1I
Genesis
Ere the light of the sun broke the darkness,
Or the waters of the Earth touched the land,
Ere the void of the universe surfaced,
Nine Beings of goodness ere there began.
They ruled the lands where lands had not yet been,
The darkness of heaven's black, empty skies.
That place, however, they could not endure.
The blackness was choking their holy cries.
So they elected to their crafts begin -
Jubilant creatures in need of repair.
Their pure beauty they brought to the heavens,
Crafting the stars to ward off all despair.
The Nine then moved onward to find a place
To summon the fires of warmth and love.
These they would use as their weapons of good
To combat despair and her sisters thereof.
Then out from the center they moved with grace
To the outskirts with places for planets.
There they tore out a chunk of their white flesh
And placed it as if a grand battlements.
It glowed just as they glow, it shone with awe,
And all beings since have yet to deny
The brightest of lights is that one, the sun,
Bringing hope to all creatures that come nigh.
Then the Ninth, recovering his torn flesh,
Stood by and watched while the others worked on.
The Eight there then crafted one planet each,
And so their great work had finally been done.
But the Ninth knew beauty, and knew its flaws,
And he told all to the others behold!
What have you done? You foolish brothers mine
But crafted your rocks with no good there told!
And so the Ninth created the heavens
And the Earth and the skies and the great seas.
The sun he brought out of his own being,
And so our system of life gathered speed.
They saw it was lonely and full of fear.
The light by itself could not this war win.
The darkness remained in the souls of them,
So they elected to their crafts begin.
The First and the Fourth went searching those lands,
Looking for creatures of being or light.
They returned in despair for not finding
A one in the darkness that was that night.
So the Fifth and the Sixth went out searching
For the means to create some willful might.
They returned in despair for not finding
A one in the darkness that was that night.
Then the Seventh and Second went flying
In hopes of a cache or a secret place
Where maybe the secret of life could be found,
But woe to the creatures that seek their fates!
The Third and the Eighth then there offered thus:
To search for a cave, a hospice, a crease.
They crafted those places to hide from dark,
And so they purposed they do so in peace.
They went out to search those nine planets vast,
So swift was their purpose of mind in woe!
They left so quickly and returned so soon,
The others had doubts of what they could know.
"That one," they said, as they pointed their wings,
And the light from their souls that way shone bright.
A rock of green and blue hue was brought out
Of the darkness that surely was that night.
The Ninth, then the oldest and wisest there,
Went to that place to inspect its skies.
There were the rocks and the trees and the earth
Barren, yet hopeful, like a child's eyes.
The Ninth, then, he thought that just like the sun,
His form could purge that barren land of Shame.
He took from his heart the purest of pure
And mixed it with dust to stake his first claim.
There then stood Adam, with eyes all ablaze,
For the Ninth stood before him shining so.
The Being was joyful beyond compare
At seeing the living, the breathing grow.
He told the new man to stay in that place,
Neither go to nor come from another.
The Ninth then returned to the other Eight,
Telling them of all of their newest brother.
The hope of that time one cannot compare
To any this place has ever achieved.
The Beings had crushed the darkness of life,
Making for life a new form, yet not grieved.
The Ninth then remained in the Heavens high,
For the pains he endured required rest,
While the First went down to Adam below
And told him of all his person would test.
When the Ninth had recovered his being,
The First then withdrew from the Earth, their prose.
The Ninth floated down on the wings of light
And spoke with an air of loving repose.
He told dear Adam that wives he would have
If so he should ever desire there.
With that, the Being took not of his flesh,
But of Adam's, and made from it and despair
A woman, called Eve, to be then his wife,
With Nine holy watchers to bring them light.
That is all hope in its earliest span,
And how it once came to join the night.
II
The Eternal War
That place the elders once believed the key.
The Earth, with Adam and Eve all grown tall,
Was claimed by darkness - an eternal blight -
Even before it came to be their hall.
The Ninth knew beauty, but never deceit,
And so in that land an evil was born.
Ignorance clung onto every last bit
That flowed from the Ninth's perfected first morn.
But curses to lucks the heavens endured.
In search of the light and fear of the dark,
They sought for sanctuary in shadows,
But what evil ever to good will hark?
Adam's life came to a glorious peak,
And the Nine were truly joyous to know
That man had not yet corrupted himself,
And his seed had been planted, soon to grow.
