It was not long ago that Serenwilde was visited by the half-formed named
Xarriv the Reaver, who had followed the memories of Charune, Lord of the
Hunt across the Void and into the First World, wreaking havoc, and then
was banished back to the Void by the Horned One Himself. And yet, mortal
memory is short, and life is full of its daily troubles; many
distressing events had occurred in northern forest in the short time
since the banishing of Xarriv. It was no surprise, then, that questions
on Xarriv's origins and whereabouts were cast aside while Serens
attempted to rebuild their forest once more.

Yet in Avechary of the year 473, members of the Order of Lady Maylea
began receiving disturbing visions and sensations of pain, causing them
to fear for the safety of their Goddess. Their fears seemed realised
when the next month, they felt their connection to Maylea sever almost
completely, to their fear and dismay. The members of Maylea's Order
decided to seek out help froms Gods and mortals. Two prophecies emerged
from these inquiries. The first, spoken by Charune's priest Sife and
heard by Aeldra Ladyn, said: "Turmoil comes in petal's shade, blue
tinged red in wishes made. Guard your hopes from prying eyes, watch
dream's truth 'mongst whispered lies. Serenity heralded in voices five,
what is old dies amongst change so 'live." The second, spoken by the
spirit Chuchip and heard by Saz Strongleaf, said: "Stronger than
distance is sibling bond. Harsher than wounds is mind gone wrong. Broken
is Ancient; change has come. Nurture to fruit your Hope, your Song."
Tokota Snowmane, centaur augur of Serenwilde, also found something
amiss, working with astrologers Gwirodydd and Fayette to find
that the signs of Twin Crystals, Spider, and Glacier were particularly
bright during those months. These prophecies and portents, while
informative, generated disparate theories among those who heard it,
though everyone feared that some terrible occurrence was approaching.

Unbeknownst to Her mortal followers, the visions, sensations,
prophecies, and portents were all related to the experiences to the One
whom they worshipped. Some time ago, the Elder Goddess Maylea had set
out into the Void to seek out Xarriv the Reaver, hoping to soothe him of
his crazed insanity in the Void and keep him away from Lusternia,
perhaps even to find him a place of his own to dwell. Her seeking was
not entirely unfruitful: She met another half-formed named Mamaac the
Melder on the edge of the Void near Lusternia. The creature had
traversed the cold, harsh Void with the sole purpose of avenging her
crechemate Xarriv, whose pain in the battle with Charune had psionically
echoed to Mamaac across the gulf of distance. Upon seeing Maylea and
sensing the divinus within Her, the crazed half-formed attacked the
Goddess viciously, forcing Maylea to strike back and defend Herself. The
suddenness of the attack overwhelmed Maylea, and She was gravely injured
by the lithe and vicious creature. Mamaac the Melder then glowered in
victory, opening a rift into the First World to seek her revenge against
her brother's attackers - but not before Maylea draped Herself upon the
half-formed, weighing her down.

Mamaac the Melder emerged in Lusternia with the appearance of a long,
thin, blazing creature of silver body and smoky blue wings. But with
Maylea's golden unconscious presence anchored to her still, the
half-formed could not keep herself aloft, and she crashed into the
Serenwilde, both her and Maylea's essence dissipating into the forest.

Soon enough, white and blue fire began kindling and raging across the
Serenwilde, and unwitting forest dwellers fell victim to groups of
silver spikes from the soil that put their targets to sleep. In sleep,
Serens experienced dreams limned in a bright, harsh shimmer. The dreams
gave wild visions of a pink sky above a rocky terrain, strange
experiences of falling to slow insanity in the Void, strong sensations
of sorrow and need for vengeance, and memories of nostalgia and sadness
that came with destruction of one's home.

As if fires and forced sleep were not enough, those who were in
Serenwilde soon found that they were being possessed by a mysterious
presence. The first possessed was Orimi of the Listeners, whom the
presence attempted to make fly, even though she was human. Other
possessions came in quick succession: young and old, members of any
race, even old Abeytu, Keeper of the Gardens in the Serenwilde, who
sprouted mysterious blue wings and flew up, only to be released in
mid-flight to land, cushioned, on top of Aramel Shevat. The presence
attempted to speak to and speak through all those it possessed,
sometimes even using the victim to attack others through punches and
kicks - ineffectual, but disturbing to witnesses. Upon learning that
Xarriv had indeed come to Serenwilde and was banished (some said killed)
by Charune and the Serens, the presence went into a rage, threatening
revenge and boasting that it will slay all those in Serenwilde.

