Strange sights in the sky above the Skarch during the month of Estar,
456, brought adventurers far and wide to investigate - and though this
desert, the place where Lord-and-Lady Mysrai first descended into the
Basin of Life, has seen many a bizarre event, those that unfolded this
day were of a kind unprecedented. Those gathered bore witness to an
intensely poised Mysrai as the Harlot of Revolutions, Their Hands
outstretched and grasping something through a violent rift near a broken
spire. They called out in agonized hope only to be answered by a weak
voice that echoed with fear beyond the Basin, and though weary beyond
imagining, managed to pull something - Someone - through before the rift
snapped shut with a roar that shook the earth.

Huddled in the sand beside the prone Mysrai, a slight figure peered at
everyone with large, multihued eyes. "Sister!" She cried, embracing the
Thousandfold with enthusiasm that would surely see any other dead by
Their Hand. Much to the surprise of all, the Lord-and-Lady reciprocated,
starry tears falling from Their eyes in a joyful deluge as They embraced
the strange Goddess in turn. "Hare Ashtariel" were the murmured words
amongst the Beloved followers of Mysrai as they gazed on in awe, perhaps
the only ones present who had any inkling of what was transpiring. While
the rest of the onlookers watched with varying mixtures of curiosity,
trepidation, fear, and excitement, the youthful-appearing Goddess rose,
Her kaleidoscopic skin and hair of phosphorescent white made striking
against Her banal surroundings.

Bombarded with questions, requests, introductions, the Goddess was soon
overwhelmed, looking frightfully to Her Sibling Mysrai as She retreated
further into Herself with a demeanor that spoke of much hurt and many
soul-deep wounds. Concern an alien expression on Their ever-shifting
face, the Lord-and-Lady tenderly gathered Lady Ashtariel into Their
arms, spiriting Her away to a sanctuary beyond the reach of mortalkind.
Days after Their departure, the quiet desert filled once more with
disturbing sounds - horrid screeches and cries that filled the night in
a hair-raising litany. It was then that eerie, star-made things
appeared: on the highways, in cities and communes, villages, rivers and
streams.

Highly aggressive, these creatures poured in a sea of starry black into
the Basin, a tide that seems unending, much to the annoyance of many.
What are these strange beings? Where do they come from? How can they be
stopped? More pressing, where is the Elder Ashtariel and what are Her
intentions? Those best poised to answer these questions, Lord Zvoltz and
Lord-and-Lady Mysrai, have yet to offer Their guidance and knowledge -
one tight-lipped and known for Their secretiveness, the other
conspicuously absent.


Penned by My hand on the 24th of Urlachmar, in the year 456 CE.