His sons - O! his sons - by name one was Cain,
The other called Abel, a shepherd boy.
They came to Earth in the usual way,
Through Eve, so they were children of dismay.
Eve, she was crafted of men and of dust,
But men were still dust in their purest form.
Ignorance, then, which tainted all of Earth,
Was bound within Eve and Adam's first morn.
The Nine had taken to heavens above,
So they may craft their plans for future men.
And while then they talked of prophets and plans,
Earth gave its own birth to angels condemned.
Out of the soil a serpent arose
And spoke to Cain then in a kindly voice.
"Your brother," it hissed in spite of itself,
"Has everything you could have at your choice."
And so the spirit of the Earth itself
Coaxed the once good Cain to murder his kin.
O! how the spirits of darkness itself
Remain, though their work was hope to begin!
When came the Second to check on the men,
A pool of red substance laid on the ground.
When asked what the liquid held as a name,
Cain answered faintly, "The blood of a hound."
As centuries passed, more men filled the Earth,
The spirits of darkness cursing all lives.
The Nine were dismayed as men battled men,
Blood stained the Earth, and everything died.
Upon finding the source of the world's pain,
The Ninth was despaired to hear his mistake.
Ignorance once was now his sole known flaw,
And his crafts had their own claims they would stake.
Then his old evil, along with the thought
That Earth could betray its master's grand will,
Gave birth to a new evil curse of men:
Treachery, the stones of ignorant till.
And thus did the chain of one mistake lash
And hack at the Earth with little relief
Until came the last of evils to Earth,
Called by name Shame, the Nine's greatest past grief.
When Shame showed its face to blaspheme the Nine,
The forces of darkness then making eight,
The Nine pierced the night with sharp cries of pain
To which the night answered, "'Tis you we hate."
By now, the men suffered beyond compare,
And the Nine threw their curses at all Earth.
They thought about fleeing, hiding again,
But knew Shame would follow to all new berths.
So they elected to their crafts begin,
Forging ethereal crowns to guard their minds
And swords of light, of the sun, of themselves,
To battle darkness for men and their kinds.
All save the Ninth, who remained up on high,
Departed for Earth to cast down despair.
The Ninth built a stronghold up in the stars,
A place where Shame could not set her black lair.
With battlements set and forces on Earth,
The Eight fought the eight with fury-laced eyes.
Their fiery swords cut through the darkness
And forced submission on Shame and her cries.
Then fires were made in the Earth's center
Such that darkness issued forth from their flames.
No goodness was there in that damned prison
For any there bound to ever there claim.
For it they gave a name called today Hell,
But ignorance truly was always the key.
They thought that a prison could hold a thought,
But their stay was bound to men, to the key.
Deceit led the way by tricking the Earth
To open her ancient door for their good.
With night clouding judgment and all her thoughts,
She opened right up and they again stood.
For years they ran free, again bringing pain,
And the Nine up on high saw their fate come nigh:
To war with the evils that cannot be slain,
So they may protect their glory on high.
The Eight now remain on Earth to make war
While the Ninth stays in Heaven, building might.
The War brings us now to Earth and today,
Where eight holy soldiers always will fight.
III
A Final Hope
Over the decades, their absence made clear
To the men that the Nine abandoned all,
And so they forgot their orders and ways,
Leaving battle to faith, obscurest call.
They all were immortal, evils and goods,
Neither suffering death nor loving life,
So the war of hatred between the two
Was fought against man, the Nine's only strife.
On Earth, the Eight stay as angels of light,
Protecting all men from malice and pain.
On Earth, however, do evils abound,
And curse the good angels' work by its name.
Their sons - O! their sons - by name one was John,
A man not of glory or any wealth.
He was a target for Shame and her kind,
So they set in on the wings of their stealth.
Deceit weaved her magics, fooling the eyes
To hide their hideous faces from sight,
Showing instead three men clad in respect,
Telling good John of all goodness's blights.
John, though, was wise and not easily fooled.
Though rich-featured faces stood and spoke there,
He knew that behind those beautiful eyes
Were some sorts of evils seeking despair.
With that came a flash of blinding bright light.
John saw no more of that company's mesh,
But he heard far away their shrieking cries,
Piercing like demonic swords through the flesh.
Then the prime evils met with their fury.
For years they had gone unopposed by men,
Or even the Nine up on their high thrones.
A frenzy was mastered right there and then.
