Deep within the mists of time

Was born a legendary beast

Its creation was a crime

Committed by the warlock Ghizh

The beast was terrible to behold

Its body was near a half-mile long

The terrible mouth smoldered so

And the teeth seemed to ring with song

They sang dirges of death

But no man has ever heard them

The beasts fiery breath

Killed all that came before him

This beast had forever lived on a hill

No, a mountain, the largest of all

But beneath this mountain lay a peaceful-willed

Village, where the people were all rather tall

These people were very kind and gentle

They helped all that came to their door

But superstitious, yes, they were a little

And they left one man needy, when he needed more

That man was no mere person

His name, you ask? Ghizh

And this warlock that they repulsed

Did not like their inhospitality

So he created the bane of this peaceful village

A creature of epic proportions

But he was not unwise with his age

(Five thousand three hundred and fourteen)

So he gave the village one last chance

He promised prosperity in return for a bed

But the villagers remained adamant

So he flew to the mountain, and there he said

"Curse you for breathing

Curse your existence

Had you accepted me,

Things would be different"

And in the village, his voice roared as the wind

Cowing the leaders, driving them to hide

But still the voice roared

"You with your pride!

"You who refused me

When I only needed rest

You who despised me

When I only meant best

"Your chances have passed

Now suffer the consequence

Your actions have caused"

And with that, the beast was unfenced

With a roar, the beast set to work, rising from its high perch

It swooped down upon the poor peaceful village

Burning to ashes the homes stone and birch

And landing in stock farms to pillage

The villagers ran, blindly at first

And were easily killed by the beast

Then some bands formed, and ran out together

They made much more an elusive feast

Only a few, to this day remain

They settled far off to the west

But this is not where we refrain

From telling the story. Well, the rest

Ghizh was never heard from again

But the monster retired to his hill

Many had tried to slay the beast

But he lived on still

Twenty generations had passed

Since that fateful day

When Ghizh was rejected for the last time

And the village was burned away

And on that day twenty generations later

Two mothers gave birth

Direct descendents of the survivors

The newborns were lauded, from the first

There was a boy, and there was a girl

Both grew up strong, healthy and sure

But the girl grew up an artisan

The boy learned to bear a sword

He took oath on his eighteenth birthday

The oath all the combatants took

That he would undertake the search

For the beast and the book

The book was legend, some naysayers said

Others said it existed

All agreed that it had been lost

When by the beast, they were evicted

The book held all of their secrets

The great knowledge they had obtained

Only one knew what it exactly held

For he was there when it was arranged

He saw the secret that only four knew

Himself, Ghizh, a king and a serf

This secret allowed for unending life

Obtained not in heaven, but on the earth

Only he remained, wizened and old

From the seventy survivors

He alone could tell the boy

How low his chance of living was

The boy listened patiently

But when the man was done

He acted as though he heard nothing

And walked toward the rising sun

For a year he walked across the vast land

Until he came to the ruins of a town

They were even below a large mountain

And the ruins were burned to the ground

He thought to himself "I have already made it"

And looked around for the monster

However, this was not the right village

And the boy was destined to go farther

He found a horse in a pasture nearby

And mounted his valiant steed

They rode long and hard for another half-year

When the horse suddenly died of fatigue

The boy continued inexorably farther

Coming at last to a mountainous land

He trekked across the broad ranges

Building four bridges with his bare hands

At last he came to a peaceful valley

Where a stream came down from the mountains

But the ground was a sickly burnt brown

The stream had quieted its fountains

He instinctively knew that this was the place

The cradle of his civilization

Where a peaceful race of poets and painters

Formed a miniscule nation

But all this was gone now

A mere echo from the past

The boy sprinted down the hill

So he would arrive that much faster

He made it to the outskirts of the town

And suddenly tripped over something

He tumbled to the ground, and looked behind

He found a corpse quickly rotting

Now let's make this clear about the boy

He no longer deserves this title

For in the two years that he had traveled

He had fought much more than a trifle

The man quickly prayed for his dead comrade's soul

Then uttered an oath much deeper than hell

He swore on his soul that he would destroy

The beast, even if it killed him as well

Back in the village, the wizened old man

Felt the oath's chains lock the man's spirit

Without explanation, as suddenly as wind

The old man vanished, to save the enslaved spirit

The man ran further up the mountain

Determined to combat the beast before dark

He suddenly came to a halt, he could see it!

Its gigantic eyes dull like a shark's

With an unearthly cry, the beast was roused

The man gave a yell, and sprang forward

As he charged, the beast's claws swept toward him

They bit into his neck, and the journey seemed over

Though he had failed his oath

The chains that bound him gave him new life

His eyes became duller than those of the beast

He had become a demon through his strife

His head righted itself, and the beast was puzzled

No creature had survived a single blow before

The demon laughed a harsh laugh and cried

"Come on, you lizard, take some more!"

With that the former man leaped forward again

And again the beast struck

However this time, the demon's blade sung,

And halfway through a gigantic wrist, got stuck

There was a stalemate, for a moment or two

The two beasts stared eye to eye

Then with a hell-born effort

The demon caused a boulder to fly

This ungodly levitation was

An awesome sight to see

The gigantic rock smashed firmly

Into the bone the sword couldn't beat

The monster's wristbone promptly snapped

Strong as it may be

And then the sword continued on

Severing the wrist and a nearby tree

The beast cried out in anguish

At a pain it had never felt

The demon just laughed once more

And said "I will take your pelt!"

The monster swiped another paw

Through the air at the enemy

However, the demon saw

This coming, and leaped for the monster's teeth

He grabbed onto one of the mandibles

And the breath of the beast burned his hand

But the skeletal remains kept on clinging

And with his sword arm, he yelled a command

"Beast," he yelled in an unearthly voice

"You have fought well and long

But as you can see, I have bested you

Your time on this earth is now gone

"Go, into the abyss

It is to that I damn you

Now, you will cease to exist

As I will now kill you"

Then, he swung his blade, and it cut through the beast's head

It stuck in the skull, but by that time, the beast was already dead

Then, the monster collapsed

And with it, the oath that was keeping the demon from death

The demon suddenly became weak

His head rolled back on his shoulders

He came down to rest upon the beast

Right next to a gargantuan boulder

Thus ended the reign of the beast

Its teeth rang of death no more

Its burning breath was cooled

Its claws furrowed earth no more

The wizened old man soon came to the scene

And looked down from a higher peak

He shook his head, and with a grim smile

Said "We should be careful of what we speak"