The First Organized Assault

The sky cracked like old bone.

A great shadow unfurled across Bassoun—one not born of clouds, but of hunger.

The rifts tore open not one, but seven gates.

And from them crawled the First Circle of the Beast Gods—

not in chaos, but in formation, a declaration of war, a reminder:

"We are not mindless. We are ancient. We remember."

The ground shuddered.

The air thickened.

From the deepest shadows, they stepped forward:

1. Goroth, the Maw Without End

First came Goroth, a mountain with teeth,

its belly dragging across the plains of the eastern ridge.

Its face—a gaping spiral of gnashing maws, tongues like whips of bone.

It screamed hunger into the wind,

and the earth split beneath it, feeding its path.

2. Veliag, the Iron-Hide Hunger

Beside him marched Veliag, plated in metal flesh,

a walking siege beast—each footstep a quake,

each breath a cloud of rust and blood.

No weapon had pierced him in the last war.

No flame had scorched his armored hide.

"I do not eat to live," he roared.

"I devour to erase."

3. Skurak, the Howling Many

Then came Skurak, who was not one, but thousands—

a swarm of wolf-faced horrors moving as a single body.

They spoke in unison—

a song of madness, layered with screams of children,

lovers, hunters, prey.

Where Skurak passed, memory fractured.

4. Yuthri, the Silk-Tongued Plague

From the Rift of the Southern Fen emerged Yuthri,

a feminine form draped in rotting silk, eyes like twin stars—

beautiful, alluring, vile.

She whispered and tribes turned their weapons on themselves.

Those who heard her voice wept and begged to serve.

"War is a fever," she cooed.

"Let me be your fever."

5. Ashami, the Mother of Teeth

She crawled from the ocean rift—

a crawling horror of bone and birthing maws,

each step leaving behind crawling things that chewed their way into the world.

Her children screamed for mothers of their own.

Their cries echoed across the tide.

6. Drakhol, the Burning Mane

Fire incarnate.

Drakhol landed from the sky like a comet,

his lion-like form wreathed in burning sun-flame.

He roared once—and five mountains in the distance cracked open.

The forests burned just from his breath.

He cared not for conquest.

Only glory in destruction.

7. Zhal, the Beast That Dreams of Fire

Last came Zhal, quietest of all.

A slithering mass draped in the skins of dead gods,

its breath made the air shimmer—

its eyes half-lidded, always dreaming.

But where Zhal passed, realities bled together.

Beasts from other worlds slipped through in its wake.

"Zhal dreams of a world where the gods burn," whispered an old seer.

"And in his sleep… he remembers."

Nouvo Lakay Reacts

From the Gateposts of Nouvo Lakay, the priestesses felt the tremors before the horns sounded.

The sky turned gray.

Birds died mid-flight.

The five priestesses—Ayola, Ayomi, Seal, Thalia, and Elis—assembled.

Weapons drawn.

Hearts burning.

"This is no longer a war of survival," Ayomi said.

"This is a war of unmaking."

The subordinate tribes gathered, wide-eyed, still loyal.

Children were moved to the hidden vaults.

Messengers rode like ghosts to warn other allies.