Without a Title

They fly at dawn but land at dusk

three-thousand years blown to dust

the human loss was quite obscene

the final blow had come unseen

The cloud of dust rose high and high

the old men lowered heads to cry

they never thought it’d come to this

an ancient land reduced to piss

Hidden in holes the survivors stay

all the world was blown away

the land was burnt the seas were dry

the few lives left could not ask why

For twenty years they lived in holes

growing weak and blind like moles

‘til food ran out and water too

the time had come for something new

They left their hole, their home

into the waste, under sky’s dome

the light would blind eyes tuned to dark

they had no home no place to park

Still no food or any water

and the sun was growing hotter

needing homes to hide their head

and a place to make their bed

They had left their home of twenty years

the wind would blow to hide their fears

death would deal a vicious blow

‘til find they did a river’s flow

The water fresh, cool and clear

with trees around to hide their fear

of beasts that lay just out of sight

and feast on human flesh at night

Of beasts with fangs that gnash and grind

of twisted beasts changed by mankind

that couldn’t hide the awful day

when the world was blown away

The people built their homes of wood

and made all of the things they could

to fight with beast of claw and fang

a fight on which all their lives hang

A tribe of man, a pack of beasts

collided in woods at sun’s east

neither slay the other’s best

fought they did until sun’s west

The pack was gone, slain to the last

the final beast had seen the blast

It was the oldest and the best

It was it that ruled the rest

The tribe stood still five strong

many had died facing the throng

the bodies lay in mound and hole

beast on beast, mole on mole

They rushed the beast with spear and bow

and filled with hate we’ll never know

the beast with teeth sharp as knives

bit and gnashed and took four lives

One man, one beast, a level score

through gaping wounds the blood would pour

and stain the ground an awful red

the lust for death would soon be fed

As beast would come to gnash and bite

the place would be a holy site

as beast fell with spear in head

at last the beast was finally dead

The man could rest, safe at last

he sat on rock and thought of past

of things he’d done and places been

of the last day the world had seen

He had no tribe, he had no home

no one to see what he had become

more than man but less than beast

strength was gained from tainted feast

He gathered meat and bone and skin

and left that place his quest begin

the river flowed along his course

‘til days down he saw a horse

Painted on a sign of wood

he peered at men from under-hood

they greeted him with open arms

and begged him save them from harm

From such things as nightmares make

that cause great men’s knees to quake

the village gave him sword of steel

to use and make the monster feel

The wrath of men possessed with fear

of the monster’s breath they hear

they sent him into the hills

his quarry of a monster to fill

The monster had spun chords of web

he waited for his fear to ebb

the monster with eight legs and eyes

he hoped this be not his demise

The monster was both fast and strong

he thought perhaps his quest was wrong

the monster charged to strike his breast

he thought about eternal rest

To join his tribe and those before him

and make the final walk to Korhirim

the city of the blessed souls

a land far from this awful hole

But this test he would outlast

he’d seen the worst, he’d seen the blast

he gathered strength from deep within

and slay the monster and its kin

The monster lay upon its back

and with his sword he began to hack

he chopped it to the smallest bit

‘til its heart the sword did hit

Chopped in two the heart would be

he brought it back for all to see

the village had a joyous feast

he had slain both monster and beast

He left across the barren field

he brought with him new sword and shield

and food to last the next fortnight

when next he saw an awesome sight

He stood upon death’s rim

and saw what lay before him

a great city was once this land

now no more than dust in hand

One shot fired in the night

had burned this place with the sun’s might

few small homes were all that stayed

from when the world was blown away

After honoring this place

he thought of what was left to face

he turned and traveled to the west

considering what plan was best

To travel on and test his skill

and only stop to rest and kill

or settle down and make a home

underneath the sky’s great dome

He traveled west for eight days

never awake but in a daze

thinking of a time long past

of how life was before the blast

He wondered how it came to this

all the world reduced to piss

of why he wandered through the mist

of why he carried sword in fist

He traveled on through sun and rain

thinking of the world’s great pain

continuing to walk alone

and travel on through the unknown

Until he reached another town

whose people walked with eyes turned down

the buildings were all made of stone

and the men were thin as bone

They begged him to use his blade

