Coming of the Bolide
41 Nadir darkness comes to garden Vallis,
With heaven’s crystals sparkling unobscured.
Shadow calm subdues the ravaged valley.
It comes at last: a falling diamond flame.
41-1 Its luminescence makes the night as day.
Mountainsides of glass shall beam like silver.
The Nezulim observe their ending bode,
While the blue star Ed? reaches apex.
41-2 The Bolide falls upon the realm of Vê.
Flaming silver serpent from the heavens,
Descending to the ledges of Meru—
Mountain of the seven sacred spires.
41-3 Nezulim send forth the Varangean.
The slain one, Bazunan, not in their count.
Led by heated glow and blotting billows,
They reach the heights of sacred vulcan spurs.
41-4 Upon the ledge, a white coronal light,
Radiating chimeras of crystal.
Though half-submerged, its beaming heat immense.
Varangean must remain at distance.
41-5 Nezulim shall speculate whilst idle,
Their minds are filled with darkness and demise.
That which comes forth from the Bolide crystal,
Must be a curse on Vallis by The One.
41-6 Varangean bear their jagged rapiers,
Preparing frenzied death for that which comes.
A thousand stars descend from firmament.
Amaranthine stains the pitch of heaven.
41-7 Crystal Bolide cools with Ed?’s transit.
Coronal light is dimmed with western dawn.
Sol yet rises, hindered not by omens,
As Varangean cower in the shade.
42 When cooled, the crystal hull reveals a door.
Heaven’s ark then offers up her cargo.
Emerging one by one from diamond holds—
They are formed in image of the prophet.
43 Foretold, They come to Vê a race of men,
Making journey from Their ruined homeland—
Once bless-ed world endowed with shallow seas,
A realm known to the Nezulim as Me?.
43-1 The realms of wicked beings shall be consumed
By withholding of The One’s great blessing.
But ending of a realm is less a curse
Then it is the reaping of the sowing.
43-2 The realms of vanity shall end in ice,
And hedonism bringeth end by flood.
The worlds of apathy shall choke on dust,
And envy be the cause of burning fall.
43-3 Five hundred generations make the trek
From Me? to the spires of Meru.
Their world, a ship that sails upon the void.
Their ancient home, the wellspring of their lore.
43-4 Half a thousand kings have ruled Their journey,
A dozen times They swept the shores of Vê.
All these generations nearing Vallis
Were curs-ed by Their passing of the port.
43-5 Blessed be the man who makes the journey,
If known to him the end shall never come.
Life spent in the service of his scions,
Is life that shall be born again in peace.
43-6 Fearful menfolk huddle on the mountain,
To weep and wail out at Their final fate.
They were promised landing in oasis,
Instead, They have discovered desert glass.
43-7 Lifted through the door of buried crystal,
The king of menfolk known to Them as Vyn.
Golden raiment cloaks his withered body.
He clutches at his staff of dragon’s bone.
43-8 His beard is long and gray, like cooling ash.
His elder’s eyes are clouded like dawn’s mist.
Tremors shake his hands and slow his footsteps.
Yet, a royal air does not elude him.
43-9 He kneels upon the glass of Mount Meru,
Offering his gratitude to heaven.
‘The One has blessed our tribe with journey’s end.’
‘We honor You by bringing life to stone.’
43-10 The vanguard of the menfolk gathers round,
Fellowship inoculates from worry.
The King of Men fulfills the ancient oath.
Then his tired heart shall cease its beating.
43-11 The others step forth from the crystal hull,
Each to breathe the air and touch the mountain.
In awe, They gaze upon the prongs of glass...
Legend has foretold the seven spires.
43-12 They lay Their fallen king upon the stone,
And build a cairn of quarried vulcan glass.
No male heir was sown for king’s succession.
Bondage chains the tribe without a sovereign.
43-13 Thousands are the number of Their people.
Their skills well-honed along the journey age.
