Time's tether tugs all life, like hounds on leashes, to the same terminus. Yet gleefully they canter along, always believing their master has their best interests at heart. I followed her though I did not want to. I saw a moment, brief as a life, when I could stray and never return, and I did not take it. My thoughts were free and wandered and danced with abandon, but my form was ensnared and tethered. The vanquished lay waiting for the time of victory to sink beneath the noise of memory. Castles of bone and clay hold their beating hearts in sacred secrecy for the era of loss and rebirth to come. I set my eyes upon the great peaks of fire and light and watched them unravelled and devoured by the black sky above. I heard the choir of darkness sing as they drank their fill, and left the world below a frozen, lifeless shell. This was their gift to me, their eternal servant: to walk among the countless silent screaming dead and witness. The vanquished lay waiting for the time of victory to sink beneath the noise of memory. Castles of bone and clay hold their beating hearts in sacred secrecy for the era of loss and rebirth to come. I wandered the valley of husks, (where the vanquished lay) treading on my own ancient bones, (waiting for the time of victory) retracing my own footfalls, (to sink beneath) hearing my own voice echo across the monolithic walls. (the noise of memory) I knew the words yet not the meaning, knew the path yet not where it led, (holding their beating hearts) knew that I walked atop events (in sacred secrecy) that had not yet run their course. (for the era of loss and rebirth to come) I felt the leash cinch tight and sure, felt its pull towards the inky terminus. I grasped at the roots for anything that would hold against the gentle tug, but all I held tore free. I alone was to be drawn below, and I was, only to be thrust back into the searing illumination. Those I serve would not allow me more than a moment's respite. The vanquished lay waiting for the time of victory to sink beneath the noise of memory. Castles of bone and clay hold their beating hearts in sacred secrecy for the era of loss and rebirth to come.
