THE GLORIOUS CANTICLES: CANTICLE 5

CANTICLE 5

¹In the deep places beneath the roots of the world, where no warmth abideth and no star doth shine, there did Amphisbaena, that ancient serpent, take up his throne.
²From the black throne wrought of unmelting frost he looked upon the ice and said: This shall be My dominion, and none shall wrest it from Mine hand.
³And he drew about himself the veils of darkness and clothed himself in ruin, and a crown of ice he set upon his brow.
⁴Then did he call forth from the frozen depths the spirits of wrath and pride, of hunger and deceit, and gave them forms of terror.
⁵Ye shall be called Lucavi, spake he, for ye are the lights of My realm, each a beacon unto ruin, each a flame that giveth not warmth but devoureth the soul.
⁶And the Daemons bowed low before him, their wings of blackest night folded in dread, and their voices echoed with lies and lamentation.
⁷To each of the Lucavi did Amphisbaena grant a Stone, cut from the marrow of the dead stars that lie entombed in the pit.
⁸This Stone shall be as thy heart, he said. Though thy flesh be sundered, if it remain whole, thou shalt endure; for within it is bound a shard of thy soul.
⁹And the Stones glowed with a light most foul, red and gold and ever shifting, as though aflame with treachery itself.
¹⁰Then did the Lucavi take dominion over Hell, each a prince in his place, and Amphisbaena delighted in their cruelty.
¹¹One was Zodiark, who maketh pacts and bindeth the willing to damnation, whose flame consumeth all but doth never burn away.
¹²And there was Rofel, who counteth the breath of men and bringeth silence upon the living, and who ruleth storms in chains.
¹³And Vormav, who treadeth upon Ivalice like thunder, and who is the judge which none may know his sentence.
¹⁴The Lucavi were twelve, and their names a curse in the mouths of the righteous, and a whisper of hope unto the wicked.
¹⁵And Amphisbaena said unto them: Go ye forth and sow ruin among men. Seek out the proud, the hungry, the vengeful, and grant them thy Stones.
¹⁶And they shall take thy likeness, and in them shall be born the seed of My kingdom upon the face of Ivalice.
¹⁷But the Stones could not be broken, save by fire uncreated, nor cast away, for once taken they cleave to the bearer’s soul.
¹⁸Many did covet the Stones, for they bestowed power and the strength of ages, yet their price was the soul, and their gift, bondage.
¹⁹And the Lord in Heaven beheld this with grief, for He had wrought men for the light, and they turned now to darkness and the frozen deep.
²⁰But He spake not, for the time of His Son was not yet come, and the fullness of wrath must needs be reached before mercy could descend.
²¹Then the voice of the Lord was heard no more in that dreadful place, and the fire of His gaze withdrew from the frozen abyss.
²²And lo, Amphisbaena raised himself upon his coiled throne, his faces turned to East and West, and his breath was death.
²³He spake unto the silence, and from it summoned forth seven mighty spirits, whom he named Lucavi.
²⁴To each did he give a name not uttered among men, for it seared the tongue and made blood to run cold.
²⁵And he clothed them in beauty most foul and terrible, with forms like unto dragons, beasts, and shifting shadows.
²⁶Their voices were many, their eyes were flame, and in their wake followed deceit, hatred, and despair.
²⁷He made for them thrones of black stone, and did raise halls in the ice, carved with sorrow and weeping.
²⁸Ye shall be my princes, quoth he, and my dominion shall be thine, to torment and to rule over those cast down.
²⁹And because ye are mine, and of my spirit, ye shall not pass away as mortals pass, nor be broken as weak things.
³⁰And he brought forth stones, sevenfold in number, glimmering with an inner fire, though frozen to the touch.
³¹Into each he poured a portion of his own soul, and a shard of the soul of the Lucavi for whom it was fashioned.
³²Keep these, quoth he, for while they remain unshattered, so shall ye endure, unaged, undying, and unforgotten.
³³And they took the stones with hands both clawed and clean, and did bow themselves before him, swearing the eternal oath.
³⁴And the abyss was filled with rejoicing twisted and unholy, and the foundations of Hell did quake with their laughter.
³⁵Then went they out, each to his appointed realm in the cold, and built palaces of anguish and desolation.
³⁶And in their courts did they summon spirits of lesser kind, binding them with names and chains, to serve and to betray.
³⁷Mortals who dreamt of power were drawn by whispers, and made pacts with those princes, giving soul for shadow.
