Kor-Avul-Thaa... finest jewel in the crown of a
realm of sublime glory, greatest city in the
Middle Kingdoms, mayhap all the world... Its
splendid walls of shimmering crystal could be seen
from a hundred leagues distant, kissed by the
golden rays of the sun, or caressed by the
ethereal fingers of a midnight moon. Its
magnificent spires and citadels, built by
generations of kings from the resplendent gifts
hewn from the ancient bosom of the sacred Crystal
Mountains, had oft' times been the bitter envy of
rival emperors, and many were the sieges which
Kor-Avul-Thaa had withstood and repulsed over the
centuries, for powerful sorcerers did weave great
spells of protection about the dazzling towers,
and none may have passed unbidden through the vast
sapphir ean gates of mighty Kor-Avul-Thaa...
From the Journals of Sage Daelun
[ The Oracle of Kor-Avul-Thaa: ]
The sky rent asunder... black-winged devils surge
forth from the void... A maelstrom of crimson fire
burns above us... what carnage has thou wrought?
Not sword, ballistae, nor burning brand Could e'er
these walls aspire to breach, Yet now the city's
fall is nigh, As elder rites black fiends unleash.
High Lord of the Brotherhood of Dark Elucidation
(Keepers of the Forbidden Books of the First
Cataclysm): By Klatrymadon and Zuranthus, such
ancient secrets we discovered within these
sinistrous, worm-worn pages, Etched with darksome
glyphs and sigils, bound with fearsome spells, An
eldritch tide of stygian sorceries unfettered by
the forbidden Tome of Shadows...
Now thunderous cataclysm befalls the gleaming
Kor-Avul-Thaa (The mystic gate stands open!) The
Xytaxehedron held to the stars... the incantation
uttered with eager tongues... (What long-shackled
powers of the elder dark have our conjurings
loosed?)
By Klatrymadon and Zuranthus, the vortex blackens
the stars above, A vast plague of amorphous
horrors descends to rend with fang and talon, (As
with torrents of blood the crystalline walls run
red?) And in the glooming chambers of our shadowed
sanctum, we wait, half-mad with terror, To reap
the slaughterous harvest which we have sown...
[ The Chronicler of the Cataclysm: ]
And beyond the vortex, the churning black waters
of the void did disgorge the Dwellers in Eternal
Shadow, And upon a horde of winged horrors,
brandishing swords of ebon flame, they rode out
from the Gate... And a terrible silence fell upon
Kor-Avul-Thaa...
[ The Echoes of the Oracle: ]
The sky rent asunder, black winged devils surge
forth from the void... A maelstrom of crimson fire
[ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/rWO ]
burns above us... what carnage has thou wrought?
[ The Chronicler of the Cataclysm: ]
The Chronicles of Time speak of only two other
instances when the sky did split wide and bleed
forth such a torrent of horror as that which
assailed Kor-Avul-Thaa... One of those times was
the fateful eve when the moon burned black over
ancient Lemuria, as a legion of ravening fiends
emerged from the Outer Darkness to visit
catastrophe upon that realm... And the other...
the other manifestation of such a staggering
cosmic evil is recorded only in the ancient
Scrolls of the Third Circle, a dark collectio n of
terrifying blasphemies which was believed to have
been burned by the Order of Kl'aa at roughly the
same time as the first Tome of Shadows was
discovered deep within the Black Pyramid... These
scrolls speak disturbingly of visitations to our
earth by creatures from a terrible place known as
the Black Galaxy... creatures which were able to
span the vast expanses of time and space
separating our world from theirs in their great
dark chariots, bringing pestilence and carnage
whenever they set foot upon the earth... And yet,
the scrolls also speak of the Others, known by
some ancient, long-dead tribes as the Travelling
Ones... beings who did stand against the denizens
of the Black Galaxy and wage war with them across
the nighted void. It is said that t he Travelling
Ones sailed the star-seas in huge silvern spheres
ringed with a myriad pulsing lights, and that in a
great battle they drove their shadowy foes back to
the Black Galaxy... but at a great cost... The
Travelling Ones were drained of their cos mic
powers and cast into a deep slumber, and some say
that they remain here still, hidden in mysterious,
secret places, awaiting the time of their
reawakening. It was ascertained by those mages who
found the Tome of Shadows that certain gateways
existed linking our world and the Black Galaxy,
just as maps carved into the stone walls of
ancient tombs displayed the pathway to the
terrifying realm through the eternal blackness of
the void... and within the sinister pages of the
dread book were the arcane k eys... the rites to
open wide these gates and give the dark wanderers
beyond the freedom to roam the earth once again...
And the darkling lords did descend upon
Kor-Avul-Thaa to claim their splendid prize, and
enthrone themselves within the glittering walls...
[ The Echoes of the Oracle: ]
Not sword, ballistae, nor burning brand Could e'er
these walls aspire to breach, Yet now the city's
fall is nigh, As elder rites black fiends
unleash...
[ The Brotherhood: ]
By Klatrymadon and Zuranthus, in Kor-Avuk-Thaa,
darkness reigns eternal... Nevermore shall the
city glimmer, for now the crystalline walls gleam
black... Ever black...
And so it was that the bedazzling and splendid
Kor-Avul-Thaa did become the City of Shadows, a
sinister fortress of elder fiends and fearsome
beasts, unleashed by the meddlings of mortals
aspiring to dark thresholds of forbidden knowledge
and arcane powe r, a nightmare city shunned and
feared by all. And not since the sinking of
Atlantis was the fall of a realm so sorely
lamented...
[ From the Journals of Sage Daelun ]
[ Lyrics: Byron ]
[ Music: Jonny and Chris Maudling ] |