Builders, farmers, hunters, millers, merchants,
And guardians of these— the soldier class.
43-14 Amongst this tribe there are two royal daughters,
Born together, Aramaz and Mazda.
Their mother cradled them upon her breast.
Yet no twin would suckle with the other.
43-15 The daughter-heirs of Vyn have never wed,
Nor birthed a son to carry on the line.
In their elder days, the twins are barren,
Fading hopes for naming of a sovereign.
43-16 Gathered on the Mount Meru’s high ledges,
Beneath the seven spires made of glass,
Me?’s pilgrims greet Sol’s torpid rising,
Dispelling dread of that which lurks in shade.
43-17 Awed, the Varangean hold in shadow,
Biding time to make their slashing kill.
Consensus be for slaying all these souls,
Lest They deliver ruin unto Vê.
43-18 As the dragons form to usher murder,
Their charge is stayed by visions of rebirth.
Underneath the soles of Me?’s Children,
A bursting verdure paints the stone with blooms.
43-19 The dragons sheath their razor rapier claws,
And fall into the shadows beyond sight.
Raptors shall be summoned as Their envoy.
They will shepherd menfolk into Vallis.
43-20 Me?’s pilgrims wonder at these servants.
Scaled in gray and standing thrice their stature,
Their words, a woodwind melody of thoughts,
A race of giants They call Nephilim.
43-21 The Nephilim shall lead Them from Meru,
Trekking forty leagues down from the highlands.
Descending from the edge of desert waste,
Before them spans a splendid garden vale.
43-22 Me?’s Children sing in joyful chorus,
To the fronds that weep a sweetened nectar.
They celebrate oasis in the waste,
Unwary of the lurking dragon beast.
43-23 Nezulim may move beyond perception,
Invisible to men with fettered eyes.
Upwards, downwards, left, and right are limits;
This narrowed range of view conceals the beast.
43-24 They rest within a grove of cascade fountains,
And feast on manna frothing from the trees.
Nephilim shall guard Them while They idle,
For the splendid garden hides its hunters.
43-25 The menfolk wonder at the Vallis trees,
Sprawling limbs bedecked in golden foliage.
Reaching upwards to the mists of heaven,
No tree had taken root in Me?’s soil.
43-26 Howls and calls and clatters haunt the garden.
The scent of tea and flower lulls the mind.
Quaking ferns conceal the shaded slithers.
A silver blossom clenches on its prey.
43-27 Nephilim sit silent without moving,
Their serpent eyes observe the lurking doom.
Flicking tongues can taste a nearing danger.
The garden will not welcome feeble men.
43-28 When the baking air becomes a burden,
The Nephilim will press Them on the path.
Severed heads of hunters line the trailway—
The Raptor’s stealthy blade unseen by men.
43-29 The Me?ns rest on banks of gentle streams,
Fed by waters splashing down the stoneface.
The Nephilim reveal the fruits and roots—
Those that will not blind or cease Their heartbeats.
43-30 Journey’s end is marked by thinning jungle.
Before Them climbs a wall of vulcan glass.
Rumor spreads among the wary menfolk,
That lofty fissures hide the serpent beast.
43-31 As Me?ns are delivered from Meru,
An agent is selected from Their tribe.
Esthe is the dead king’s highest counsel.
She shall be Their voice without a sovereign.
43-32 Nephilim lead Esthe up the mountain,
And guide her to an entrance carved in stone.
Passing through the vestibule to darkness,
The master Nezulim awaits her call.
43-33 Esthe hears the pings of dripping water,
And hears the blowing swells of heated air.
Esthe feels the motion of the dragon,
And hears the scrapes of undulating scales.
43-34 Esthe calls out in the strangling darkness,
‘If you be Gronde, present yourself to me!’
Chamber crystal veins then briefly brighten,
Revealing glimpse of dragon silhouette.
43-35 Esthe feels the motion in the shadow,
The Nezulim recedes beyond the dark.
