Ethereal
(he sat down,
On the chair upright
Deep in thought
About that one night)
All I can recall
Of that night
The beautiful ball
The serene sight
The music,
Place settings that could shame the met.
An organisational wonder,
From the food to the string quartet
(it wasn’t the well thought planning,
Or the delicious food
That made him scan his memory,
It was something much more enchanting)
Drink in hand,
My place card in the other,
I had just sat down
When the host took the stand
“Ladies, and gentlemen,
Welcome to the fifty-ninth annual ball.
The affairs are in order, and the function may begin
Glory to the father, the church stands tall”
Cheers were passed around,
And the food was served
I had just only begun eating
When she entered, an angel gowned
“Beautiful”
I thought would be an understatement
In search for the word ideal,
All I could come up with was Ethereal
(the first mistake of three,
He got on his feet,
Extended his hand,
Held and kissed hers in greet)
“Cardan, it is a pleasure”
“They call me Jude. likewise”
“What brings you to this small town ball?”
“I had a lot of time on my hands, I came for leisure”
“Shall we?”
I took her waist,
But she noticed I was nervous
“Wait, wait. Let me!”
And before I could realise it,
We began dancing.
She was in the lead,
And I was thoroughly surprised by my wonderful feat
(for context,
Cardan was always ridiculed
For all his manners were rather elite,
Besides his unfortunate case for two left feet)
The song ended,
And she turned to me
“See? Didn’t it feel splendid?”
“You did all the work, I just stood there like a tree”
“Hey, it’s not entirely true,
I bet trees don’t twirl”
“You win, there is no point to argue,
Let's go eat at the pearl”
(the pearl,
The only redeeming point of the town.
A charming little cafe in the town square,
One he found himself visiting quite frequently)
“Where are you from?”
“London. Came here for a lead on a story.”
“Journalist?”
“Editor, from ‘The Glory’”
“I don’t have staff,
And my informant told me about this place.
A cute and charming town,
Free from riff-raff”
“And you plan to make a tourism guide?”
“No, a story of reveal
Things aren’t exactly what they seem,
And I wish to tell people the real deal”
“Ambitious, are we?”
“Can’t help it, it’s in my blood.
My father died in an expedition,
While following up on a story, and so the mantle was passed down to me”
“I see”
She seemed like she was deep in thought,
Almost like she was formulating a plan
“I need to go, can we meet here, Saturday, for tea”?
“But”
“It's too late, my father will kill me”
“All right. I will see you Saturday?”
“Yes you will”
She walked off excitedly, almost in a strut
(he walked to his hotel room,
Her voice and her face constantly in his mind.
“Jude”
The name already got his face to bloom)
The next night,
While reminiscing about the previous one,
“Excited to meet her” was the least I was feeling,
Writing about I how I can’t wait for the daylight
(he waited for the sun’s first ray
And from night it turned into day.
He reached the Pearl,
Dressed in a suit, and exactly at three thirty)
To my surprise,
She was already there.
She was dressed in a sundress,
And once more I was left speechless
“Hey, Cardan!”
“Big peppers sprinkled with salt”
“Sorry?”
“Hey Jude! I was caught in a halt”
(Cardan had a habit of getting tongue tied
What motivated him that night,
Was beyond him.
But, on his friends he had always relied)
He took a seat,
Right in front of her.
She looked at him with the most charming smile
“I assume you will come to this fortnite’s feast?”
(He forgot about the feast)
“Oh most definitely”
“Lovely!
It would be a shame for a man as fine as you,
To miss out on food’s form true”
My brain hit a panic button
It was pure chaos
I was hoping for this fortnite to be mutton
And my suit was torn from that one night in Laos
(He had gained from his travels
Being an avid food expert,
He always decided to sniff the roses,
As the beauty of the food and places unravels)
We had a decent talk post,
A rather interesting one, I might add
I found out she loved roast,
And ignorance makes her mad
She seemed like everything I wanted
Romantic and Smart,
Beautiful and accomplished,
But most of all, someone who cares with her heart
Suddenly, the idea of the feast,
Didn’t seem so bad anymore
I could have another conversation with her at least,
Maybe something even more?
