Fogbound Herald

The Herald was not created, but coalesced. In the early days of the curse, as the first Loft Boys began their nocturnal rituals, the very atmosphere of Urban Forest grew thick with anticipation. The fog, charged with their collective desire for community and perfect flight, began to resonate with a specific frequency—a welcoming tone that echoed their unspoken wish for more companions in the dark. It became the league's opening bell, a phenomenon so reliable that players would arrive not at a set time, but when they heard the Herald's call whispering through the pines, a sure sign that the night's floating spectacle was about to begin.

The Herald possesses no physical form, but its effects are unmistakable. It manifests as a deep, vibrational hum felt in the chest more than heard by the ears, causing nearby chains to shiver in sympathy and the dense fog to swirl into temporary, path-like eddies. LED glow sticks within its influence pulse in time with its frequency, and discs held by newcomers feel momentarily weightless, as if eager to be thrown. The phenomenon has a limited radius, centered on the gathering point for the night, and its duration is precisely the length of time it takes for a full card to assemble—fading away as the last player arrives, its purpose fulfilled.

The first sound of the night, a resonant welcome that gathers the flock and charts a course through the obscuring gloom.