Midnight cloaked the world on the Day of the Dead when two comets blazed into view, illuminating the heavens like twin omens. Yet, to those steeped in ancient lore, the streaking lights were no celestial coincidence. These were avatars of divine will: Tet-Su-Yi, the Mother-Goddess of Creation, and her eternal adversary, Nyarlathotep the Unmaker, clashing at the threshold of existence.
Tet-Su-Yi burned bright as dawn, a comet of luminous gold and silver, her tail shimmering with the hues of all life’s beginnings. She was the weaver of stars and the nurturer of worlds, her every movement sowing the seeds of creation. Nyarlathotep, by contrast, was a void given form, his comet trailing a venomous black haze streaked with sickly green. He was entropy incarnate, reveling in the dissolution of order and the unraveling of creation’s intricate designs.
Their confrontation was inevitable on this most liminal of nights. The Day of the Dead thinned the veils between realms, and at the heart of the cosmos lay the Labyrinth, the magical nexus linking three dimensions: the Realm of the Living, the Realm of the Dead, and the Realm of Dreams. The Labyrinth had endured for millennia as a barrier, preserving the balance. But now its ancient walls groaned and cracked beneath the strain, the pressures of the approaching comets too great to bear.
In the night sky above Sojenka, the two comets moved closer and closer. Their tails began to wrap about one another, like enormous serpents locked in battle!
The pale blue of Tet-Su-Yi and the sickly orange of Nyarlathotep collided and the heavens erupted in a burst of divine power, a kaleidoscope of light and shadow that shook the earth. Those watching gasped as spectral forms rose from the thinning veil, their ghostly visages illuminated by the celestial battle. The ochre sands of the Dreaming Lands seeped into verdant fields, while the inky waters of the rivers of the Dead flowed freely into the lands of the living.
Tet-Su-Yi’s voice boomed through the firmament, radiant and commanding. “*Nyarlathotep, turn back! The Labyrinth holds the balance of all existence. To destroy it is to doom creation itself!*”
The Unmaker’s laughter resonated like the shattering of ice crystals, his inconstant form twisting with malevolent glee. “*Your balance is a lie, Tet-Su-Yi. Creation thrives on chaos, and I am its Herald. Let the Labyrinth fall, and from its ashes, new dominions shall rise — mine!*”
A second collision tore through the air, a cascade of energy that reshaped the world below. The Labyrinth fractured, its walls splintering as the three Realms began to fuse. Forests dissolved into ochre deserts; rivers froze into obsidian ice. Dreams took corporeal form, walking among the living, while the spirits of the dead mingled freely with the mortal throng.
Despite her efforts, Tet-Su-Yi faltered as the Labyrinth cracked irreparably. Yet she did not despair. In the chaos of fusion, new opportunities emerged. “*If I cannot preserve the Labyrinth,*” she proclaimed, “*then I shall guide this new Realm, and forge a compact to protect all that remains.*”
Nyarlathotep sneered, his undulating form dimming as he retreated into the shadows of the newly-fused world. “*Do as you will, Mother. Even your best creations carry the seeds of their end. I shall wait.*”
Dogs howled, far out on the plains could be heard the screams of the great lizards, while birds and bats caromed through the air in a chaotic cloud. The cries of the flocks were like those of terrified children. And every fire burned purple and blue for the space of three panicked breaths.
A great darkness spread across the sky, blotting out the stars, which seemed to whirl and bubble as if contained within a boiling cauldron. The ground shook, and *shifted*, a perceptible jolt as that of a mighty hammer striking an anvil.
Light returned to the sky, slowly, revealing new patterns of stars, while Luna and Cthuvar remained the slimmest of crescents. A strange cloud surrounded Luna, an expanding mist enveloped the eclipsed circle. The purple flames of hearth and torch returned to their familiar red-orange glow.
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