The evils swore oaths to conquer the Earth.
Shame, their great leader, knew how to proceed.
They set out at once on their path of hate
To smite men, the Earth, and all that would be.
Their rampage was short, their victories lost,
For the Nine knew their thoughts and their black goals.
They crafted for them a prison of glass,
A diamond called Hope for their very souls.
Inside of this diamond, once purely white,
The demons were gathered and bound for life.
That is to say, for all eternity,
For they are immortal, without death's strife.
This all occurred on Earth, in our great lands,
Not long ago, in terms of forever.
The Nine saw Shame in their prison of glass,
And thought that had ended their endeavor.
That diamond was placed among men, on Earth,
Where it must remain if bound Shame must stay.
That prison was crafted of sands of Earth,
The essence of Shame and all of dismay.
And so, with their goals so eagerly met,
Not a soul on the Earth knew history.
All of the war in the whole of the past
Was fought much the same as John's company.
Now the stone rests among men and the Earth,
But they knew the demons could not be held
In any real prison without a guard,
And so the Ninth entered that new Hell.
There do they suffer, all nine of those souls,
In their prison of glass made of their woe.
The Eight dwell in heaven now unchallenged,
And history still does not the truth know.
IV
Worldly Paradox
For years the world spun with a joyous peace
While the Eight up in Heaven watched those men.
Such beauty they crafted, free of despair,
That once would have made to beauty condemn.
There gods were oft praised, there children were loved,
There poetry spoke out and all were free.
Skies were no longer scorched by the red flame
Of warfare among brothers o'er the seas.
This heaven on Earth was a lovely sight,
Without famine, hatred, or avarice,
But that was not in the nature of men.
No, they needed a tangible malice.
The forces of evil, bound within Hope,
Were not useless to their primary goal.
Shame made the sun weep for loss of a life,
The Ninth, her good father, bound with those souls.
At this the sun wept for many a day,
Bringing despair to good Earth and her lords.
The Eight saw the sorrow come over that land
And argued the path of proper accords.
They knew the sun wept for loss of her kin.
They knew that the Ninth kept vigilant guard.
They knew that his watch could not be released.
They knew they could not remove the Ninth's shard.
Or rather they could, but not by their will,
For breaking that stone would release despair.
But still even with the prime evils chained,
Despair continued to all things impair.
To shatter the stone was to shatter Earth.
They were now one in the very same thing.
And if Earth would fall, then so would despair,
Along with all hope for the Nine great kings.
With each passing day, the sun cried more tears,
While shadows on Earth continued to wax.
The Eight continued their grueling debate
Of what they could do to relieve man's tax.
The choice was not easy - impossible -
But still it was made, as all choices must.
The Eight left their thrones in heaven on high,
Landing with grace in the chronicled dust.
That dust was the core of all evil things,
The same foundation upon which despair
Was ever and always crafted by Shame.
They loathed it more than the ancient night air.
They moved to the place where men kept their Hope,
Unseen by men of any known degree.
Right through the walls their bodies swiftly passed
Into the chamber, the hospice, the crease.
There lay the Hope, now colored a dull blue,
A prison of glass protected by glass.
The Second reached into that guarding vault.
The diamond right through the walls swiftly passed.
Under the lead of the sun's falling tears,
The Nine withdrew from that place built on dust.
They placed the blue gem on the Earth, their prose,
And drew forth their swords in faithful trust.
The Ninth made that gem, the heavens, and Earth,
And only the Ninth then them could destroy.
As the swords of the Ninth fell on that gem,
The Earth gave a cry of suffering joy.
A light issued forth, both blinding and dim,
Like a flare sparked into the summer's night.
The Earth glowed with love and hatred at once.
Of all it had lost it finally caught sight.
From that fine prison, the evils were freed,
But only 'twas so through Earth's final Hope.
They, being creatures of Earth in itself,
Were bound to the fate of Earth's fatal scope.
Ashes to ashes and, too, dust to dust,
The Ninth from his prison now could be free.
Earth was destroyed along with its Hope,
Swallowed by fire, the sun, Ninth's decree.
At the loss of the Earth and all of man,
The Ninth cried the tears he had as the sun.
Not father, nor mother, nor kin he lost,
But rather a piece of him was undone.
So then the trials of men have met ends;
The heavens are void as once they were born.
The Nine battle darkness with naught but hope
That one day they may be free of such scorn.