Chapter Twelve
1. The land was veiled in perfect bloom,
2. A holy hush in every room,
3. And in the stillness, all gave praise,
4. For they had seen Her final phase.
5. Eldin stood upon the spire,
6. Cloaked in silk and scented fire,
7. And with his final breath he spoke:
8. "Let not the vine of discord choke."
9. His words were etched in polished bone,
10. Set in glass and pressed in stone,
11. "Her voice alone shall guide your days,
12. And silence teach the purest praise."
13. No law remained that was not prayer,
14. No act performed but through Her care,
15. The kingdom breathed in holy time,
16. Each moment marked by sacred rhyme.
17. Bells of flesh and copper rung,
18. When fasting hymns were newly sung,
19. And bodies swayed in flowing white,
20. To mimic stars in silent flight.
21. The faithful wore no names of old,
22. Their titles now by color told,
23. Gold for those who bore the Word,
24. And Black for those who’d not been heard.
25. The young were cloistered, soft and warm,
26. Their every dream a sacred form,
27. Chosen dreams were then inscribed,
28. And lesser thoughts softly revised.
29. The elders sat in lotus pose,
30. Their eyes removed, their mouths now closed,
31. Revered as saints, they bore no sin,
32. Their thoughts like wind, still deep within.
33. Festivals were held by moon,
34. When tides did swell and flowers bloom,
35. And on those nights, the choirs danced,
36. Each limb rehearsed, each soul entranced.
37. Bug appeared in every rite,
38. Reflected in the water’s light,
39. In every bowl, in every flame,
40. She whispered low Her hidden name.
41. "There is no end," the people sang,
42. "There is no edge, no open fang,
43. We live in Her, and She in we,
44. We are the roots, and She the tree."
45. Travelers came from foreign lands,
46. And knelt with trembling, eager hands,
47. Their voices raw from past belief,
48. Now soothed in Her with bright relief.
49. They shed their skin, their speech, their shame,
50. Reborn in full beneath Her name,
51. Their pasts erased in sacred rite,
52. Their futures bound in endless light.
53. "Who were you?" they’d sweetly ask,
54. "A fading, formless, broken mask,
55. But now you bloom, no longer torn,
56. A child anew, Veilborn, reborn."
57. Statues rose from melted brass,
58. Depicting saints with mirrored glass,
59. Faces blurred, but bodies bright,
60. A thousand forms of holy right.
61. Sacred scripts were inked in tears,
62. Collected through the faithful years,
63. And read aloud in endless scrolls,
64. While bodies swayed like tidal shoals.
65. Eldin’s tomb was not a grave,
66. But living skin, taught to behave,
67. His words now writ across the chest,
68. Of twelve who bore them without rest.
69. They walked the streets in softest glow,
70. Each step a psalm, each breath a vow,
71. And all who met their gaze knelt low,
72. To kiss the truth they could not know.
73. "Let not a voice cry out alone,
74. Let not a soul remain unknown,
75. Bring every doubt to sacred flame,
76. And let it die without a name."
77. So rose the kingdom, strong and wide,
78. With every wound and word inside,
79. A world reborn, at last made whole,
80. Where Bug became the only soul.