{Music Recomndation: Ancestors Calling Tribal Music by Infinity Realm}
Godly.
Indestructible.
Cursed.
The Vampiras were the first on the island to awaken such powers, and they wasted no ti in wielding them. So arrogant, so blinded by their own pride, they failed to see that the speed at which they moved, the strength they commanded, and the wings that carried them through the skies all ca at a cost.
Food tasted like ash in their mouths.
Water could not quench their thirst.
And when the sun rose for day, they scampered to the caves with burns and boils on their flesh. Only when they saw those that did not find shade in ti, did they see that the sun trapped them. If they walked in daylight, their deaths were imminent.
Though they struggled, Akura was still their salvation. They had beco the strongest on the island and made sure to stamp out any that tried to oppose them. Their strength and the ability to fly as bats beca known among the tribes, and Tayun fell into a period of darkness where fear was at the root of it.
The sunlight could not stop them, but this aching, uncontrollable thirst made them savage, reckless, and uncontrollable. They could not understand the madness corrupting their bodies, or the need to sate their thirst was not in River Soluma or to drink in Aqualeth’s pools. It soon beca clear that the longer their thirst grew, the weaker they beca—though still much more powerful than anyone else on the island, they beca to realise that the food and drink usually consud did not feed them, they were starting to beco deadly thin with malnutrition.
Still, they did not forsake Akura because they did not believe it was the god of divine judgent and forbidden power who cursed them, but that of the sun god, Solkara.
’She has cursed us into the dark for the strength gained from Akura. Do not let it shake your faith.’ They whispered in the darkness of the caves, praying to Akura, and seeking help for their uncontrollable thirst.
Only when the Apatka sought them out in their weakened states, did their prayer get answered. Akura had not forsaken them to the likes of the Apatka, known even before their latter years as the crocodile shifters, for their strength and ways of the warrior.
Blood.
Drink the blood of your enemies and your essence will be replenished.
Akura whispered along the wind as their axes slashed through flesh.
The vampiras did not hesitate. They dove for their enemies, after skin was split from their weapons, their fingers clawed at their flesh and sucked on their enemies wounds. Vigor restored the life back into their skin, the dark circles beneath their eyes reduced until it was entirely gone, the cramps in their stomach gone, their weakened body’s feeling almighty once more.
Their heads tilted back, blood colouring their teeth and mouths, the crimson liquid drooling down their necks as they stared in euphoria to the cave ceiling, their fallen enemy piled beneath them, or limply held to their chests, forgotten about while their blood sang with renewed power. Red leaked into their eyes, dousing out the colour of their irises, completing their transformation.
Unstoppable, and addicted to the power rushing through their limbs, the vampiras revelled in their victories. Drink the blood of your enemy, sacrifice to Akura, and power will always be granted. They did not doubt their god, for they got everything they wanted.
The people of Tayun feared them, but they also learned that their enemy did not strike until nightfall. The sun kept them safe, Solkara, kept them safe. Their faith in the gods grew, restoring as they sought guidance and protection from the vampiras.
After adapting to late night pillages, and villagers taken in the middle of the night, the Oncari were the first to adapt, their warriors guiding their lands. The vampiras never ca close to their new location on the island after patrols were taken up far away from the core of their village.
Impressed by their endurance, and watching Tayun’s children for years, Umavri, God of beasts, wild at heart, protector and punisher, finally answered Tayun’s cry for help. He cast his powers into warriors turning sixteen to eighteen, as well as newborns.
The power of the beast grew. Warriors fought back the vampiras and when desperation sang in their limbs, their beast surged forwards, breaking bones, shedding skin until basic instinct took over and attacked their foe savagely.
The vampiras were driven back, contained for a ti, but the people soon turned their fear toward those who could shift into beasts at will. Though these warriors fought for them, defending their villages from plunder and their tribesn from capture and fed on, the fear remained, strung taut like a bowstring.
