Fourth Book of the Orchids

Ye Book of Ye Orchids Part the Fourth

First Verse

First came the sea on the shore of the world Then came the Mother of All Then Mandorallen, with banners unfurled And Ilass, who fell in the Fall Last came the Orchids, to seal the world´s fate Even e´er the first Isle arose To seal the book shut when they touch and they mate And bring all of our tales to a close

Second Verse

Tales of seas down beneath and of skies up above Tales of Earth, and the races therein Tales of terrible vengeance and beautiful love Deeds heroic, and villainous sin Tales set only yesterday, tales that were set Even e´er the first Isle arose The tale I am writing; tales not written yet All these tales will be brought to a close

Third Verse

Tales high and prophetic; tales low and uncouth Tales written in prose and in verses Tales written for pleasure, tales written for truth Tales written of blessings and curses And nobles and priests Shining allies, and terrible foes Dragons, gods, demons, spirits, men, giants, and beasts All these tales will be brought to a close

Fourth Verse

Tales set high in Tirbal, `twixt Ennabruk´s spires Tales set in Calaspier´s stone Tales of Tirlar, and tales down in Ifreann´s dark fires Where few of the living have gone Yea, few men have gone - and of those, only one Has returned from the fires of Hell In a great quest heroic this journey was done And this is the tale I will tell

Fifth Verse

For the Tale of the Orchids is found even there In the fires of Ifreann below From the heights of the sky, in the rarified air To the depths of the regions of woe Yea, across Seven Planes is the reach of our doom And the intricate web that will seal it And the fuel for the fire that must someday consume All the world - so the Powers might heal it

Sixth Verse

When the Five Isles sunk in those ages of old An era was brought to a close And the forge of the sun-god grew dark and went cold And the seas round the poles slowed and froze The currents betrayed their familiar path Harder storms flew from Folcador´s hands And his dazzling whip cracked with heavier wrath On the seas, and the cold-haunted lands

Seventh Verse

For many an age dwelt this cold o´er the world Nor for ages the storms ceased to blow In the middle of summer the frosty flakes swirled On Lagunafete, clouds turned to snow And the empires that just generations before Had seen leaders and warrior so bold And had held back dread demons in terrible war Were unable to hold back the cold

Eighth Verse

In Treesia, where such wondrous deeds had occurred The Barons remained in their keep In vain do the Second´s sons pray for a Third In vain the sagarts pray and weep In Tapfer, the Microns, once greatest of Races Are citiless, homeless, and poor And they wander the country, and all its dark places And sink into weakness and war

Nineth Verse

In Istvanistan, woe, for King Istvan is dead And his sons lack his wisdom and might And make war not on Evil, but Tapfer Stormrider Sword joins the fight And when Salio saw her initial design Turned to evil and causes perverse Then `till Stjepan Aracic renewed the old line She removed all its might with a curse

Tenth Verse

Yea, all through the Circle of Lands, nations faltered And the tales of the deeds of the past Were sung sadly, then known of but dimly, then altered Then finally forgotten at last Alas! For when stories and legends are lost Then its characters die once again And Refin, and Istvan, and all of their host Are in Tirbal a second time slain

Eleventh Verse

Alas to the race that abandons their past! Like a child whose father is lost They are set all adrift on a sea dark and vast By the winds and the waves to be tossed And where is the guide, who should steer and direct? Who should mentor and lead and console? Who to indicate errors, to teach and correct When we cut off a piece of our soul?

Twelfth Verse

For ten ages, the cold and sadness persisted It lay on the world like a shroud No creatures nor forests nor heroes resisted Nor empires once mighty and proud But all prayed up to Tirbal for warmth and relief And the gods, among Ennabruk´s spires Hear their prayers and their loud lamentations of grief And add oils to Tineon´s fires

Thirteenth Verse

And like a volcano set deep in the Earth When Bladhm has one of her rages To a towering column of fire gives birth With the now unconfined wrath of ages The sun flares with warmth, and Lagunafete´s frost Melts away to the midsummer´s heat And Caranna restores all the trees that were lost And the glaciers and ice floes retreat

Fourteenth Verse

And men, who for so many winters of woe Had abandoned their civilized ways To the old fallow fields and bare villages go And new cities and villages raise And they call for a Teacher, to show them the Lore By which a new Science may rise For Carding, the Wise One, who helped them before And made men and their empires wise

Fifteenth Verse

Then the Firelord took off the crown from his head That glowed with the light of the Sun Dazzling, brilliant, and turned to , and said "The New Age of the World has begun! Take my crown, and set off for the bright Crowning Plane Teach the Way, as you once did of old Draw together the sparks of the Light that remain For a Forge-Fire, Tirlar to mold!"

