RECAP

This story is true
I know them myself
And heard this tale
From one firsthand

Tall invader and echo
Sea witch and fish
Killing doll and snake
Kasimir the monstrous one

(Don’t call him that! He was loyal and stoic all his years here in Keltokel.)

You wouldn’t understand
You’re a beastkin, courier
Kind and do not
Understand ozrut ways

But loudest and loveliest
Of travelers is Kasumi
Snake and ozrut friend
Skilled in magic and song

Away in the north
These travelers were when
Their deeds were seen
By the snakes’ child king

(There’s more than that you should know. A murderous plot against them stretching north to south.)

Maybe so but politics
Is nothing by compare
To meeting a god
So listen to this

This child king knew
Of Mother Mountain’s breath
Ancient magic like what
This Old Stejar drinks

‘You travelers go now
Down beneath dark Zeel
And fetch this prize
From Mother Mountain’s throat’

(It’s actually named the
Black Cenote a place
Of worship old and
Dark thirsty for blood

Is this how I’m
Supposed to sound
When I tell a
Story like an ozrut?)

This is close enough
Throat-guards were tricked
By a bird not there
Snake and monster struck

These Zeelites were slain
Snake-bit while another
Fell down this throat
To be spirit-devoured

Down swam these travelers
Through tunnels dark past
Hidden deaths then into
A tomb of snakes

These unliving kings of
Old ate no food
And saw no sun
Scorning the white daughter

But in turn they
Were forgotten left
Behind ruling nothing
And commanding no one

(Good riddance I say
The kings of Zeel
Were a bloody bunch
Their knives spared none)

A snake is a
Snake to me
No different but wait
Where was I?

The tomb yes that’s
Where the travelers dealt
With one such king
To continue on deeper

This old corpse had
His jawbones stolen and
Thrown down a well
He wanted them back

The old snake king
Pointed and waved
'Bring me my jaw'
He seemed to say

By his secret leave
And this stone rolled
Back now these noisome
Tunnels lead ever deeper

Beneath poison air and
Water rushing hid unquiet
Dead the furious slaves
Abandoned in ages past

(What vengeance they took
On the eternal Dynasts
Is fair I say
Payment for slavery unending

But still I’d rather
They not have stood
Athwart the designs and
Safety of the travelers)

‘These travelers’ is proper
Form for this tale
(Oh I see I’ll
Try that next time)

Rising steam descending chains
Stretched below this miasma
And depending from crumbling
Forges and dziwolag idols

(And don’t you forget
Dragon secrets hidden there
Kasumi learned it well
To decipher Keltokel’s gate)

Scorched above magma sea
This burning path to
A drop into blackness
To stop a heart

There in forgotten depth
This city the first
Ever built perhaps in
This old world’s history

Stones so old they
Sagged like elders’ skin
Streets narrow twisting doors
Too thin for breath

Within only these dead
Relentless hunter ghostly drake
One bane one benefactor
Puzzles sealing this center

(This hunter forever stalking
Almost found them his
Prey his mere look
Could end a life

So deep so dark
They had come and
They feared right then
They were beyond help

Through this city’s magic
They became as ghosts
Themselves to make their
Way to this center)

Now you’ve caught on
But this tale is mine
To tell and again
I’ve lost track uhhh

This center reached and
Pool placid as death
Cunning Kasumi saw evil
In this witch’s heart

She sealed sea witch
Out and others within
This hunter to face
And vanquish at last

Then where was it
This breath they sought
Only this pool was
There still and silent

They peered within and
Saw long hair wet
And curling in ropes
This White Daughter’s tresses

Among them this doll
She seized the hair
Unafraid of death and
Pulled with her might

But this White Daughter
She pulled back for
No mortal has such
Strength to match it

Now Kasimir is a
Monster and his muscle
Slowed that pull and
Kasumi grabbed tight too

Suddenly she could see
This breath squeezed
From lungs before time
Connected as they were

From goddess to doll
To monster to Kasumi
They would all succumb
If it wasn’t released

(Listen now to Hozysh
For I know of
Where it went when
Sent to this world

Their deal was struck
This Dynast’s ambition to
Sate but Kasumi wondered
If it was wisdom

Friendship of old between
Snake and teacher could
Not be forsaken though
And so Kasumi decided)

Bah you think you
Now excel at this
Boast your own deeds
Before rumiany some day!

(In her mind fixed
This visage of Dynast
And villager as well
This suspected royal kin

And to all family
Besides this breath went
Out into this world
To make brighter futures

This is Kasumi’s wisdom
Deal discharged friendship honored
This world the better
For her deeds whew!)

Hmph are you done?
(Yes for the moment)
Her power gone forth
This White Daughter subsided

Her greed now thwarted
But only for now
She promised this doll
‘You will be mine’

This first city now
Shrunken in silence no
Longer extended dark welcome
To visiting travelers

Goodbye to ghostly dragon
Goodbye to sagging stones
Long was the climb
Back up to sunshine

So heed this well
This White Daughter waits
Still greedy still close
In watery deeps where

She first drowned
That’s what I heard
From Kasumi who returned
(This story is true!)

Ah, you stole it! You were just waiting for it, you mangy little scrap of fur!