The Song of the People

To stand against the darkness

As darkness fell across the land, the great beast rose from the sea. Words cannot touch the fear the gripped the people’s hearts, but not all saw the beast for what it was.

The thing’s indescribable visage spanned its many faces. Horns and strange growths enfolded and captivated many. The shamans named the beast Asud’dha, the defiled, and prayed it would return to the watery depths from which it came.

Asud’dha roared and groaned at the people with a gurgling rasp. Some of the people, just a few, heard the burbling rage of the mindless brute like a sweet song from the heavens. They looked at the beast with eyes clouded my fear and hate, and saw the vehicle of their salvation.

Others watched in horror as their fellow countrymen marched to the shore to be devoured by the beast. They screamed and shouted, but the blinded mass continued to march to their deaths. Asud’dha consumed some, melting them into its fierce and loathsome form. It crushed others under its indifferent bulk as it continued its relentless march to the capital.

Grabbing the people with its vile tentacles, Asud’dha lashed out in blind rage. The forests fell before it. It howled at the them as if they where an insult to its glory.

Mountains quaked at its passing. Avalanches rushed down their sides burying the innocent below. Children wailed through the night. Mothers morned their babies who died in their arms from the foul presence of the beast.

Crops refused to grow in Asud’dha’s shadow. The meager crops that managed to elude the devastation were trampled under the feet of the beast’s followers.

Nothing could stand before the vengeance of the beast and its horde of followers.

In the capital city of Asa, women took to the streets under the beast’s looming shadow. They stood arm in arm. Mothers and daughter, grandmothers, sisters, strangers, they all locked arms in the beast’s paths. They sang the songs of their people- songs of unity, hope, and praise. They joined their voices in defiant celebration of their people. They showed no fear, no cowardice.

There is a strange sort of magic born from the hearts of the faithful when they stand resilient in the face of such horror and menace. Strength adds to courage, but truth and solidarity multiply the effect.

Together, they stood as one, united to save their people. Their song rose like a weapon, and struck at the beast.

Asud’dha reeled in anger and lashed out. Its barbs swung at the unity of the people. Its aim was untrue and it stung itself with its wild outbursts. It blind eyes could not see the valiant throng gathered against it. It screeched and moaned against the heart of the people, but its sounds echoed in its own emptiness.

As it reached the barrier born for the people’s faith, its skin boiled and smoked. Its armor broke from its weak ties, and shattered on the ground. The beast pressed against the wall of conviction. Its flesh smoking from its hollow bones. It trampled the shards of its once imposing armor, cutting deep gashes in its feet and legs.

Blood, as black as tar, oozed from its wounds, but the beast ignored the pain. It could not imagine its own defeat. It pressed on to its own destruction, ignorant of the fate it forced upon itself. It melted and burned like a candle against the faith of the people, as mothers sang, and sisters cheered the end of its tyranny.

Originally posted on Ash Dancer.com.