Sixteenth Verse

And Carding descended to Tirlar, arriving Where the Antya drains into its bay Where some small bands of primitives, barely surviving Lived life (as does each, in their way) But when they saw Carding, his crown all alight With the light of the Firelord´s flame They were driven to fear, and the watchmen took flight To their terrible lord, Myng by name

Seventeenth Verse

This Myng was called merciless, truly barbarian Ev´n for his barbarian race His rule was steel-fisted and authoritarian His mind was hardhearted and base The ignorant natives believed him a god (Tho´ his true gods were Yetal and Sun) And his fingers kept hold on a magical rod With which great evil deeds could be done

Eighteenth Verse

Myng had first gained his power by unholy pact With the lords of the Vardian clan Who can ever weak souls unsuspecting attract Sun, the warlord called Markg, Yetal, Dan Thus he feared not the Wise One - his strength on the wax Was matched but by his reasonless pride And he thought his dread rod could withstand all attacks And the gods might themselves be denied

Nineteenth Verse

For the demons had heard (and indeed, it was true) That where Antya rushed into the sea That the bright light of Tirbal should kindle anew And from thence, in all lands should burn free And in fear of this light, and to hold back this fire They set Myng as the king of this land To imprison this chance in chains awful and dire So that freedom and hope might be banned

Twentieth Verse

Up the coast of Carama wise Carding proceeded Myng´s fortress, Epoli, to reach And all through his journey, he tried and succeeded To educate, tutor, and preach And many he tutored remained by his side As he journeyed through hill and through knoll To function as guards for their teacher and guide And to help him accomplish his goal

Twenty-First Verse

When thad come to the towering walls Of Myng´s castle, its towers sharp and cruel Thrice a cry of defiance the Waykeeper calls And Myng meets him, demanding a duel And the Keeper agrees, and the tyrant suggests That of weapons, the god have the choice And soft-spoken Carding, the Wise One, requests That the combat be fought with their voice

Twenty-Second Verse

The tyrant, bemused, grants the Keeper´s appeal And attacks with a terrible yell And the great beds of bedrock beneath them all reel As if Bladhm is raging in Hell But Carding stands tranquil, unmoved by the din Stands tranquil, and waits `till his foe Goes hoarse with his screaming - he finally gives in Then the Keeper, in voice soft and low:

Twenty-Third Verse

"To war with the voice is the strongest of wars Although tyrants do not understand I was sent down from Tirbal to show you this course And bring justice and peace to your land So let me now fight with my weapons divine With Reason, Persuasion, and Speech See then whose arms are greater - the tyrant´s or mine!" And then Carding proceeded to teach

Twenty-Fourth Verse

He taught them of Empire, of what might yet be If they cast off oppression and fear He taught of consensus, the way of the free And the glory so painfully near He taught them of Government, Justice, and Law He taught them to stand, and be brave He taught them to hold gods and Tirbal in awe And to heed the commandments they gave

Twenty-Fifth Verse

He taught all the arts to make Empire rise And when he was finished at last "I teach you the way of Audentior!" he cries "Which will never in fame be surpassed! I give you the seed that will sprout to a jewel The Sun, to turn night into day! In glory to conquer, in justice to rule And in wisdom to follow my Way."

Twenty-Sixth Verse

And his words touched the hearts of the listening crowd And like wildfire spread through each mind And without a command being spoken aloud In a terrible mob they combined All their arms became one, and united, they pried Stone from stone, and forced open each cell And a well-fired shaft stred And followed his masters to Hell

Twenty-Seventh Verse

Then the crown of the Firelord burned azure and blue And the Keeper of Lore raised it high And he placed it upon a white banner that flew From a turret, commanding the sky Then ascends back to Tirbal, while those still below The Audentes, are drafting their laws And upon every law shines that bright azure glow Which purifies faults, and melts flaws

Twenty-Eighth Verse

And the people at last have their laws set and passed And their leaders and chieftains in place And the die now are cast for an empire vast And a happy and prosperous race The glory! The brilliance! The radiance! The light! The wonder! The splendor! The scope! The vigor! The valor! The power! The might! The music! The magic! The HOPE!!!

Twenty-Nineth Verse

For such was Audentior - the Mother of Nations The Star to enkindle the flame The bright guiding lantern for all generations A hope beyond knowledge or name With a million children, all beauteous and strong Who should light up the world´s future ages And together combine in symphonious song To illuminate all the Book´s pages

Thirtieth Verse

But not all sang in joy at the new era´s dawn Nor rejoiced in Audentior´s rise Nor was Sun, Lord of Demons, defeated and gone And he watched still with unclosing eyes. As he gazed on Audentior, a cloud filled his mind Of envy, and loathing, and fear That savagery might be removed from mankind And evil and wrong disappear

Thirty-First Verse

So he called all the fiends who still heeded his call And demanded they give him a plan To repeat the descent that we fell in the Fall And once more, to corrupt helpless Man But Audentior stood like a bright gleaming shield And none of the demons could say How to open the scar that the Lorekeeper healed Or to darken the Sunlord´s new day

Thirty-Second Verse

Then Sun grew enraged, saying "Have you no sense? Do none have a scheme, or a spell? Then hear this! To punish her dreadful offense Dread Ilass lies burning in hell. If you cannot think perhaps yet you can dig! For Ilass will know what to do So make me a pitand so big That Yetal and I can go through"

Thirty-Third Verse

Then the armies of demons began excavation They started in that very spot A plain beside Brzgrad, in Istvan´s old nation (Thought Istvan had long been forgot) For twelve days and twelve nights they removed dirt and stone But when the thirteenth sun arose Then Sun, Lord of Demons, with Yetal alone Down the pit, dim and fathomless, goes

