short. Luckily, I am all healed now, and can get right back on track.

Final preparations have all gone well. Plenty of provisions to last me until I reached the famed Omido village, and then some. I'm confident that they won't turn me away, and will barter with me, but I have included extras just in case they are still not over the last time I was supposed to visit, and will turn inhospitable. I suppose if I spent nearly two years laying plans out for visitors, then another two of being begged over and over for permission to come visit, and the idiot got themself nearly-killed by such a rookie mistake, a child could've avoided it, I would be pretty mad too. I also packed plenty of extra money to try to mend our relationship. Last I heard, they still didn’t use coins widely, but perhaps they need some for trades with outsiders? Moon Willing, I hope they take pity on me.

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Entry 2

Had to cut the last entry short, there was yet another change of plans and I had to leave right then or miss the ship. After a hectic ride to port -- I had to double back half way there because I realised I this behind. Not a good start -- and some days spent getting acquainted with the ship's captain and crew, I finally have a bit of time to myself. I'm starting to get used to the sea once more, but it isn't coming as fast or as easily as I hoped it would. This reminded me of why I prefer to travel by foot.

One would think that frequently travelling by ship would cause the transition from land to sea to come faster, but I'm still waiting. I was so sick the first day that I couldn't even Will my stomach to remain where it's supposed to be. At least yesterday was better luck. I'm very much looking forward to having a more substantial lunch than some bread and salted crackers.

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Entry 3

Things have gotten busier. Now that I'm back to health, the captain's put me to work. I hoped that perhaps she'd take pity on me, give me another day to recover and go over my charts and books once more, but her tyranny knows no bounds. On the plus side, however, the food was surprisingly good.

We are expected to arrive at Niraupa in a week, or more. I remembered that another area just two days away from our current whereabouts has the most magnificent birds I have ever seen, and if my assessment is correct, it should soon be hatching season. Last time I was there I didn't have time to wait around, but this time I hope to see some freshly hatched vigaito chicks.

This is an opportunity that only shows itself every two decades! I am going to have to do my best to convince the captain of the paramount of a deviation. I just hope the stars are all aligned this time. (yes, I am quite aware that I'm still not over what happened last time).

Shockingly enough, the captain was more than accommodating. I expected more resistance, and had come armed with dazzling justifications fit to sway the mind of even the most pessimistic, 'opposed to everything that involves fun, or beauty, or adventure, or anything else even remotely resembling these three concepts' soul. Instead, I found myself on the other side, trying in vain not to give in with the captain's desire to spend a whole fortnight at that place. We reached an agreement of five days. After our detour, we should be back on track to arrive on Niraupa fairly soon. Hopefully that falls within the accepted grace period of how late one may be.

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Entry 4

There are all kinds of imaginable and unimaginable sounds, almost like a concert of clashing pockets of commotions. Since we've arrived, the forest has twice led us in circles, chasing after our own tracks. I had forgotten about that, but the party wasn't too angry (I may have forgotten to mention to them that I didn't discover upon this solution just now, but they already do believe I am nothing but a genius, and it would pain me so to shatter their image of me. I couldn't possibly do that to them. How -- and why -- would I ever go about doing that? My ego needs it).

Right, the island. Apologies, I got distracted.

Bright, clashing shades of reds and greens assailed our eyes before we broke through the defensive outer layer. Once inside, however, the shrubbery was more pleasant, almost soothing. I believe this to be the area's natural defense: appear so sickeningly vibrant that the inner part must be a trap, not a reward. I'm not sure if somehow the vigaitos have influenced their surroundings, or if they were the ones being influenced by their home. Or this could be altogether random, but my feeling is that there is a connection between the environment and the vigaitos that runs deeper than just inhabitants-habitat (is that a word? I'm making up species names, I think I can make up a word, right?). My notes from my last visit are gone (from paper, Wills granted that I can still remember them), but I hope to study the birds more in-depth and build on my previous findings.

After the 'inner' layer are actually two more of these; another, outer 'protective' layer, one that offers more than its fair share of dangers, and the final zone, where the birds spend their time.

We didn't venture farther than the second layer, where we took a break and decided to turn back around, but we did hear the birds chirping, growling every now and then when I imagine a chick hatches. The vigaitos have strange reactions to seeing their offspring for the first time, but I cannot blame them. As beautiful as the matured vigaitos are, their young are truly hideous. I have not seen them in person yet, but I hear that they can induce nightmares for up to several days after laying eyes on them, and even representations of what they look like have that effect to some extent. Nature truly is a wonder.

And yet, something is not as it should be. I can't help but feeling that something is off. I hope that it is just nerves -- at what, I don't know; perhaps having others with me here? Or my body did not appreciate its brief separation from land.

For now, we have set camp on the bank not far from where we've set anchor. The majority of the crew is staying on the ship, but the captain and a few other brave (or foolish, depending on who you ask) individuals have joined me. I will investigate further on the morrow, once my head stops spinning.

