Letter 5: My Son…

To His Son, Acolyte Joldr Hial, Second Son of Avad Hial
From His Lordship, Avad Hial, Lord of Dustseat and the Megiddo that Live There-in:

My Son, your recent letters have piqued my interest and renewed my well-known addiction of staying in the Library for far longer than your Mother would like. Pieces of your letters, the stone corpse, the question of the Ancient’s fate, and the word “Iledaesh” that Shale used, have brought back memories of my own Master, may her bones know rest unending, and many of the esoteric texts that she bequeathed to me upon her passing.

What you might not have known, and the reason I sent you to Shale, was that we learned under the same Master, Vena Fhal Philosfuria of the South. Even as mere children, Shale overshadowed me in all respects. At seventeen summers, he had already published theories on Valak Chior and the Eld-loddenir. He was much more suited to finish your education than I was. My greatest “scholarly” accomplishment was what my master called, “an inability to be anywhere other than a library.” Master Fhal, now that I think about it, never truly liked Shale, even as a young man with numerous lauds and merits. She always said there was something strange about him, some savagery hiding under the surface. Her words, not my own. I always liked Shale, sure he was temperamental and a rot on my horns, but he always knew what was going on and had an unwavering belief that all truth was out there only waiting to be found.

Bah, I’m rambling. About the books. When you were small, Master Vena Fhal died and, in her will, split her massive collection between me and Shale. Shale, as a fellow Philosfuron, gained the majority of the texts but a few of the more obscure ones were sent to me. Books that, to put it mildly, would make many uncomfortable to know that I own and would rouse a great uproar among my fellow lords if I were discovered with them. That is why you were not made aware of their existence. Your questions reminded me of them and the words seemed familiar, so I dusted off my dictionaries of the Southern Dialect and got to work.

Three books specifically caught my eye: Analysis of Ancient Myth by Vashi Lorn, The Mad Ramblings of Konodai the False, and, my Master’s own book, Who Killed the Unkillable: An Analysis of the Ancients and their Enemy. Each book has been banned from distribution for multiple reasons, the last of which ruined my Master and her notoriety forcing her to die in the gutter like a pauper, so I would ask you to give this letter the same discretion I give yours.

“From what artifacts could be collected from various Ancient sites across Megid, certain facts can be complied about the race with are commonly called the Slaughterers or the Butchers (who we will name the Enemy is this text).
They were not native to the Land of the Ancient’s Origin. Through stories and writings, a narrative of an invading force can be established (rubbings of these texts can be found in Appendix 78A).

Somehow, the Enemy discovered a way to harm the Ancients where none before previously existed. Personally, I assume this references the fortitude of the Ancient’s positions in their land and the strength of their structures. The Enemy must have discovered some form of siege weaponry or tactic that allowed them to enter Ancient positions and raze their cities.

With a vessel of Enemy origin, Ancient survivors of the invasion made their way to Megid over the True Ocean. As impossible as this may sound, multiple sources (found in Appendix 34F) depict a vessel similar construction to a lodesled carrying the survivors across the waves. The remains of this vessel are believed to be somewhere upon Valak Chior where the Ancients made landfall.

Lastly, the Enemy had a diverse and well developed culture. From a half translated book of Enemy origin (Appendix 106C), scholars at the Reh Academy have been able to formulate a cipher which allows us to translate what few Enemy relics we have. From their writings, a rudimentary language known by them as ‘Iledaesh’ can be translated into modern Megiddan.”

— — From Analysis of Ancient Myth by Vashi Lorn.

“Ichor and Heart. Heart and Ichor. Power of Ancients. Power of Eld. One is nothing without the other yet the other is all without the one.”

“Heart, the Unfeeling Mind that Knows not and Feels all.”

“Ichor, the Ambroisa of Ancients, Life-blood and Blood-life of Great Ones. Lost, Lost With Eldkedanil, Lost when the Hornless came. Taken by the Great of Forge. Price, horrible price we paid with Not-life and weakness. Lost, the Power, the Sybllance, the Natural. Only Dysownance, the Corrupt, the Unnatural. None are Beholden, all are shadows of what once was.”

“Moro, Moro haunts my steps. He brings shadows before my eyes to rip and tear. Tear and Rip. Eyes went with mind. Mind went without eyes. Truth is taken, left with falsehoods. Falsehoods flee and I drown in Truth.”

— — From The Mad Ramblings of Konodai the False by Falmuri Kiloc

“Where did the Ancients go? A question that has haunted our society since the founding of the Reh Dynasty, and one I often give my own students. The minds of the young come up with incredible and wonderful tales of disease and genocide.

One acolyte proposed that one Ancient, having grown jealous of the others, caused a terrible war of such magnitude that their society crumbled. I asked him where the weapons were, the fortifications, the battlefield. He had no answer.

Another said that a horrible plague swept through their population, causing their species to die out. I asked her why we still live, if a plague was poweful enough to wipe out the sculptors of flesh, surely our race would have met the same fate. She had no answer.

The last one I shall mention devised that a higher race, as high to the Ancients as the Ancients are to us, took them away from the earth for fear that their Enemy would come and destroy them yet again. Personally, I liked this one best. It was an original thought. I have heard countless hopefuls spin tales of war and death, plague and famine, flood and fighting, but this acolyte gave a truly original thought. Even if that thought was as ridiculous as a Megiddo without horns.

Personally, I hold no theory upon the nature of the Ancient’s disappearance, for theories blind me to the truth. For years I have attempted to find this truth through its antithesis. My study of the Enemy of the Ancients, I hope, will yield truths about the land they destroyed.

In my research and examination of Enemy texts I have discovered specific and strange information. There was something that the Enemy stole, some device or power that allowed them to commit near genocide against our Creators. They called it ‘Rahlotei Uccre Je Erram’, which is translated as ‘Deep Mind in the Soul’. Either the Enemy gained power or the Ancients lost it when the artifact, or whatever it was, was stolen by a figure called the King of Black Seas, an Enemy leader or hero. He is also referred to as Buuri Arkov.

The scholarly moniker Enemy as well as the common Slaughterers or Butchers reveal the demonization we, the Megiddo, have caused towards a species which, though they destroyed the Ancients, lead to the Megiddo being freed from our bondage to our Masters and the settling on Megid. All of their effects on Megiddo society have been either positive or, at least, not negative. As such, in this text, I will attempt to discover more about the Ancients and undo a thousand years of prejudice against a race which have not antagonized us in living memory. The first step is the name, the Enemy. One of my most recent discoveries was what that race called themselves in their own writings. Just as we know ourselves as the Megiddo, these people named themselves Humanity.” — — From Who Killed the Unkillable by Vena Fhal.

My Son, I will continue to seek out more such texts, but I hope you might find some answer to your questions in these excerpts. Mother gives her best and Daval says he hopes you return soon. I can only hope that I have helped you in some small way.

Ever your Proud Father, Avad Hial.