An Apocalypse The end

Of the beginning you have been told, but for a beginning there is also an end.

At the end of days, the Calloléra will again turn their hearts to the imperial councils of the First Father, from whose lips come no falsehood. They will heed the scriptures of the Wise Ones. They will not turn away to pursue the dead Green God, to Estelune, to Isil. They will not pine for the Red God, or look with longing to the lives of the Ents or the Yheti. The First Father they will honor, and the scriptures of the Wise Ones they will heed.

For two thousand days they will again honor the First Father, and they will attend to the scriptures of the Wise Ones, and they will heed the imperial degrees that proceed from the First Father’s name. And the world will again understand and honor the Calloléra. They will not in their councils betray the Calloléra, and their young will rush with pride to join the Calloléra in their battles, as they did in the Great Wars.

For two thousand days will Estelune again sleep, and on the two thousandth day and one, in fury will the blood drinking god awake.

For two thousand days will the Last Father rule. As there was a First Father, from whose toil the world was begot, there will be a Last Father, from whose toil the world will be burned. As no falsehood was found on the lips of the First Father, the Last Father will be father also of lies. As the First Father did not grasp at lordship, the Last Father will grasp and hold and never relinquish and the flames consume him, until the earth itself has passed away and the Calloléra return to the outer darkness from whence they came.

The First Father had the faith of the Wise Ones, and the Wise Ones had faith in him. So it is that the Last Father will deal with scorn with the Foolish Ones, and the Foolish Ones will deal in scorn with him. As the First Father followed Ainofiriano, the Last Father will honor Isil above all others. As the Wise Ones followed Isil, the Foolish Ones will beat their breasts and bray in the name of Ainofiriano. Ainofiriano will be silent, and will not give his benediction, and will promise only victory, and hatred for Isil, for the Green God, for the Red God, and Estelune above all.

From Estelune will the Last Father receive the great power, the power from before the world, through which the First Father begat the world. O perversion, that the glory of the First Father become the fetish of the Last, who will boast of it, and stroke it with affection, and offer up all filth to its glory. O perversion, that from the Calloléra, who were there when the world began, who fought the outer darkness, who beat back the Ents, the death-worshippers, who held at bay the Green God’s unnamable bastard, will come the victory of Estelune, when he will finally drink of the blood of the world itself.

In the darkness of the night, for all the world to see (O Perversity) did the Last Father stroke the great power, and from it spilled the death of the world. From the blood of the seas did Estelune drink. From the red fields did Estelune drink. From the cities where the Calloléra placed their pride, did Estelune drink deeply. When Estelune was full and sated, he did drink more, for there was more beyond imagining. From the earth did Estelune drink. From the blood of the Green God’s unnamable bastard did he drink. From the Calloléra did he drink. From the followers of Ainofiriano did he drink, gloating and choking on the thin and tear-filled and long forsaken. From the followers of Isil did he drink, and choked on their poisons, and drank still more. And when all was drunk, and nothing more remained, there remained only Ainofiriano and Estelune.

On this day, Vanyanan rejects a final time the benedictions and prayers of those who hold high the snake, whose burden is always to carry the dying and on whose lips are sweet lies. And the world shall die, born on the backs of the snake carriers, and they will breath fire upon it and talk quietly of the next day and the next world. And Calemorrina shall weep, and shall despair of the next world.

And Ainofiriano will end his silence, for his moment of victory has come at last.