The Scent of War

I. Nouvo Lakay in Motion

The air in Nouvo Lakay had changed.

Not with celebration. Not with mourning.

But with the tension of something ancient returning.

The priestesses gathered beneath the Grand Stone Arch, their faces marked with sacred sigils, their eyes sharp with divine warning.

Erzulie Freda, silent for days, now stood tall in her priestess's vessel — adorned in crimson silks that shimmered with light only the gods could see.

Ayomi, her voice calm but iron-spined, said,

"They're testing the walls of the world. Whatever woke is not trying to hide."

Sael, priestess of Papa Legba, stepped forward.

"We've received reports — six tribes already scattered. Each attacked not by soldiers, but by… things. Clawed. Misshapen. Hungry."

They fell from cracks in the sky like flaming insects — beasts of chaos that devoured fields, trampled elders, feasted on the weak.

"This is not a war of conquest," Ayomi said bitterly. "This is a cleansing."

Thalia looked toward the Temple Gate. Still shut. Still humming.

Where was Zion?

And where were the rest of the gods?

II. Ejimo Among Them

Ejimo knelt with the others. A model of discipline. Calm. Focused. Loyal.

But inside?

His mind burned like oil-fed flame.

He had seen Kuthul'gar awaken. He had heard the Devoured's whispers. He had sworn himself over to that deeper power not for glory…

But for revenge.

"The gods made us kneel," he'd once said in secret, long ago.

"And now they ask us to fight their war?"

Now he moved like a servant.

But within, he was a blade unsheathed.

At night, he slipped through the village, placing bone-marked stones at the edges of the wards, weakening the defenses from within.

Just enough.

So when the cracks widened, nothing would hold them back.

III. Across Bassou, the Cracks Open

All across Bassou, thin fractures in the sky wept with black flame.

They opened like hungry mouths.

And from them spilled small hunting packs of Beastspawn — twisted things of sinew and bone, bred for terror, guided by no logic but devour, destroy, divide.

In the northern forests, the Verdant Clan was swallowed whole.

In the red canyons of the east, the Stone-Backed Tribe vanished in screams and ash.

And far to the west, a sky torn by invisible claws loosed a swarm of winged horrors that snuffed out stars for three nights straight.

Each fallen tribe fed the devouring power.

Each god weakened by the loss of worshippers.

Each beast a herald of what was to come.

IV. War is Coming

Back in Nouvo Lakay, Sael's hands trembled over the gate's carvings.

"He has to return soon. Or the weight of this world will crack open."

Ayomi nodded. "Prepare the warriors. The temple guards. Everyone who can carry a spear, a blade, or a prayer."

Thalia, standing silently in the shadows, whispered:

"And pray that when Zion returns… it is not too late."