Sek's Tears

• The oasis consists of seven clear pools arranged like drops fallen from the sky, each shimmering with a faint silver-blue glow. No sand touches them; the water laps at smooth black stone, untouched by dust or age.
• A petrified date palm, bent like a mourning figure, stands in the center of the largest pool—“the Eye of Sek”. Its bark is etched with ancient glyphs that shift subtly when gazed upon too long.
• Fragrant winds stir the air here, even in stillness. The scent of myrrh, desert lilies, and saltwater pervades the place, though no source can be found.

According to Har’Akiri myth, Sek was once a god of mercy, whose tears fell upon the sands when he beheld the first death. These tears nourished the desert, and from them rose the springs.

The waters are rumored to:

• Cure mortal disease with a touch.
• Mend even incurable curses, magical blights, and poisoned blood.
• In rare cases, resurrect those who died unwilling and unjustly—though they return dream-haunted and never quite whole.

But the oasis is not free to all. For each drop of healing drawn from Sek’s Tears, a secret must be offered—a memory, a truth, or a name. If the supplicant has nothing left to give, they vanish into the waters, which grow a little brighter with their loss.

The canyon that leads to the oasis is known as the Veil of Questions, a winding path flanked by monumental carvings of weeping lions, sun-discs, and veiled women with wings. These are not statues—they are watchers.

• The sphinxes—gynosphinxes, androsphinxes, and stranger kinds still—dwell among the high cliffs, emerging when seekers come near.
• Each sphinx guards one of the seven pools, and each poses a riddle, memory-challenge, or moral dilemma. Those who answer wisely may pass. Those who fail often forget their quest, lose their names, or are turned to stone until the sun dies.
• These sphinxes are bound by divine sorrow, unable to leave the oasis. Some say they are Sek’s penance, punished for witnessing divine mercy and desiring it for themselves.

At least one sphinx, Nafret the Torn, is known to offer mercy to travelers—but only if they agree to carry her grief in their soul forevermore.

Sek’s Tears is a holy wound in the fabric of Har’Akir, a place where true miracles still stir beneath the dominion of death. Even Ankhtepot, the mummy-pharaoh, dares not desecrate it—for fear of drawing Sek’s attention once more.

Some among the priesthood believe the oasis is a gateway to a realm beyond the Mists, a purer afterlife, untouched by undeath. Others whisper that Sek weeps still, locked in eternal battle with the gods of Har’Akir’s dark pantheon.