>>5469964>>5469975The hero departs, leaving his people with ours, heading northwest and downstream towards the swamp.
The first land he passes through contains bountiful groves of trees which bear sweet fruit---nectarines.
To the north of that, upon entering the murky swamp, he passes vast natural deposits of gold, as well as discovering abundant plants upon which large bell peppers grow.
And finally, having followed the river north to the sea, at the mouth of the river feeding into the vast ocean to the north, there are herds of large six-legged insects. These arthropods seem to display a kind of herd mentality, and seem docile and even-tempered, moving in familial groups across the land.
Pausing at the sea, the traveler is concerned. He has traveled for many days now, and had hoped to receive another vision. He resolves to wait until one comes to him.
As fate would have it, a vision does indeed come, but not one of what will be, which is what led him and his people to our lands, but rather one of what once was. Long ago, there were many snakes, an empire of them that stretched across the land. Many races were dominated under their cruel and dispassionate and immortal serpentine masters. Forced to work, or fight, or entertain their snake masters, the serpents reached a level of decadence and arrogance that angered a mighty primordial force.
Their civilization was wiped away; the entire world cleansed of their filth, and the worst of them locked away. So great was the cleansing that even all memory of their empire---its name, its holdings, its history---all gone in a brilliant blaze of white light, leaving the land once again wild, rife for the former servants of this snake empire to reclaim what was once theirs.
The vision ends, and the traveler reflects upon what he has learned before following the river south and returning. He spreads word of his vision. However, when it reaches the ear of the possessed woman, she demands his capture; she declares the story to be false and heresy and intends to make an example of him.
Your people are divided. The half that follow the Snake God out of fear begin to clash with the half that have come to believe the story of the traveler's vision and that this entity is not the one from the first age. In the chaos and confusion of the melee, just as the Snake God is about to strike down the traveler, someone runs up from behind with a rock and bashes the possessed woman in the back of the head.
The snake god, denied its corporeal vessel, rises back into the sky in a long, coiling spectral display, claiming that it shall return.
The traveler checks the woman, discovering that although the blow was severe, she was merely knocked unconscious and, once awakened, is back to her normal self. He nurses her back to health and in time takes her as his mate, producing two children; a daughter, followed by a son.
For the remainder of this age, the false trickster snake god does not bother your people.
