The Lament, Lawrence Wirries

The Lament

Lawrence Wirries

They called me to help in the middle of the night. A warrior by trade and knight by faith. A beast, they said, with the malice of the Devil terrorized the once gentle town of Ephesus.

So I went to the hillside country, to Turkey, where the grass felds are like a sea and the town an island. The horrible beast, I caught with my eyes, was towering over a young woman wearing a gold pendant.

So my courser ran swift, my lance couched, pierced the rough hide of Beelzebub with the lance of Saint Michael. So the victory was won but so it seemed, for evil lay there unredeemed.

Bones, dry and fresh; large and small, Were strewn by the mouth of the cave thronged with necklaces and gold coins covered in dust. A sin unconfessed.

And so I knelt in sorrow by the hide of its pinions, and thought it might have been better if it did not bleed. For evil was abided in this once quaint and quiet town, Nor is it pure now that it is gone.

Flocking to Mary Gabriel Rysavy

Jack Broaders

Two sets of footsteps echoed down a hallway, dimly lit by shuddering torchlight and the cold, distant light of the twin moons outside. A man made his way through the hallway with a fgure following quickly behind. The man’s brown eyebrows were furrowed in concern. A woman followed closely behind him, irritation wrinkled her brow. “He is no longer himself, Urram! I am telling you to let it be!” The woman said as she tried to catch up with the man, her long purple dress and dark-blonde hair fowing behind her as she moved, “He has changed.” “He is still our brother, Raighla. We at least owe it to him to not just lock him away like a beast.” Urram said, his own loose ponytail and long beard of brown hair swaying to his steps. “Do you forget what he did?!” she asked. Urram let out a sigh. “No. No I don’t.” “So you know how dangerous he is.” She grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around. “So, why? Why do you want to see him? Why?” “Because I can’t make myself believe he really did it all.” he said, his eyes avoiding Raighla. “I saw the bodies, I can’t accept that he did that. That he is capable of doing it.” His bright green eyes turned to her, their usual brightness dimmed with horror. “He is our brother…not a monster.” Raighla let go of his arm, “Do what you must. But he is not our big brother anymore. He is someone—something—else now.” She sighed, her gaze falling to the dark stone foor below. Meeting Urram’s eyes she said, “I am coming with you. Just to make sure nothing happens. Even a caged monster is still a monster.” Urram solemnly nodded in response. They turned and continued their way down the hallway made of a dark-stone, which seemed to consume the little light that there was. Along the way they passed cell doors made of a muted brown wood with only gleaming golden metal frames on each door to distinguish them from the dark and dreary hallway. From small hatches near the top of the doors, appendages groped towards the two visitors, reaching towards elusive freedom or to strangle those who had incarcerated them. Urram refused to look towards the creatures, remaining on the far side of the hallway, feeling remorse for their plight. Raighla gave them no heed. They must have passed hundreds of cells when they made it to a set of immense double doors made of an iridescent metal which shone like a sun

at the end of an oppressive and endless night in the stygian hallway. Upon the doors were sets of runes, each unique and varying in design and shape from one another, which glowed softly as the two approached. Urram slowly approached the doors, reaching his battle-scarred hand to the door. As his hand touched the metal, the runes ignited with an incandescent, blue light as with deep and loud clunks, like a heavy object repeatedly falling down a set of stairs, the massive doors opened inwards, revealing the massive, cavernous room behind. Urram and Raighla looked at each other and proceeded into the room. The spherical room was massive, with walls of bare, grey-blue rock and almost completely dark except for faint light emanating from a foating stone dias in the exact middle of the room. A narrow stone bridge moored the foating platform to the entrance. From the top of the room leading down to the dias were massive roots, as if they were from a tree of immense size, that intertwined with each other to create a cage around the platform. In the middle of the platform, his arms bound in chains connected to the ground, was a man sitting cross legged. He wore torn clothing and his long, shaggy black hair fell past his wild, unkempt beard. The man gave out a deep, unsettling laugh that echoed throughout the cavernous chamber as Urram and Raighla made their way closer, “So the God of Honor and the Goddess of Law have fnally decided to grace me with their presence.” He paused and reared his head back, the hair in front of his face falling back to reveal crazed, blood-red eyes and a wide smile, “To what do I owe this prestigious honor?” Urram stopped about a dozen feet from the platform, staring at the man before him not able to bring words to himself. Raighla strode up beside him and laid her hand on his shoulder consolingly. “What? No rousing speech to embolden the cretinous crowd?” The man taunted, “No austere assault against my disreputable exploits? Huh, would never have thought that Urram, the God of Honor, the Great Exorbitant Orator, would ever not have something to say. Sad, really, I was looking forward to feigning interest.” He turned to Raighla, his blood-red eyes intensifying with anger, “And you, you whore of legislation. The almighty hand of the blind irrational law. Wife to the Oblivious Usurper. What do you have to say for my sinful conduct, or has the feline abhorer of articulation gotten to you as well?” Raighla refused to answer, her face remaining still and silent, portraying no reaction. Urram stood still, his green eyes betraying his uneasiness. “What happened to you, Cerron?” He fnally managed to ask. Cerron turned an intense look toward Urram, standing up causing the chains to rattle. “What happened to me? What happened to me?” he repeated

