Mighty Simbi

No matter how hard I try to get rid of them, they keep swarming around me like a cloud of fleas. I need to get away from here as fast as I can and escape this damned forest. The hordes of Belisenki keep rushing at me, and I have to admire their tenacity. I'm on their territory. In fact, all of Storhvit is theirs – no doubt about it. All I can do is wait for a brief lull. As long as we're here, we'll be intruders. Yes, Tei has tried to reach out to them through the Skein to ask for their clemency and to soothe their hostility, but we might as well face facts: It isn't working. All I can bring myself to do is rely on my survival instinct – and it's telling me to give back as good as I'm getting. So I gnash my teeth and slash with my claws to pierce through their ranks.

I move like the wind, but they're raining down from the heights, surrounding me, encircling me. So I leap and dodge, zigzag and weave. Around me, the Eidolons that Tei is manifesting allow me to get out of tough spots, but I know that even with all the Mana I've swallowed, it's burning up faster than a matchstick. Tei! It's a call for help in which my exasperation comes through loud and clear. Suddenly, a bluish light colors the foliage on the trees. I head towards it and see a small being capturing the Mana all around. I recognize its smell. I know what it provides. I swallow down the Mana orb it's crafted for me without slowing my stride. With a quick glance behind me, I see it dissipate. The little drop it gave me won't last long in my stomach. It's already half-digested. But maybe it will get me to the edge of the woods.

The legends surrounding the Bisimbi, nature spirits in central African folklore with a particular connection to water and forests, have spread all the way to the Americas through the forced migration of the Bantu peoples. As a guardian of nature and an intermediary between the worlds of the spirits and the living, a Simbi is a shape-shifting creature that can take on many different forms to serve as a spirit guide. In some cases, it can even take on the appearance of a Kalûnga, a spark of fire that gave rise to the whole world.

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393 AC