The Wild Spirit, full of hunger and feral rage.
The Huntress, demented and broken.
The Haunter, watching from the dark.
The Khaos, never truly bound by any master.
The Predator, always seeking a greater prize.
The Puppet Master, ever present.
The P...
Alright everyone, time for the usual: let's break this one down piece-by-piece.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
PROLOGUE I: Starting things off in the past gets us acclimated to some of the driving forces behind the entirety of the "Power: Struggle" storyline, as well as a little of what comes next. We're introduced to key players Artemis and Lyssa, who are shown to have a rivalry that takes the form of "games": Lyssa's rabid creatures vs. Artemis and whoever she may bring along. In truth, Artemis is valiantly defending the borders around Mount Olympus from the encroaching mad spirit, and is doing so alone since none of the other Pantheites pay her any mind.
This marks Lyssa's first active appearance in the "Safe Haven Saga", barring her cameo in Cameron's dream ("Rebound", Chapter I).
Another player is introduced to the game: Nyarlathotep, the son of Azathoth. He is one of the most prominent entities in Lovecraftian mythos, so those of you who keep up with that stuff were probably wondering where he's been this whole time. Hopefully this story answers your questions. He's also shown to be in possession of another book considered "sacred" by the Faithful—the Book of Azathoth—as well as a staff whose description should be familiar to my readers (if not, it becomes obvious in later chapters).
Nyarlathotep speaks of Opening the Way and showing his father "a world gone mad" (a line that appears throughout "Lost" and "Dreams").
This prologue features the first meeting of the gods shown in the SHS chronologically. However, this collection features far more gods than the one in "Power: Pantheon".
Hades says that the Neokind are beneath Pantheites, revealing their unmatched hubris (Pantheites are actually a subclass of Neokind). Aphrodite denies this, stating that Eros learned "the hard way" that the Neokind are no pushovers—specifically referencing her son's romance with the Phoenix going sour (see "Broken Heart").
Next we get our first-ever look at Safiya el Nar in all her glory, reigning as the Great Pharaoh (Ur-t Paruw) of the Glorious Kingdom—and their resident goddess. This Safiya is cold, condescending, and pompous, having not yet experienced her encounter with Elohim ("Legends"). This is early in her reign, as she has recently arrived in Egypt from Greece.
Safiya mentions she has enough trouble with the Egyptian Pantheon, hinting that other "gods and goddesses" do indeed exist among the Wonderkind. The largest of these would be the Hindu Pantheon, but since that is so large I probably won't introduce any into the series. You never know, though. I might change my mind in the future.
Safiya summons her sword by using the Egyptian word for "Phoenix": "Bennu." (See Cameron's summoning of the weapon in "Dreams".)
During Safiya's conversation with the Magnakind Alliance, several references are made to other groups and mythical creatures and places: the Order of Man (a Wonderkind-hunting group of humans), Okeanos (a river said to wrap around the entire world), Jörmungandr (an ouroboros snake that also wraps around the entire world, a.k.a. SCP-722), Shangri-La (no explanation needed), Rocabarraigh (an island that is said to pronounce doom when it appears), and Saguenay (a magical kingdom filled with flying people [Avians in this canon], gold, and diamonds).
