To Sima Semu'ul o Kuakul

I. Lloka’e Tu’auel, Alte Leheual "Its emergence came with crashing waves A great being from an Abyssal Sea Towering over all, tirelessly moving Towards a destination unknown to us As It is the Keeper of Ages We shall be Its humble Scribes Charting the history of the world To be Enlightened, or taken by Death" Fi’ain pau kouolki fihut alti fe'ei (How I weathered this lonely decade) ‘Elhuk selti alte llokeis (An ever-vigilant, guiding star) Auetik ka’ai fokuot — sullai (My once bright eyes, now dark) Auetik mellafai Fokuko — metie (The once prophetic Eyes, now nil) "Underneath these six cold stars The Eyes of the Heavens Remnants of that great Cataclysm Perhaps echoes of that time remain As It is the Observer of Stars We shall be Its Astrologers Charting the motions of the sky To be Enlightened, or taken by Death" II. Ed Cieras Creda Born under the sign of the All-Knowing A name bespoken and wreathed in reverence Obtaining knowledge yet unknown by men Weaponized for the conquest and death of many Climbing the great mountains Hoping to reach the realm of the gods above To see and know all underneath the vast sky To breathe the breath of the ancients at last Empowered soldiers Paving the way For further expansion Great Legates marching on Supreme Fifth A hero to many Decorated and renowned Yet cold as the howling tundra Conscripted soldiers Taken away From Beloveds back at home People lost to slums below Sublime Fourth A hero to his men Dead with little renown His warmth lost to time Despite this, the search must continue The quest for apotheosis cannot cease Our ascension will be complete This divine gift serves such a purpose Born under the sign of the Watchful Eye A name bespoken and wreathed in gold Thrust into the gutter to feast with the rats Witnessing the suffering and death of kin Climbing the great terraces Hoping to touch the hems of those above To breathe the air that touches the vast sky To see verdant ornaments adorning high walls at last III. To Sima Semu’ul o Kuakul "Their emergence came with crashing waves Seventeen beings from an Abyssal Sea Their convergence comes with a reordering A great reshaping of the world The Great Ones in all, the One Great to remain At this destination in the Lands of Death" And yet, the memories flood back An omen of a lingering Death This haunting, sickening feeling Of a terrible purpose Despite this, I will face my fate I know not what yet will come to pass But I know that time will not cease turning Fate is sure to have yet more plans

To my beloved Though we now lie separated By who knows what expanse I will hold out hope for your return A test from the gods, it must be Expecting my love to falter In the face of a reshaping A loss of old roads once paved Separation already distant Now unknown, unclear A week passes, a month, a year Time ages my mind Your face, hazier in memory Your favorite flower, what was it? Chrysanthemum or clover? All lost in the flux Then it came One which looked so much like you But for its arms too long It asked for comfort When refused, it grinned Teeth stained crimson To my beloved Ten years we’ve been separated By innumerable expanse I pray your fate is kinder than mine My faith in the gods, long shaken Scarlet tides stained our shores Behind a mask of familiarity A loss of young souls once loved A stirring in me betrays a fear The tide recedes, but will return As certain as the passage of the stars Be it weeks, months, years in time And so, I implore you to seek me not

A once prosperous nation divided by ideals Varying realizations of a truth concealed Oh, you prodigal children gone astray, so scattered Forging your own prisons with tapestries so tattered Great Imoriscos, brought to ruin Verdant monuments, left to tarnish Revel in this grand dissolution With Essence itself soon to vanish Great Niuxaciros, now only rubble No Beloveds, merely front line fodder These vies for power in centuries of struggle Laid foundations for this mindless slaughter A pointed finger, a declared recusant Accountability, an iron to brand For neighboring nations were insufficient In explaining a fate so damned The great scholars were the first to be lost Those who could not take up arms would surely be the smallest cost For what use is knowledge of a thing so lost to us? A once prosperous nation brought under the wheel Failed realization, a truth forever concealed Oh, you prodigal children with minds consumed, so shattered Escaping to your own prisons in those deepest caverns

Within every last breath, an Essence Written in the stars Structure in the space between Fates woven in tapestry A Life, so precious Its Death, a dream anew Though the earthpulse has faded Our inner rhythm remains These barren lands, filled with Death Still bear its unmistakable echo Death in three faces Self, soul, form Death in three phases Near, cycling, final An Aberrative presence An Oos-touched being A hand scratches away Soot covering the eyes Within displays of strength, a substance Written in the stones Scriptures in the sheer mountains Crests painted from blood I climbed this mountain And beheld Vistas so unfamiliar Yet unmistakably sublime The seat for a greater power Beckoned ahead of us Behind those high walls Within those tall grasses Ruins of forgotten empire Babel's last remnant The uncrumbled foundation, colossal Etchings uneroded by hubris's folly We shall transcend these things Become gods in marbled flesh Great lords of eight-legged beasts Navigators of the endless seas Blind, unseeing wanderers Nomads of the great plateaus A union - a greater power Those who ruminate on Death Endeavorers of Monumental laud Seeking to subjugate the lot Between every last breath, an echo Written in the pulse Whispers in the space between Those to come from those long past