
Image by KingsIsle Entertainment.
- "Let all that is flesh burn; and in ashes, find relief."
- ―Hunhau[src]
As part of the "Crying Sky Raid Update" released on Wizard101 live servers on July 26th, 2023, a new Raid titled The Crying Sky has been introduced to the Spiral, taking Wizards back into the world of Azteca, and bringing with it a generous portion of new lore for fans to pore over! For this month's Extra Credits objective, I thought I would take it upon myself to better familiarize you with the story of the Raid and all the other fun lore-related stuff it has added!
Before I get into the article, I thought I should let you know that in order to actually play The Crying Sky, you must be max level (160), complete a prequest, be in a Guild, and have at least 12 Wizards (including yourself) online and available to raid. You must also then craft a Raid Key to open the Battle Gate to actually enter the Raid. As of the time of writing this article, not a single Guild has actually beaten the Raid yet, and it is purposefully designed to be very challenging. So you can probably guess from that bit of information that from a gameplay POV, The Crying Sky is not exactly for everyone.
The Synopsis[]
Set quite some time after the events that transpired in Arc 2, The Crying Sky centers around returning to post-apocalyptic Azteca with the intent of launching a raid to stop Hunhau (voiced by Sam Johnson), a powerful comet-like creature who is determined to bring death to the entire Spiral. Championed by the Cult of the Crying Sky, a deadly cult of Aztecosaurs who worship Xibalba, Hunhau has emerged from within the comet itself and hungers greatly, to the point that it even animates the shell of its former residence. The Crying Sky and its High Priests have occupied the Xibalba Wastes, feeding Hunhau and slowly but surely increasing its power with the hope of spreading the creature's promise of death to the greater Spiral. With your Guild and the assistance of Gwyn Fellwarden (voiced by Valerie Redd), you must make sure this does not come to pass.
The Story[]
Prequest[]
- "Something reverberates across the skyways, the heavens scream out one word: Xibalba! Azteca is laid waste! Still her children hide from the fiery ruin raining on their cities."
- ―Gwyn Fellwarden[src]

Gwyn Fellwarden
The story of The Crying Sky begins with a message from Treeminder-esque Druid Gwyn Fellwarden, who tells you that the Druids of old once faced the greatest evils in the Spiral, and that they now need you to continue their work. She urges you to find her in Dun Dara in order to launch a raid. When you meet her face-to-face, she tells you that the leylines are thrumming, and that "something" reverberates across the skyways, with the heavens screaming out one word: Xibalba. She continues, telling you that Azteca continues to be laid waste, with some of her denizens going mad in the wake of all their despair and worshipping the crying sky itself. But in the deepest comet of Xibalba, something stirs. According to Gwyn, it has no name, a horrific being nourished for eons on the heat of the stars. The Druids once drove it to slumber, but it is now awake. And hungry. The Cult of the Crying Sky refer to the being as Hunhau, meaning "Death," for that is all it can offer. They hope to bring Hunhau's "truth" to the Spiral. Gwyn urges that this must not come to pass, and says that you and your fellow Wizards must stop it. She tells you to go to the Zocalo in Azteca so you and her can find a way.
There, Gwyn tells you about Hunhau's Revenants: the reanimated Undead corpses of Aztecans which it has made whisper its "grim gospel." The first task she gives you is to find one such Revenant, although they are hidden - requiring the aid of your Pet. In the Cenote, your Pet learns the unique stench of Aztecan Undead and you return to Gwyn, who tells you that you have arrived just in time, as the air has grown stale and the Spiral's threads have begun to tremble, signaling that Hunhau has risen. With your Pet knowing how to find Undead now, Gwyn says that a Crying Sky Revenant lurks in Three Points, and that extracting its Monstrological Animus is the key to finding Hunhau. With the Animus in-hand, Gwyn says to rally your Guild and "make haste" to your Guild House to launch the raid on Hunhau. There, Gwyn can craft the Raid Key which will take you and your Guild to the Wastes, the "hidden heart" of Xibalba's devastation on Azteca. She says that "deranged" Crying Sky Priests are already there, serving the Living End-Times, and that with every life and drop of energy that feed Hunhau, it grows stronger, even animating the shell of Xibalba itself with its hunger. She again insists the importance of stopping Hunhau from laying waste to the rest of the Spiral.
