Splinters Beneath the Sun

I. Zion and Ogou – The Quiet Before the Storm

The jungle thinned, giving way to flatlands swept by golden wind. Zion walked with his spear across his back, Ogou at his side—again clothed in the shape of a man.

They'd left the mountains behind and now crossed through the Dust-Rise Territory, where beasts could swallow trees whole and small tribes clung to survival by blade and barter.

Every step brought Zion closer to something unspoken—his body sharper, his instincts honed. Each battle, each negotiation, each hunt alongside Ogou had carved something deeper into him: discipline beyond purpose.

"What's the next trial?" Zion asked as they shared dried meat by a fire.

Ogou smiled faintly. "To listen. And decide when not to act."

They met a dying tribe that night—once mighty, now reduced to a dozen scattered tents and a single elder. Their god had fallen generations ago. No prayer answered. No visions remained.

Zion didn't offer salvation. He offered a place.

"Nouvo Lakay has room," he said. "But we don't worship weakness."

The elder laughed. "Then you'll fit well. We are done begging gods."

They would follow.

And as Zion walked away, Ogou whispered to the wind, summoning one of his older faces—the Forge-Singer—to bless the dying embers of their faith… in silence.

II. Nouvo Lakay – The Fracture Opens

Back home, the sun was too bright, and the tension thicker than jungle heat.

The Velek-Tu, the newly absorbed people who had offered sacrifice and asked for revelation, were denied access to the Gate.

Thalia had stood before them—her voice firm, her spear at her side—and said simply:

"Zion is not here. And I will not open the Gate without him."

They cried foul. Called her a jealous wife. Accused her of hoarding the gods' power.

But the other priestesses stood with her—Ayomi, Sael, Ayola, Elis. United not just by duty, but by belief.

"She is his," Sael said coldly. "And she is ours. If you challenge her, you challenge us all."

Still, the whispers did not stop.

Ajima, ever the agitator cloaked in reason, stirred those whispers into voices.

In the smoke-huts and deep alleys of Nouvo Lakay, a splinter faction began to rise—made of new blood, impatient followers, and Velek-Tu loyalists. They called themselves "The Open Flame" and declared their intent:

"The gods came for all. Not just Zion. Not just his chosen."

They held meetings in secret. Tested the priestesses' orders in small ways. Refused temple offerings. Spoke to foreign spirits.

And far from the main square, in the quiet grove where once the Gate had blazed with divine fire, a flicker returned.

Not of Lwa.

But something older.

III. Sael's Warning

Thalia stood on the Watchtower wall, looking out toward the jungle path Zion once walked. Sael approached with blood on her arms from training.

"They're getting bolder," she said. "Some are arming themselves. Velek-Tu warriors with nothing to lose."

"They forget what Zion built," Thalia murmured.

"No," Sael replied, eyes hard. "They remember. And they want to build without him."

IV. Far Away – Zion Dreams

That night, by a fire near a river of whispering reeds, Zion dreamed.

He saw the Gate flicker.

He saw Thalia standing alone.

And behind her, masked faces in the dark… holding torches.