NIHAM’S BEGINNING
Account collected by Maven Farmis Costha on the fifth day of Frostfall during the month of the Dra’kon in the 31,102nd Turning of Nura
I’VE HAD THE SAME DREAM EVERY NIGHT FOR THE PAST 50 YEARS.
CARRYING WITH IT THE SAME FEROCITY.
HALF A CENTURY. THE SAME NIGHTMARE.
I’M IN THE WOODS WITH MY SISTER, KINSEY; TRULIGHT DANCING AROUND HER PLAYFULLY.
SHE’S LAUGHING SO LOUDLY, SHE DISTURBS THE SHOOMPA NESTING NEARBY.
AND THEN THEY APPEAR...
...THE EDAR-ASON
IT HAPPENS SO FAST.
THEY GRAB HER.
SHE LOOKS SO SMALL AS SHE FIGHTS THEM.
I SCREAM FOR HER, BUT I FIND MYSELF ALONE WITH JUST THE ECHO OF MY FEAR.
THEY ARE GONE. BACK INTO THE SHADOWS WHENCE THEY CAME.
THE SCREAM IS WHAT WAKES ME.
I CURSE THE DARK AS I REALIZE THAT IT WASN’T JUST A DREAM... ...BUT A MEMORY.
KINSEY’S ABSENCE LEFT A HOLE.
IT GUTTED OUR FAMILY.
AND OVER TIME, THE GRIEF FESTERED INTO ANGER.
MY MOTHER WORE A BLANKET OF MOURNING...
...BUT LEARNED TO BLAME MY FATHER.
MY FATHER WAS WRAPPED IN A GARMENT OF SHAME...
...BUT LEARNED TO BLAME ME.
KNIVES IN THE DARKNESS.
BUT I BLAMED HER CAPTORS THE EDAR-ASON.
COWARDS FESTERING IN THE SHADOWS.
SPREADING THE DECEIT OF ZYAT, THE MAD DRAK’ON.
WE HADN’T HEARD OF THEM SLITHERING THAT FAR INTO THE REACH.
THEY WERE BECOMING BOLDER.
WHEN THEY TOOK MY SISTER, THEY MAY HAVE GAINED A CAPTIVE...
…BUT THEY ALSO GAINED AN ENEMY.
I WAS DETERMINED TO NOT ONLY FIND KINSEY, BUT HUNT THE EDAR-ASON.
SO I LEFT. JUST ONE BOY, BUT WITH A CHEST BURNING WITH THE ANGER OF A THOUSAND MEN.
WHEN THEY WOULD RETREAT BACK INTO THE DARKNESS OF THE PITCH, THEY WOULD FIND MY STEEL WAITING FOR THEM.
I TRAVELED THE REACH.
THE MILES BECAME COUNTLESS.
I WORKED UNTIL MY HANDS BLED IN THE SOVEREIGN CITIES
I WALKED WITH THE NOMAD NATION OF THE ZO’FORN.
I WAS CHASED BY THE GAZ’ON SWARM.
I WARMED MYSELF BY THE STRANGE FIRE OF FY’RO.
I LOST MY WAY IN THE LEAFALL WOODLANDS OF AL’AR’IA.
I WEPT LISTENING TO THE THUNDEROUS SONGS OF THE TITANS IN A’NAK.
I LEARNED AT THE FEET OF THE DOCENTS OF MYG’DA’LOR.
AND CROSSED THE MYSTICAL SANDS OF VY’LON’VYL’LAH’KY’AH.
BUT I NEVER FOUND HER.
KINESY WAS TRULY GONE.
I FOUND ONLY RUMORS...
I have heard that the Edar-Ason are in league with The Stonebreakers.
...WHISPERS...
I was told of a young girl traveling with a dark regiment through Wheldrake.
...TWICE SPUN TALES...
Pray to The Source that Foragers didn’t take her to Nu Kane.
...LEADS THAT WENT COLD.
The shadows abound, but life in your sister’s spirit remains.
I TRIED TO CONVINCE MYSELF THAT KINSEY ESCAPED HER CAPTORS AND WAS ENJOYING THE FIRE OF A KIND FAMILY.
