Sword & Mythos by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Publisher: Innsmouth Free Press
Published: 2014-04-13T23:00:00+00:00

Nimue’s harp strings no longer keep me from wakefulness. I have slept for too long. My rest has not eased my weariness; far from it, for I am more tired than when she first approached me. But now, I must rise once more, for Arthur has called.

Ah, Nimue. How well you deceived me! You do truly know how to flatter an old man, how to play upon his heartstrings as you play upon your otherworldly harp! I forgot I have human leanings, human desires … human weaknesses.

Vanity and lust … how proud I was of the tower I created for you. How my blood pulsed through my veins when I beheld your joy and childlike happiness when the waterfall froze and fragmented, the shards of ice smooth as glass so nary a join could be seen when my structure rose. A tower of dreams.

The tower you imprisoned me in. Rather, the tower I allowed myself to be imprisoned in, for I was ready to rest. I believed my duty done, that Arthur was the one who would keep the Light shining on this humble little island: a beacon to keep the darkness and the Crawling Chaos at bay.

And for a time, he did. But that is all mortal man has: a little time. Camelot, the brotherhood of the Round Table, the spirit of Albion … it has a finite lifespan. It is only immortal as a dream, an ideal to spur man to nobility and the Light … but Arthur has sown the seeds. His task is done, and his example will shine for future generations. It is time for him to rest, as I have done ….

But I cannot whisper comforting words to him now. I cannot tell him not to fear the darkness, or the barge that will ferry him to Avalon.

His cry awoke me and now I am aware of the monster on the battlefield.

Who is more foolish now, Nimue? Myself, for succumbing to your lies and enchantment? Or you, for your … forgive me for saying, your rather human arrogance and conceit? The serpent’s hissing that accompanied Arthur’s despair and horror — of course it is familiar! You disguised it well, but I know now the overture to your suite of dreams.

Even now, I hear the lustrous chords, attempting to lull me back to my rest. Do not think I am not tempted, fair Nimue; your music has a beauty that would make even the Old Ones weep themselves into eternal slumber, to embrace your lullaby’s dark oblivion.

But you forget my love for Arthur, the son I was unable to have. I hear his cries now and they pierce me, strike me to my very soul, in a way you cannot fathom. It is a human reaction and that is what you cannot understand, Nimue.

Humanity.

That is what stirred me from my slumber, made me realize the deadly enchantment I have been put under.

But how do I escape? Truly, there is nothing more secure than a prison one has built himself.

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