walking forward until his chains kept him from moving further. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I have been magically bound in a solitary prison cell against my will because of all you obtuse halfwits,” Cerron yelled. Before he could say anything else he fell to the ground, screaming in agony as an intense blue light enveloped him. After the light faded, Cerron arduously sat up with his head bowed.

The fading light glinted in Raighla’s pale silver eyes, remorse was nowhere in her voice. “I will remind you that you are here because you killed a number of ‘obtuse halfwits’ and caused unknowable damage to the world as we know it.” “They deserved it, and you know it.” He responded with heavy breath, barely lifting his head. “They deserved every last second of what I did to them.”

“You turned them practically inside out!” “I would more say, ‘obliterated them from existence.’” “And for what, harming a few unimportant mortals?” “You see that is where you and I diverge in thought, dear sister.” “Diverge to what, irrationality?” “If that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black…” “Enough!” Urram shouted, “the both of you.” He turned to Cerron, “So you did it then? You killed them?” “I believe I just admitted that, didn’t I?” Cerron responded. “Perhaps if you used those two things on the side of your head instead of that irritating orifce you call a mouth you would have picked that up.” Urram ignored the insult, “Why? Why did you do it?” Cerron lifted his head, his eyes fxed on Urram. “Because I care for the world. I care for those that I watch over, that’s why.” “How come you killed them? Why not peacefully?” Cerron laughed, his head rolling back, “Peacefully? With those dolts? Be more productive to try and seduce a stone wall. And trust me I have tried.”

Urram looked to Cerron, his eyes narrowing in thought, “Then why destroy them, why not just wound or maim them?” “What I did to them was just what they had done to others. Seemed rather poetic, if you ask me.” He locked eyes with Urram, “Why all these questions? I don’t regret what I did, if that is what you are trying to get out of me. They got what they deserved, and I’d do it again if I could.” “I am just trying to understand why. Why go through the effort of killing multiple gods, when you could have found easier ways to deal with them.” Urram paused, “more honorable ways.” Cerron reeled back in laughter, the chains rattling as he moved. “‘hon-

orable’ he says! What a delightful proposition! Everything is fxed! Oh, joyous day!” He sat back up, crossing his legs and putting his hands on his knees, his crazed red eyes locked with Urram’s concerned green. “I’d never thought of that! Thank you, so very much!” Urram stood in confusion as Raighla interposed herself between the

two.