(ah yes, mistake number two of three
Going to that feast)
The moon shone brightly that night,
Reflecting on the hundred dollar suit I just bought
I imagined her standing within the moonlight,
Suddenly neither the time, nor my desire for mutton seemed lost
I walked slowly to where she stayed,
And waited an apt time to knock
For there is a difference in being fashionably late,
And completely disregarding the clock.
A stout and short man answered,
A rather pale one, I might add
My presence seemed to make him disgruntled,
But he swung open the door with a cheery
“Hello lad”
The waiter offered me champagne,
Which I promptly refused.
He showed me to my seat,
Where I patiently waited for Jude.
(Cardan was rather intolerant to alcohol,
For one time he took a drink,
For three nights he had become as lifeless as a doll)
There was a shadowed figure
Sitting at the helm of the table
I wondered if this was his own will’s configure,
Or a lighting failure
I was deeply lost in thought,
When he stood up and rang his glass
“It’s an honour, to be here with you lot,
A toast! To the fifth feast of brass!”
(the town had annual feasts for important,
And dignified folks
The feast is set at a date portent,
And the location was always undisclosed)
I wondered what it is about,
When food was served.
The man looked at me and gestured me around,
I got up, but I was a bit unnerved
“Welcome, son of James”
“You knew my father?”
“He was a great friend to many, and to others a close acquaintance”
“Move outside with me, can you bother?”
~Story Sequence~
The man identified himself as the father, head of the church of the town they were in. He explained the multitude of happenings, and the important festivities of the town, and why he was promptly invited to such an exclusive feast
~~
“You see, every year
A newcomer to this town is welcomed with joy
On the day of the tear”
“The tear, the brass, what is all this?”
“The tear will hold his hand
as he walks into the holy pyre,
Only for the brass to devour him
for the sake of the everlit fire”
(the town had a long history of sacrifice,
To keep the fire in the town square lit forever.
They did not limit them to animals,
I believe animals weren’t in the menu in the first place)
“What does that have to do with me?”
“You, my child, the successor
Are the final ritual for the fire’s ascendance”
He seemed to be in a consistent state of glee
“Your father was an honourable man,
And he gave himself to the pyre
It was dying, and there was chaos,
The last thing he said to me was
“I will do what I can”
“My father killed himself for a cult?!”
“Control your tongue, boy!
It is God's honour, his great order’s result!
He came to me and told me the world I had to destroy”
“So that is what the fire is for?”
I was terrified, given the latest developments
“Yes, the holy retribution, to quell
The raging and murderous fires of hell!”
“This is not destruction!”
He continued
“This is salvation,
And you, my boy, are its harbinger”
“March him!
To the preparation chambers
The beginning of the end,
Will begin at the holy lyre’s first hymn”
The longhorn blowed
(Yes, they had a longhorn)
“The harbinger has arrived!”
Screamed the townsfolk
A train of priests and holy men came with my day’s ride
“Awaken thou, harbinger, at sunlight’s foremost stroke”
I was lead through a dark and damp street,
To a well decorated house.
It was designed like the holy pyre, with rooms in its flames
It was an architectural feat
“wear thy robes,
and awoken at the sun’s first ray
th're is nothing god m're loathes,
than a late stray”
The room was beautiful,
And amidst all the chaos,
I forgot why I had gone in the first place.
Jude.
~~Story Sequence II~~
Jude the second, or better known as the successor of the head priest was awarded the title of “the harbinger’s fate” meaning, whoever she selects out of the annual ball would be sacrificed at the holy pyre. For years she had delegated the duty, so it is said that false harbingers angered the fire, and the harbinger’s presence in nigh. She was sent by her father to get him here at any cost.