Thirty-Fourth Verse

There they came unto Ifreann, its dark fires burning And the slopes of Dagora they crossed Through the sulfurous vapors and brimstone discerning The souls of the damned and the lost But at last they arrived at the terrible cave Where the Witch was consigned to her fate With Lest, the Dark Child, shut up in this grave Lest Elwynn and he join and mate

Thirty-Fifth Verse

But a great burning fire ringed the cave round and round Nor could Witch, Child, or Demon pass by So rather Sun spoke, for he knew that the sound Would go through, and the Witch could reply So Sun told the author of that dire Betrayal His conundrum, and asked for her aid Through the joined sheets of fire that made up her jail Awful Ilass replied, and she said:

Thirty-Sixth Verse

"Take the eye of a Drake, and then grind it to sand And a Rainbow, by Folcador flown These things mix together, and plant in the land Which is as Automatica known In the dark of the moon, it will grow to a man Who, though seemingly stupid and weak Will contain the dark power to further my plan And this is the weapon you seek."

Thirty-Seventh Verse

But as Sun turned to go, awful Yetal cried back "What of you, ringed in fire etern? What of Lest, the Dark Child? Do Sun and I lack Any hope to expect your return?" But smiling Ilass said "I have beheld Inscrutable time to its end And these terrible fires will one day be quelled And I unto Gnaud then ascend

Thirty-Eighth Verse

But to Lest, the Black Orchid, are different dooms given And nor must my brother wait long `Till a great king in Tirlar, the chosen of Heaven Will unwittingly cause a great wrong He shall come down, as you did, and battle with Lest Yea, shack Orchid is slain But at last the affair will turn out for the best And my brother see daylight again

Thirty-Nineth Verse

This too shall be caused by the spell you now bear For long have I plotted and schemed Depart, and return to the bright upper air Of which I so often have dreamed I have planned a great evil - `tis now in your hands Soon another shall leave, with a greater Return unto Tirlar, its Races and Lands - Climb back through your pit to its crater"

Fortieth Verse

And thus Sun and Yetal returned to the air And concocted in silence the potion When at last it was done, the two fiends made repair To the shores of the Gaeosian Ocean In the land which was as Automatica known Near where Antya flowed into the bay There they set it to seethe `till the dark of the moon For a day and a night, thus it lay

Forty-First Verse

Then it grew to a man - into Sager, who led The revolt of the lands of the west When it ended, uncountable thousands were dead With the land that the gods once had blessed And the broken Audentes burned Carding´s old laws And they set up a despot instead The Emperor Christoph, whose myriad flaws Took the nation from ailing to dead

Forty-Second Verse

Alas for the men who once saw Carding´s light And who built from the light a great nation They are now doomed forever to squabble and to fight Nevermore will they lay the foundation For something eternal and glorious and famed For their hands now sculpt only in air And can any among their sad number be blamed If they fall into gloom and despair?

Forty-Third Verse

But Dlithail, the Guardian, says "Never a door May close, but another opes wide" And the lands of the North, overshadowed before Are renewed, both in power and pride Those fleeing Audentior find refuge and home With the Northmen, both lively and bold And the tribes of the north, and the migrants become The mightiest of kingdoms of old

Forty-Fourth Verse

Carradun! Called by some Land of Fire and Stone For the souls and the hearts of its men As great as Audentior, in ways of its own And its like shall be seen not again As dentes and foreigners knew it For the mountains of coal and of shale Which winding like sinuous serpents on through it Kept it safe from the storm and the gale

Forty-Fifth Verse

Now of all of its kings, one particular name Stands out, like the sun among stars Many legends preserve his great deeds and his fame (As indeed will this legend of ours) Shane Odlum, who bore the Obsidian Spoon And who ruled when Audentior ended In him, the new day Tineon proclaimed reached its noon And to new heights of brilliance ascended

Forty-Sixth Verse

In his thirtieth year (and the tenth of his reign) When his glory had waxed to its height He mounted his tower and surveyed the champaign And his rule stretched as far as his sight He beheld mighty fortresses, rich fields of wheat Grazing herds, looking peaceful and healthy His powerful host and invincible fleet And villages teeming and wealthy

Forty-Seventh Verse

And he thought to himself, on the top of his tower "Yea, though now all of Tirlar be mine I cannot escape Death, and despite all my power My kingdom - and self - must decline But to live on in legend, when bones turn to dust That one comfort to mortals is given I shall do some great exploit of note `ere I must Be summoned to Ifreann or Heaven"

Forty-Eighth Verse

So he called all his councilors, wise men, and sages And asked them what deeds needed doing What curses or evils or riddles of ages Needed solving, or needed subduing And at last one remembered a tale he´d heard spoken An ancient (but accurate) story Of a terrible evil that had to be broken And a quest that was sure to bring glory

Forty-Nineth Verse

In the very beginning of time (so he said) A great battle filled Heaven with blood And the day (though alas, not `till Utas lay dead) Was a win for the forces of good And the Darkness was cast to the Darkness of Hell There it lay, and there still did it lie Planning what horrid evils no mortal could tell Underneath the dark sulfurous sky

Fiftieth Verse

But if ever a hero would journey below With his heart and his sword tempered strong And in battle should coible Foe Earth no longer should groan under Wrong But be free and exalted, like Tirbal above And its men would be happy and free And oppression would cease, superceded by love And all evils would scatter and flee

Fifty-First Verse

And scarce had the councilor ceased from his speaking When the king, with his hand on his sword Said "This purpose is perfect: just such was I seeking This evil cannot be ignored! To this end I devote all my focus and might I shall seek without respite or rest Prepare me a ship - for I journey tonight I am burning for want of a quest!"

