KRUTHELTHE TERES KINGDOMThe sky overhead loomed black, fading to the deepest blue as it reached the horizon. The dark silhouette of mountains marked the end of one Kingdom and the beginning of another. All was enveloped in a blanket of silence. Within the endless expanse of the firmament, small points of light pierced the darkness. Scattered against the backdrop of nothingness, their light swelled in intensity until their multitudes covered the heavens. Their brilliant whiteness pulsed, sometimes in unison, sometimes individually. In the moments between pulses, hints of color played around their edges.Gradually, some stars dimmed, revealing their distinct colors. Drifting closer to each other, they began to draw inward and spiral around a vortex, their speed increasing with proximity to the large, fiery star at their center. Quickly, they coalesced into one multicolored orb.In reaction to this movement, the remaining points of light parted and momentarily hovered as if confused, m

LAENINGARTHE TERES KINGDOMSheyir sat on a low, flat rock, dangling her feet in the still water of the pond. It felt cool between her toes and gave her a momentary distraction from her frustration. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise when her father announced Sheyir’s forthcoming betrothal to her uncle, but it did anyway. She had many uncles, but it seemed as though she would have to marry the most repulsive one. Unfortunately, her father didn’t have much say in the matter; such things were dictated by the customs of her people. Nevertheless, she wasn’t comforted by this. It only made her angry to think about the fact that there wasn’t another option. Someday this would all seem more bearable. Someday … when she had given up hope for something different.But now was not that time. Now, she wasn’t able to bear it. And the feel of the water wasn’t able to dispel her feelings. In fact, the whole valley felt different today. The trees around her looked strange and dull, like the life ha

NORTH OF KRUTHELFrom his home city on the grassy plains, Enoch traveled due north. Somewhere beyond the eastern horizon lay the mountains of Nagah, but Enoch kept the shores of Da-Mayim visible on his western side as he picked his way carefully across the terrain. Traveling at a pace that he knew would be sustainable for quite some time, he moved only by the light of day, continuing on a straight route for three weeks until he reached a body of water that spread to the north, east, and west as far as his eye could see. Turning westward, he kept the shoreline on his right side for another three days until the land narrowed between it and another body of water to the west. Across this strip of land, which he named Ad-Banyim*, he traveled with relative ease until the shorelines on either side began to widen and the terrain began to slope upward. In his mind, he could still see clearly the path that had been laid out before him. And with confidence, he kept to the right-hand shoreline as