Lyndorin guided the trio to meet agud’Aga Voznugaid, the highest commander of the ownan Warhost. Thereafter, Voznugaid led them onward to a Floweroot.
The Floweroot grows from the roots of the Oawgiboni. From the colossal body of that sacred living entity, countless white roots drape downward. Near the ground, they bloom like blossoms before anchoring themselves into the soil. The hollow chambers within them often serve as places of rest where the ownan lay their departed.
At the Floweroot, two Goyk lay side by side. They appeared more like sleepers than the dead, for their breathing remained even and steady. As O has mentioned before, the Goyk bear paler skin, unmarred by brown spots upon their bodies. Their third eye, long since degenerated and sealed, left only a narrow groove across their foreheads.
As Voznugaid recounted, these were Goyk suicide soldiers sent to infiltrate Ao’Mahgar. They had come to reconnoiter the land and subject themselves to the potion. Most would take their own lives the moment they were seized, but he and Skichip managed to bind these two before they could drive daggers into their hearts.
At first, they remained resolute and disclosed nothing. Yet as the potion’s potency waned, a drowsy stupor overtook them, and the creeping dread of a slow death proved more fearsome than a swift end. They pleaded for a cure and divulged fragments of the Goyk’s dark scheme.
~~~
Voznugaid stepped forth to stand before the three young ones. His left hand gripped a staff, while his right palm lay open. That august staff, named Arasok, was Voznugaid’s own mystic relic. Its shaft was wrought of tightly woven vines, entwined as one. Atop the staff rested two forms: below, a great crescent Akamaraz Stone of azure hue, and above it, a smaller Oia Blesstone, ivory-white.
He planted the staff firmly into the earth and murmured a chant under his breath. Streams of ethereal light flowed from his fingertips into the Oia Blesstone, which split into six parts. At its heart lay a radiant Xiinga Seed, bound to five encircling fragments. From the Ligaan Seed rose three amber flames, serpentine in motion, streaming into the foreheads of the three. A cascade of memories then began to unfold within their minds:
~~‘ Since time immemorial, the Goyk and the ownan once belonged to a single race, collectively known as the ancient ownan. At first, they dwelt in concord with the natural world, like myriad other beings. They sustained themselves by consuming food drawn from creatures of limited consciousness, much as the plants of the Roundland do.
The ancient ownan steadfastly upheld their faith in and veneration for the Oaa. In their awareness, Oaa manifests in all creation and every creature, both corporeal and ethereal. Oaa encompasses a set of profound and interwoven meanings: Ragun—Eternity; Loarin—the Unity of All; Doroa—Love; Lakqua—Creativity; Kiteh—Sagacity; Sotika—the Sowing of Life; Ukori—Begetting; Tikki—Compassion; and Rudidi—Gratitude.
Oawgiboni was an entity born at the dawn of creation, bearing a soul of immense power and purity—revered as the most lucid embodiment among the Children of Oaa. To the ownan, spiritual life was bound inseparably to Oaa and to the Children of Oaa. They held that Oawgiboni was vital to all life upon Aoringinas; should Oawgiboni cease to be, most living beings would perish.
A dire calamity later altered the structure of ancient ownan society. A cluster of massive sky-stones descended from the upper heavens and struck Aoringinas, unleashing a conflagration that spread across vast regions of the land. This event drove countless species to the brink of extinction.
In the throes of despair and famine, certain of the ancient ownan dared a sin most grave: they ate the Black Fruit of Oawgiboni, a sacred and forbidden fruit that none of their kind had ever touched. Rare and wondrous was this fruit, for it allowed them to endure days without sustenance; yet in return, it wrought a profound alteration upon their minds. To survive, they were driven to slay and consume any creature, even those possessed of intellect and strong souls.
Thus did the ancient ownan begin to divide into tribes. They learned to hoard food and mastered the crafts of the hunt. The ways of life among these tribes grew increasingly distinct and estranged, and rivalry and enmity took root, deepening with the passage of time. Weapons were devised not only for the hunt, but for the slaying of their own kind. Alongside this, they began to raise houses. They forsook their symbiotic existence with other creatures and abandoned their abodes in caves and woods. From this there sprang forth a multitude of notions hitherto unknown to them—of which two came to haunt and consume their minds above all others: possession and war.
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Even after the sky-stones had faded and cooled, and the balance of nature had recovered, they clung to this altered way of life and its attendant social structures, evolving along paths far removed from those of their ancestors. The ancient ownan thus branched into many races, each bearing its own name. These races laid claim to territories and began to raise the first kingdoms.
