Sunday, April 13, 2008

A Beginning

O dark and still are the wet fern
And trees where no birds nest;

What heed have I for night or day

Who ride a livelong quest?

- The Enchanted Forest, Cicely Fox Smith


As I set my foot upon the road to Corcoran, I pondered my mother's last words. "You may find those lands interesting, and lose yourself in them for while, but remember, your home is always here." What would I find in these "interesting" lands? Would I soon grow weary of them and long to return back home, or would I, like my mother before me, spend years of my life fascinated by all they had to offer? The one thing I knew for certain is that I had to find the answer.

1 comment:

HomoDM said...

(This is an ancient and sad ballad, known by a minority of talesingers. It is heartbreakingly beautiful in its original language. For obvious reasons, it is never performed in public.)

In the beginning,
there were the Stars,
and the Earth,
and the Under-dark.

Among the Stars
swam the Gods,
and from up on High
They watched over us.
Greatest of all
was Glorian Valar,
Lord Sovereign
of the Sky.

Upon the Earth
we danced,
and from the mountains
to the sea
did we tend this
wondrous garden.

Within the vast
Under-dark dwelt
the Bearded Ones,
who kept safe
many great secrets
and grand treasures.

Then a great Ship
fell from the heavens,
and brought
the Short-Lived
to the Earth.

“They are blessed,”
said Glorian.
“Guide them
and teach them,”
He bade us.
“They once were slaves,
and knew naught
but Evil;
but here they are
free.”

We befriended
these newcomers,
and taught them
of magic
and the ways
of nature.
There was peace
and prosperity
for many generations,
and they became
numerous
and great
and proud.

The debris of their
vessel was scattered
over the land,
and fantastic changes
were wrought in those
whom it touched,
and many new races
emerged.

Thence came
the Genomancer,
who offered to teach them
the power of
Creation itself.
He promised them
freedom from Death;
he assured them
that they would
have no need of
the Gods
any longer,
for they would become
the masters
of their own fate.

We counseled them
to reject this
blasphemy,
and many did;
but many more accepted
his gifts
and promises.
And this knowledge
brought great misery
to the Earth,
as savage monsters
appeared
and multiplied,
and the dead rose
and walked again
in the night.
Even the terrible
Dragons,
long under the
slumber of the Gods,
were roused
and took wing
once more.

The Genomancer
fed their pride,
fueling it like
a great inferno
in the wind.
Madness
overtook them,
and those who
remained faithful
to the Gods
were cast out
from their cities,
or slain,
until They were all
but forgotten.

Then the Genomancer
sowed envy
in their hearts
against the Bearded Ones
and their riches,
and there followed
a Great War
in the Under-dark.

We saw that
we would be the next
to fall
without swift action;
yet we were torn
between those who swore
to destroy
the Genomancer,
and those who urged
patience.

Many brave souls
made war against
the Genomancer,
but by then
his Shadow had grown
too long.
Those who did not perish in battle were cursed
to skulk forever
in the Under-dark,
away from the light
of the Gods.

Those few of us
who remained
used great magicks
to sequester our cities among the storm.
We became a race divided, united only
by suffering.

This is how
the Genomancer
conquered the Earth
and how Men were
returned to
servitude.
This is how
we failed in our duty
to the Gods,
and became
a forsaken people...