A headstrong young vastaya of the seas, Nami was the first of the Marai tribe to leave the waves and venture onto dry land, when their ancient accord with the Targonians was broken. With no other option, she took it upon herself to complete the sacred ritual that would ensure the safety of her people. Amidst the chaos of this new age, Nami faces an uncertain future with grit and determination, using her Tidecaller staff to summon the strength of the oceans themselves.<\/p>\n
‘ I decide what the tide will bring’<\/p>\n
A headstrong young vastaya of the seas, Nami uses her mystical Tidecaller staff to reshape the tides and defend her fellow Marai from danger. The first of her kind to leave the ocean and venture onto dry land, Nami faces the unthinkable with grit, determination, and daring mettle.<\/p>\n
In the seas to the west of Mount Targon dwells a tribe of vastaya known as the Marai. Long ago, these mermadic creatures discovered a rift in the depths. The rift bore a horrible, creeping darkness which sought to exterminate all forms of life.<\/p>\n
At the center of their village, the Marai placed a glowing rock known as a moonstone, which is said to be infused with the celestial magic of the heavens. Its haunting, ethereal light protects the Marai from the creatures that crawl from the abyss. Every hundred years or so, the moonstone\u2019s light begins to dim. At that moment, the tribe chooses their fiercest warrior and bestows upon them the title of Tidecaller.<\/p>\n
The Tidecaller must plunge into the icy darkness of the rift, survive the horrors within and retrieve an abyssal pearl. If successful, the Tidecaller rises to shore where a luminous wanderer from Targon\u2019s peak awaits with a moonstone to trade for the pearl. It is an arduous ritual that holds the fate of many in its illusive hands, but the exchange has kept the creatures of the dark contained. In the past, the Marai had sent troops of their most elite warriors to collect the pearl, but they learned the more forces they sent into the rift, the stronger the monsters became, as if it fed on their energy. While an army would be annihilated by the abominations below, a single scout \u2013 armed with a legendary Marai staff capable of controlling the tides \u2013 could potentially elude the dangers of the deep long enough to escape with the pearl.<\/p>\n
Nami had always wanted to be the Tidecaller, but she was impulsive and young. A fierce fighter, she was known amongst the Marai for her stubborn determination, which often got her in trouble. In Nami\u2019s adolescence, the moonstone once again dimmed for the first time in a century. Nami attempted the trial of the Tidecaller. Due to her impulsiveness, however, the elders chose Rasho, a prudent warrior known for his level head in battle, as their Tidecaller.<\/p>\n
Rasho dove into the depths of the abyss. A week passed, then another. An entire month the Marai waited for their Tidecaller\u2019s return, but there was no sign of Rasho. No Tidecaller had ever failed to return. The elders waited and argued while the moonstone grew faint, but Nami knew SOMEONE had to take up the mantle of Tidecaller soon, or all would be lost.<\/p>\n
It might as well be her. Nami grabbed her mother\u2019s bathystaff and plunged into the abyss. After several days, she returned with the pearl, the fallen Tidecaller\u2019s staff, and a look of quiet horror in her eyes. Though furious at her impertinence, the village elders nonetheless admired Nami\u2019s bravery and officially designated her Tidecaller. Nami ascended to the surface and rode the tide to shore to meet the landwalker.<\/p>\n
The stonebearer, however, was nowhere to be found. Instead, an elderly woman waited on the beach.<\/p>\n
The woman, whose grandparents bore witness to the last Tidecaller exchange, explained that there was no moonstone. The Aspect of the Moon was the only being who could conjure a moonstone, but she had fled Targon. Nami was unwilling to accept this. She vowed to find the Aspect and retrieve the moonstone. The lives of her people depended on it.<\/p>\n
Using the power of the mystical Tidecaller staff to summon a perpetual pool of moving water beneath her fins, Nami took to land to continue her quest. Determined, the Tidecaller swam into a brand new world.<\/p>\n
Nobody believed the girl. Even after they\u2019d clothed her and calmed her down enough to speak in complete sentences, nothing she\u2019d said made any sense.<\/p>\n
The villagers had seen their fair share of otherworldly things \u2013 living at the foot of Mount Targon made this an inevitability \u2013 but the child\u2019s story didn\u2019t add up.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d described some sort of otherworldly humanoid who had risen from the sea that bordered their village. It sounded like a wanderer: one of the lost, confused celestial creatures who sometimes ventured from Targon\u2019s summit. No one had ever heard of a celestial appearing from the ocean, though. More likely, the young girl was playing games.<\/p>\n
