Obsidian night, the pale
moon shone
Between the firs, its light quite
wan.
The wind wound 'round a dusty path,
And sounded like an evil laugh.
Crouched by the path in wait of day,
Was a young man, who had lost his
way.
Red hair curled around his head,
Quiet, lest he wake the dead.
Stillness broken by movement, next,
Piercing screams from creatures
vexed.
Drawn, the young man followed the
sound
To find three creatures collapsed
upon the ground.
The clearing glowed an etherial light,
And the young man wondered how on
this night
He found this otherworldly land.
His attention was it's one demand.
He approached the creatures and wondered
what
Could cause them such ill-fated
luck.
In demented sadness, they shook
their chains,
Their howls of grief were long sustained.
The young man was compelled to free
Those saddened creatures of beauty
- those three:
Two flaxen-haired, and with blue
eyes.
The other was dark, and made his
heart sigh.
The dark one stood and beckoned to
him
And told him of a book within
A cavern, guarded by a dragon old.
To get it he must be very bold.
"Inside this book," the dark one
said,
"Is the tale of us - we are undead.
The book holds the secret to our
release,
Sneak past the dragon and get it,
please!"
The young man set off towards the
cave.
His facial expression was very grave.
To risk his life was foolish, he
knew,
But to save the creatures - that
he would do.
The dragon, looking much like Death,
(With a greyish tinge to the scales
on his head,)
Lay upon the cold stone floor,
Silently he slept, evil to the core.
Quietly sneaked by the dragon, he
did,
And found a box with a golden lid.
Opening the box he found the book:
"An old one," he judged, from the
well-worn look.
A sound came from where the dragon
lay
And startled the man, who was making
his way
Back to where the creatures were.
He hoped a fight would not occur.
The dragon's tail shifted and almost
caught
The man, but luckily, quickly he
thought
To jump over the giant lizard's
tail
On which were spikes, as sharp as
a bunch of nails.
With his task of retrieving the book
now done
He opened the pages to chapter one.
And, it seems, the dragon slept
Through all this, though the creatures
wept.
The story told of Death - a dragon
- who
Needed legions of men to do
Evil deeds, (which I will not mention)
That he could not do in our dimension.
And so, Death captured the ladies
three
Despite their crying and their pleas.
And Death enslaved them to do his
work:
To lure men to the clearing, wherein
he lurked.
And when the men are caught,
it said,
They will be transformed into Undead.
Undead creatures without their own minds;
Not caring if they destroy mankind.
He turned the page and out fell a
key.
"That is the one, now us you can
free"
Said the two flaxen-haired creatures
- then;
"Before Death - the dragon - comes
out of his den!"
With key in hand he approached them,
and
Unlocked the shackles, upon their
demand.
They gratefully thanked the man
and told him
That now evil Death could never
win.
"You acted out of truth - not lust
And so did what you knew you must.
Now the legions will never be filled,
Because we no longer can take men's
will."
The lady-creatures vanished and so
The young man waited for night to
go.
He found the path leading into town,
And as he walked, he heard a sound:
The chorus of a thousand men
Free at last, going up to Heaven.
As well as that, the young man heard
A screeching cry - much like a bird...
"Perhaps it was Death - the dragon,"
he thought,
And walked on, happy with the life
he bought
Through truth, instead of forging
his soul
Into a demonic, empty black hole.
From that night on this tale is told,
To make men wise whom Death, so
bold
Tempts, with hopes of increasing
his numbers.
With foolish desires, "sense" is
encumbered.