But the vampiras had started to reign over them, their thirst for blood worsening over ti, and so the people without powers sought protection from the newly created beastn.
Nova’s eyes flicked from side to side beneath her lids, body still as she dreamt what Tayun needed her to see. Yoa held his mate in his arms, face stoic, eyes boring into her, noting every little reaction, his back ramrod straight as he sat cross legged, waiting for her to return to him.
A low thud landing on the rooftop nearby announced Atia’s arrival, but he would not leave her. He dabbed away so of her sweat and licked once on the side of her neck, comforting his Serakai.
Sensing Yoa’s distress, though he did not look it, Atia entered the treehouse and sought him out. He ca to a standstill at the entryway to their room, arms crossing as he took in the sight of Yiska and his Electa.
Nova gasped, eyes opening as she recited sothing in the ancient language. Atia stepped closer, intrigued, his heart thudding wildly at her outburst. But Yoa remained silent, watchful as he understood the words leaving her lips.
Nova’s chest fell again and she beca limp, eyes shutting.
"Is she okay?!" Atia rushed forward but a single hand gesture from Yoa halted his movents.
Yoa’s calm aura brushed over Atia like a paintbrush, subtle and soft, calming his tense muscles. "This is not her first outburst of the night," Yoa stated calmly, his eyes locked on Nova still, one hand brushing aside the long locks from her head.
"What did she say?" Atia asked.
Yoa shook his head. "It is not for to tell you. Tayun is telling her the secrets of this land."
So of them, even Yoa was unaware of. She’d just sputtered about a war breaking out after the vampiras were contained better, and entire tribes were now all beast n. Once again, the gods were disappointed, and this ti, Umavri’s wrath shot fear into the people’s hearts.
Punished for abusing the powers they’d been granted, Umavri created the Teju Jagua, his favouritism for the Oncari tribe revealing itself after the creature could only be pushed back into its own lands by the scent of a jaguar shifter.
That was the last ti the Kairan got involved with their children, forsaking them to Solakara’s woven fate.
Nova stepped back from the following scenes playing before her. Yoa had already told her about the vampiras being forced to remain inside the caves. But Tayun hadn’t kept her there to watch that unfold. She was whisked away, the world around her blurring and lting away as she fell through darkness, galaxies and stars whizzing by her.
Rember...
Nova jolted in her sleep, heart skyrocketing, breath halting. Atia showed concern but Yoa could sense through the bond that her mind was ascending, possibly venturing into the spirit realm.
Realisation settled over Nova like cool water in sprayed over her skin in a heatwave. Tayun had tried to pre-warn her, give her the knowledge she sought from the very beginning. The mont she fell into that lake, migrating through space and ti to this other world, Tayun had tried to prepare her.
It was all so much to take in though. That mini history lesson... How was it possible to gain all this knowledge in such little ti? Or had she been in that lake much longer than originally believed?
How could she have learned another language without prior lessons? How could she understand and speak to certain animals? Sothing even Yohuali could not do?
What was Tayun trying to tell her now? It had been fixated on Nova to rember all of this. Besides understanding that there were consequences to everything, Nova couldn’t understand the importance that she, an outsider, needed to know all of this. Was there more?
As though her question had been answered, her hair whooshed back as her surroundings shimred back into existence. This ti she was at another altar in another ti. Her mind was still reeling, but now, she was before the Silver Feather flock, a Sky Matron standing behind an Electa.
Nova knew within her heart that the woman held up by rope around her wrists, head slung down, blood trickling down the side of her face, was an Electa. The Sky Matron of that ti, regal, arrogant, the Electa’s blood drawn stripes down her chin and neck, tugged the Electa’s head back by the back of her hair, forcing her to squint and look up at the sun.
’Akura...’ she whispered then began muttering and chanting, while those of the flock stood aside, watching her stand proudly on her pile of bones and slit the Electa’s throat.
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