veetie

Big Crab Rock, Nuidya Territory

Thirty-second day of Stone Moon, Autumn, 2nd ninemoon of New Solupian Reckoning

Fourteen aeons had passed since the Electria Dragons had been shattered in their battle against voidbeasts. On the shore of Lake Lulla, the sun was going down on the Festival of Tides - a festival honouring Sena Yuleng, first ancestor of the Nuidya and a fragment of the Earth Dragon, and her current incarnation as Headwoman Etan of Kulo Seeri.

Yoshan zan-Li tried to reassure himself as he poured a second cup of berry wine. Surely this was the perfect moment, a beach party at sunset? Granted, neither of them particularly liked large gatherings - or water, for that matter. But they'd been together for nearly three moons, had even been raising two aetherling foster daughters together for the past moon. It was beyond time to make things official, and although both of them wanted this, it had always been obvious that Yoshan would be the one to make the first move.

He could see his partner Dominick - boyfriend and fellow lorekeeper - returning to the feast table now. This was it. No time to lose. Yoshan got to his feet and took Dominick's hands in his. He felt awkward, asking himself instead of going through his aunt Arafa, but he had a vague idea of what his partner's people would expect. Summoning as much of his berry-wine-induced courage as possible, he launched into his somewhat-prepared speech:

"So, um... I was thinking, with it being the Festival of Tides and all... um... I wanted to ask..."

Before Yoshan could get another word out, the rest of the tribe members still at the celebration all seemed to rush past them at once, yelling things the young lorekeepers couldn't quite understand. Turning to face the direction of the stampeding partygoers, they were surprised to see that a complete stranger - a purple-robed man with dark, tied-back hair - had suddenly arrived. No, suddenly appeared, if the otherworldly glow surrounding the man was anything to go by.

Dominick and Yoshan, both in complete shock, joined the crowd that had gathered around the newcomer as he made an announcement of his own: his name was Noah Midlock, and one of the great ancestors had sent him from the Spirit World to deliver a warning.

Earlier in the ninemoon, the seventeen gods of Juvash - Electria Dragons included - had returned to walk the lands. Every Nuidya remembered that; they'd visited Kulo Seeri personally, to offer a blessing to Headwoman Etan for carrying a piece of the Earth Dragon. But they hadn't mentioned the Eighteenth God then. And so most of the Nuidya had never heard of her.

Noah explained that long ago, the first great empire misused the gift of magic by using it to bind others to their service, even going so far as to attempt to bind the gods themselves. They had failed, and their empire was destroyed as punishment. But one of the gods - the Beguiler - had sided with the imperial mages, hoping to gain more power for herself if they won. Her siblings banished her to the Void for betraying them, and that should have been that. Except that now she appeared to be in the process of escaping. And she would likely emerge from the same place she was banished from - right in the middle of the imperial capital. "You've all seen those ruins on the outskirts of your territory, right?"

And with that, he was gone, leaving the gathered Nuidya staring wide-eyed at the space where he'd appeared and vanished.

Yoshan was the first to break the shocked silence. Putting an arm round Dominick's shoulder, he smiled weakly and asked the only question on his mind:

"Was that a really bad omen for my planned proposal, then?"