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Entry 5

We now find ourselves in that inner defensive layer, the other one with eye-straining colours. The first one was worse, colour-wise, but this one has other features to make up for that. The "greenery" -- if greenery it can be called, seeing as it is everything but green -- has different shapes on it. I have seen everything from circles to squares, to triangles, even squiggles. There is no pattern to the shapes. A circle is just as likely to hide a vasuu as a square or any other shape.

The vasii are my own discovery. Or, rather, poor Tibar found them, but he's dead now, and I don't think he would appreciate being known for finding the very thing that killed him. In our first interaction with what appears to be fauna that looks like the flora, sort of like a camouflaging worm, we were making our way to the centre, when this creature leapt through the air in front of us. It did not seem too big, hence why I'm referring to it as a worm. It was about a finger length, a finger and a half, and about as wide. It startled us, but we didn't think anything of it. We certainly learnt our lesson now.

The second time we came across, I'm not clear on what happened. Tibar was out in the far front, clearing a path through the thick foliage, when suddenly he fell on his back, convulsing and screaming. He died before we could even figure out what happened. The captain had us look around for poisoned darts before we continued. I don't know what she was thinking: that someone had gotten here before us, and didn't want to share knowledge? Beats me. Either way, a bit of time passed before she was satisfied with how thorough we had been and she allowed us to make our way to Tibar's body. (Seeing as I was most familiar with this place, they let me be the first to have a look. I secretly think it's because of my snark earlier that morning and this was the captain's way to remind me that I was the one depended on her, not the other way).

There was a peculiar wrapping around his left wrist. It appeared like a large leaf. Seeing as Tibar was a large man, packed his muscle upon muscle down to his fingers, and his wrist was (is?) as big as my bicep, probably even a bit larger than a ‘large leaf’. I was not able to get any exact measurements.

Despite the size of the leaf-like parasite, however, it was quite slim, if that’s the word to use. I didn't connect the dots of this leaf-like parasite to the creature that had jumped in front of us the first time until I poked at it with a stick, and it leapt off. It seemed to roll-in on itself mid-jump, becoming cylinder-like instead of paper-like. Judging from the lack of puncture marks on Tibar's wrist, and the raw patch of skin where the vasuu had been, I believe that its body may be poisonous. What sort of poison, I have no idea. I am not that familiar with toxicology, but to my untrained eye the wound doesn’t look like the result of any sort of existing poison. Perhaps it’s something secreted by the vasii themselves? But there was nothing left on the skin. If it was poison, would it still not be found on the wound, and would the patch of affected skin not be such a perfect shape?

I prodded Tibar’s wrist with a stick when no one was looking, and then drew the tip across his forearm to see what would happen. Nothing did, at least nothing that produced results like on the wrist. Instead, his skin just… flaked off. I got another stick -- a clean one, in case whatever substance killed Tibar transferred over -- and poked at his cheek and the same thing happened again! His lips also looked dehydrated. It is most peculiar.

The captain wants to spend some more time laying low. I think Tibar's death spooked her quite badly. This is fine by me, I hope to be able to make more notes upon the odd things we see. I am particularly interested in the symbols on the leaves. Is this an attempt to communicate? If so, then by whom?

It seems both rather primitive and advanced at the same time. Perhaps we are limited by our current understanding and that's why we cannot comprehend them. In any case, I will continue to write. I didn't have the foresight to bring my proper sketching supplies with me, and I am by no means an artist, but will include a sketch of the leaves either way.

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Entry 6

I found a fallen leaf on the ground today. Didn't realise how odd this was before: it is one of the only leaves on the ground. There were no vasii underneath, or on it, nor any other dangers that I could find, and will take it with me for closer investigation back at the ship. The most striking difference between this and the other, still alive leaves, is that it appears to be crumbling at the edges. I can't tell for sure how long it's been laying here. The outer part of it suggests a good amount of time, judging by the deterioration. The inside, however, still seems quite hale. I've compared this with a leaf that is still attached to a tree (from the distance, of course, don’t want to stumble across another vasuu); other than the crumbling edges of the leaf that I picked on the ground, I couldn’t identify any other differences. I wonder why this is the only dead vegetation we've seen around.

We've had more run-ins with the vasii on the way back to camp, but luckily, no more deaths. The only injury is a bruised wrist, from falling down in surprise when another vasuu sprang around us.

I'm still not sure how to describe their mode of travel. So far, I haven't seen it crawl or even move through any way other than its acrobatic 'leaps,' yet 'leap' or 'jump' does not seem like a completely accurate word. They appear to be able to control the direction they travel in by using the air currents. They do so by flattening themselves (or unfurling might be a better description) mid 'jump,' and then somehow gliding through the breezes. The wind isn't very strong here, among all these trees; neither myself nor anyone else in the party has felt more than a very, very faint zephyr. The vasii must be incredibly light, if they can use even the most minute of winds. I thought at first that they might be creating their very own breezes, but that seems unlikely; their only movements while in the air, after unfurling themselves, are the soft curls of the edges of their bodies with which they use to turn. Furthermore, I've even seen them go against the wind, which completely debunks my original idea. I wish I could capture one to study better, but even I'm not that crazy.