ONCE A WORLD

The Last of Banii'Rretyn (bah-NIE' reh-TEEN)


Gone are the great lords of Banii'Rretyn,
Their unheeded destiny foretold.
For eons they lived, great fortunes amassed,
On the backs of perceived inferior kind.

Under the displeased gaze of their gods,
The grief from below was observed.
"How can this be?" cried the Greatest Divine,
As his sorrow and anger grew ever more intense.

"They are but children," a deity replied,
"Gone mad with power and greed."
"We must intercede, and somehow curtail
This blatant display of barbaric might.

"Do be judicious when first you strike,"
Pleaded the Goddess of Love,
"For though they are wicked, we love them still,
And would not want them destroyed in haste."

The Greatest Divine considered her plea,
And vowed to lessen his wrath.
He warned that his patience was not everlasting,
The wicked would forfeit their world if they erred.

So, the deities entered the hearts of the lords,
In hopes their unkindness would cease.
But long in their malice the lords had dwelt,
And not ev'n the gods could rouse them to care.

Many eons they tried to sway the lords,
But their evil grew ever more cruel.
Many their sacred devices employed,
But the souls of the lords remained unmoved.

The Divines, with deep sadness, took their leave
From the doomed world of the lords.
They cared not to watch their woeful demise,
So they faded away, no more to behold.

Unaware of their fate, the lords did maintain
Their arrogant deeds of old.
Their spiritless offerings and faithless prayers
Went unanswered, for, alas, they went also unheard.

Bewildered, they searched their hearts asking why
The Divines had abandoned them so,
For without the powerful will of the gods,
Dark forces would come hither to besiege their world.

Their fears came to pass, but slowly at first.
Their lives lay in chaotic ruin.
A god of destruction was nigh, they perceived.
Neither help nor hiding place came to them…none.

Their crops were destroyed, their beasts fell and died.
The world's children cried out in despair.
The terrain grew parched and barren at last.
With the short passing of time, life grew dire and bleak.

A day finally came when darkness crawled
Across the angry sky.
An ominous murmur under foot,
Gave notice of unspeakable terror to come.

The roaring of thunder was heard from above,
Growing closer across the wild plains.
A scorching wind came howling down,
Setting fire to all that stood in its path.

Blood curdling cries of pain were vent,
Burning arms flailing in vain.
Their sizzling flesh reeked on the air,
Their urine soaked bones lay black and broken.

The song of the many angels of death,
Rose hideously over the tumult.
They rejoiced in the total destruction of life.
They drank deeply of the souls of the gods' castoffs.

Deep in the bowels of the dying world,
A shudder began to swell.
It emanated out and away from its core,
Vibrations dispatched to extinction, the great body's mass.