“He could not find the World Tree,” they say in Amria. Today it suggests inevitability, a fools errand, even hubris. From the oldest to the youngest they all know the fantastical tales, but even those who believe them think it forever lost. They do not remember their history. They do not learn from it. Centuries ago, the saying meant something very different: obliviousness, stupidity, incompetence. Centuries ago you could look into the sky and there, rising above the horizon, you could see its leaves and branches.

When the Tree fell, the seas swept across the land leaving countless dead – towns were washed away and cities were left in ruin. Centuries passed. Slowly, people recovered. Slowly, people forgot. Cities were rebuilt, babies were born, and history became stories. Stories that do not know how close they came to ending.