In the month of Arios, the Goddess Iosyne, the Malevolent grew impatient
with the seemingly interminable pace of the war against the Shadowbound
and took more direct action - namely, by propelling Herself into the sky
and engaging in direct combat against the creatures in the heavens.
Tearing through them in droves, She engaged the rift, using Her own
considerable power over shadow to temporarily stop it up, commanding the
people of Sapience to march to Sterion.

The Minotaur village was not only found open to the continent at large,
but infested with Shadowbound - the combined forces of the continent
pushed them back in spite of great losses, seeking the source of the
rift. This lay beneath the ground, and the portal itself was guarded by
the Shadow Lord Murgraxis, the sole General of the Shadow Mother's
forces.

Murgraxis proved a fierce and formidable foe, slaying warriors in droves
as they advanced before him - the battle was long and difficult, but
inch by inch they drove him back against the boundary between Prime and
Shadow and forced him through, slaying him and sealing him into the
Shadow beyond. Though echoes of the Shadow Lord persisted, slaying
several more in the wake of his defeat, he was gone - but not slain.

The night sky was left empty for the first time in months - and Iosyne,
the Malevolent retreated to nurse the grievous wounds She had sustained
in battle with the Shadowbound. Shortly thereafter, the people of
Enorian, aided by Ethne, the Rekindled, performed a ritual to raise the
sun into the sky once more - afternoon returned in full force upon the
fifteenth of Arios, the sun blazing down upon the lands with renewed
strength and brilliance.

In the wake of the War of Night, one third of the continent's living
population has died - whether by sickness, by starvation, at the hands
of the Shadows, or in combat with the Nazedha invaders. The greatest
losses were suffered upon the eastern portion of Sapience, though the
western part of the continent was by no means free of suffering, rent as
it was by the Shadowbound. The presence of Shadow had permanently warped
Sapience - time now passes differently, the days progressing slower than
before, the sun and the night both imbued with a greater strength than
they had previously possessed.

Though the War of Night is ended, it has left its indelible mark upon
the world and the heavens, a constant reminder to the people of Sapience
that threats of great and unimaginable power lie barely constrained just
beyond their reach. There is no telling what other consequences might
befall the continent as a result of the extraplanar conflict that has
wracked it.

Penned by my hand on the 16th of Arios, in the year 452 MA.