"The Winged Rot" by Jermaine Leroy Joseph

The Winged Rot

Dark night, darkness bright
Consummation of all light,
If you will, if you may
Listen now with all your might.
For here’s the tale of one so great,
An immortal man that saw too late
That all the actions he’d performed
Had been watched since he were born.
Yet at the end it mattered not
For at tales end thus did he rot

He was born an only child
The flame of wildness in his eyes,
And into power he did grow
In early years taught sword and bow.
His father was a lordly knight
Born to die and born to fight,
On one such day this man did both
And rise to power he was loathe.
So Lucian became a Lord,
And rage-filled took his father’s sword.

At once he gathered all his men,
Heard the tale of the demon’s den
Where there in almost human form
There dragon hid like Devil spawn.
It was he that slew the knights
On one barren winter’s night.
So heard the boy the very tale
And likewise filled heart with bale.
Trained he in the arcane arts
Till finally he spoke at last.

Silent had he been of late,
Often looking out the gates
Of his city he now ruled
Thinking on his father’s ghoul.
At the festival he called
His knights who watched his father fall
And so at Samhain did he wind
The horn that told that they must find,
The Dragon thing that could not die,
Born in darkness, darkness bright.

Came they to the Broken Caves,
Littered with bones and rotting game
Lucian held high his spear
His knights shivered in whispered fear.
Deep inside from in the maw
The cavern bellowed mournful caws
And slowly did a mist exude
Telling them to come intrude.
Silently he led them on,
Mist swallowed them till each was gone.

Now listen eager to this part,
Take this legend to your heart,
For in this cavern one did sleep
A dragon did this creature keep,
So into darkness where men feared
Envy, vampire, stroked his beard
And so in shadows Lucian led
All of his knights to certain death.
Ten thousand men had come with him
Each sworn oaths against all sin.

Like crazed paths the mewling came,
Full of fear some knights went lame
So by the time they found a door
His ten thousand were now four.
Let us see what Lucian saw,
Blood and acid dripped to floor,
The very walls with fire steamed
And in the distance horrors screamed.
But driven by his father’s sword
This lordly man broke through this ward.

Asunder did the doorway break
The world did tremble with earthquake,
And some knights could take no more
They fled, slipping upon old gore.
Banshee cries they did discern,
Calling on them to return,
But Lucian, mad in his haste
Called out that time was not to waste.
Into battle they did go, against the dragon, Arkengau.

An hour did this battle last,
Till Lucian with shame did cast
His spear into this creature’s heart
And watched as he redeemed his past.
And so with cheer his knights reduced
To only fifty, they did hew
The Dragon’s mighty head and laughed
Facing now a wall of glass.
But Lucian, his mind now clear
Shouted out a wail of fear
For there where once no man had stood,
A man eyed them as hawk to food.

Another fight now did ensue,
Till fifty lay dead; cold and blue
And Lucian he stood alone,
His sword held loosely as last hope,
His armour rent upon the ground
At this creature he now frowned.
“What, foul monster is your name?”
The creature spoke the very same.
Then Lucian found he could see,
They were the same to some degree.
“Never!” He said. “We’ll never be.”

So again these beings fought,
Lucian with skill once taught,
Envy with the speed of hate
He drove the Lord Knight back a pace
So furious this battle waged
They like two dancers on a stage,
When all at last and in despair
Lucian thrust without a care.
Would you now know how this ends?
Would you care if tale I bend?
Would you listen if spoke?
Would you listen if I wrote?

For no one knows how such things cease,
Who should triumph: man or beast?
But for certain we all know
That envy every man can show.
So it must be the creature won,
And Lucian’s thrust made him undone,
This esteemed knight that sort revenge
For no other did he send.
He led his knights into the black,
And none recall if one came back.

But hear me now for this I’ll say:
That winged man that hid from day
And cast lost knights upon the floor
With savagery that none foresaw,
That thing did have a treasure kept
And none could know of this except,
The Dragon that the young knight killed
His fire filled breathing at last stilled.
Yet when the creature came to feast,
Upon Lord Lucian’s neck so neat
He answered once the question asked
As though it was an arduous task.

This the vampire did tell,
His prey now under deadly spell,
He came close to the armoured lord
And kicked aside the blood stained sword,
So did it whisper in his ear,
That its secret held so dear,
Was that in every thirty years
Another man it must endear.
Another man must lose his soul
So that Envy has control,
At last the creature spoke the truth,
“I am the father you forsook.”

Dark night, darkness bright
You have listened till day’s light
You did will this very May,
That you would read or hear this lay.
Did you think this tale so cruel?
Did you feel the tale too tall?
This tale of one who saw too late
And used to look from city gates?
But would you know the very truth?
That Envy hides under your roof,
And in each shadow of all men
That turn aside and commit sin?
Fear not as it matters not
For at the end, all things will rot.