Fragments from the Vault #016: The Shepard's Lament (from Song of the Rachni)

December 2186, before Earthfall...

____________________

Game: The Mass Effect Trilogy

Location: Milky Way Galaxy

More information: The Milky Way | Mass Effect Wiki | Fandom 

Planetary views from the bridge of the Tempest. Photo credit: FetchQuester

O my love,

Our days are darkened -

For some quiet solace in the cradle of your orbit,

I would give everything -

To mirror our multitudes like light in the dark,

Of two souls, cut, from the same restless star.

Remember when,

Among the columns of Knossos in Artemis Tau

We fled the flayed prophecies of Prothean cries,

As the Normandy's roar split the husk of our pathos

To prime us the sentinels of a harkening age -

It was then, I knew, I loved you.

And it was then when our joy became vassals of mourning, 

As though the magnitude of your love became so fierce 

It shook the lost vaults of Ilos itself, 

Sending resonant thralls of the Song of the Rachni 

To awaken a harvest only the young could survive

As the ice of the cosmos chimed its last chord.

What I would give, my love, for

The traversal of dawn on Tuchanka

While the sirens of Rannoch hail their fleet's inaugural rest,

Unshrouding Perseus of his ominous Veil;

Or to ride on the clusters of the Attican Traverse 

Frontiering the citizens of a proud, free Omega

As the Citadel's ashes eclipse yesteryear's fall...

O my catalyst, my conduit, my keeper - 

For some quiet solace in the cradle of your orbit,

I would give everything -

Our multitudes mirrored like light in the dark,

Circadian threads cycled through the infinite swathe

Of our souls, cut, 

From the same restless star,

To love you this lifetime, and those that come next.

The Citadel. Screen capture: FetchQuester

- Lucy A.

***

Sources: 

The Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda (BioWare/Electronic Arts); fandom.com

*Dedicated to all my friends, especially Alexis.