Before her sounds the whisper of a man,
‘I am the one who brought you to this crypt.’
43-36 Bewildered by the tenor, Esthe asks,
‘That cannot be the voice of Nezulim!’
‘There be but one man who could precede us.’
‘Tell me, are you the man Azarius?’
43-37 ‘I am not the man of whom you query,’
‘Though He will not appear, He is yet near.’
‘I am dragon, this you can be certain.’
‘Your mind perceives me as my will intends.’
43-38 ‘Prove yourself the Nezulim by showing!’
‘For legends say Azarius plays tricks.’
‘I shall then bear witness of the dragon,’
‘Bringing Me?’s Children to submission.’
43-39 ‘You cannot see Nezulim completely,’
‘Its form transcends this thin dimension plane.’
‘If I showed my form to you in fullness,’
‘The sight within your mind would be deformed.’
43-40 Undaunted, Esthe furthers her demand:
‘I fear not the vision of the serpent!’
‘Nor am I fearful of the loss of sight!’
‘To be affected is my chosen path.’
43-41 Esthe hears a stirring in the shadow,
As the haze is siphoned from perception.
Her mind is opened by the dragon’s will,
And shall not be restored to what it was.
43-42 Gronde the dragon slithers in the darkness.
‘As you wish,’ it speaks within her thinking.
At first, a flicking tail, a prong, a claw,
And then, the beast in whole, within her mind.
43-43 She perceives the dragon from each vantage,
Eye and claw and scale and organ visage.
And too, the form beyond the sight of men—
With every facet visible at once.
43-44 Two hundred eyes, and yet each part of two.
A hundred heads, but all the same with one.
Scales in rippling, shapeless, edgeless surface.
Endless rows of tooth that spring like fountains.
43-45 Nezulim transcend the plane of vision,
Though they be tethered unto realms of men.
They perceive the world with sight beyond it,
And choose what facet of themselves is shown.
43-46 Esthe holds perception of the dragon,
But for an instant, then the vision ends.
Her eyes then turn as black as vulcan glass—
Windows to a mind that has been opened.
43-47 Gronde speaks to her as facet of a man:
‘You have now perceived the dragon fully.’
‘Wage of this, your eyes forever blinded.’
‘But you shall see with vision by mind’s eye.’
43-48 Esthe shall be led back to her people,
And They will know that she has seen the beast.
Ten thousand years, the prophecy was known,
‘As was told to them by Me?’s dragon.’
44 Nezulim shall congregate in counsel,
Their minds consumed by wariness of men.
‘Let Them be culled by garden’s hungry beasts.’
‘Bid Them death before they weave our ruin.’
44-1 Many of the Nezulim are angered.
They decry, ‘The Children bring The Waning,’
‘Thus, They must be destroyed before the night.’
‘Withdraw the Nephilim so it be done!’
44-2 But Gronde commands, ‘They shall be given grace!’
‘For They are gifts of mercy by The One.’
‘Their progeny shall be Veandilim.
‘By Their arrangements, we make exodus.’
44-3 Gronde shall stay their violent course of thinking,
By showing visions of their future path:
Men become the servants of the dragon,
Delivering the serpent from the flame.
44-4 Gronde shall be Their advocate in Vallis,
And men will prosper in the fruited vale.
Laboring in sowing and the reaping,
Desert lowlands shall be down by labor.
44-5 But as one tribe rises one shall falter,
And this will be the curse of Nephilim.
Though mightier and native unto Vê,
Many shall be stricken by a sickness.
44-6 Sol shall burn with lessened fire fury.
Cooling mists prevail to quench Their thirsting.
Vallis is restored by Their hard labors.
What was waste is brought back to abundance.
45 A Me?n generation comes to pass,
During respite from the cataclysm.
Serving out Their bondage to the dragon,
They bide their labors waiting for Their king.
45-1 By whip They shall be prompted in their work.
By scythe They shall be punished for their crimes.
