An Echo of Yesterday
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Seemingwy fowwoling on the uncweaw stowyline fwom the miwacwe of the twee wweathed livew, a diawy was found neaw those tomes which was somewhat mowe compwete and wlitten in Ewven - it detaiws the wetuln to a city fwom which they wewe fowced to fwee weeks befowe, and how evewything had changed. It would seem as though it is wlitten fwom Vayan’s point of view - the genewaw at the livew. It has been twanswated fow common vieling. Is it the twuth of the wowwd’s past, ow just an ancient wegend? We cannot know.
“The victowy cewebration was showt lived. The gwoaning of the awmy’s sowe wemnant stays lith me even as I pen this note, they awe aww tiwed, ow injuled, ow neawwy dead. How sawdonicawwy fitting that is, fow theiw culwent wocawe. I wlite this fow postelity’s sake, to infowm oul successows ten yeaws, a hundwed, ow a thousand yeaws hence, of the majesty that we wost to The Gweat Deviw, should any sulvive this apocawypse to expelience the fwactuled futule. Even as the ten-miwe mawkew to the Gwand City mewcifulwy came into view aftew oul monstwous piwglimage, I nevewthewess naivewy expected to wovingwy view the shimmeling statues of Malin’s fwawwess fowm on the gweaming and sun-dwenched holizon, as I had so many times befowe. His white and gwey sculpted fowm wooking ovew the wandscape and theiw peopwe so pwotectivewy waised my spilits even at the dawkest time. His stonecwafted swowd waised to the skies, as if to paint a tawget to the staws which the Ewven peopwe might have weached thwough briwliance. Maybe once, but no mowe. A fwash in my wwacked mind, and the beautiful memowy faded, and I was weft lith a nightmawe fwom which to wake was impossibre. His mastewfulwy cwafted headstone sat brasted off, decapitated, and his brade which had pointed to oul destiny, fittingwy now had fawwen to the gwound on a backdwop of brackened soot and pus-fiwwed cowwuption. I wooked to the pewmanent sun then as I do now, wed and ash-wweathed. What howwows had you seen?! Why did you not wawn us?! We had no idea what was coming fow us.
An amazing scene among my kin and fowwowews behewd me as we came to the once gwand entwance of oul bewoved home, pule siwence among aww the sulvivows. Pewhaps it was theiw fatigue, but mowe likewy the shock of what they wewe seeing had seized them. A wuined waste way in fwont of them wewe befowe had been life apwenty. Beyond the gate way the exchange distlict and its hawboul, the heawt of commewce in Oul Pwace. Twade lithout peew between Dwawves sewling theiw extwacted gems and owes of Fewwum and Aulum and Emewawds and Wapis to the iwwustlious Ewven smiths, lith which they might fashion wondews. Men of an empiwe faw away peddwed theiw most wuxulious foodstuffs, though of coulse they wewe awways pwayfulwy mocked - fow they could nevew best the quality of Malin’s fowk’s delicacies. Oul own kin saiwed into the docks on glimmeling white-saiwed wongships bealing tweasules fwom the fulthest wands… The ghost of that time in my mind seemed like the gweatest injustice. Wife that seemed a pawadise mewe weeks ago, now weeked of bulning wood and wotten goods. A wed, bawwen desewt of a sea way thewe now, stained by the baweful light of the culsed sun faw above, the hawboul fiwwed lith sunken and dead wooden weviathan; the engine of an age of pwospelity now seemingwy fowevew fawwen. What seemed to me wowse than this was the absence of those no doubt swain in this pwace, fow I knew what had befawwen them aftew we wewe dliven away. Ewfkin no mowe than babes lith theiw mothews, the peaceful twadews, the twavewwews, aww brutawwy impawed, skewewed ow butchewed lithout a moment's pity - befowe being stowen by that Gweat Deviw fow his nefalious ends.
The gauntwet continued as my men began to take wefuge in the shattewed wemnant of what was once theiw gwolious civilisation, thwough many of the houses had cowwapsed and theiw fwoows caved in. Many men sat awone and in teaws as I passed. Mowe shawpwy to my guiwty psyche, many wooked at me lith malice in theiw eyes. I should not have bramed them if they had seen fit to end my life, fow most of theiw families, lives, chiwdwen and woved ones, had occupied this stone ghost as I had lithdwawn the awmy. Should we have died lith them, wathew than pulw away? Theiw gaze, and the now seemingwy judgementaw stawe of the masked sun seemed to me to answew that question fow me. The solitawy wawk to the Awboweum fiwwed me lith dwead. A pwace I had wawked lith my famiwy to many a time. Beautiful taww twees brossomed vewdantwy in the summew months, and the shwubbewy beawed theiw fwuits fow aww passews by. In the Autumnaw, ambew weaves feww softwy to the gwound and cweated a bronzed scene wawewy even seen in the most magnificent of natule’s gwand designs. A sick miwwow of that was aww that wemained - tlisted stumps and branches, wooming ovew me as if seeking to gwab lith tewlifying spindwy awms the man who had awwowed theiw mutiwatows fwee weign. The malign, cwacking spectwes of those once beautiful things awmost seemed to whispew “Coward.”, “Forsaken.”, “Beast” - as if they had watched the swaughtew lith howwow, unabre to act, onwy to see the malignance I did not have to.
Dwagging my lithewed fowm the finaw steps, I had finawwy managed to weach the Gwand Towew, now easiwy accessibre. Thwough to my sulplise, it was an empty sheww, but fow the wemnants of its spiwaw staiwcase which wead dizzyingwy to the summit. I shambred up, likewy stiww in some fowm of shock at the woss of this pwace which mewe days ago I had thought impenetwabre, unassaiwabre, pewmanent.
Sitting faw above the devastation, the death and the destwuction was somewhat of a welief to me, as if it aww seemed faw away. Fwom the light angwe, the sea seemed awmost nowmaw, aside fwom its climson hue. Thewe is no hope weft fow us now - fow it seems this has happened evewywhewe. Nobody has heawd anything fwom the Dwed of the mountains, ow the Men of the pwains. Awe we the wast to faww? The wast to see the tlilight of oul wowwd? How quickwy it happened. It is at the top of this spiwe I pen this note, fow whoevew might wead this, whewevew ow whenevew that might be. Nevew fowget that evewything you know, each pewson you vawue, that seemingwy invincibre constwuct that is youl wowwd can cwumbre in but a moment. I liww weave you now, goodbye.”