But when a woman with crimson eyes swam into their village, held aloft by a pool of water that ebbed and flowed at her command, the villagers realized it was no game. \u201cHello,\u201d the stranger said. \u201cI am Nami. I am a Marai, a creature of the blue. I mean you no harm.\u201d<\/p>\n
The villagers stared at her, mouths agape. Perhaps they were taken aback by her appearance. That would make sense, considering how unusual\u00a0they<\/i>\u00a0looked to Nami\u2019s eyes: flesh without scales and two backward arms where fins ought to be.<\/p>\n
Though they weren\u2019t much in the way of conversation, Nami did have their attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI seek the Aspect of the Moon, for the Aspect has something my people require. Without it, they, and possibly all the world, will succumb to a hungry and merciless darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The villagers continued to stare at Nami, slack-jawed and mute. Only a sleepy, four-legged beast went unfazed by the appearance of the mermadic creature in the village, as it carried on pulling mouthfuls of dried grass from a wheeled cart and smacking its slobbery gums.<\/p>\n
Nami stood in the silence, tapping her staff awkwardly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if anybody knows where the Aspect is, that would be, erm.\u201d She sniffed, eager to create any noise to break the endless hush that had fallen over the crowd. \u201cMost helpful. To me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was as if the villagers had been frozen in place it was so quiet. Nami looked around the village and saw small, fluttering lights all around. Anchored to small pillars of wax or large, wooden sticks, the lights indeed seemed to be alive, but not sentient. They fluttered in the breeze and crackled with energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you call that?\u201d Nami asked, pointing at the light. \u201cIt\u2019s lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
An old man in golden robes stepped forward \u2013 the people of the oversky insisted on covering themselves, for reasons Nami couldn\u2019t immediately understand \u2013 flanked by two sentinels. From the many layers of draped fabric, Nami deduced he must be some type of elder. Or perhaps he was just cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou seek the moon?\u201d he asked. \u201cIs she your friend, or your foe?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nami narrowed her eyes. The man\u2019s lip quivered with silent rage. The moon\u2019s Aspect was clearly important to him \u2013 but in what way? Did he worship and wish to protect it, or did he consider it an enemy?<\/p>\n
Nami weighed the options. Surely, she thought, no one would be so unwise as to make an enemy of the moon itself. She replied:<\/p>\n
\u201cFriend, of cour\u2013\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2013HERETIC!\u201d the elder shouted.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2013Fiend! I said fiend! You misheard me!\u201d Nami shouted, but her pleas went unheard as the sentinels shouted orders. Many of the village\u2019s people grabbed their weapons, dipping their spears into round containers of fluid and sparking them alight.<\/p>\n
Nami stared at the tips of the spears now flickering with orange light spirits. Their dance was mesmerizing, but radiated heat. Nami suspected touching one would be incredibly unpleasant.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will leave this village at once! You spread FEAR and DECEIT, and we will have none of it!\u201d the elder demanded.<\/p>\n
Nami stared at them for a moment, her face hard. This was it \u2013 her first test as a landwalker. She knew, that if need be, she could defend herself against everyone in this village.<\/p>\n
But that wouldn\u2019t get her what she needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am scared,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The elder smiled. Nami did her best to ignore it.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot of you, mind. I\u2019ve looked into the hungry, hateful maw of darkness and thought I would never feel joy again. Your spears can\u2019t compare to that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so, I\u2019m\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0going to leave. Not while my people are still in danger,\u201d she said. She moved forward and planted her staff in the ground.<\/p>\n
She moved with such confidence and fearlessness the villagers were taken aback \u2013 physically, in one unfortunate case.<\/p>\n
