...Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.” -Elie Wiesel
The Ruins of All-En.
An epic poem
By: Amelia Rose
Wandering through a barren wasteland
Dark skies hover with pouring rain
Cold clouds cry upon the ruined land
In the deep night
Lightning flashes,
Illuminates the barren sky.
I trudge through the blackness
My feet sinking through the sludge
Of mud and filth at my bare feet
I am a wanderer, a time traveler
Come back from the future
To discover this barren wasteland of a past
That is no past at all.
The ruins of All-En.
I fight my way through the wind and rain
I climb the steep hill to the east
And gaze out at the surrounding landscape
To find nothing but ruins.
The ruins of All-En.
I trek north through the swamp
Only to discover the quicksand pits
Laid down by another People, the goblins.
They still dwell here in these parts
They seek to ensnare and hunt anyone
Who dares to discover
The ruins of All-En.
I fall into one of their pits.
I sink quickly,
But there is no one around
No one but me.
The goblins, they observe from their watchposts in the woods
As I cry out. For someone
Anyone, to help me escape.
I hear their laughter in the forests
And I know there is no one.
I am alone here, but for those creatures.
And my cries are in vain.
As the quicksand pulls me deeper in
A flash of lightning streaks across the sky.
In its light I see a vine, a strong vine just beyond my reach
I scrape and pull and scramble
But the quicksand pulls me deeper.
Finally I reach it, grasp it.
I yank on the weathered vine.
It holds fast and I pull myself out.
I come forth from the sludge, wet and sopping
And soiled.
Like the ruins of All-En.
I continue north, hastening
Away from the goblins, away from the grime.
I search around.
But there is nothing.
I remember the past.
The past of another timeline.
But now it is gone.
Where once a great city, a great nation stood
There is nothing.
Nothing except
The ruins of All-En.
I climb another hill to the north
And find remnants
Poles and towers
The only evidence that a city once was here.
But they are hollow, they are broken
Like pikes shooting up into the sky
They tower over me.
But they hold up nothing.
No more buildings, no more structures
Only broken turrets remain
And the bridges are gone.
Gone, gone.
In the ruins of All-En.
I find the remnants of an Olympic stadium
Where great games were held
And tournaments won and lost
But it too is damaged
It too is gone.
Gone in the ruins of All-En.
I continue now to the west.
And to my amazement I discover
A bridge that still stands.
But it is treacherous.
I make my way across
Carefully.
At one point it breaks
I almost fall through to the raging river below
But I catch myself. I am safe.
When I am securely on the other side
I find a hidden path that goes under the bridge
I follow it and find, to my horror
A troll’s lair
A dank haven of filth and grime.
This is why this bridge still stands
So that he may extract a bloody payment
From any and all who dare to cross.
I freeze and fill with dread
But he is not there.
Out, hunting most likely.
I hasten away from this troll’s bridge lair
I hasten away from these dangerous ruins
The ruins of All-En.
As I trek west I discover a large oak tree
It is tall and thick
And I recognize its markings
This grove, this place,
This is one of the fairy havens
This is one of their strongholds
I know it for I have been here before.
I call out to them.
“Fairies!” I say, “Show yourself!”
But they do not.
I plead with them in the pouring rain.
“Fairies! My people are lost! Civilization destroyed! Come
to our aid.
Let us dip into the wells of your magic
To reverse this dismal crime!
Fairies!” I say, “I bid you come!”
I call out. I wait.
There is nothing but silence.
Silence in the ruins of All-En.
If the fairies will not answer, I must try another ally.
“Sky nymphs!” I call out to the whitewashed night.
“Sky nymphs, I bid you
Honor the treaty that was made between our civilizations!
Answer the call I say! Come to my aid!”
Even as I speak the rain pelts harder
Scraping my hands, bruising my neck and face.
They sky nymphs control the weather
And I know they hear me.
I know this is their answer.
But it is not an answer at all.
I call back to the fairies.
But no one listens, no one appears.
In this their sacred place, I know they hear me too,
But they do not come.
Abandoned by the fairies
Abandoned by the sky nymphs
I cry.
My tears, my grief overwhelm me
Desolate and alone
I realize
That I am in a different time stream
Perhaps the treaty was never made
Perhaps the peace that prospered our peoples
Never was achieved.
Perhaps this is why my People lie in ruins
The ruins of All-En.
I think back and remember
The glorious civilization
That was built upon these hills
A nation of industry, of honor
Of arts and scholarship
Of leaders and learners
Who all championed
The cause of our culture, the cause of our country.
But now they are gone. Lost.
Everything lost.
And I, the only one left
To remember
The glory that once was
But perhaps never was
In these the ruins of All-En.
A bolt of lighting strikes
Several miles off
And once again I see it
See everything that here lies
Which is nothing at all.
With tears streaming down my face
I take up my sword
I thrust it into the night
And I cry out to the earth, wind and sky
A wordless roar of grief and sadness
For the ruins of All-En.
Another lighting strike
Another burst of light
And I see another post
Sticking up from the ground
Ruined, decayed and dilapidated
But with fairy markings nonetheless.
I can still read the markings
They do not say much
But one gives me a clue.
Memories flood back to me
There is knowledge of an ancient ritual
A ritual that can bring the fairies and sky nymphs to my aid
I had forgotten.
But now I remember
The knowledge of this ritual
Exists
Somewhere in this land
Buried underground in a sacred tomb.
I remember
That to call upon the fairies or the sky nymphs
One must follow the statues of the ritual
Then and only then with they answer
A human’s call.
I cry out through the pounding rain,
“Sky nymphs! It is the ritual that I lack, is it not?!
If I complete the ritual, will you hear my plea?
Give me a sign, I beg you! Show me the course I must follow!”
And they do.
Before the words on my lips cease
The hard driving rain
Softens
Turns to a gentle mist around me
Instead of pelting me with bullets
It caresses my faces
It softens my hair
And it cleanses me.
It washes clean my bare feet.
My dirty, mud-encrusted feet.
Now I know they sky nymphs hear me
And they wish to help me
But they are bound.
I know what I must do
A great quest I must take up
A ritual to pursue.
I look around me, with feelings of comfort, of peace.
For now I know
I know how to save my People
From this,
The ruins of All-En
