[Zoraïs] Go back to the Shadow: Wrath of the Summer (07-Nov-12) - EVENTS

Chronicle

It has been many cycles now, when Sage Season arrived in the Witherings, and our People first turned their masks to this worshipper of Ma-Duk. His knowledge of Atys' nature is vast, and so different from that of the other two Sages. His understanding of parts of the Energy of Creation has strange effects on him, and he seems to cover himself with the season, as the Jungle does, his personality evolving as the weather does. If winter makes him look dark and cold, spring makes him innocent and joyful, as life starts again all over the jungle.

During the summer of the 3rd AC of 2570, summer had increased its size and strength tenfold, and the Kitins' presence in Witherings was even less bearable than in other seasons. Full of strength and battlethirsty, the Sage went into a towering rage and he turned for help to the Guild of Cho. He ordered the generals of the Cities of Intuition to lead the Zoraï people in the war against the Kitin invaders.

Kiei Xuan, scribe of the Cho Dynasty, in Notes about Sage Season, dated 4th AC, 2578 (JY).

19 Medis, 3AC, 2570 ---

By the grace of Jena and the efforts of homins of all lands I am home safe and the kitin in the Witherings have been beaten back. I had thought that the effort we put forth in Aedan Aqueous was as hard as it could get. I was wrong.

I arrived in Zora and heard that the homin force was gathering just north of Min-Cho and that the general Dachi Han would be our leader. It takes a while to run from Zora to Min-Cho, but I was rested and found it not that difficlt.

However, the force gathered at the north gate of Min-Cho was small, only a little more than two teams. Still Dachi was resolute and those homins gathered took courage from him and formed teams. I was invited to team with a Matis, Lilz, and I did so. He was instrumental ins setting up communications between the teams, forging them into a league.

The first battle was against the Kitin mound that had erupted right next to the stables in Min-Cho, in the heart of that city. It did not start well. The first ranks of kitin overran our small force, trampling it into the dust. Only Dachi stood valiant and battled them after we had been thrown down. He drove them back until the healers could get to us and we could return to the battle. The guards in Min-Cho joined us and helped strongly as well.

Each time the kitin came forth we beat them back, sometimes falling direly injured, sometimes easily triumphant, but each time fewer came forth. Finally Min-Cho was liberated.

But we could not rest, there were many mounds in the Grove of Uncertainty that needed to be cleansed as well. Dachi accepted some healing and then led us forth where we briefly were given aid by one of the Sages, Sessions was his name I think, but it was in the midst of battle and the roar of the kitin made my hearing uncertain.

We cleared several small mounds with Lilz leading our league and following Dachi over the landscape. The battles were fierce but we were gradually getting used to our roles and the homins who had come together not out of being of the same clan or nation or even guild, but from all over Atys to free Witherings. Then disaster struck my team: Lilz vanished from our midst and I was thrust into leadership.

All I could to is try to remember what Lilz had been doing and to look at all the homins around me and know that I must do my best and never falter. I called them to rally and they did.

Dachi was a giant in battle. There may have been something that reinforced his health for it seemed that it took many more kitin to injure him than it did the rest of us. His link to the land must have been very strong, even if he does not hold to the true belief in Jena.

Finally, well east of Min-Cho we met another force. They gladly joined our league, increasing the burden I had never wanted. Still Dachi pressed us to continue and continue we did. Our increased numbers gave us better defense against the waves of the kitin attacks and all the homins worked together to heal, to defend and to slay. Great indeed was the slaughter.

Finally we returned to Min-Cho to attack the enormous Mound that lay to the north of the city. There we were joined by the forces who had liberated Zora itself. The cries of joy were cacophonous and filled with all the languages of Atys. The unified force of hominity then surged forth and eradicated the kitin in the last mound.

We know that there are forces that even the united force of homins cannot defeat, but it would have taken another Swarming (Jena forefend that thought) to crusha that combined force.

Dachi and the other generals declared that the kitin had indeed been beaten back, and I sank to the ground in exhaustion, barely having the energy to activate a pact with the Karavan to return me to Fairhaven.

This my tale. It is not alone my tale, however. It is the tale of all those homins who gave over traditional rivalry to come together to free the land of the Zorai.

Mac Od Bittty