Korah and Andora had left in the night, endeavoring to find the resting places of their brothers and sisters. Days passed, and the winds began to bring cooler weather. Andora sent out thoughts in every direction with no reply. Then, in time, a whisper of musing came back to her from the East. They approached, and the sensation became more clear to them, until it took shape on the plain before them as a moan of heartache. Korah beckoned to it, and the ground trembled. Up from the ground rose Jasper and Aurora, still enveloped in the melancholy that had overtaken them all at the end of the age of creation. There were also tinges of anger toward him, as they justifiably held him as the cause of all of the brokenness now present in the world. Korah humbly manifested his remorse to them, which was accepted, albeit not with the most sincerity. He and Andora then relayed to them about the new creatures they had discovered, and all that they had experienced since. Korah pleaded with them to join in searching for their brothers and sisters, and then to return to further uncover the wonder of the humans. Jasper and Aurora were intrigued enough, but ultimately complied more out of a longing to find the others.

The four turned to the North, wandering through deserts, forests, and river valleys. Days grew shorter and the nights grew colder. They ventured far into the mountains of the North, their sight all but blinded by the snowy winds. The cold had no effect on them, however, and their thoughts still permeated the realm clearly. Soon they were able to detect cognition from deep in the ice fields. Walking atop a frozen lake, the four reached out to a pattern of thoughts that could only have been Basil’s. The ice cracked beneath them, and Basil and Avellia ascended from the frigid depths. They had been so deeply immersed in their own thoughts that they were unable to recognize the others until they had come quite close. They greeted each other in a warmness that melted the ice over lake beneath them. For Basil and Avellia, mourning had long since been turned into concern for their brothers and sisters, as well as conjecture on what had become of the world they had left to itself. After having everything revealed to them, they were almost overcome with curiosity to see these new beings that had been described to them. They agreed however, that finding Devon and Aeva had to be the priority.

It stood to reason that if the six of them had fled to the West, East, and North, that the natural place to search now was the South, and so south they went. They passed between two of the great seas and into a dry, featureless desert, where they wandered for many days with only the stars to right their course. The days passed with exchanged thoughts, as they marveled at how the world around them had seemed to find an order unto itself in the absence of anyone to tend to it. They increased in conversing until they came to a dense jungle. They did not have to send out thoughts this time, for they could easily recognize the mind of their eldest brother reaching out to them. Korah and the others pressed eagerly into the forest, following their perception to the foot of a great mountain. At the top of the mountain sat Devon and Aeva, gazing northward, as if their gaze covered the whole of the earth from this point. Great joy came upon all of their hearts to be together again, and for the final time, Korah unraveled his story of the strange creatures that he and Andora had encountered in the East. As it had turned out, Devon had encountered them as well, and he related his tales to the others:

Years ago, a small party of hunters had made their way into these mountains, and had awakened the archetype and his wife. Devon shook himself from the ground, towering over the men, who fell back in fear. They ran from him, and he followed them with Aeva until he came to their dwelling, a long straw house that served as a home to over one hundred of them. They all came out to gawk at the imposing couple who stood motionless, simply observing them. Devon and Aeva purposed within themselves not to interfere with the tribe, but stayed looming over them, watching. Men and women derived fairly quickly that these beings would not move or act at all, but still came out to be in awe of them quite frequently. Devon and Aeva watched as they went about their business through the years. Men and women were daily bringing home prey from the jungle, making tools, managing their fires, battling the dragons that came in the night, expanding their straw house to accommodate new additions, mourning their dead, and worshiping at the feet of the giants. Successful hunters would return home, and cut off the feet of their prey, laying them before the monoliths as sacrifice. Hardships would come, and the men and women would cry to them, cutting themselves with stones, and earnestly desiring some kind of intercession from the two. Through rainy seasons and dry, Devon and Aeva simply observed, attempting to understand their sign language, their manner of life, and this seeming need that they had to worship.

Eventually, a great sickness befell the tribe. Women came to Devon’s and Aeva’s feet, holding their babies in outstretch arms, weeping openly, and hoping for a cure. Devon and Aeva were at a loss. They wanted to help, but did not know anything about this sickness or how to alleviate the suffering. Aeva sought to reach out to them with her thoughts to communicate with them, but found that she was unable. Neither she nor Devon had known of this limit until this time, having resolved not to make any attempts of communicating with the creatures in any way. They were helpless to do anything but watch as the tribe withered away. The infant children went first, then the few elderly that were in the tribe. A bloody cough overtook them, and they gave out after only a few days. The rest began to succumb, one by one. The cough came first, but for those that pushed through the first few days, blood would begin to seep from their eyes and ears. They were fatigued, but the screams of confusion and pain continued to come up to Devon and Aeva. They would mourn together their inability to help these poor creatures, but to the villagers below, they seemed not to care at all. The most devout of them began even to cut off their own feet as sacrifices to show their sincerity and hope for healing, but healing did not come. These died even faster, and soon, the tribe of over one hundred had been trimmed to only eight, seeming not afflicted in the least by this disease. The tigers came for them in the night.

Devon and Aeva had been heartbroken by the tragedy, and they had not even known why. In the time since they had been awakened, they had born witness to the deaths of thousands of creatures, many of which had been the products of their own handiwork, and no suffering had seemed sufficient cause to bring them so low as this plight had. These creatures could understand and feel in a way that no creation had been able to up until then. To Devon’s knowledge, these could have been the only men and women in all of creation, and they had no clue as to how they had even come to be. Their solemn vow to each other was that, should they ever find more of these, that they would do all in their power to ensure their preservation and flourishing. After that, they returned to the summit from which they had come, calling out to their brothers and sisters, and longing to be reunited with them.

The other archetypes and their wives had attended to Devon’s tale, and, although there seemed no reason for them to be affected by hearing it, they all found themselves taking on a similar resolve and responsibility to care for these creatures, should they find them. It was as though they had found helpless infants in the woods, and could not help but be favorably affectioned toward them.

After a few more moments of reflection, Korah broke away to lead the pantheon back to the highlands of the East, where he had left a tribe over half a year ago now. They returned through the great desert through which the six had come, and made their way closer and closer. The eight also spent a great deal of the journey thinking of what to do with the humans and how to interact with them. Surely providing food and security for them would be a wonderful venture, but they also planned ways to help the humans to grow in knowledge, expand their dominion, and better make use of the world around them. They had so many ideas that they could not wait to try. Anticipation grabbed hold of them as they drew near to the particular valley about which Korah had told them.