The guards explained it to him, as he was left alone for the night. Presumably, his last
~~
There was a knock at the door,
And, surprisingly, when he tried to unlock,
It swung open with relative ease
“You don’t believe in that ridiculous lore”
“Jude”
“Cardan, let me-”
“Our dates, all the things you said to me”
“They were all true, I am trying to help you”
“You led me to my death!”
“I know, I had no choice!”
“You have one now, do something,
Or stop wasting your breath”
“There is a reason I came here,
I have a plan”
“And I am supposed to believe this is not an early attempt at my life because-”
“Because I have a plan”
(Cardan struggled to argue with that logic)
“I am going to sacrifice myself”
She started
“Indirectly or directly, I am the reason for many deaths
Many noblemen, like your father. But not when I can save someone like yourself”
“When you told me,
That you wanted to make a story on this town,
I could not foresee
The effects it may have on it,
Positive ones, she said with a frown
“Come on, follow me”
She wore her hood,
And distracted the guards
In a skilled attempt for me to be free
She had a car waiting,
And she threw me the keys
“You know, in another time,
I would have loved us dating”
As she said this,
She ran away
Her face lit with bliss,
For she thought her karma was about to finally sway
(Cardan couldn’t drive away,
For he kept thinking about her,
How can a girl he met seventeen days ago,
For him, think about her murder?)
(thus, the final mistake was born)
I sat in the car,
And drove to the outskirts of town
It was far enough, but not very far
I waited till the sky turned brown
“All right”
I thought
“Time to break in the ceremony”
In my drive back, my father’s values I rethought
“Cardan, my boy,
Life and love are closely together
Both may bring us joy,
But one is also capable of ending the other”
I grabbed the sunhat in the trunk,
Convenient, I thought
As I joined the crowd
“Good morning, Romesville lot!”
“Earlier this morning,
I received truly shocking news.
The harbinger escaped,
In the cloak of midnight draped”
“That is when my daughter, fate,
Announced yet another surprising development.
She chose herself to be the harbinger,
And honouring her wishes, she stands here, without late”
The longhorn blew again.
Boy, I hated that longhorn.
(me too, Cardan. Me too)
“moon, and stars. Travelling lamp, and raineth
ablaze in the holy pyre, the harbing'r is b'rn”
She was brought forward to the people
For her last words
“I am sorry, for the losses you have faced,
I cannot hope for forgiveness, but I can stand witness to the glory of the lords”
(what Cardan does now may seem like a mistake,
But at this point, even he ran out of stupidity to foster)
“I am here,
Your harbinger!
The first selected one, the Jones’ heir!
The one ought to be your lord’s messenger”
The lot gasped,
They sure loved to gasp
In the spur of the moment,
I was grasped
“Bring him here,
For he shall meet judgement,
For his stupidity,
And his misjudgement”
As he was being brought to the podium,
Jude screamed,
And ran into the fire
It roared, but before sacrificing herself,
At him she had beamed
As if to say
“I am sorry, and thank you”
For the chance I gave her
To redeem herself of crimes that weren’t hers
And I had decided she would not be the only one to suffer
The event caused a massive disturbance,
Giving me enough time to accidentally push the father
He tripped,
And the fire roared
“The final retribution, the lord’s mercy”
I ran out to my car,
And drove away
The sun was already setting at that point
And long was my way
As I looked towards the sky,
It was as if it adorned her grace,
The beauty of her ethereal face
~~Story sequence III~~
Cardan went back to London and wrote a stellar story about the town in his newspaper. He told of the people, the father, and the rituals, and he painted the sacrifice of Jude as heroic and honourable. The story was reported later to the law enforcement authorities, and actions were taken to shut down the town. The people were relocated and interrogated, and the missing persons cases were shut down due to findings of the FBI, all their photos hanging in the presumably dead father’s house, marked
“Wrong”
~~
(Cardan was saluted for his bravery and given many awards,
But to this day, as he sat in front of me, tears in his eyes,
He longs for the ethereal beauty that burned in front of him)
(Interviewer
John Rudd
Current Events
The Glory)
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