92

The crisis that would test everything Arianna had built arrived without warning on a cold autumn morning, carried by a courier who'd ridden through the night from the northern territories.

"The Northlands Confederation is collapsing," the courier gasped, exhausted beyond coherent explanation. "Not political collapse. Actual collapse. The land itself is dying."

Arianna had the courier brought to the council chamber immediately, along with Elder Chen and the federation's senior threat assessment team. What the courier described over the next hour was unlike anything they'd encountered.

"It started three months ago in the far northern territories. Plants dying despite adequate water and sun. Animals fleeing south in unprecedented numbers....