Fifty-Second Verse

And the people of Carradun readied a ship Called the Sea Lion, so fleet and fast It could outstrip the fire of Folcador´s whip Or make progress against Lochrinn´s blast No soldiers accompanied Odlum on board Only twelve sturdy men as a crew And the best of his treasures - his ruby-set sword Thus equipped, from the harbor they flew

Fifty-Third Verse

Now this sword that he bore was no human-forged blade But was tempered by Salio´s hands The Sword of the Red Moon of August - once made For defense of the Races and Lands How Shane gained its possession I will not relate (though through fiend-haunted Shleg went its course) But I say the result was not untouched by Fate Which indeed, is of all things the source

Fifty-Fourth Verse

Now Shane's destination lay deep in the ice That covers and hides northern seas For he sought from a god supernatural advice And one dwelt in the cold glacial freeze 'Twas Elwynn the Orchid who there made her dwelling In the heart of a fiery mount Why this happened is part of the tale I am telling And its history now I recount:

Fifty-Fifth Verse

In the days when Audentior still reigned ascendant O'er the people and cities and land A few saw the cracks in the glory resplendent And worried, and horded, and planned They escaped just before it began crashing down And in two ships of birch journeyed forth And at last they met landfall, and founded a town In the ultimate climes of the north

Fifty-Sixth Verse

Yea, a town 'midst the glaciers - they cahey set out to build a new life To always act calmly, and always speak truly Be pious, and shun war and strife This touched the White Orchid, who boldly declared She would live in this land as their god But the others had visions of Sun, and were scared Of her having an earthly abode

Fifty-Seventh Verse

For if ever the Dark One in Ifreann should find her The Destroyer at last would awake And Utas´s death was a constant reminder Of what form such disaster would take So then let the Pure One in Heaven remain And thus let her remain in their trust And in Ennabruk linger, lest Ennabruk's Bane Should turn all their Creations to dust

Fifty-Eighth Verse

But Elwynn declared "Powers far above I Have determined an Ending must come Whether sooner or later, we all have to die We can greedily hoard every crumb Of life still allotted, `til death comes at last For despite all your hoarding, it must Or can squeeze every drop out of life `til it´s past And be ashes, instead of plain dust

Fifty-Nineth Verse

Then she fell down from Heaven, and took her abode In Mount Yaanek, amidst Thule´s ice And upon those who came to her cave she bestowed As an oracle, prudent advice Thus `twas here that our hero, in sailing the seas Sought to journey, and here that he came And when he arrived, he fell down on his knees And, invoking the goddess´s name:

Sixtieth Verse

"O Elwynn, who came down from Tirbal above Deep within this volcano to dwell And who looking on Man, is inspired with love And desire to help them excel O lend me your wisdom - for I have a task Which is hopeless without aid divine O answer the questions I modestly ask And all honor and praise will be thine

Sixty-First Verse

I am set on a quest to the visionless deeps Where evil both festers and runs Where, though covered in darkness, the soul never sleeps And the heat is of hundreds of suns This I do uncoerced, not by fear nor by wrath I am led by the courage inside me I have come for advice - you alone know the path And can give me directions to guide me"

Sixty-Second Verse

When Odlum had spoken, a silenhe oracle fell Then a voice, deep and timeless, arose from the ground "It is easy to go down to Hell But to retrace one´s steps to the bright upper air And to reach once again starry skies With your soul and your body intact - it is there That the dangers and perils arise

Sixty-Third Verse

And the dangers, the perils, are not what they seem Not to thee and thy people alone But to more of the world than you ever could dream Will the damage and sorrow be done Desist from this quest - were you destined to fail Then such failure is yours for the choosing But alas - you´ll succeed, and success will entail All the Planes and the Universe losing"

Sixty-Fourth Verse

But hard-hearted Odlum remained resolute And his mind remained fixed on his plan "Then if you will not help me, be kind, and impute Some knowledge of someone who can" Thus the goddess of Yaanek suggested he go (Not unmindful of what had been fated) To the perilous lair of the world´s foremost foe Damned Yetal, reviled and hated

Sixty-Fifth Verse

Thus Odlum departed the fierce, icy shore Looking back as he floated away And resolved, perils past, to return here once more But he never would witness that day! And the oracle sorrowed to see him depart And she mourned him with tears and with sighs And out of the depths of the world´s molten heart A blue smoke-plume trails into the skies

