The Song of Ice and Dawn

A short story which features the Eldritch Knight in his search for the Song of Ice and Dawn. Knowing what it brings, he pressed on to find its keeper.

Once long ago, there existed a legend, a myth unsurpassed by its mystery and its greatest offer: the greatest and vastest desire of yours answered. It was the myth of a song, an elegy and hymn: the Song Ice and Dawn. The legend spoke of an ancient shrine at the corrupted core of the world. Its center, its rotten heart had been taken by the plague of Despair, its reaches were covered in a dark miasma of Hopelessness, its keepers were the children of Sin. Still many had tried, countless legions of warriors and mages went into conquest of this tainted world, but none could pass further into the depths. But there was one person, no, one creature, which could pass with ease. He was not an ordinary human,he was an Eldritch Knight, a fierce combatant born with the resistance to influences of magic. He tread the fields of Miasma with ease, he dispatched the children of Sin without falling to temptation. Reaching the temple gates, he went into the ruined temple. The halls were quiet and his footsteps echoed as he walked through, he saw the halls stretch far beyond his sight but he pressed on, confident in his abilities. The darkness was enclosing down upon him, no light present as he walked farther and farther. Eternity could have passed for how long he walked, and voices started whispering to him: failure, guilt, regret and contempt, he was nothing but a weakling that would never make it past these walls. He was silent. The voices got louder as he progressed, exploiting his supposed weaknesses, but he was still silent and he walked on. After a long and tedious march, he had at last reached a large stone gate. With a push, they opened and saw a bright chamber, illuminated by a blue light brazier at the center of the room. Within the flame was a lithe image of a female human being, seemingly lost in prayer. He approached the brazier and she opened her eyes. "You made it here, the first to ever approach me since the sun fell black upon my eyes. Tell me mortal, what is it that you desire for my liberation?" "I desire the Song of Ice and Dawn." "Do you know what the Song brings?" "I do." "Are you not afraid of what is to come?" "I'm not." "Very well, I will grant you your last request."

 

And then, she began to sing:

Chapels high above the eyes,

Their domes shine in pure white,

Behind their walls a prayer sings,

Of a Day of Dawn that I will bring.

 

With a heart filled with regret,

I say "It's not time yet",

Yet they sing the song of prayer and joy,

Their hopes and heads held eternally high.

 

Day to day, they sung and prayed,

Without leaving the post they held,

Their hands held high in a delighted glee,

The devotion they had was something to see.

 

So I asked "Why do you pray?

Why do you seek an endless day?"

They replied with tired eyes,

"For we owe it, for the lost.

A long time has been,

covered in eldritch frost.

The joy you see within our eyes,

Shrouded behind an ancient disguise.

You seek the truth behind our eyes?

It's a truth of death.

The Song of Ice.

We pray for we have nothing left,

So we hope the sun will dawn on us yet."

 

With a simple smile in my eyes,

I took a blade, and ended their lives.

So now they sing among the stars,

Where the stars will always rise.

 

She ended the song, and ice began forming around him, encasing him in a slowly growing coffin. He didn't move or flinch as she stepped from the brazier, a white sword in her hand. "You do not fear what is to come? Tell me, what have you done? How could you not break from the fear to die?"

 

With a tired glimmer in his eyes he said "You cannot break that which had already been broken."

 

She smiled and a tear went down her face, a blue ember faded into the growing dark. She lift her blade and he was gone, before the Dawn of the Coming Sun.

Reviews

[Double T]

Great story. Both emotional and creative. I enjoyed it.

[Mr_M]

I like the way the song is at the center of this piece. I think many writers play it safe and do not try different mediums And experiement to a certain degree. You are not one of these writers. this is very creative and different.