In my dream I was standing on a green hill, overlooking a shining city. Men and women walked on wide avenues, majestic ships sailed into gleaming harbour. This city was glorious, its people proud and wise.
In the distance I saw a mountain, and upon the mountain was a white tower. This mountain reared majestically over the city, a lofty sentinel, benevolently watching over the riot of countless lives and livelihoods at its feet. From that exalted tower the scent of incense and sacrifices wafted on the wind.
As I looked, a darkness fell over this city, terrible clouds gathered overhead, and all the world was shrouded in blackness. The earth rolled and heaved beneath my feet, I heard a great noise that seemed most frightful and ruinous in my ears – then the world was consumed in a maelstrom that words cannot describe, and in the blink of an eye the city was no more.
But the tower remained: it grew in height, terrible and black, until it whelmed the mountain and became a mighty bastion, seething with unspeakable evil, fearsome and terrifying to behold. And then fire erupted from the pinnacle of that tower with great force and became an awesome eye swathed in flames, yet utterly devoid of light.
As I fell prostrate, unable to bear the diabolic gaze, a voice boomed in my head: 'Behold! this was the city of cities, the heart of all creation; you were once kings, supreme rulers over the entire world. How you have fallen from your puissant throne! Shall you be content to dwell in your squalor and destitution, diluting your lordly blood with the taint of inferior men?
'Wretch! Hear the words of the one who has seen the glories of your forefathers and still recalls them beyond the failing memories of mortals. Arise, you who wallow in the dust! Arise, for your time is nigh! A new empire is rising, the exiles are gathering at the tower. Come, join them, and ascend to your new dominion over the realms of Man.'
Thus spake the awesome voice. Thus I awoke, and have been unable to sleep since.
—Sardov, a student of Asturasartes.
(T2T MUD fanfiction; written c. 2003)
for the land is passive and sedentary. Is there not the saying 'as old as the hills'? The earth changes not, and one wearies swiftly of this monotony. Nay, life on the static realm is not for me.
I have never left the ocean. See the waves, ever shifting and ruffling. Today they are calm, but they shall boil and foam tomorrow, and rise towering in mighty rollers. 'Tis Change, dark child. One feels it beneath one’s feet, beneath the slender planks of the ship’s frail hull; one sees it day after day, in these sullen waters and cruel deeps.
I have never left the ocean, even though she is a ruthless mistress; for she embodies change. And she is everlasting. Can one resist her heavy hand? Shall Akallabêth rise again from the abyss? Can you fight the tides of time? Dark child from distant lands, heed me: cling no more to the vestiges of the past, for they shall be swept away like flotsam in the surf. Change is eternal, as the ocean sea.
—Azrapûh the Old, Black Númenórean and boatswain of the Ulbâzathêl.
(T2T MUD fanfiction; written c. 2003)
Listen to the South Wind, for it speaketh of the future’s tidings long ere their advent. Stoop ye to the ground, feel the earth tremble beneath the tread of many feet. Verily, is that not the sound of doom issuing from the Black Land? Our seasons of peace are waning.
Raise thy eyes, behold the horizon! a brooding Sun rises from the East. Veils of smoke hide the blood that stains her cheeks and lips as rouge; her eyes scour the land for the lover who will come to her crimson chambers at the fall of night, and bring her the fresh blood of his victims. His name is War. Girt thy loins for battle, my children: the sun shineth with no more kindness upon these days of strife.
—The vision of Uadrii Adrezarach as told to his three children.
(T2T MUD fanfiction; written c. 2003)
Nae, nae! nín melethron
Gwannant amin aearon.
Ne Bar-in-Edhil ar idh e dorthol,
Ar erin ennorath ú-reviol.
I walk on marble parapets at night
Beneath the silver of the Sheen,
While the firmanent is kindled with starlight:
Blazing diamonds in sable velveteen.
I walk on ramparts encircling high
Above the city in slumber drowned.
Beyond, nocturnal breezes sigh
And bring to ear a murmuring sound:
A restless refrain of halcyon days
When there was no cause to war or weep;
While ‘neath this endless tempo of the waves
Sings forth the chorus of the deep.
Myriad voices in a symphony raised,
An echo of divine ancientry
That sings anon adoration and praise:
A whisper of the timeless Ainulindalë.
Thus the rollers cast themselves a-land,
Foaming white like prancing steeds,
Leaving jewels upon the pearly sand,
Glistening amidst driftwood and water-weeds.
So they linger upon the dwindling tide:
Gems from the deep, an offering.
The star-fire in the heavens wide
Their glory on earth lies mirroring —
But for a moment; then they wane
Like stars before a hastening dawn.
In radiant yet ephemeral flame,
They flicker once and then are gone.
I look upon the littoral strewn
With fading crystals shining therein,
As memories of blissful years I had known
That once waxed bright are now diminishing.
Ah, a veil falls upon my thought,
And all into melancholy gloom recede,
While restless visions in despair fraught
With silent fingers steal my serenity.
Do I hear a clarion cry
Uttered from the immortal sea?
Shall these tears spring from my eye
As this voice calls unto me?
Once more, I hear him speak my name,
Beckoning with sweet embrace;
And whisper of peace beyond ruin and flame,
Of joyous reunion, face to face.
Shall I heed his yearning plea;
Forsake endless sojourn for endless rest?
Shall I sail the immortal sea,
At last, at last, to the blessed West?
Alas! Alas! my beloved has
Departed this Hither Shore.
He now finds rest in Elvenesse
And wanders abroad no more.
(T2T MUD fanfiction; written c. 2003)