Burning - Lore Shorts

Burning

Joaken, the eldest of the Efreet, climbs to the peak of Mount Eerunu and looks across the mountains of the Burning Lands. He is here to enact the last rite of remembrance. Then he will travel home to spend the remainder of his days in quiet contemplation.

Joaken's ritual is interrupted when he sees a portal open in the sky nearby. Thousands of dark-winged carrion birds swoop through it and fly toward him. Jaoken kills the birds with great gouts of flame that billow from his arms and erupt from his mouth.

A shadow moves up the mountain path toward Jaoken. It is a humanoid figure wrapped in a dark cloak with the gleam of a chiseled bone beak protruding from its hood and red lines snaking along its bare arms. Jaoken engulfs it in flames.

Smoke rises from all directions. Everywhere, creatures slither, crawl, walk and fly over the Burning Lands. There are small pockets of resistance, but they are a handful against a vast army.

A small group of creatures spots Jaoken and begins bounding up the mountain path. Jaoken prepares to face them.