true faith Up Two Pontiffs, Down One Tower

[Fleeperpriest 1484]

 

 

MANY HAVE HEARD THE TALE OF SAINT KING CAIUS, THE LORD OF LAUGHTER

THEY MADE TO TAKE HIS JOY AND LOCK IT UP  ;  TO THROW AWAY THE KEY

CAST BY DREAD-KNIGHT LOCK-LORD DOWN THE PIT

BROKEN-BODIED, HOLLOW,

WITH EYES THAT BEHELD A FIRE OF INNER-VISION . . .

BEHIND COMATOSE, HE HAS MUCH TIME FOR VISIONS,

HE STUDIES THEM, FROM MORNING TO NIGHT,

AND ALL HE SEES OPPRESSES HIM.

FILLS HIM WITH AN INDIGNATION AT MAN'S MIRTHLESS WAYS,

HE BROODS,

AND BROODS,

AND FINALLY FROM SO MUCH BROODING, HIS SPIRIT TRIUMPHS.

HE LAYS DOWN THE MELANCHOLIC BURDEN . . .

In the wake of the GREAT VICTORY, there was a BITTER MURMURING souring Lemonhill, dispensing throughout the land by their lament a quiet restlessness.

Towers from nothing had sprouted forth, proclaiming the victory of Man over the Dark Demense, but still the simple peoples of the Lemon were downcast.

Had they forsaken, in their conflict, the virtue of their devotion? Were they, for all their efforts, and all that radiant dream, only now the slaves of the Second Scar?

But though they could not bear to utter such thoughts, they slouched in the shadow of a grim Citadel.

Maddening, this taste! Sour was the sweet beloved Truth, not this, the bitterness of dirt, of worldly, not Heavenly, victory. A victory of the world. A spirit agonized.

It were not so, not for this wall, not for all that they had toiled-- Santa Lorina, Holy Helvetz, Blessed Lectors-- Holy Fire, Loving Flame, forbid it, no!

Upon Mount Lemon dimly burned a smokeless flame, hopeful seated on a golden throne, a Holy King not quite yet reigning.

Mercifully distant, that they be not judged, but brooked until their time.

Mercifully close, for love and keeping, SOLACE of the Exiles.

And rising high above that land, a white smoke bellowed.

And from the smoke had come a SPEAR,

And from the SPEAR had come a MAN,

And neath that MAN were now a HORSE,

And before that HORSE were close, A WALL!

CLOSER, CLOSER STILL, UNDAUNTED,

Sallying forth unto the world, the One True King saluting,

Crying out, "Hear me now, thou bleak and unbearable world,"

"Thou art base and debauched as can be!"

"And the Pyre's Knight, his Banner all bravely unfurled,"

"Shall hurl down his gauntlet to thee!"

Then, he exploded, flying thence from out those Temple gates, that whole form with wall colliding.

Spoiler

 

The POV of Rv. Ted Brae, his eyes very poor, beholding the "earthquake" he reported.

 

Naught remained but smoke and cloud,

Gone were the pompous screamer,

As though he were but only SPIRIT!

And from that cloud was a RUMBLING,

And from that rumbling was a CRUMBLING,

And from that CRUMBLING went skyward rising,

WHITE SMOKE from LEMONHILL, RICH now with potent asbestos.

So exposed before the King again were, unscarred, a vast demesne.

That is to say, it was a nice view.

 

[Coronate 5519]

" PRAISE GOD! "

Said the LEMONHILLERS in unison.

[wowj 9747]

The Clownly Priest' [Ted Brae]'s nose would honk a singular time, the world were all good again, with the Truetiff returning.

HONK!

[Lortime 1153]

Alaric mumbled to himself, and glanced at his Lemon-Hill-Luxury-Scented Calender, to realize the hour had grown near; The Throne of St. Daniel would be full again, and Ledicort wouldn't tell him to not sit on it any longer! He wondered how many arguments he and Callahan would soon have... 

[Mikes Rhino 451]

DELBERT REJOICED.

[Onnensr 1908]

His Eminence, Cardinal Nerium of Idunia spied the white smoke from Numenost. With such glee and such surprise, he gathered up his research materials, and the Archive of Magi, and rode straight for Lemonhill, to show just how hard he'd been working!

 

Spoiler

But just then a host of the injured of Numendil fetched him, delaying him in anguish from his friend and mentor. Away they rode to a battlefield, where the powers of abomination wrought slaughter upon the just and merry. He was a Surgeon-General, this was his GOD-GIVEN duty! Riding past the very hallway His Holiness was down, he screamed to echo upon the masonry, "WELCOME BACK!"

 

[Trenchist 864]

Cardinal Elim had just given his best attempt at baking a Pizzaball, manifesting hard his reckless appetite, but he heard from underhill-way a great dwarf screech, but instead his bespectacled eyes rose skyward - and he beheld the WHITE CLOUD of WHITE SMOKE and soon his pizzaball forgone in dough he ran to the Tabernacle with glee a-hundredfold more Provident to receive the spear Pontiff anew.