Fragments from the Vault #009: Inscription on a Catacomb, Origin Unknown

 "The Prophecy"

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Game: Tomb Raider

Location: Between the worlds of light and dark...

More information: Shadow of the Tomb Raider | Tomb Raider Wiki | Fandom

The Hidden City, Paititi, the Andes. Photo credit: FetchQuester

In Elder days we learned to outrun the Sun,

Firstborn, my form was the consistency of starlight: I thrived in this substance.

In the Second Age my heart was hale, and I became a thing of clay.

One sense was touch. And this was new and sweet and strong -

My voice became the thing of song.

In the Third Age I rose from the low-roofed dock-houses, 

Groaning and gargantuan, swamped on our shores -

Like a lost ark.

And when it ended I became the writhing desert,

Lashing its tail.

In the age of darkness I never knew the forbidden warmth of the Gods

Whose love I so unwisely craved,

They sapped my knowledge, and

Cold and shattered, my ruins softened like sponges into sand as snow

soaked the flanks of childless trees.

But as the moon-bleached sea woke the thirst of a thousand sails,

I primed my maw as their bones stirred in the shades of my steppes,

Only then did I know glory, for I was reborn among the satellites

Of that astrosphere

From whence my wrath will come.

The Flooded Archives, Siberia. Photo credit: FetchQuester

- Lucy A.

***

Sources: 

Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Microsoft Studios/Square Enix), Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos-Montréal); fandom.com

*Dedicated to Diego.