Hollow Eve Festival 436/Visions
Over the course of Hollow Eve 436, a series of visions were displayed globally, and appeared to progressively get darker in nature. As different people would see different visions at any one time, the visions below are only outlined in a rough order.
Buried Icon
You smell brine and feel the sting of sea spray, and your vision ripples like water. You find yourself standing in a small clearing within a kelp forest, the long fronds gently waving in the current, brilliant spears of sunlight flickering around you. A brilliant shaft lingers on a discarded ceramic cup, which gleams warmly, and another falls on a cluster of corals which grow before your eyes, stretching upward. Suddenly, a flounder startles, erupting from the sand in a cloud of silt as it swims away. A small, buried icon is revealed, depicting a sea turtle holding a crescent moon in its beak. The sunbeams appear to avoid the piece, leaving it in darkness, and it sinks back into the sands with an almost aching sadness. Everything ripples once more, and the vision fades.
Long Shadow
You smell brine and feel the warm sting of sea spray, and your vision ripples like water. Flying over the ocean, you find yourself following a flock of gulls as they sail along the waters, scanning for schooling fish. A long shadow races below you, and a massive head crowned with branching horns breaks the surface, rows of gleaming double-slit eyes focusing on you for a moment before the creature dives back below the waves, disappearing into the depths. Everything ripples once more, and the vision fades.
Message Vial
You smell brine and feel the sting of sea spray, and your vision ripples like water. You find yourself standing on a crowded boulevard, Merelew and mainlander enjoying the fresh air -- bartering for wares, trying new foods, laughing over mistranslated exchanges -- as new relationships are forged. A figure casually leans against a building, eating a roasted seabird wing, and hands a small message vial to a shadowy hand emerging from the darkness of the adjacent alley. Casting the bones of the meal aside, the figure disappears into the crowd. Everything ripples once more, and the vision fades.
Regret Their Impudence
You smell brine and feel the sting of sea spray, and your vision ripples like water. You find yourself in a dark room, strung with faintly glowing orbs, a dozen Merelew seated at a long coral table, flowing hoods covering their faces and features. They sit with painted hands resting on the table, and stare ahead, barely breathing, barely moving. A figure paces the room, and stops, a mechanical voice changer manipulating the words that emerge from the robes like a whisper passing through the legs of scuttling creatures.
"They will regret their impudence. They will remember loyalty. They will choose Andreshlew."
The figures hammer the table in unison, once, twice, three times, and everything ripples as the vision fades.
This Wont Work
You smell brine and feel the sting of sea spray, and your vision ripples like water. You find yourself standing in a dark workshop, lit with a few luminescent crystalline globes. A Merelew in coral manacles and a wide, flared iron collar labors at a workbench. Thick scars and deep burns line her back and arms.
"This won't work," she says. "I already told you this won't work."
The sound of a knife sharpening along a whetstone rings out, and the woman sighs and continues manipulating a small machine, slotting curved pieces of metal together and making small adjustments. Everything ripples as the vision fades.
For Andreshlew
You smell brine and feel the sting of sea spray, and your vision ripples like water. You find yourself standing in a dark workshop, a scarred and burnt Merelew, bound in iron and coral, kneels before a small device. A voice calls out, "Will it work?", and the Merelew simply nods, her eyes fixed on the object before her.
"Good. Ready it, we are done here." The sound of steel scraping along steel rings out, and the woman frowns. Her hands dart forward, grabbing the device, and she twists it violently, shattering an internal vial as clockwork whirs to life.
She snarls, "For Andreshlew." and the device erupts into a globe of lightning, vaporizing her as electricity rakes across the room. Hooded figures hiding in the shadows are revealed as they fall to the ground, their robes and flesh burnt. A door opens, casting light over the room, and a Merelew with a three wavy red lines tattooed below her gills smiles wickedly, and the vision fades.