Above, us, in the dark shadows of the outer solar system, there is the shape of something unknown, something unspeakable. It waits, it bides its time, and as the days of summer grow longer, so does its voice grow louder.<br><br>On the quiet island of Sarah Ann in the Pacific Ocean, home of the renowned Firmament Foundation, awkward teenager Eirian Calohan has come in search of the mystery of their father's recent demise. Instead, they are confronted with the stark contrast between languid life on the tiny island and an unspeakable cosmic horror.<br><br>Together with their new friends, they set out to unravel the truth surrounding the death of their father and to also uncover just what it is that the Foundation has reached out to in the dark eternal night of the distant void.

All Cats Are Beautiful

She hated that story, hated it now as much as she had hated it when first she heard it. It was disgusting, crass, and she was haunted by that image, the idea of a woman having sex with a snake, a monster.


The lake, Sarah Ann’s largest body of water outside of the ocean that encircled it, was home to many kinds of snake, as well as a host of ibeh homunculi, the more adventurous of which could be seen disputing territory with any mongoose stupid enough to cross their path.


Still, for all the animals and homunculi that haunted the long grass, the old stone ruins of the Snake Goddess were the quietest place on the island, and Poppy Labyrinth felt that she could do with some quiet.


Sitting in the shadow of the goddess’s shadow, the statue being one of the island’s most remarked-upon attractions, her features eroded by time and the elements, Poppy kept turning her attention back to that old story, the one about the snake and the woman.


Chapter 13