Though They be the servants of the dragon,
Raptors are Their masters in the garden.
45-2 And though They bring abundance to the wastes,
And though Their bellies fatten with each feast,
Me?n chattel cry out in forlornness,
Ruing journey bringing Them to Vallis.
45-3 Me?ns cry Their prayers of lamentation:
‘Where is the prophet who forsakes our tribe?’
‘For He was promised in the ancient texts—'
‘He who frees mankind from serpent bondage!’
45-4 Men shall be the masters of their brethren,
And men shall be defenders of their clan.
And no man is born to serve the serpent,
But men shall not be born to lord on Vê.
46 Azarius the prophet shall not come,
For He shall counsel only with Their king.
He remains alone within Gronde’s chamber,
While the Bolide’s cohort has no sovereign.
46-1 As the Nephilim succumb to wasting,
Their minds are twisted by a primal fear.
Accusing men of bringing their disease,
They shall wax in harshness by their torments.
46-2 As Bolide’s cohort reaches ag-ed end,
Hope for saving withers with Their bodies.
Azarius is curs-ed in Their songs,
While first generation meets its ending.
46-3 Blind Esthe seeks an audience with Gronde,
Asking aid in making of a sovereign.
Brought into the crypt by wasting Raptors,
Gronde speaks to her in tenor of a man.
46-4 ‘Bring to me the body of your ruler’
‘And lay him on the altar of this crypt.’
‘But do not let the Raptors see this done.’
‘Spiteful Nephilim will halt his rising.’
46-5 Through thinning of their ranks by wasting pox,
Many posts of Nephilim are idled.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Under cover of the annum nightfall,
The body of the heirless king’s exhumed.
46-6 The corpse of King of Men is thus exposed—
Black and withered by the passing annum,
Brittle, dusty form in gilded raiment,
A golden mask preserves his royal air.
46-7 Six men are chosen for the bearer task,
To move the body past the garden’s eyes.
Without escort of the guarding Raptors,
Men are naked to the jungle’s terrors.
46-8 Down from Mount Meru they bring the body,
And through the desert guided by the stars,
In to the garden, watched by lurking doom,
Bearer men are shielded by Gronde’s vision.
46-9 The heirless king is smuggled to the crypt,
And laid upon an altar of black glass.
Of the chosen six who bring the body,
Each are culled upon their journey homeward.
46-10 The corpse of Vyn shall lie within the dark
Until a light shall gleam amongst the stone.
Rooted tendrils reaching from the fissures
Penetrate the body of the sovereign.
46-11 Scions branch to tether nerve and vessel,
And wasting body shall reanimate.
For a moment, dead is brought to living,
As consciousness is channeled through the flesh.
46-12 The King of Men shall see with dragon’s eye—
Face, and aft, above, beneath, together.
Within, without, the dragon is perceived,
Its meager shadow all that mortals grasp.
46-13 The King of Men shall see the futures past:
Me?’s dusty end and Children leaving.
But though unmade, the realm of men remade—
Ancient dynamo is re-ignited.
46-14 King Vyn shall gaze upon the shallow seas,
And tranquil steppes of endless, golden grass,
Plumes of ash as Tartarus awakens,
Vyn then knows his tribe will find salvation.
46-15 High knowledge bursts the vessel of man’s mind
As if new wine poured into weathered skins.
A fleeting glimpse of future for his tribe,
Vyn’s body then returns to final rest.
46-16 Essence of the king shall be extracted
By the finest filaments of tendril.
The tentacles of rooted carnifern
Withdraw the seed of essence of the king.
46-17 The generation landing on Meru,
Shall but pass away in Raptor’s bondage.
Two of three survivors are twin sisters,
The living son between them would be king.
47 A twin shall plot her sister’s final breath,
So her son might be the one anointed.
Yet unborn, her son will claim the title,
And free the Children from the Raptor’s yoke.
47-1 Aramaz the twin seeks Esthe’s counsel,
Deep within the garden’s twisted terrors.