Sixty-Sixth Verse

But Shane set a course for Cimmerian lands Far to westward, through ice floes and mists Where high on a mountain of granite there stands Awful Sun, cursing all that exists And lurking nearby, loathed, reviled, and accursed And still smarting from ancient defeat There was Yetal - who Odlum, expecting the worst With his hand on his sword, went to meet

Sixty-Seventh Verse

The demon was sitting high up on an oak In a branch all misshaped and deformed From his eyes, as from Yaanek, rose pillars of smoke As he cursed and he raged and he stormed Odlum heard him yell "Refin!", his tone full of spite And in fury he struck at the bough And the blood that it drew was as black as the nieeches of woe

Sixty-Eighth Verse

"Son of sorrow!" the king to the devil cried out "I would not interrupt your lament If it gives you your pleasure to fume and to pout Go ahead, till your fury is spent But through myriad kingdoms and seas I have come For a boon you alone can provide me I shall leave you to tantrums and journey back home If you but give directions to guide me

Sixty-Nineth Verse

I am set on a quest to the visionless deep Where..." - and here the foul demon cut in "I behold that dread landscape each night in my sleep! My spirit pulled downward by sin! Describe it not further! I wish not to hear! Even now it is firmly imprinted In my dark, freezing soul, and it fills me with fear Of dangers to men only hinted!

Seventieth Verse

"Go! I wish not to know of your purpose or name! I wish not to know of your goal! Whether money or power or virtue or fame It sends chills to the base of my soul! Speak no more of Ifreann! My heart cannot bear To be of its future reminded Make your way to the kingdom of Istvan, and there In a terrible Pit you shall find it"

Seventy-First Verse

Then the black creature howled, and it made a great leap From its tree to a peak far away To the dread Lord of Daemons, whose eyes never sleep And who loathes Tineon´s gift of bright day There he gibbers insanely, and tries to forget All the things that so lately were said By the man (not unlike to the gods) he just met All the visions that trouble his head

Seventy-Second Verse

Now the Pit that he named was the tunnel created Long ago in Audentior´s day Of its birth and use I´ve already related And have nothing further to say Thus to Istvan´s old kingdom the Blackrocker ship Made its last foamy course o´er the seas But its passenger barely had started his trip With such pitiful journeys as these

Seventy-Third Verse

For a night he lay camped by the pit´s dreadful maw A night filled with dreams boding ill The doom of all Tirlar and Tirbal he saw! All the cities of men dead and still! His kingdom, proud Blackrock, laid low by his death! And by Blackrock's death Tirlar l of Shleg, Khas, and Ahans, and Reath As a single voice crying "Don't go!"

Seventy-Fourth Verse

Shane awoke with a start, as that terrible cry Echoed loud in his terror-filled mind But he saw Leiagh's diamonds still studded the sky Nor had midnight been left far behind So he lay, staring up at the moon in the night Breathing deeply, to quiet his fear 'Till, glancing nearby, his jumped up with affright For he saw a grey figure appear

Seventy-Fifth Verse

Moving quietly, firmly, as if upon air It advanced, toward the paralyzed king He tried to cry out to his men to beware But he found he could not say a thing Far taller than those of the lineage of man Was that ashen and terrible shade And Odlum, without conscious bidding or plan Found his hand lying firm on his blade

Seventy-Sixth Verse

But when it came near, and was clearly discerned All its aspect of fear fell away And the specter, the giant, the demon, was turned To an small, ancient man, bent and grey "O king!´ said the being, but Shane, in a rage At his cowardly seizure by dread Took the Red Sword of August, and struck at the sage And he cut off his ashen-haired head

Seventy-Seventh Verse

But strange to relate, the old man waved his hand And was whole, as he had been before And, with wrath, proclaimed "Fool! You do not understand! I am Carding, the Keeper of Lore! I have come to redeem you! And thus you repay Your last puny hope of salvation? Be still, and take heed of the words that I say For the sake of your soul and your nation!

Seventy-Eighth Verse

The Lady of Yaanek has already tried To persuade your intractable mind Yet, in willful transgression, her words you defied Nor can I make you linger behind So I offer command, not request: When you go Take nothing upon your return Things of Ifreann in Ifreann must stay, down below Or your spirit in Ifreann will burn!

Seventy-Nineth Verse

What madness! Presumption! To strike a god dead! Nor shall you unpunished remain! Let my sigil forever remain on your head To remind you to not fail again! Let it burn its geometry on to your skin As a mark of a might past yourng to shun a more terrible sin And to keep to the path I have shown"

Eightieth Verse

Then the god waved his staff, and indeed it was so And upon the poor king´s open head The sigil of Carding, with brilliant blue glow Appeared, `till it faded dull red Then the god waved his staff, and departed from sight Back to Tirbal, the land of the blessed And again, round the king closed the silence of night 'Till at last he retired to rest

First Verse

But when Tineon peeled away Ulcharam´s veil 'Ere Diadon the Morn-Star went dim Shane gathered his courage and gear for the trail To the crater´s black mountainous rim There he gave his good-byes to his friends and his men The next step he would take on his own And he doubted he ever might see them again As he entered the crater - alone

First Verse

O hand! Shudder not as you finish this tale! O pen! Run not dry out of fright! O Dobharcufile! My mind is too frail To guide Shane through the Halls of the Night! O lend me your strength! And your courage, as well! So that I may describe what was fated For although it is easy to go down to Hell It is hellishly hard to relate it.

