Welcome to your next decision: where will you travel to in the next Storyline prompt: "Forked Along Stork Wings"?

Want to catch up on the story? Visit our Current Storyline Hub!

Story

"Raindrops flicker across the ground, turning the soil to mud, but the aqualox trekking through it seems to care little, if at all. His mind is too deeply clouded in his own thoughts to care about the world around him. The messenger poco on his back signals the same message over and over.

"Caravan searched. Suspect escaped. Evidence remains. Assistance requested, its ribbons sign.

"The aqualox shakes out his whiskers, the droplets gravitating up to his mane. It's not like he could forget this message; who could when an entire aqualox seemingly dissipates into dust! But he can’t deny the company of his poco is soothing. It would be the only trace of familiarity that he could bring to the Temple of Aysu, save for the scales on his back.

"He was to meet with High Priest Romulus, the advisor to Lake Tide. This made Romulus the second in command to all of the Central Shores. The aqualox in the rain shivered. To one of the most powerful Safirans in the Eastern Territories, he was bringing hazardously foul news, and there was no shortage of rumour on Romulus’ temper. The High Priest was not the sort to express his anger, but you could feel the rage slither between your skin and nibble at your flesh like an oily leech in a shoe.

"Get in and get out, the messenger tells himself.

"He wants to be no more involved than he has to be, the contents of his satchel weighing his conscience down like a jester about to poison a king, except in this case, it may be an entire country he is throwing to the wolves.

—————

"The light in the library grows dim, the evening glow peeking in before waning into sunset. Your throat grows sore and your mouth has gone dry. It seems as though the pseudo-deity before you has also grown tired: the paper-bound aqualox’s movements have slowed, its coiling body has turned slack, and its ceaseless laughter has faded to a murmur carried on the library’s echoes.

"He seems satisfied with your stories, although he appears to be more intrigued by the questions you asked. A few questions stood out from the conversation, revealing to you not only locations on where to investigate next, but also a lead on your thief.

"'Red-eyed ‘loxes are not a commodity,' the One Lost in the Currents yawned when you inquired about your burglar. 'They are from the Midland Marshes. A particular family monitors the Ruby-Flesh Carp with the ferocity of a mother bear. Not all of the family are born with the trait, though.'

"You open your mouth to ask further, but the One Lost in the Currents whisks away from the book in front of you.

"'Come,' his laugh bounces through the hall.

'You wince, still a little sore from the Rok Guardian’s strike, but rise and approach the glowing book from which Lost’s voice emanates. Then, the book loses its phosphorus glow, and the next one takes its place. You approach that one, but it flicks off, but the next turns on. This happens again, and again, so on, and so on, until you have started chasing down a trail of illuminated books, lights flickering off and on down the hall.

'The light keeps darting away like an ocean dragonfly, when it zips around a corner. You swerve to follow, but skid to a halt before a massive canvas, hanging in the middle of the room by its four corners. The light settles on the paper, draping the ink in its azure glow. Breath heavy, you glance around the empty room, but there is nothing except this canvas. Your eyes settle on the print, every territory of Safira Island inked in detail you’ve never seen before. You stretch your paw onto the canvas, the movement causing the map to billow like a wave under a buoy. You notice the canvas is not made of traditional paper, but instead a massive layer of manipulated leaves and bark. Suddenly a single fleck illuminated the center of the canvas, and you notice the silhouette of the One Lost in the Currents appear on the corner of the map. He looks dwarfed against the scale of the world.

"'You will be here,' the light twinkled in the middle of the main island, 'at the spark of dusk’s shadow.'

"Suddenly, the floorboards slip out from beneath you, your paws squelching into damp soil. Startled, you look down at the rainforest grass spearing around you. You turn to the One Lost in the Currents for answers, but you meet the bark of a mangrove instead of the canvas of a map. The walls surrounding you are gone, and the starry night sky begins to paint the sky above where limitless bookshelves should have been.

"'Choose your next step wisely,' a chuckle rings in your ear before the drum is replaced by nocturnal toad song.

"The library is gone, and you are left standing alone in the middle of a rainforest. You begin to wonder if it was all a dream, if you hallucinated the parting words of paper aqualox with no Soul Gem, but a gemstone clucks at your feet. You lean down to grab the amber brooch, two lights fluttering within like a firefly compass.

"East or west? you almost hear a voice ask."

Updates

Salutations, Island Dwellers!

We're back at it again with another choice! After exchanging stories with the One Lost in the Currents, you've gathered a handful of leads on where to go next, but which path you'll actually choose is still in the air. Will you choose to explore the Benthon village to learn more about terradins, to the Great Sycamore to forage for answers on the extinct primlin race, or continue your hunt for your stolen Serpent Trinket and the red-eyed burglar? Create a submission for this month's storyline prompt and see where life takes you!

And as a reminder, you do not need to complete any of the previous Storyline prompts to participate in Forked Along Stork Wings. Members, new and old, are welcome to join in on the Storyline at any time!

Legacy Prompts

After a long wait, you can now revisit old Storyline prompts in their Legacy forms! Legacy prompts, although they will no longer effect the storyline, will still grant similar rewards (although they may be modified from their original release). As always, we remind you that it is not required to complete any Legacy prompts to participate in the most recent Storyline prompt.

July: the month of art fight!

Art Fight is an annual art trading game. Although Safira Island is not a part of the event, we would love to see Safirans join in on users' Art Fight rosters!

In honor of the season, July's "Geneourus Spirit" prompt will be rewarding an additional Arcane Paintbrush for each submission (limit of two per month, per user). In addition, a new prompt "Join the Fight", has also been released! Please see "Join the Fight"'s prompt page for more information. 

We have also created a forum post to share your Art Fight profiles (regardless of whether or not you've chosen to include a Safiran on your 2023 roster), which can be viewed and commented on here!

Mini-games?

We thank everyone who's left suggestions on our mini-game suggestions post! After hearing some of your ideas, we're excited to announce that our first mini-game will be Minesweeper! There is still much work to be done before we can officially release the game, but we hope to release a Beta version sometime in the coming month.

Still want to leave a mini-game suggestion? Feel free to comment your ideas to the current forum post or make a new thread under the Suggestions forum.

REMINDERS

• Our monthly prompts, Generous Spirit and Poco Discovery, have both been refreshed for the month of June.
• The Activity Corner has been refreshed as well, this time around featuring gardening and flower boxes!
• As of June 21st, it is officially Summertime on Safira Island! Our seasonal prompts have been refreshed and will stick around until late September.
• Haven't stopped by the Bazaar in a while? Two new items have been added today, so why not stop buy and look around?