Echoes of Change
You adjust your wire-rimmed glasses as you gaze across the rugged landscape from atop the Stone Watchtower, your white fur ruffling in the cool mountain breeze. The year is 1873, and the world around your beloved Kolob is changing. More settlers arrive each month, their wagon wheels cutting deeper trails into the red earth below. You've watched their numbers grow, knowing this day would eventually come.
The rising sun catches the crystalline formations embedded in the watchtower's walls, creating a familiar pattern of light that has guided your meditations for over a century. But today, something feels different. The crystals' usual soft blue glow pulses with unusual urgency, a warning you haven't seen since the passing of the last N'hava guardian.
Placing your hand against the ancient stones, you feel the Life Stream's energy coursing through the tower. The flow is disturbed, like ripples in a calm pond. Somewhere near the Underground Lake, the sacred boundaries are being tested. You sense unfamiliar presences, drawing close to secrets that have remained hidden for millennia.
The morning light catches your glasses as you consider your options. The Heartstone, secured safely within the hidden chamber below, could show you exactly what's disturbing the Life Stream. Its power would give you a clear vision of the threat, but using it might create energy ripples that the more sensitive settlers could detect. Alternatively, you could move silently through the forest paths you've walked for centuries, observing the disturbance while maintaining complete secrecy.
Generations of N'hava wisdom echo in your mind: “The surest path isn't always the straightest.” Yet you also remember the warning carved into the Star Map Caves: “Time's flow, like the stars above, waits for no guardian.”
What will you do?
Choice A: Use the Heartstone
Descend to the hidden chamber and use the Heartstone to investigate the disturbance directly. Though sensitive souls might notice its energy, its power will give you a clear vision of the threat.
Choice B: Shadow Path
Move silently through the ancient forest paths, relying on your centuries of experience to observe the disturbance without revealing your presence or using apparent power.
Each crystal holds a truth; each path holds a lesson. Choose wisely, Guardian.