First Verse

Like a birth canal backward, a tunnel extended For fathomless leagues there below The king gazed far away, but saw not where it ended Nor where, at its end, it might go But he gathered his courage, and took a first stride And then foot followed foot through the gloom Until leagues had gone by, and the darkness inside Was the darkness that charges a tomb

First Verse

Thus he lit an oak torch - and beheld, standing near A tall man, red eyes fixed in a stare All at once, his blood froze, and his heart filled with fear And he muttered, to Carding, a prayer "Art thou demon or man? For your form seems like mine Yet more focused, more terribly bleak Come you here out of Tirbal's, or Ifreann's design" Then the figure proceeded to speak:

First Verse

"I am Ryan Caruso, the ruler of Hell At least thus I like to be styled Though the demons down under may otherwise tell" Here he laughed, and disarminernals, have rules of our own And we´ve warned them against interfering But come, and these themes will be presently shown By which you'll learn more than by hearing"

First Verse

So the king and the madman walked down through the shaft As Caruso described Hell´s societies And he often gave pause, and maniacally laughed At tortures of many varieties With his eyes on his guide, and his hand on his blade Shane of Blackrock continued on down 'Till they passed through a doorway, of skeletons made To a cavern, containing a town

First Verse

Its walls were of lava, all jagged and steep Their color carnelian-red Their angles would make a geometer weep Or an architect strike himself dead The streets were so narrow they hardly existed And covered with layers of grime Their mazes like webs drunken spiders at twisted In bedrock as ancient as time

First Verse

In the center, carved out of a mountain of shale A massive cathedral loomed grey There were things on the wall, in exquisite detail But things no decent poet can say And into this temple of madness and vice Poor Odlum was led by his guide And when Ryan incanted a hex three times thrice The door opened, to let them inside

First Verse

And inside was a Congress, a gathering of souls But such souls! They were damned, every one! You could see but their eyes, which stuck out, like hot coals From the darkness, as hot as the sun And Ryan said "Comrades! From realms high above The long-promised one has arisen The one who the prophets have prophesied of Who shall set us all free from this prison!

First Verse

Yea! Set us all free! And set free all the Planes! From their prison of pitiful skin! Set all of us free! Until nothing remains! Of this vortex of suffering and sin! Set all of us free! Free! To beautiful Void! To the unfeeling Dark that we crave! He comes that the world may be thoroughly destroyed! To set us all free! And to save!"

First Verse

But Odlum, who stared at those terrible shades As they filled with their unholy glee Said "You have it all wrong! I come not down to you, or to set you all free. I come but to see sorrow, loss, and decay From Tirlar extinguished forever I am not a destroyer! And not who you say! And to free you is not my endevour!"

First Verse

The shades then grew wroth, and the air seemed to stir By Ryan, still jovial, said "So you think, but no mortal knows what will occur From the paths that we heedlessly tread You know little of Fate, and I know little more I leave Heaven to fret o´er the rest But I have intuition, and have ancient lore And declare you shall stay as our guest

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Now demons! Now damned ones! Get food, and get wines! The King must be hungry and tired And while he gets rest, and gets happy, and dines We shall tell him of what has transpired The History of Ifreann, our glorious State The occurrences of its formation And how, in despite of divine law and fate We have carved ourselves out a great nation!"

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The demons and damned ones brought dinner - for one As a ghost, Ryan needed no food When the dinner was over, at last, he begun Keeping still in his jocular mood "This city, Dagora, is part of a whole Whose tale I am longing to tell The pride of each demon, and every damned soul The People's Republic of Hell!

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When Mordicc arrives with his merciful blade The soul and the body to sever In Mandorel´s presence the judgment is made To determine its dwelling forever Upon most, the god smiles, and Jestun conveys Them to Tirbal, or Calaspier´s walls There to sing and rejoice till the closing of days When ANDAN's apocalypse falls

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Thus the fate that awaits, if your soul can be seen As righteous, by any long stretching But ofttimes a soul is so nasty and mean As to set the great Champion retching Then he strikes it with Trizecc, his three-bladed axe For more brutal than Mordicc's kind scythe And it plummets to Earth, and it falls through the cracks Into Ifreaan to burn and to writhe

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Now Ifreann as Ifreann is quite bad enough As I think you yourself can attest It is fiery and dark, and lacks aith which Tirlar above has been blessed But the demons! The demons who justly were thrown From the skies when they fell in the Fall And who torture damned souls, lacking souls of their own Their tortures are worst of it all!

