The Shattered Circle

Interlude

...The ground, it weeps with martyred blood,
fields where Light drowns in evil's flood.
The saints cannot restore the Law,
this despair Our Lady saw.

To Justice, Love begged answers then,
yet Erelim would not hear Her.
To Wisdom, Love begged comfort then,
yet Kriana turned eyes from Her.
To Peace, Love begged hope then,
yet Aan held hands empty to Her.
To Life, Love begged remedy then,
yet Qadar held no salve for Her.

Hair torn, garments rent, tears plunging,
Our Lady held close nothing
as She delved deep, deeper, to Arvuin's Grave,
seeking a way our world to save.

Answers, comfort, hope, remedy...
yet His shade gave only penalty.
The dead spoke with bittered mirth:
"Oh sister, you scorn what you birth!
You have all burned your wish in souls
and now dare weep as you hold coals!"
Our Lady knelt and pleaded,
until she was then defeated.

"Arvuin, there shall be no more.
No holy hero, no blades, nor—"
Arvuin, silent, bid her still
and exhaled smoke of mortal will.

"In this, sweet sister, you now learn
the measure They forgot to earn:
Your own nature has become shell.
It must be broken like a spell.
Too long thought perfect upon high,
it is beneath where evils die.
Your place, Ishal, no more to choose
and should you, Light all things shall lose."

In those mirrored eyes, She saw Her fate,
and each flaw within her own Faith.
Humbled, she wept and bowed her head.
"You leave me only with the dead."

When Ishal rose in grief to flee,
Arvuin's laughter shattered free.
"Sister Love, you so loathe to feel!
Yet you wonder you cannot heal?"
Stung to the quick, Ishal turned,
and in an instant, felt Laws burned.
She cried out, but then lost her voice
as dead spoke truth of costly choice.

And so of all Light's gods alone,
Love now silent faced unknown.
What was woven yet unwound,
and this time, no thread She bound...

- The Litany of Petals, 12:15