Raid[]

Hunhau
- "Xibalba wakes. Xibalba walks. Xibalba hungers. Xibalba hatches. From within its craggy shell, Hunhau emerges. A creature of mind and appetite and fury, tis the Death promised by the adherents of the Crying Sky. Tormented is the realm ahead, where the rains burn like fire. "Be wary," I would advise, but naught can prepare you for the devilry that awaits."
- ―Gwyn Fellwarden[src]
The story from here is a lot less dialogue-based and much more about the gameplay. Upon taking your spots in the Raid, Hunhau announces to the Guild, "Let all that is flesh burn; and, in ashes, find relief." This officially starts the Raid, and as the Raid progresses, you will encounter many different Crying Sky lackeys, before completing activites which will summon the four High Priests and Priestesses of the Crying Sky themselves: Ixta, Yetaxa, Autloc, and Cameca. Upon defeating all four, you will be able to polymorph into them and take the fight to Hunhau itself. There are also optional fights that your Guild can take on if you wish to, by the names of Voice of Death and Xibalba Elemental. Anddd that's about it for right now! Until a Guild successfully completes the Raid, we don't quite know how the story plays out, at least not in an official fashion.
Lore Tablets[]
A really cool thing that was introduced with The Crying Sky Raid are the brand-new Lore Tablets! These interactive items, found throughout the Xibalba Wastes, come with some juicy bits of information pertaining to different aspects of the Raid! Since some people may not have time to view these in the Raid itself or may not even have access to the Raid, I thought I would transcribe each of these Lore Tablets directly and let you, the reader, come up with your own theories about them!
- Legends of Hunhau
"According to ancient Aztecans, Hunhau was a Primal Being of Death, the subject of many fanciful tales about battling Hades for dominion of the Underworld. Modern scholars question if he ever existed. Some even postulate Hunhau was simply the Aztecan name for Grandfather Spider, whose long absence caused history to be twisted into mythology."
- Origins of Hunhau and Other Monsters
"Xibalba's alternative name "Mother Moon" has a grim appropriateness to it, as the comet itself is basically an egg. Within its shell is a nameless monster that consumes life. Ancient Druids had bested other such creatures, but have never deciphered their origins. Are they nascent Primals lost in the sundering of the First World, or something from beyond the Spiral itself?"
- The Truth of Hunhau
"Comet-like creatures like the one in Xibalba are highly impressionable. They readily imprint and adopt the first philosophy that complements their appetites. This modern Hunhau thus acts as the personification of Death because the Crying Sky dubbed it so. In truth, it is just a hungry monster. But in its mind, it has become Hunhau and it is its duty to end all life."
- Cults of Azteca
"Azteca has been home to many cults over the centuries, most of them with a negative outlook on the future. The Cult of the Crying Sky agglomerated most of them after the return of Xibalba, unifying their disparate pessimisms into a grand gospel of gloominess. Their popularity grows as more Aztecans lose homes to the fiery sky rocks that continue to rain upon their cities."
As you can see, the Lore Tablets have some quite interesting stuff in them! The most notable of which being the reveal that Hunhau is not actually the legendary being that the Crying Sky believes them to be, but simply a hungry comet monster who has taken on the role of Hunhau. The other bits of lore lend quite a bit to fan theories. Do you think the "real" Hunhau ever truly existed? Where do you think creatures like the modern Hunhau come from? Perhaps we'll get some answers to these questions in the future, or maybe they will remain a mystery for years to come.
Conclusion[]
In my personal opinion, The Crying Sky is a great addition to the legacy of storytelling in not only Wizard101 but the Spiral as a whole. I believe it sets a new bar for side content in the game, and I hope that from a writing perspective, future Raids can be just as good as this one. If you have the means, I urge you to rally your Guild and give the new Raid a shot so that you can experience all that it has to offer. If that's not something you're interested in, then I hope you can at least appreciate the story that has been crafted and all the other hard work that our friends at KingsIsle have put into making the Raid a reality.
Thank you for reading this article, and be sure to check out all our articles related to The Crying Sky here on Wiki101, many of which are linked in this article! See you in the Spiral!