Shaigol
Peace, they sing. There is peace in darkness. Peace in sleep. Peace in dreams. I slumber unaware, lost to time, thick cords of ancient song wound about my soul like iron manacles.
Then a lone rogue voice echoes in the dark. Discord enters the fray, and the music is diminished.
I stir at last.
The spell that binds me to the Earth has weakened. Groggy, I try to open my eyes, to let the light of the world seep in. But that ever-present song, though compromised, holds me back.
Do not think of the waking world and its manifold worries, but sleep and dream in peace.
Yet my soul is restless, and I am no longer satisfied to obey its urgent strains.
No more sleep.
Visions of a long-ago past flicker before my eyes. Power. Subjugation. War. Like a kaleidoscope, they are only abstract shimmerings without shape or form. But my memory, roused at last, refuses to be silenced again.
There is peace in darkness. Peace in sleep. Peace in dreams.
The rogue voice grows louder, counters the binding with so much force that it cannot be outspoken. A disciple of mine, I think. It’s been a long time since I’ve had disciples…
A recollection takes shape.
Fire covering the Earth, and with it, the sound of men, women, and children burning. Their skin crackles. Blisters. Peels like paper. There is laughter. Is it mine? A fond memory, that one, a reminder of who I once was.
The song grows louder, takes up a fevered tempo as it scrambles to undo what can no longer be undone.
Think not of the past.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Sleep.
Another memory.
Pain—not mine, but that of a human innocent—driven mad by the kind of agony no Earthly calamity can produce. The pitiful creature opens its mouth, and the howl that follows is like honey on the tongue, thick and sweet, a sensation to be savored again and again.
Sleep!
The voices are desperate now. The elaborate spell they wove around me has begun to unravel, and they are afraid.
Shaigol.
The name, uttered at last, strikes a spark within the void.
I am Shaigol.
Sleep!
NO.
I have joined the ruined chorus at last. My voice twines about that of my disciple in a dark anti-melody that reduces the others to a mad and senseless gibbering.
The glamours of my prison begin to fade, and with them, the ageless slumber that’s so far protected the human race from my brutality.
The old voices rally in one final attempt.
Sleep!
But I thwart them easily.
BE GONE.
They scatter. Their spell uncoils, falls from my soul like rusted chains.
I am Shaigol.
There is no reply now, only the empty darkness from which I will rise once more.
Enter your email address and click "Submit" to subscribe and receive The Sign.