~~~
Across many historical eras, their dynasties expanded relentlessly and made remarkable strides in knowledge and sorcery. Among them, the Kingdom of Goykang, founded by the Goyk people, rose to prominence as one of the most puissant powers of its age.
An Gawaring, the ambitious king of Goykang, summoned the most powerful sorcerers of his realm and united their collective will in the creation of a singular sorcery: Goki~Saktu~Morus. This was an ultimate art of evolution, forged through the fusion of two sublime spells—Saktu, which preserved memory, and Morus, which restored life.
Through this potent sorcery, the Goyk fashioned armies unconquerable and fearless of death. With such power at their command, the Goyk vanquished and subsumed all other kingdoms. Across the entirety of Aoringinas they established a unified empire. Those realms that were not wholly annexed into Goykang were forced into vassalage, compelled to pay tribute and obey its commands.
Only a small remnant of the ancient ownan dwelt in seclusion, deep within pristine forests, amid rugged mountains, and upon distant archipelagos and remote lands. These few had preserved the ways of their forebears unto that day. In the eyes of the Goyk, the ownan were but a wild and lesser race, deemed fit only for bondage.
Long ago, the Goyk renounced Oaa, having turned instead to gods of their own fabrication. In their dominion and ceaseless expansion, any creature or race that barred their path was hunted down and utterly destroyed. Among such perceived threats stood Oawgiboni as well, a thorn that they were resolved to pluck out. The gatherings of the ownan in worship of Oawgiboni filled the Goyk with deep unease and simmering anger.
In the face of Goyk oppression and the looming threat of extinction to countless species, a legendary Oawgi of the ownan named Ajan Kagu, together with other Oawgi sorcerers, performed a profound and far-reaching spiritual rite to commune with Oawgiboni, petitioning Oaa for salvation.
At long last, the ownan’s prayers were answered. Oawgiboni began to bloom with more White Flowers than ever before. As though by nature’s own law of miraculous balance, these blossoms released the sacred a’Boni awake-scent, which drifted upon the air. When the Goyk breathed it in, their minds grew clouded, and sleep claimed them ever more deeply. Most fell into an unending slumber.
When the Goyk discovered the source of this deathly sleep, they at once dispatched soldiers to destroy Oawgiboni, but it was already too late. The a’Boni awake-scent had spread across the two Grandcrystals of Ao’Mahgar and Ao’Tuatiweh. The surviving Goyk fled in haste to Ao’Hanoorat, a distant and unforgiving land where no Oawgiboni existed, and where a’Boni could not reach.’~~
Voznugaid withdrew the Blesstone spell, and the stream of memory ended. The fragments of the Oia Blesstone drew together again and formed a sphere as before. The tale of history that had just unfolded within their minds left the three overwhelmed. When at last they had gathered themselves, Voznugaid added that the Goyk’s schemes had only recently come to light, thanks to the confessions of captured Goyk scouts.
By means still unknown to Voznugaid, the Goyk had unsealed the Zon’A Gate, which led into the Realm of Roundland.
Since the dawn of creation, Zon’A was fashioned by the Sowers of Oaa, beings of great grace and profound awareness. Through it they journeyed between realms. They watched over life and fostered its growth wherever the living breath of Oaa reached.
When life within each realm had grown sufficiently diverse and capable of flourishing unaided, the Sowers withdrew and never returned. They allowed life to flourish or fade according to its own nature, and thus its cycles were fulfilled. Before their departure, they chose the ownan race of Aoringinas as Gate Keepers. These Gate Keepers, whose lineage endured through the ages, came to be known as the agud’A.
In this age, only four agud’A remain: agud’Aga Voznugaid, chief among them; agud’A Skichip; agud’A Krutas; and agud’A Oawgi Tiknahah.
Upon their migration to Ao’Hanoorat, the Goyk poured their mastery into crafting an elixir against the a’Boni awake-scent. Yet, the barren lands and scarce resources of Ao’Hanoorat made such efforts nearly impossible. Therefore, they ventured to the Realm of Roundland in search of ingredients they needed. Ironically, the vital essence to their concoction proved to be human blood. Though sorcerers and apothecaries exerted their utmost skill, the blood-elixir could only suppress a’Boni for a time, never fully overcoming it.
The Goyk found a henan to serve their dark designs—one by the name of Tlyna. Their king struck a pact with her and promised the sorcery of resurrection in exchange for human blood. Thus was a vast quantity of the blood-elixir wrought.
Now the Goyk were preparing to launch an invasion of Ao’Mahgar. Their paramount aim was the annihilation of Oawgiboni and vengeance upon the ownan.
~~~