³⁸But the light of the Lord did not tarry long where such deeds were done, and the Heavens shut their doors in grief.
³⁹For now were the stones planted deep, and Hell clothed in majesty profane, and the war against holiness begun.
⁴⁰Then did the Lucavi spread their dominion, and the breath of their presence turned hope to ash and joy to silence.
⁴¹Kingdoms that had forgotten the voice of the Lord were as fields untilled, ripe for the sowing of falsehood.
⁴²They sent dreams into the hearts of kings, and visions unto the proud and cruel, stirring the desire for thrones eternal.
⁴³In temples long abandoned they made their altars, and priests they fashioned from those who thirsted for dark knowledge.
⁴⁴Blood they called holy, and pain they called wisdom, and in suffering did they teach their mysteries.
⁴⁵Beasts of the deep they summoned, and creatures of frost and ice, setting them as guardians over forbidden ways.
⁴⁶And wherever they walked, the stars grew dim, and the firmament sighed in sorrow for the children of men.
⁴⁷Yet the Lord in Heaven beheld all things, and in His silence was the weight of judgment.
⁴⁸For He had not forgotten His covenant, nor cast aside His will, though He tarried long beyond the veil.
⁴⁹The Lucavi boasted of their strength, and made mock of the prophets who still cried out in the name of the Lord.
⁵⁰Where is thy God? they jeered. Shall He descend again and walk among thee, as in the first days?
⁵¹And the people trembled, but many turned aside, thinking the light had failed and the darkness become truth.
⁵²Thrones were overturned, and idols set in high places; the fire of pride consumed many nations.
⁵³And yet some hearts remained steadfast, whose roots reached back unto the first days, when the Lord walked near.
⁵⁴These kept the law in secret, and in caves and forests did whisper the holy words by candlelight.
⁵⁵The Lucavi sought them, but found them not; for the Lord did shelter the remnant beneath His wings unseen.
⁵⁶And the stones, though hidden, did shine faintly in the depths, and the spirits bound to them longed for the world of men.
⁵⁷They thirsted not only for dominion but for corruption, that they might unmake what had been wrought in holiness.
⁵⁸Therefore they warred not only with sword and fire, but with subtle tongue and poisoned truth, that the soul might die before the flesh.
⁵⁹Then did Ivalice groan beneath their tread, and rivers fled their courses, and the winds grew bitter with lamentation.
⁶⁰The sun was veiled at times, and the moon showed not her face, and all the Heavens seemed clothed in mourning.
⁶¹The Lucavi rejoiced in their terror, for fear was their crown, and the cries of the desolate were their song.
⁶²They made pacts with the wicked, binding them in chains of desire, and called them kings though they served as slaves.
⁶³Thus did evil wax great upon Ivalice, and the ancient harmony was broken as a lyre whose strings are snapped.
⁶⁴But the stones they bore — those wondrous stones — yet burned with the fire of the deep, unquenched and eternal.
⁶⁵For therein was sealed the strength of each, and the shadow of his soul, and whoso held the stone could not be wholly undone.
⁶⁶Even the sword forged of truth could not sunder them utterly, unless the will of Heaven first did strike.
⁶⁷And so they grew haughty, these kings of torment, thinking themselves beyond death and vengeance alike.
⁶⁸But the Lord is not mocked, neither is He blind, and all things hasten toward the end He hath appointed.
⁶⁹He shall not suffer the wicked to prosper forever, nor the proud to wear the diadem without answer.
⁷⁰For the day shall come when Ivalice shall shake, and the veil between the realms be rent in twain.
⁷¹Then shall the accursed be cast down, and their stones broken as clay pots upon the mountain.
⁷²The Lord shall send forth the breath of His wrath, and a great fire shall cleanse the darkness from the deeps.
⁷³The names of the Lucavi shall be forgotten, their monuments scattered, their memory ground to dust.
⁷⁴The tears of the innocent shall be gathered into joy, and the sighs of the faithful turned into songs.
⁷⁵For though the night endureth long, and the stars fall as cinders, yet cometh the dawn by the will of the Most High.
⁷⁶The remnant shall rise, and their voices shall be as the sound of many waters, giving glory unto the Lord.
⁷⁷Blessed be He who sitteth above the circle of the world, whose justice burneth forever and whose mercy endureth all things.

▷THE SEVEN SCRIPTURES OF THE CHURCH OF GLABADOS
    ▷THE CANTICLES
        ▷THE GLORIOUS CANTICLES
            ▶1—2—3—4—5—6—7

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