She finds the ancient skull of Bazunan—
The doorway to the chamber of the witch.
47-2 She ventures down into the tangled bore,
As if swallowed by an ancient devil.
There she finds the blinded seer waiting.
Seated by her side, her hated sister.
47-3 In a chamber lit by dancing fires,
The sisters vent their loathing with cold stares.
Esthe peers with blinded eyes like agates,
And motions that she shall begin to speak.
47-4 ‘Both of you have come here at this moment,’
‘Yet neither has consulted with thy twin.’
‘Both of you have come to ask one question:’
‘Shall I yet bear the issue of the king?’
47-5 ‘Yes! Oh, yes! Please answer us our question!’
‘For each of us has passed our fertile age.’
‘We are last survivors of the landing,’
‘And soon our bodies wither in a cairn.’
47-6 ‘Fear not, for I have seen the King of Men!’
‘He shall bleed the essence of your father.’
‘But your sons cannot be born together,’
‘For ruin is the price of dueling kings.’
47-7 ‘When we die, the royal line is ended.’
‘What then, old seer, shall be Me?n fate?’
‘King of Men must lead us out of bondage,’
‘Before the Garden Vallis turns to ash.’
47-8 Esthe lays before them Pome of Eitur,
Picked from vines entangled in the garden.
‘The doom of men is tied to sister’s fate.’
‘One bite of pome will save men from their end.’
47-9 Aramaz decries the witch’s offer.
‘We have come to heed your guiding vision,’
‘Yet all you offer is this spoiled fruit—’
‘One single bite, a poison bringing death!’
47-10 Mazda asks one question of the seer,
For she, alone, regards the fate of men.
‘What shall be if neither takes the poison?’
‘Will men remain in bondage to the beast?’
47-11 Esthe yields her vision of the future:
‘Garden’s end is looming on horizon.’
‘A curse of ruin if two kings be born…’
‘A curse of ruin if two twins remain.’
47-12 Mazda knows her sister will not offer.
The fate of men resides with her alone.
She takes the Pome of Eitur from the witch,
Biting down into the deadly poison.
47-13 Within ten breaths, old Mazda passes on,
Falling to the floor of Esthe’s chamber.
Aramaz rejoices in her triumph,
Then asks the ancient seer her command.
47-14 ‘I will take you to the house of Antoc,’
‘His son will be the father of the heir.’
‘Hide the boy from Nephilim discovery,’
‘For naming of our king portends their doom.’
47-15 ‘When he has surpassed his thirteenth annum,’
‘Deliver him into the crypt of Gronde.’
‘Present him as the rightful heir of Vyn,’
‘Then the prophet shall be stirred from silence.’
47-16 Aramaz departs the cave of Esthe,
And Esthe weeps both tears of joy and pain.
For Mazda gave her life to save her tribe—
Poisoned pome unlocking chains of bondage.
47-17 Esthe presents Aramaz to Antoc,
But is, at first, refused in her demand.
For the twin is many annums elder,
And never bore a son who would be king.
47-18 Antoc’s son has no wife in the household,
The father has no heir to carry on.
‘If my son be wedded to the barren,’
‘What dowry shall replace my ended line?’
47-19 ‘Lord, fear not the ending of your lineage,’
‘For Aramaz will bear a noble son.’
‘I have seen this with the eye of dragon.’
‘Your dowry: you’ll be patron of the king.’
47-20 Son of Antoc protests the arrangement,
For he has no desire for the twin.
Thrice his age and past her rearing era,
The aged maid does not provoke his want.
47-21 All men are plied by vanity and lust.
And lust takes many forms within the soul.
As men age, their legacy encumbers.
Antoc can’t refuse the royal covenant.
47-22 Son of Antoc is convinced to marry.
They hold the wedding in the annum night.
All the Me?ns celebrate their union.
Maids then aid the bride in consummation.