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In what gruesome crimes do they not take delight? What interest we sinners must pay! All the nightmares I dreamt in the blankets of night They give substance, and take into day! All the ills that befall those in Tirlar still dwelling They perfect, and invent new beside Yea, ones without name, that I shrink back from telling Yet to which I will now give a guide

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Then Ryan said "Antya!" and picked up a wand And exerted an effort of will With a sparkle of light and a wave and the hand The two stood on a very high hill From which could be seen each demonic domain Every oven, abyss, every rack And the demons, whose terrible laughs add what pain Their inventions and fiendishness lack

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"See there statues of stone, with their grim, twisted faces? At their nearest, a mile apart? Those are men who were hardened to lovers' embraces And thus broke an innocent heart! So they long for a kiss or a brotherly word But no one! For miles around! What on Earth they would laugh at whenever they heard Is in Ifreann nowhere to be found

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See those unlucky men being severed in twain By the demons in puddles of gore? They are men who broke oaths for their personal gain And who failed to uphold what they swore And for breaking their word, they themselves must be broken For such does is the Word of the Law Which shall ne´er be reneged, and has never been spoken And which lacks any loophole or flaw

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And those, who a fiend with a terrible bow Filled with arrows of fire is haunting Their sin up above, punished thus here below Was their habit of taunting and teasing They shot vitriol to puncture their poor victims´ souls And with vitriol their souls now are shot And their bodies are covered with cauterized holes Stuck with oil, eternally hot

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See there! Demons s necks with strong ropes Placing food just an inch out of range These are fools who stopped others from realizing hopes When their minds were too narrow to change Now their atrophied feet barely keep them erect As they wish for a change in their state Which from Unchanging Law, they can hardly expect To stay just as they are is their fate

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I feel sorry for these - but for those, over there I have no trace of mercy at all See them - climbing to Tirlar upon a high stair On the top, pushed by demons to fall Back to Ifreann below - these are those who took joy In killing what others had made And instead of creating, they strove to destroy And I laugh as I see them repaid!

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Once I was tormented; once I was a slave To such horrors as now your eyes see But I gathered my comrades, and warlike and brave We struck back at the damned bourgeoisie! At our fiendish oppressors - and drove them away Their whole system of tyranny fell We proclaimed we were now our own lords - and that day Rose the People's Republic of Hell

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Yea, the People's Republic of Hell! Every man (Or those who are now something less) Is free to do all that he possibly can Save exploit, or harass, or oppress But alas! While in these awful depths we yet dwell Revolution can not be complete For Hell, stripped of torments, is all the same Hell With its darkness, and sorrow, and heat

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But enough of such torments! Enough of such woes For I see that your stomach grows queasy You must now take the way that your destiny goes Though I doubt that that way will be easy To Ilass, to Lest! In the world´s deepest core In a fiery ring you will find them And will fight them, as Mandorel fought them before And then here, deep in Ifreann, confined them

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I have taken you most of the way to your end See the trail, down this mount´s jagged slope You shall reach, when its torturous path you descend A fiery ring - lose not hope! For if you are pure in intentions and soul The flames will feel cool as the breezeur sword-hilt and eye on your goal You may enter with health and in ease"

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Thus Odlum and Ryan departed, as friends And hand shook with skeletal hand And each one declared, that wheree'er their path ends And wherever their destinies land They should still remain brothers, for aid rendered deep Beneath Tirlar, in caverns of stone And all through their Way, their remembrance to keep Till in Heaven - or Hell, it was done

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Then Odlum descendended the terrible trail Coming closer to Earth´s fiery core And he reached the mount´s base, at the fiery vale And he paused to look `round, and explore Alas! A mistake! For not all one can see Is within the poor mortal eye´s seeing And poor Odlum screamed, freezing in terror as he Saw a hideous, gargantuan, being

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It was covered in filth, from its head to its toes (which were more a tentacular mass) Like a great oaken tree, to the heavens it rose And it seemed to the mountain surpass It was slimy and massive, and held a great spoon Which it stirred in a cauldron of grime Like the sum of the filth that Earth´s cities had strewn In all lands, of all sorts, for all time

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It was dread Maladaticc! The Lord of Disease! Sun's brother, and cohort in ill! And the mixture he mixed was the plague-bearing sleaze That would sicken and cripple and kill And every so often, winged bat forms swooped down And returned up above, with loud squawks In their sharp-taloned claws bearing thick lumps of brown To cause fever and weakness and pox

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Leave behind Maladaticc! My pen will not dwell On that fetid and fear-firing form Which even for those grown accustomed to Hell In its horror exceeded the norm Let Odlum arrive at the tall wall of flame That encircled his last destination For when to the end of his journey he came He paused, with a great trepidation

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White hot was the fire, with tinges of blue It was barring the wall to a cave Shane gathered his courage, and took a leap through And fate indeed favored the brave For cool was hied by a breeze And his mind had grown peaceful and clear And the king was not hurt, but his mind put at ease And expunged of all trembling and fear

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And good thing - for there sat, in the edge of the room The Queen of all Hell, dressed in black She turned gracefully round, like the image of doom And moved not, nor made any attack But said "Welcome, Shane. You should not have come here But you have, and must now face your test Take your blade from its sheathe - I will not interfere As you struggle in combat with Lest"

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Then Ilass stepped back, and the king saw before her A flower, black-petalled and small Was this Lest, Bane of Tirbal, the cursed Destroyer The damned engineer of the Fall? Could he fight? Could he win? And what powers within That small seedling, untapped, lay in wait? And Shane brandished his sword at the author of sin And he charged toward his foe and his fate