And the presence seemed determined to make good on that promise.
Gradually, Serens began to experience psionic assaults upon their mind
as they walked through their home forest. The assaults were strong and
unforgiving, destroying the minds of even the toughest demigods and
ascendants. Flames of white and blue flared among the trees, hills, and
even waters of Serenwilde. And, after the blazing-eyed possession of the
leprechaun Goldie Cloverleaf, silver limbs began shooting out of the
ground and grabbing and burning the passersby. All throughout,
possessions continued, sometimes punctuated by aggressive commentary
inside the victims' minds by a shrill humming voice. Before long, those
of Serenwilde had begun to take refuge in their safest havens. And yet,
no single place was found to be safe from the mind assaults and burning
spikes of the murderous presence.

In the midst of their worry about the invader, Serens began to notice a
lovely fragrance wafting across the forest. At first, they mistakenly
thought that a bloom associated with the Mother Moonhart was the source
of the fragrance, but glowing lights above Southern Moon Lake led them
to a shimmering water lily they had never seen before. It soon became
apparent that the water lily required nurturing. Silvery essences and
sacred items of each of Serenwilde's guilds were offered to the flower,
at times requiring half-remembered rituals and the summoning of ancient
spirits to obtain the needed offerings. Aramel Shevat and Lehki Talnara
represented the Sowers in the efforts; Valaria Strongleaf and Kalas
Aesyra represented the Wodewoses; the Listeners were represented by many
eager hands, but Saran Strongleaf persisted, and he placed the final
offering to the water lily, which flew up into the sky, spinning with
golden light, and then died on the southern bank of Moon Lake.

As Serens searched the area in wonder, the remnants of the bloom fell
into the forest soil and sprouted into a peach of golden hues that
continually hummed a battle song without words. The forestals came
together as one to care for the peach, which they believed to be their
salvation against the ever more abrasive presence that continued to
possess and harass Serens. The fruit's caretakers brought rich, dark
soil for its roots, hundreds of corpses for fertilizer, a smattering of
sweet honeycombs from the Ethereal Plane, and even more silvery essence.
As the peach grew, fae began dancing around the humming peach, in
particular one brownie, who continually called the fruit "ayl'kiun", to
the confusion of its caretakers.

As the singing, golden peach grew larger and larger, its song began to
sound across the forest, until finally, the fruit split with a loud
CRACK, spilling fragrant nectar upon the ground. The shrill, harsh voice
of the presence screamed in anger at this occurrence, and suddenly, the
unnaturally stretched, silver-blue form of Mamaac the Melder emerged
from the canopy of the Serenwilde: the half-formed was whole again, and
it seemed that she was that possessing presence all along. Mamaac was
met by a wary group of Serens, some of whom sought to know her purpose,
and others, guessing her thirst for vengeance, simply asked her to
leave. One foolhardy Wodewose, Athemal, provoked Mamaac to anger and
almost paid with his life. But Mamaac had a broader base for her
vengeance than one forestal. She flew up over the Serenwilde, sending
sparks of white flame over the trees and setting the forest on fire,
readying herself for the commune's total destruction.

It was at this moment that the singing, golden peach cracked again, the
sound resounding across the forest. Witnessed by a good portion of the
Serenwilde, the peach opened with blazing light, and out from it stepped
none other than Lady Maylea, transformed. She called Herself "Ayl'kiun"
in the tongue of the fae, Sword of Serenity. Without waiting, She leaped
up into the skies above the Basin of Life, blossoms of many colours
swirling about Her; She was soon met by the half-formed.

And so Mamaac and Maylea did battle: The half-formed was all sharpness
and angles - stabbing, dashing, blazing and burning with neck and limbs
unnaturally long, like an insect. Maylea, now in the aspect of Sword of
Serenity, fought Mamaac with flowing movements, bending and twisting,
blossoms swirling, Her hands all aglow. When it at last that Maylea had
finally cornered Mamaac, the half-formed used desperate strength to stab
a blazing, silver limb into the Goddess's left eye. In agony and
bleeding golden essence, Maylea cried out and threw Mamaac the Melder
back out into the Void. Having defended Her beloved forest, Maylea,
Bloom of Serenity quickly retreated to the Havens, still bleeding,
fading from mortal detection.

As for Mamaac the Melder and Xarriv the Reaver, only time will tell if
these crazed, homeless half-formed will survive the Void to disturb the
First World again...


Penned by My hand on the 23rd of Estar, in the year 474 CE.