47-23 And when the elder twin is shown with child,
Esthe knows her purpose is completed.
She strides into the Vallis night unbowed,
Disappearing into garden terrors.
48 Son of Aramaz, the last surviving,
Shall be called Mosul by the Me?n tribe.
At thirteen, he is brought into the crypt,
Seeking counsel from the silent prophet.
48-1 The boy and mother slip past Nephilim,
Down into the keep of Gronde, the dragon.
The dim lit chamber reeks of sulfur rot.
Dragon lurks in shadow near the prophet.
48-2 Azarius is held in His repose,
While the dragon slithers in the darkness,
Mother prods the boy to claim his birthright.
Despite his youth, conviction fills his voice.
48-3 ‘Awake, old prophet! Greet the King of Men!’
Azarius sets eyes upon the boy,
Then He straightens from His sleeping posture,
As was foretold by Esthe’s prophecy.
48-4 The crystal veins of stone glow faintly green.
Horn, and tooth, and wing are silhouetted
As shadow drifting just beyond the darkness.
‘What boy has dared to journey to this crypt?’
48-5 ‘It is King Mosul, son of Aramaz,’
‘Seed of Vyn, the heir to Me?’s kingdom.’
‘Breaker of the chains of Vallis bondage.’
‘The one foretold to lead man’s exodus.’
48-6 Azarius arises from the stone,
A wraith of withered skin draped over bones,
Eyes that beam white fire from deep craters,
Standing, He looks down upon the sovereign.
48-7 ‘A king who must announce himself as king…’
‘Suffers from the want of validation.’
‘But if the heir of Vyn has come to be,’
‘What would be commanded by this lord?’
48-8 ‘The teachers tell us Vallis days are short.’
‘Soon, the desert comes to claim oasis.’
‘The King of Men shall stay the Raptor’s whip.’
‘You will then reveal the way to Ed?.’
48-9 Azarius demures before the boy:
‘Yes, I know the way of liberation.’
‘Trust in me, and I will show the pathway,’
‘And I will open gates that are unseen.’
48-10 And thus, the seed of Vyn is named the King.
The prophecy of Esthe is fulfilled.
Mosul is adorned in gilded raiment.
House of Antoc fills the court and council.’
48-11 As young Mosul ages into manhood,
The prophet tutors him the ancient lore.
Futures past and pasts that be the future,
And kings that rise and kings that are destroyed.
48-12 Mosul sees the rise of Ed?’s kingdom,
Me?’s Children marching on the savage
And binding restless natives as their slaves.
Victorious, the banner of the beast!
48-13 Azarius shall show the boy his might.
Mosul’s mind then fills with sovereign glory
The boy becomes the legendary king,
Savior to the children of the wasteland.
48-14 But glory of the king shall be delayed.
Me?n legend must be first accomplished:
Gates of Ed? shall not be thrown open,
Until the last to journey passes on.
48-15 The King of Men grows restless in his youth,
Yearning for the moment of his triumph.
But generation of the journey lives,
With the mother of the king surviving.
48-16 Mosul sends his Regian defenders,
Led by Mosul’s father, Son of Antoc,
To bring his mother to the den of Gronde,
For consultation with Azarius.
48-17 Mother goes with husband as requested,
By pathways she regards as lesser known.
Pondering while carried on her litter,
‘The day of exodus has come at last!’
48-18 Instead, they bring her to the dragon skull,
The ancient head of Bazunan, the beast.
There, they chain the mother to the dragon,
Leaving her to beasts that prowl the jungle.
48-19 Amaraz cries out as she’s abandoned,
‘Why do you forsake me to the hunters?’
‘I beg you, do not leave me to this death.’
‘Have I not borne the son who is your king?’
48-20 But pity does not come to Antoc’s son.
His heart was hardened by a power lust.
Though his wife had borne the King of Me?,
Antoc’s son regarded her with loathing.
48-21 Azarius is summoned to the King.
There, He is reminded of the legend.
