I. The Rise of Hell

surrounded by ashes, i lay on the ground.
cold steel plunged beneath my ribs.
guts wrenching as i cough up my insides,
with silent pleas leaving my blood-coated lips.

i do not understand what happened.
how did things go so horribly wrong?
it was all going fine,
until he started singing that song.

a brave battle was fought.
victory was at an arm's length.
we had come uphill to finish him off,
and there he stood, devoid of all strength.

alone and broken,
he was the last man standing.
that was it.
that was supposed to be his ending.

but as we neared him,
something in the air shifted.
he hummed a sinister tune,
and the corner of his mouth lifted.

the temperature dropped,
and the air went still.
i looked to my brothers and nodded,
and we continued our way up the hill.

but the next step we take
would bring our downfall.
the ground would begin to shake.
as he'd continue bellowing his call.

nobody understood what came into being.
one minute we watched as enemies fell,
the next, the lands split open,
and, right in front of me, it rained Hell.

***

II. The Pleas of Earth

his voice was rasping,
getting higher as he hit a jarring note.
he left behind a myriad of entities,
as he crumbled to dust and mote.

eyes the color of obsidian,
and a thick hide, sickly jade.
the only thing that defined these beasts
was the number of kills they made.

i know not what to call them.
they were the very essence of damnation.
rapidly crawling out of the ground,
they destroyed any hopes of our salvation.

as they tore the lands further,
i vaguely felt the fields quake.
mauling their way to ruin,
the beasts left only severed limbs in their wake.

i slashed at one charging toward me,
but it never seemed to bleed.
instead i was thrown into the monoliths,
impaled by my own sword, forced to concede.

dust ran through their veins,
falling apart and building them whole again.
ensuingly, more emanated from the soil,
but now, she could no longer tolerate the pain.

the lands shook as vines covered them,
healing cracks the emergence had caused.
the winds howled painful cries,
and momentarily, the slaughter paused

soon after, the clouds thundered,
and the creatures looked up in mirth
as an unrevealed, higher power
finally answered the pleas of the Earth.

***

III.  The Descent of Heaven

ancient scripts told tales of two lovers,
forbidden from becoming one,
for each reunion brought with it
cataclysmic events, survived by none.

however, the inamorato couldn't disregard
her wails that reached the empyrean above.
so, her betrothed descended on a quest
to destroy everything in the name of love.

struggling, i crawled under the rocks,
right before my form gave out.
shielded from the red rain but drenched in blood,
i lay there watching as it all came about.

man and demon alike,
they were all blinded by mist and sand.
then, in a dance of sheer wrath,
the lovers ravaged the entire land.

the clouds turned a deep grey.
the air grew heavy with humidity.
and in the calm before the storm,
there was a slight crackle of electricity.

bolts of lightning burned through every being,
leaving behind obsolete weapons and ashes.
and i passed out from the pain,
dreaming about burns and crashes.

i had hoped to join my comrades,
but unfortunately, it wasn't my time to halt.
i slept soundly, as the ground buried all ruins,
leaving the land without a fault.

soon, i'd be awoken by a horde of people.
"we are helping you," they'll say,
forcing realities upon me
that have never seen the light of day.

a week passed since the lovers spared me.
mum and maimed, i leave here on day seven.
deemed crazy by the crowds forever,
i'm the sole witness to the descent of Heaven.