319) The Salvation of Eden, Chapter 83 — Prophecy

“Part One:

Before Darkness or Light

Wrong or Right

 All

Nothing

Endless black bright

No Life

No Death

Only One

Aboleth

Her baby

Twisting swirling serpentine Air

The First Dragon burning

Yearning for freedom from eternal despair

Breath stabbing, his living a sword

Eternally unable to sever the cord

For the Ocean cannot burn

But endless rage cannot learn

Great thunderstorms covered Land with Sea

Aboleth absorbing all energy

Until finally, Dragon faltered, beginning to tire

Feeling the imminent end of his fire

But Dragon knows no honour, no glory

Plays in no drama, cares for no story

Not bound by morality, the prison of mortality

His one thought, reflected in loveless eyes

Aboleth must die.”

* * * * *

“What the heck does THAT mean?” Reilly asked. She crossed her arms. “I think it’s dumb.”

“But it has to be important!” Kohra responded. “It just has to! It’s part of the Zhaalmohhrian’s super-secret Inheritance! It must mean something!”

“It’s probably a joke,” Lenny laughed. “Some person, like Dom, ten thousand years ago was like, ‘Haha, I’ll fool all of you!’”

Devona rolled her eyes. “Kohra is right. This has to be important. It’s just written as some kind of riddle, or story. Maybe it’s an allegory. Maybe there’s a reason the meaning is difficult to discern immediately. Maybe it’s like, a code or something.”

Reilly perked up. “A code? Ooohh. Yeah, okay. Maybe this is cool.”

Devona smiled. “Anyway, listen.”

* * * * *

“Part Two:

A weapon lay hidden in serpentine scales

The Old One’s sword, sung by the whales

A sunset, lover, melody, dance

You cannot defend from the world’s dying glance

The final moment before Dragon’s death

With Aboleth awaiting her child's last breath

The whale song weapon pierced her breast

And She fell.

And our world began.

Now Power belongs to Air and Fire,

Evil feeds insatiable Desire,

Law rules Chaos,

Love bows to Hate,

Being is Suffering

Our collective Fate

A thousand aeons! What might have been?

What secrets known, what beauty seen?

What peace, what wisdom might there be?

Had Aboleth not loved so foolishly?

The prophets sing, now make your choice!

Awaken Her, let us rejoice!

We all shall be blessed, the end of War!

Dragon cast down, forever-more.”

* * * * *

“So, this Aboleth God-person-thing was gonna kill her kid, but then at the last second he stabbed her with some whale weapon and put her in a coma or something?” Lenny summed up. “And now, the prophets want everyone to sing and wake her back up?”

“Why?” Reilly asked.

“Because everything’s evil now and life sucks,” Lenny replied. “Life would be all candy and sing-a-longs, except stupid old Dragon got born and became all rebellious and stuff.”

“Law rules chaos,” Dominic murmured.

“Huh?” Kohra asked.

“Law rules chaos, love bows to hate, being is suffering, our collective fate. Isn’t this basically the world we live in right now? Think of how much the whole Law thing has been coming up, over and over. Starting with the King of Anthor! He wants to bring everything under his rule, his law. He wants an ordered society. So he can control everything. Order is all about control.”

“Yeah, those ogres were heavy into their Llaw,” Lenny added, nodding.

“Graxia!” Kohra shouted. “Remember? What’d they say?” She turned to Lenny.

“She’s a stickler for the old ways?” Lenny recited.

“Yeah!” Reilly clapped. “Isn’t that like, laws?”

“And the Demon,” Devona added, almost in a whisper. “Remember?"

Lenny snorted. “I sure as Hells do. I was so sick of the whole ‘Law’ thing at that moment.”

“Yes!” Kohra exclaimed. “You’re right! Gods, this is huge….”

Melkorn looked puzzled. “The scroll is not that big, Kohra.”

Kohra’s confusion passed quickly. “Oh, no Melkorn! Not the scroll. I mean, this whole Law thing is huge. Like Dominic said, this IS the world we live in. The power of ‘Law’ is everywhere.” She paused, then muttered. “And seems to be making everything worse.”

Devona smiled knowingly. “Yes. And now, check out part three. This poem is going to tell us exactly what we can do about this.”

Kohra felt a shiver up her spine. This was it! She just knew it.

* * * * *

Dev cleared her throat.

“Part Three

But the Sages know how the ages go

Dragon's rages flow

Thus the Races grow

For we are all Dragon’s spawn

Only Her sleep allows each dawn

If Aboleth ever should awaken

All of Life will be forsaken

The end begins when loyalty dies

The last Queen slain by her family’s spies

Good turns to Evil, truth becomes lies

Nature is ravaged, songs become cries

And Darkness replaces the Light in our skies

At the Root of the Great Tree

Spring of all Rivers that flow to the sea

Source of the Sacred,

The Heart of a Sun

Release the whale song

That our worlds may be one

The only salvation, embrace annihilation

To conquer all fear forget self-preservation

No path but surrender, the martyr’s kiss

A saviour must travel to the Abyss

All hope for renewal is found in the Center

When the True Name is spoken, then we will enter

The next Age

So says the Sage

Listen with joy to the birds

Dear Friend

As their songs fade to silence

We face The End.”

* * * * *

They were quiet for a long time. Finally, Reilly asked in a small voice, “So, the worlds are going to end?” She looked first at Kohra, then Gorb, then settled on Lenny, who shrugged.

They puzzled over and debated the poem until the fire had burned into embers and the sky was starting to lighten. Everybody thought it meant something different, and most people disagreed even with themselves. But they all agreed, it was important.

Tossing and turning for her couple of hours of fitful sleep, Kohra dreamt of a giant, fish-like beast, with tentacles, so impossibly enormous that it swallowed the worlds.