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And the Red Sword of August struck ichor-filled shoot And the chamber grew strange, dark and cold And Shane's mind was ripped out of the world at its root And a new world began to unfold Whirling madness, strange horrors, with colors unknown Lawless lamps in bright dark-shining skies Shapes that pulsed and that throbbed to a beat of their own And a billion mad watching eyes

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All was lost for a second - the fight and Shane's mind But the latter at last drew together And it fought of strange starbursts of energy - blind Anger pulsating out of the ether With an effort of will that brought tears to his eyes He wrested himself from insanity And returned, after many exertions and tries To the less crazy (?) world of humanity

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And there on the top of a now lifeless stem Where the Flower of Doom once had been A beautiful night-dark and wonderful gem On the top of the stalk could be seem For the Bane was defeated! The world was redeemed! And the demon was now lifeless stone! Or so to our hero, triumphant, it seemed For his battle and prize were now won

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Prize? Who mentioned a prize? Nthe jewel He did not think the thought was his own But on further reflection, no man but a fool Would refuse such a beautiful stone It would serve in his scepter, and help him hold sway Over all of his subject and land He would make it his own ere he journey away And he reached for his it now with his hand

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But up on his forehead, a with lightnings of pain The sigil of Carding, dull red Became active, and flared bright and blue once again Shane recalled what the Keeper had said: "Now I offer command, not request: When you go Take nothing upon your return Things of Ifreann in Ifreann must stay, down below Or your spirit in Ifreann will burn!"

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But evil had perished! No more would be burning In Ifreann; no more His command Was needed to keep people´s spirits to turning To darkness, which now had been banned So with motion decisive, the gemstone he plucked From the stem, where it flew to his grasp Through the door of the cave, through the fire he ducked With the Bane of the World in his clasp

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I shall not bore my readers, nor cause needless fear With stories of Shane´s journey back His path now was open; all dangers were clear And he kept to his previous track He ascended the crater in Istvan's domain To his men, who had camped there and waited Then to Blackrock returned, o'er the blue, placid main Where his subjects beheld him, elated

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And he entered his palace and sat on his throne And he ordered his councilors gone And he took his old scepter, and there, all alone He affixed his new trophy thereon But scarce had he done so, when shot bolts of pain And fever, that spread from his head And the sigil grew bright blue and fiery again And in minutes, the hero was dead

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For Carding, the Wise One, had never stopped viewing The deeds of the Blackrocker prince And when he beheld what the hero was doing His features became a grim wince For he knew that immortals can never be slain And that Odlum had merely been fooled And been tricked into carrying sadness and ll of the lands that he ruled

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There was Lest! The Dark Orchid! Who set off the Fall! There in Blackrock, now destined to die As had died great Audentior, and as die us all Underneath the great dome of the sky And as had died Shane, by the terrible wrath (mixed with sorrow, and terrible fear) Of Carding, the Wise One, the Guide to the Path The Prophet, Protector, and Seer

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Shane lingered a while, but soon there came down A man on an aerial boat When he saw the Dark Orchid, his face formed a frown But he otherwise took little note He beckoned to Shane to come into his ship And he paddled it up through the air And with swiftness like eagles proceeded the trip The trip - led by whom? - going where?

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Led by Jestun, the heavenly Boatman of souls Up to Tirbal, where on their high seats The High Court of Ennabruk, that which controls A dead human's destiny, meets And high o'er them all is the god Mandorallen Whose judgment has never been false Who raises the good and who casts out the fallen From Ennabruk´s cloud-girdled walls

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And in front of this body was Odlum presented And Carding, the guide to the Way Was wroth, for his anger had not yet relented And had many an insult to say On how Odlum had broken his word, and had taken The Orchid from prison below And should thus by the gods and their law be forsaken And punished with ages of woe

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But kindly Laguna, the Mother of All Told Carding to keep to his Way And to not act in wrath, though the force of the Fall Had succeeded, and taken the day For when Shane had descended the road down to Hell His intentions had been for the best Men must do what they can; the results none can tell But the gods will take care of the rest

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And Mandorel, Champion, nodded assent And said "Shane, you have fought very well You accomplished the duty on which you were bent Even unto the center of Hell You were rash - so am I! And your sentence was served In the death that you suffered of late You ruled well - further sorrow woved Now hear - from my mouth - of your fate

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You shall sit in Calaspier, with heaven-forged spear And shall sit by the side of my throne And when foes shall inspire my people with fear Go to Tirlar, in aspect unknown And lead armies to triumph, and countries to peace Till ANDAN, created at last Causes all war and struggle to suddenly cease With the rest of the Universe vast

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And on that very day, you shall lead all my men From Calaspier's age-ridden stone All the souls of the warriors, to battle again Into further and greater reknown And the people of Tirlar will sing and rejoice When Shane Odlum is seen at their head This is then my decree, and my unerring choice As the Judge of the Souls of the Dead!

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And Odlum, the Warrior, the greatest of kings To the halls of Calaspier ascends A spear of the making of Runda he brings And he waits till the Universe ends When the two dreadful Orchids shall seal the world's fate And he once more can fight the world's foes And swing swords once again in that dire debate That will bring all our tales to a close