A young villager stumbled backward, his spear of heat skittering out of his hands, landing beneath the cart of dried grass. The dancing heat spirit grew taller. It licked the grass, spreading its own energy to the pile of dry hay. Within moments, the entire cart was ablaze with the hot, volatile energy.<\/p>\n
The grazing beast brayed in terror and turned away from the blaze. It kicked its muscular legs in confusion, knocking the cart onto its side, launching the burning grass into the air.<\/p>\n
The wisps of heat landed on the village\u2019s thatched roofs and spread rapidly, consuming everything in its path with a voracious appetite.<\/p>\n
The villagers scrambled to fetch bucketfuls of water from a nearby well. Nami watched in frightened fascination as they hurled the liquid at the hungry spirits. For a moment, their efforts seemed to beat back the spirits\u2019 rage, transforming the flickering glow into a horrible cloud of hissing air that, unlike the rest of the air in the oversky, seemed to expand with weight and form. The hissing smoke swirled as the spirits drank up the water and danced on along the rooftops, turning the blue night orange.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore water!\u201d the villagers yelled. \u201cQuickly!\u201d<\/p>\n
I can help with that<\/i>, Nami thought.<\/p>\n
Nami raised her Tidecaller staff, her knuckles tight.<\/p>\n
Focusing her thoughts, the seawater lapping the village\u2019s shore began to collect and vibrate.<\/p>\n
Nami tightened her grip and closed her eyes, pulling back her staff to draw the seawater toward her.<\/p>\n
The ocean roared. It stretched itself into the air high above the village, a sheer wall of tidal ferocity hovering at the ready. The people screamed.<\/p>\n
Nami thrust her staff forward, pointing its headpiece toward the dancing heat.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease move,\u201d she shouted to the villagers.<\/p>\n
They did.<\/p>\n
The wave crashed forward as if to drown the entire village. Just before hitting the ground, the water twirled and twisted into an enormous, turbulent tentacle. It snaked through the air, sniffing out the ravenous trails of heat and rage.<\/p>\n
The tendril of ocean water encircled the angry light, coiling around it like a serpent, constricting and squeezing the brightness in a suffocating collapse. With one last smoky gasp, the spirits fizzled, their glow replaced with the quiet blue of night.<\/p>\n
Nami exhaled, loosening her grip on the staff. The tentacle of water lost its shape in an instant, and splashed to the ground to the startled delight of onlookers.<\/p>\n
The elder and his sentinels dropped their buckets. They turned to Nami, the rage they\u2019d carried moments before now but a memory. They looked upon their visitor with new eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIonia,\u201d the elder said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe moon, look for her Aspect there \u2013 it\u2019s a continent. That way,\u201d he said, pointing out toward the sea in the direction Nami\u2019s staff tugged her.<\/p>\n
Of course. The moon and the tide were as brother and sister. Wherever the moon went, the Tidecaller staff would be drawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh!\u201d Nami exclaimed, her heart flush with hope. \u201cThat is \u2013 yes. Thank you. Sorry about the, er…,\u201d she said, waving her hand noncommittally at the drenched, dripping village. \u201cAnyway. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nami raised her staff and a wave reared up from the shore wrapping her in a cocoon of water and carrying her back toward the ocean. The elder called after her.<\/p>\n
\u201cFire!\u201d he shouted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d Nami asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lights on our torches, our spears. It\u2019s called\u00a0fire<\/i>. It keeps us safe, but it can be…irrational, sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFire,\u201d Nami said, smiling. \u201cI like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And with that, the Tidecaller returned to the oceans, headed for parts unknown.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nami introduction A headstrong young vastaya of the seas, Nami was the first of the Marai tribe to leave the waves and venture onto dry land, when their ancient accord with the Targonians was broken. With no other option, she took it upon herself to complete the sacred ritual that would ensure the safety of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":8918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1674],"tags":[1669],"class_list":["post-8917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-supports","tag-league-of-legends-champions-moderate-difficulty"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8917"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9263,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917\/revisions\/9263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}