The last to make the journey breathed her last,
Gates of Ed? must now be thrown open.
48-22 ‘Painfully, I’ve made the choice for kingdom,’
‘And sacrificed the dowager to vale.’
‘Though I weep for passing of my mother,’
‘I’ve done what must be done to free my tribe.’
48-23 The prophet is unmoved by king’s demand.
‘You have taken life without a purpose—’
‘Beg The One for mercy or be punished.’
‘Your mother was not last of Those who live.’
48-24 The King is angered by the prophet’s words.
Regians unsheathe their dragon ivory,
Surrounding prophet, readying to strike,
But the King of Men will stay the killing.
48-25 ‘Tell me, prophet, who yet lives among Them?’
‘Twenty annum pass since others perished.’
‘I come to think that you are but the beast,’
‘A serpent telling lies in human form.’
48-26 ‘Hear me, Mosul, what I tell of Esthe:’
‘The seer who has cleared your path to king,’
‘Lives immortal in the Raptor caverns.’
‘Her life, a guarantee for Nephilim.’
48-27 ‘Then we shall wait until the seer dies,’
‘For she was elder long before my birth.’
‘We will soon get word of Esthe’s passing,’
‘Then you shall reveal the Ed? gateway.’
48-28 ‘You do not understand the Raptor ways.’
‘They can heal her from the curse of aging.’
‘You have slain your mother without purpose.’
‘Your vanity brings curse upon your house.’
48-29 Mosul sends the Regians as envoys
Marching down into the Raptor caverns.
Their tunnels light with luminescent quartz,
As godlike reptiles glower down on men.
48-30 Kandevular is hailed as Raptor kaan.
Thrice the height of men, his presence towers.
Serpent eyes burn deep into men’s spirit.
He speaks no voice that ears of men can know.
48-31 The Regians of Mosul make their claim:
‘Give to us the seer we call Esthe!’
‘Your race is weakened by the wasting pox.’
‘Raptors are no match for Mosul’s army!’
48-32 Unbowed, the Raptor kaan will not relent.
Instead, his serpent eyes alight with flame.
With his gesture, Raptors grant men passage.
Regians are turned away defeated.
48-33 Mosul holds a counsel of the elders,
Sharing visions of the Me?n glory.
‘The Age of Men demands the seer’s life.’
‘Without it, we shall perish in the flame.’
48-34 ‘Take up your shields, unsheathe your rapier blades!’
‘Glory has been shown to me by visions.’
‘Me?n’s bring their war of liberation!’
‘No Raptor shall be spared our culling thrust.’
49 Mosul leads the march of men on Vallis,
Emboldened by the triumph he foresaw.
Forty-thousands be their fighting number,
A force of men to cull the Raptor horde.
49-1 Forest pathways spill onto the meadows,
And march of men is halted in the field.
Gudoc rises from the plain before them,
One thousand Raptors hold the vulcan wall.
49-2 Mosul’s host prepares to wage the battle.
The men of Me? form into their ranks.
When thund’rous wails of battle horns resound,
Souls of men are lifted from their dread.
49-3 Ordered by the golden Son of Antoc,
Man’s army charges up the Gudoc scarp.
But kaan of Raptors holds the lizard line,
Waves of men are broken on the mountain.
49-4 Charge and charge are ordered by King Mosul,
But each is thwarted by the Nephilim.
When but seven thousand stand unbroken,
The Nephilim descend to slay the rest.
49-5 One hundred Raptors charge down from the heights,
Slaying Me?’s soldiers in the chaos.
Many are devoured while yet breathing,
And only Mosul’s Regians survive.
49-6 King Mosul shall be brought before the kaan,
Bloodied king is silent in his ruin.
Lizard kaan shall mete a final justice,
Ripping Mosul’s beating heart from body.
49-7 And as the King of Men dies on the stone,
Raptors serve revenge for pox of wasting.
But glory is a fleeting glimpse of God.
