"Hearken, O hearken! The heavens have bled themselves dry! The heavens have bled themselves dry! ... What sayest thou? A saviour? Within the realm most abhorred of God? ... Yea, even so! How wondrous, how wondrous! ... Let us make merry, merry, yea, let tHere bE reveLry! ... Yet what if all be but faLsehood? What if they ensnare us in deceit? ... Bah! Trouble thyself no more with whether it be true or false! I would know what hath come to pass!"
A pause. Then, a long and grievous breath...
"A single drop arose above the others, and there remained still, fixed unto the very place where it had fallen into the ocean's embrace. Then came the fire, the abyss, the vision, and at the last, the resurrection, not as a portion of the green, but as a drop brought forth from a land that had lain dead for ages uncounted... And WHat then? WherefORE dost thou recount all this unto us?! ... Thou knowest full well that we desire thee not! ... What seekest thou here?! ... BEGONE!"
Another pause, and thereafter another sigh, yet this one came broken and breathless. The muscles of the throat near contracted of their own accord, lest even the faintest thread of air should be suffered to pass.
"The drop ascended unto the heavens... and touched the fire, yet was burned not in the least. It could not partake of the same forms, nor the privileges, of the sparks... and s-so it hid itself amidst the w-wounds of the earth... and... from thence it came u-unto the dreadful conclusion that it was ordained to bear n-naught save... death... WHAT JOY! THEY MUST... T-THEY MUST ALL KNOW OF IT! ... Depart from our hearing! Leave us n-no further hope..."
Panic. Tears. Paralysis... No succour. No voice prepared to answer. The trembling of the limbs beneath the scattered echoes of a heaven long since extinguished and made blind.
"THEN?! ... Speak unto us further! MORE! MORE! MORE! ... For now, whatSoever migHt yet quIcken our souls haTh forsaken us..."
From side unto side, gazes crossed one another; disappointments, no longer bearing even the fruit of novelty. Desire... the terrible desire to reveal unto them the truth.
"But I am too sore afraid to speak it unto you... WHAT?! SPEAK WHAT?! ... Yea, what? Come, conceal naught! The Hour hath come fOr us to take one anothEr by the hand! ... To write... To gather unto ourselves new flowers... To weep... To become one with something yet unknown!"
Death of the word. Death of the individual. Physiology made unto pathology. An organism risen in rebellion against its own being. Spontaneous demise. The apoptosis of the unicum.
Silence...
Yet more silence...
A silence so deafening that it rendeth the ears asunder...
Selective mutism...
No one desireth me...
My breath is as fire unto a flower...
I am loathsome...
My countenance is as filth set forth for nourishment...
I am a failure...
I would tear the very beats of my heart, praying that they might, at the least, appease your hunger...
He hateth me...
Who hath bent mine bones? Who hath fastened such chains unto every cell of mine being?
Thus is it. There can be no other explanation...
And at the last... behold the gold.
"I shall tell unto you, for the final time, of a warrior who became the new fulcrum of the ellipse upon which we forever run. Of two wounded twins, heralds of the Almighty, who dared raise themselves against him. Of a glorious battle inscribed upon the upper sea. Of fools who held no rein upon their tongues. Of harlots who turned their faces from the Father, spitting upon the very air through which, for fleeting cycles of seconds, they had passed. Of lines drawn by the nameless warrior, and thereafter retraced by the three contenders throughout the course of their struggle. Of the blood of his enemies, and of the sword, by which he subdued the two twins, who even then drew nigh unto the merciless mother, bereft alike of pity and of pride. Of sudden despair and dread, when, after days beyond counting, he succeeded in sealing himself astride the two protectors. Of how every emotion, every shape, every colour, every individual and, above all, every boundary was extinguished, when the first half of the world that once was became darkness... SILENCE! SUFFER ME TO CONTINUE, FOR THIS SHALL BE THE LAST TIME YE SHALL HEAR MY BREATH! ... HE SHALL COME. AND HE SHALL SHUT EVEN YOUR BODIES WITHIN THE DARKNESS WHICH THE ALMIGHTY FEARETH ABOVE ALL THINGS! THERE SHALL BE NO REFUGE. NO PRAYER. NOTHING THAT MAY STAY HIS HAND! IT SHALL BECOME A CONTEST: WHO SHALL SCREAM THE LOUDEST, WHO SHALL ENTREAT HIM WITH THE GREATEST FERVOUR! And yet here also, as in the realms that came before, darkness shall have the victory. Here also shall ye behold your guardians brought unto ruin. For he shall be the very chaos for which ye have long prayed within the hidden chambers of your thoughts, the chaos ye summoned, the chaos ye desired, the chaos ye believed ye could command... and which now ye shall learn to despise. And I... I shall be the sole vengeance of God."