Tuesday, September 09, 2014

The Isle of Bliss

South of the bay stood an island of granite, seemingly one stone thrust from the turbulent waters. This isle guarded the approaches to the bay. The Ethrum built a tower there so that they might watch the seas to the south for the coming of the dark, but Prince Morgeld bid them give him the tower, so that he might settle his folk upon the lonely isle. "Give me this isle of stone and I'll hold the southern passages for your people. Unless I and all my company pass to the Wretched Plains, we shall keep any from approaching from the south." And the Ethrum granted the Prince the island, and charged him with its defense.

Prince Morgeld fortified the island, building walls even into the sea, and these stacked upon one the other so that taking one meant only another stood in the way. He set a singular stair from the sea that wound up the bastions, so that any bent on taking the island would do so at great cost. His fleet he set in coves, sheltered from any storm. Atop it all he built a palace of marvelous beauty, its windows facing west to the Wall of Worlds, so he could see the All Father's mist. The Prince learned in time to look past it, to look into the uttermost Void that is beyond all things. He called his island the Land of Bliss, for it grew no food, nor any plant of any kind but some few wild mosses, and no animals but wild sea birds occupied its heights. There he lived his deathless life in the company of other immortals, all refugees of the world, bound in the ecstasies of pleasure and defeat. Here, he ruled with an iron fist, holding the Black Spear, Gorgothorium, in his grasp.

~The Codex of Aihrde

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