Era of the garden nears its ending.
49-8 Six Regians remain of Mosul’s host,
Bearing lifeless king upon their shoulders.
Forty-thousand souls are lost in battle,
Despair thus fills the hearts of those that live.
49-9 ‘The exodus demands a king to lead!’
‘But now ruin comes to Me?’s Children!’
‘The king is dead. The fate of man is sealed!’
‘All mankind shall perish by the fire!’
49-10 Nephilim release the seer Esthe—
The last survivor of the crystal star.
Blind Esthe steals away by hidden paths,
Venturing into the highland desert.
49-11 Guided by the force of dragon vision,
Blind Esthe climbs the mountain of Meru.
She casts herself into the vulcan pyre.
By this, the prophecy shall be fulfilled.
49-12 Bondage finds the tribe without a sovereign,
But Me?’s Children shall escape this fate.
A king will take first breaths in dragon’s lair.
Aeon, heir of Vyn, shall be arisen.
50 Azarius appears at Mosul’s cairn,
Bringing word of Aeon, King of Me?.
Regians shall slay the traitor prophet,
And leave His body to the garden beasts.
Mount Meru: The sacred mountain of seven volcanic spires. Landing place of the Bolide.
Firmament: The dome of the night sky that suspends the stars above.
Ed?’s transit: The path of the archon (or star) Ed? across the heavenly night.
Scions: Descendants.
Vyn or King Vyn: The last king of Me?ns while on their journey through the void.
Staff of dragon bone: King Vyn’s staff purported to be made of dragon bone, implying dragons, or at least the fossilized remnants of them, existed on Me?.
Nephilim: The race of giants that are conceived of the essence of wyvern and the ‘race ill-fated’ (a.k.a. humans).
Esthe: The most trusted counsel of King Vyn. She is chosen by the Raptors to speak for the Children of Me? on Vé upon their arrival and after she perceives the dragon in whole.
Me?’s dragon: The beast of legend that dwells within the depths of Me? and reveals the promise of the garden of Vallis before man was banished into the void.
Veandilim: The pure-blooded descendants of the Me?ns who arrive on Vé by the Bolide.
The chosen six who bring the body: The Me?n host that disinters the deceased King of Men and brings the body to Gronde’s crypt. All are slain by the beasts of the jungle upon their return journey.
The dynamo of Me?: The ancient furnace deep beneath the surface that, once ignited, awakens heated springs, warms the air, and drives the clouds and storms and rain. When extinguished, the mountains fall asleep and the air cools and dries, turning Me? into a frozen desert. According to legend, it exists in a keep, deep within the mantle known as Tarturus (or Hell) and is guarded by the immortal Nephilim god-warrior Kandevular Kaan.
Tartarus: Hell or Hades or within the underworld that exists beneath all the realms.
Carnifern: A predatory plant that kills and consumes animals with motile tendrils and clasping pedals (or lobes).
The skull of Bazunan: The ancient, eroded skull of the doyen Bazunan. Beneath it worms a series of tunnels that house the blind seer Esthe.
Pome of Eitur: The fruit of the eitur vine which contains a deadly poison.
The House of Antoc: The noble house of the patriarch Antoc. His son would father Mosul, the heir to King Vyn.
His thirteenth annum: Thirteen Ed? years of age.
Mosul, the Heir to Vyn: First surviving male descendant of King Vyn. Mother is Aramaz, the daughter of Vyn, and the Son of Antoc.
The ancient lore of Me?: The tales of ancient Mean civilization, before man was cast out into the void.
Regian defenders: The King of Men’s personal guard.
Kandevular: The kaan or king of the Nephilim. The greatest Raptor. The keeper of the gates of Tartarus.
Rapier blades: Blades constructed of dragon bone, scales, or horn.
Gudoc: a steep escarpment of fractured vulcan glass that forms an un-flankable bastion on an edge of the garden valley. It is the place of the last stand of the Nephilim.