in exchange for things they made

they asked him to slay things long dead

that kill their cows while they lay in bed

And leave the town with rotten meat

nothing left that’s fit to eat

they led him to the hallowed ground

where the first corpse was found

Of a cow that had been slain

and had all the life drained

he waited there ‘til after night

‘til he saw the evil sight

Of things that once lay in the ground

that make a great unearthly sound

he knew there was no turning back

and took the chance to make attack

Slaying creatures as they rose

crippling with mighty blows

his forged steel sword

his only defense against the horde

He fought the creatures through the night

testing both his speed and might

when he heard the bell’s twelfth toll

rose a most tormented soul

A creature that was king of all

who stood nearly two men tall

its body was not skin or bone

it wielded heavy sword of stone

He dodged the blade of awesome weight

filled with anger, filled with hate

the battle lasted through the night

‘til at last came sun’s first light

As the sun grew in the sky

he saw fear in creature’s eye

as it screamed with undead pain

the town now free of creature’s rein

He returned to the town

carrying the creatures crown

the townsfolk honored him in song

and celebrated all day long

They gave him a horse to ride

and new clothes made of hide

they told him of a far off land

where he would find a city grand

That had survived the awful day

when the world was blown away

where all the answers he would find

from the world he left behind

There was a path between the trees

they worshiped him upon their knees

the cold wind chilled him to the bone

but at last he was not alone

The horse would be a grateful friend

who would carry him until the end

together they traveled through the pass

when he heard footsteps on the grass

A man with hair dark and fine

whose mighty steed was not equine

whose cape billowed in the breeze

as he moved between the trees

The dark man stayed just out of sight

as he moved on through the night

the dark man followed him for days

never leaving the thick haze

Never did the two men meet

always apart by many feet

both men knew the other was there

each steed could smell the other’s air

When finally he reached the plain

and grabbing hold of horse’s mane

gesturing to the man in black

but never turning or looking back

For on the horizon he saw

a sight that made his stomach raw

buildings thrusting to the sky

a place to find the answer why

His horse carried him to the gate

where buildings, sky, and ground would mate

he rode among the buildings tall

and tried his best to see it all

He asked the people where to go

to find the men who would know

what happened on the awful day

when the world was blown away

They told him of an ancient tome

which was held in the elder’s home

that held the answers from the day

when the world was blown away

The elder’s home was tall and wide

marble stone from side to side

the elder met him at the door

together they walked the polished floor

The elder told him he could look

for answers in the ancient book

but not until he finished a quest

that would take him into the west

He must find an ancient sword

of a powerful but long dead lord

who had died before the day

when the world was blown away

The sword was placed in a temple grand

in a far off distant land

the elder wished the sword returned

if the answers he wished to learn

The elder told him one last thing

necessary that he bring

a guide that knew the path quite well

the route across the ancient hell

That lay over the mountains grand

a vast and desolate wasteland

he left the city to meet his guide

that would take him to the other side

The guide’s home was not far away

he reached it just as the sun left behind the day

she greeted him with eyes emerald green

her skin was pale and soft and clean

That night they dined on water fowl

and talked over the noisy owl

her hair was smooth and black as oil

he wished to seed her virgin soil

As they lay in love’s embrace

he thought of everything he had faced

of the village he left behind

of the answers he wished to find

They lay together through the night

and rose to the morning sunlight

they left as quickly as they could

and headed off into the wood

Traveling through sun and rain

not knowing their quest would be in vain

for a man followed with hair dark and fine

whose pitch back steed was not equine

The truth the dark man wished to hide

the dark man stood upon his feline ride

and fired arrow tainted black

whose poison point found his back

His guide held him as he bled

as through the trees the dark man fled

she knew not why this man should die

she turned face upward and asked why

She stayed there holding his head

as he stained the ground blood red

he would join his friend in Korhirim

she swore one day she would avenge him

He had sought the answer why

but in the end was doomed to die

the answers he would never find

from the world he left behind

They flew at dawn but landed at dusk

three-thousand years were blown to dust

few men know what happened that day

when the world was blown away...