BUT KNEW IN MY SPIRIT THAT IT WAS A LIE.
I FAILED MY PARENTS. I FAILED MY SISTER. I FAILED MYSELF.
I FAILED.
THE DARKNESS GREW IN MY SOUL AS THE SPECTER OF MY SISTER HAUNTED MY EVERY THOUGHT.
THE TEMPEST INSIDE WAS MY ONLY COMPANION.
CONSTANT.
UNRELENTING.
I TAUGHT MYSELF TO HATE, BUT MY HATE COULD NOT BE VENTED.
SO, I GREW OLD AND ALONE.
AND THE ONLY PLACE FOR ME TO GO WAS BACK HOME.
...AND RETURNED TO THE HOME OF MY YOUTH.
I CROSSED THE REACH ONCE AGAIN...
I WAS RESOLVED TO TAKE MY LIFE IN THE VERY PLACE IT ENDED DECADES BEFORE...
...ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE TAKING OF MY SISTER.
I SLEPT IN MY CHILDHOOD BED A LAST TIME, BUT THAT NIGHT, I DIDN’T RECOGNIZE MY DREAMS.
THE MEMORIES OF MY SISTER WERE REPLACED WITH MEMORIES OF MY TRAVELS.
THE PEOPLE.
THE BATTLES.
ALL OF THEM CRACKS IN THE BROKEN VASE OF MY LIFE.
BUT THEN I AWOKE. I WASN’T ALONE.
TRULIGHT SWIRLED AROUND ME UNTAMED, AND BEAUTIFUL IN ITS POWER.
THE WALLS WERE PAINTED WITH LIGHT; MY PARENT’S COTTAGE ITS CANVAS
THE TRULIGHT DANCED THE SAME AS IT DID THE DAY KINSEY WAS TAKEN.
BUT I HAD NOW BOTH TRAVELED FAR ENOUGH AND LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO FINALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANT.
IT MEANT I HAD BEEN CHOSEN.
CHOSEN TO ONCE AGAIN CROSS THE WORLD AND HUNT THE EDAR-ASON.
WHAT WAS TO BE MY LAST DAY HAD NOW BECOME MY FIRST.
THE TRULIGHT OF THE SOURCE HAD CHOSEN KINSEY ALL THOSE YEARS AGO, BUT HER CALL WAS CUT SHORT.
SO WITH WHATEVER TIME I HAD LEFT, I WOULD WAGE THE WAR THAT SHOULD HAD BEEN HERS.
THOUGH I DIDN’T DESERVE IT, AND MOST OF MY DAYS WERE SPENT, I KNEW I HAD BEEN CALLED OUT OF THE DARKNESS ...
... INTO THE MARVELOUS LIGHT.
MORE ‘BEGINNINGS’ FROM THE
Selah
Largely, indelible stories — be it in films, books, comics or even games — linger in our hearts and minds when they connect with us on a personal level. They speak to us about the world, ourselves, or something we’re going through at the time.
The Hebrew word “selah” is a beautiful, thoughtful and sometimes mysterious word that means, “to pause, or to reflect.” All too often, people fail to realize the significance of the entertainment they experience because they simply do not invest the time it takes to think about the entertainment itself and how it connects to them in a personal way.
So, please take a moment to selah this comic by asking yourselves the questions below.
• Have you, a friend or loved one experienced a tragic loss of some kind?
• If so, do you recall your feelings when it happened?
• How did it impact your family?
• Did you find yourself blaming others for the grief you experienced?
• Did you (or someone close to you) allow a tragedy in your past to negatively affect your future?
• Have you ever refused to forgive someone who wronged you or hurt you in some way?
• How long did you hold that grudge?
• Did the unforgiveness heal your pain?
• Do you ever feel that you’ve missed out on something you were meant to do in life?
• Is it ever too late to discover your true purpose or “calling”?
• How do you deal with feelings or thoughts that you’re a failure?
If you would like to watch the Fulcrum Worldbuilders creative team discuss the questions from the previous page, please scan the code below.
