The aether has frozen, and an egg incubates in the grand court. Humanity weighs on the scales of its worth. The creatures and spirits that dwell in the aether grow exhausted, and the Cogs of realms slow to a halt. A vicious leech waits to consume the souls in the well of the aether. A black body wishes to fill its belly. An hourglass pours its sand tediously yet vigorously till rapture. A savior of man must be elected to liberate the depths below, or existence will seize and lay in the belly of the body.