Cerron’s eyes hardened, “You really are a dimwit, aren’t you? Honorable! I suppose you mean talk to them, don’t you?” He paused, noticing Raighla, and sighed. “Still need a little sister to keep you safe. How honorable. You can’t even stand in front of your dear big brother without her at your side.” “I am here of my own will and cause.” Raighla said. “Because unlike him, I know what you really are.” Cerron laughed, “You? You think you know what I am? Why, because you gave your precious husband the power that he always craved? Because you gave him the godhood that was once mine?” Raighla tensed, anger rising to her face and her facade starting to crack. “At least he will use it wisely.” “Wisely? That is like asking a toddler to wield a sword like a veteran of sixty years. Your husband is nothing but a usurper, a false god which you perpetuate.” Cerron narrowed his eyes, “He created the Endless Death. He has tampered with the natural order far more than I have.” Raighla’s face reddened with anger, her facade shattered. “Donn repaired the destruction that was caused by you!” Her voice echoed in the cavernous room, carrying the weight of the indisputable and objective universe and all that held it together. “He sought to bring the universe back into balance, not to chase a worthless endeavor! While you annihilated, he rebuilt from the rubble! Where you brought an end, he brought a new beginning! While you devolved into a thoughtless beast; he became what he needed to become in order to save the world from you!” The room stood silent. All three stood still as if frozen in time. Raighla was red faced, eyes burrowing into her big brother. Urram had stepped back from his sister, fearing retaliation. The silence was only broken by Cerron, whose chains rattled coldly as he stood. “Never in my eternal existence would I have thought that I would see Raighla, the goddess of law and order, of truth and justice, of rationality, utter such blatant falsities and while using her own divinity as well.” His voice was cold, cutting through the air like a sharp sword through paper. “So you believe that he is worthy of being called the God of Death, the God of Fate. Then answer me this; do you even know what it means to be Death? Do you know what it takes?” Raighla stood still, her eyes still fxed on Cerron through the gaps in

the roots that made up his cage. She gave no response. Cerron raised his gaze to meet her’s, his voice carried the inevitability of annihilation, the last beating of a heart, the last gasp before an endless black void. “Do you or do you not?” He asked again. “Have you had to escort the souls to their fnal destination? Have you had to watch grown men cry out for their mothers as the end approached? Have you had to see the endless bloody felds left behind by so-called ‘righteous wars’?” His voice became louder and louder as he spoke, the room started to become colder and colder as heat was sucked away like the warmth of blood in the winter’s air. “Have you ever had to watch as the world burned, watch people cry out for their gods that will never answer their call, gods that are too lazy, too important, to hear? Have you accompanied those who have died to their next life, learned from them, walked in their shoes? Do you truly know Life’s toll and gift? Do you truly understand the nature of the mortal soul?” Anger faded from Raighla’s expression, but her eyes remained fxed on her brother. “No, I don’t.” “Then how in the shattered remnants of Hell and Heaven can you truly believe that your nitwit husband is capable of the mantle thrust upon him? You, a goddess who never even dares set foot upon the world you eagerly control, could never understand anything about what he messes with. You and every so-called ‘deity’ are nothing more than parasites which will destroy that which you cling to.” Cerron turned to Urram, who’s now pale face was in stark comparison with his bright green eyes and brown hair. “So here is my answer to you. We may have been brothers once, not anymore. I enjoyed what I did, and they deserved everything that I did to them. In fact, they deserved a lot more than that.” As he talked, Cerron made his way to the edge of his barken prison the sounds of clinking chains echoed through the room. “I may be inside a cage, but I am far from done. Very, very far from it. For as long as this wheel of Endless Death keeps turning, for as long as the souls are foiled from their rest, for as long as their minds are stretched far past their limit, I will never truly be done.”

“It is not an Endless Death, but an Endless Life. They continue to live on.” Raighla said. Cerron chuckled, “Being broken on the wheel is far from life. What you just said only proves that you are as naive as your beloved moron.” Raighla took Urram by the arm and headed towards the door, “I think we are done here. Urram we need to go now.” Urram followed, his face still pale in disbelief. “I am not the only one. They all will realize what you really are. Those weary and breaking souls that you believe you have enthralled-” Cerron

shouted from his wooden cage, “-will not remain so forever. Eloquent and rousing speeches of courage and honor will not satiate them forever. “When the end draws near, when their blood and dead are eclipsed by Winter’s breath, they will beg me to bring back what they held dear. They will cry out for the end of the Endless Death, and you will fall before them, when their secret hatred flls the skies. The lights of the gods will dim and meet their demise. The Tortured Ones, The Chained Ones, The Broken Ones will cry out with all of their lungs.” Raighla peered back to Cerron, “Is a prophecy supposed to scare

me?”

Cerron smiled, “Only if you know the truth.” Raighla and Urram exited the room, and the massive doors closed with a loud and deep thunk, silencing a bellowing chuckle from within.

Let the magic begin

Terra Lieser