Berínawa
Faerie is most well-known for its timelessness. Yes, those who travel there often return at wildly different times, but also the realm itself is incapable of measuring the passage of time. Nothing dies there and the singular sun of the dimension sits forever just below the horizon, bathing the place in a perpetual purple twilight. However, there is a belief among the older Fay that this twilight will not last forever. If the sun ever fully sets and darkness falls on the squabbling Fay kingdoms, the Berínawa would begin, and woe betide anyone caught in the festivities.
A Dance that Never Ends
The old Fay texts that speak of the Berínawa paint it as a time of intense celebration. Intense because it'll finally get the Fay to actually act like people rather than stoic statues for the first time in their lives, but also intense as in tiring. The festival would be crowned by a dancing competition where the participants wouldn't be aiming for grace or musicality, but pure stamina. It would literally be a dance until every last festival-goer dropped to the ground from exhaustion. For those that survive the ordeal, the worst is yet to come.The Return of the Underground Kings
No, I don't know what an "Underground King" is, but I can tell you that the Fay are scared to death of them. Considering the Fay are never scared of anything, I hope I never meet one.Everyone in Faerie would be obligated to participate in the festivities. That would also theoretically invite the Underground Kings, ancient Fay so old and bloodthirsty that their more cunning peers imprisoned them deep beneath the earth. And seeing as Fay can never retract an invitation, the Underground Kings would likely take the opportunity to free themselves and wreak havoc on the surface world. The few texts on the Berínawa don't say much about what this might mean for those surviving the festivities, but it doesn't take a colourful imagination to figure it out. It would be all out war that the Fay of the surface would likely lose. Every Fay kingdom would be levelled in as the Underground Kings reclaimed their lands of old, bringing a new and terrible era to Faerie.
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When?
The enduring question about the Berínawa - at least for the humanoids who would have to deal with its terrible aftermath - is when the festival will take place, or even if it can. As many have noted, the sun in Faerie never moves, but a couple of Fay have said there is a rumour to the contrary. However, even at its supposed rate of movement, it would be millennia in the rest of the multiverse before any changes could be seen, and perhaps millions of years before the sun set completely.Every day I live in fear that some terrible thing will blot out the sun in the Fay-land and I'll catch the sound of flutes and fiddles on the Other Side.All images used in this article were created by me, EmperorCharlesII, unless otherwise credited.
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This is kind of scary - I hope that the sun never sets for their sake.