The dark days began with the last visitation of The Destroyer and they were foretold by strange omens in the skies. All men were silent and went about with pale faces.
The leaders of the slaves which had built a city to the glory of Thom stirred up unrest, and no man raised his arm against them. They foretold great events of which the people were ignorant and of which the temple seers were not informed.
These were days of ominous calm, when the people waited for they knew not what.
The presence of an unseen doom was felt, the hearts of men were stricken.
Laughter was heard no more and grief and wailing sounded throughout the land. Even the voices of children were stilled and they did not play together, but stood silent.
The slaves became bold and insolent and women were the possession of any man. Fear walked the land and women became barren with terror, they could not conceive, and those with child aborted. All men closed up within themselves.
The days of stillness were followed by a time when the noise of trumpeting and shrilling was heard in the Heavens, and the people became as frightened beasts without a herdsman, as asses when lions prowl without their fold.
The people spoke of the God of the slaves, and reckless men said. “If we knew where this God were to be found, we would sacrifice to him”. But the God of the slaves was not among them. He was not to be found within the swamplands or in the brickpits. His manifestation was in the Heavens for all men to see, but they did not see with understanding. Nor would any God listen, for all were dumb because of the hypocrisy of men.
The dead were no longer sacred and were thrown into the waters. Those already entombed were neglected and many became exposed. They lay unprotected against the hands of thieves. He who once toiled long in the sun, bearing the yoke himself, now possessed oxen. He who grew no grain now owned a storehouse full. He who once dwelt at ease among his children now thirsted for water. He who once sat in the sun with crumbs and dregs was now bloated with food, he reclined in the shade, his bowls overflowing.
Cattle were left unattended to roam into strange pastures, and men ignored their marks and slew the beasts of their neighbours. No man owned anything.
The public records were cast forth and destroyed, and no man knew who were slaves and who were masters. The people cried out to the Pharaoh in their distress, but he stopped his ears and acted like a deaf man.
There were those who spoke falsely before Pharaoh and had Gods hostile towards the land, therefore the people cried out for their blood to appease it. But it was not these strange priests who put strife in the land instead of peace, for one was even of the household of Pharaoh and walked among the people unhampered.
Dust and smoke clouds darkened the sky and coloured the waters upon which they fell with a bloody hue. Plague was throughout the land, the river was bloody and blood was everywhere. The water was vile and men’s stomachs shrank from drinking. Those who did drink from the river vomited it up, for it was polluted.
The dust tore wounds in the skin of man and beast. In the glow of The Destroyer the Earth was filled with redness. Vermin bred and filled the air and face of the Earth with loathsomeness. Wild beasts, afflicted with torments under the lashing sand and ashes, came out of their lairs in the wastelands and caveplaces and stalked the abodes of men. All the tame beasts whimpered and the land was filled with the cries of sheep and moans of cattle.
Trees, throughout the land, were destroyed and no herb or fruit was to be found. The face of the land was battered and devastated by a hail of stones which smashed down all that stood in the path of the torrent. They swept down in hot showers, and strange flowing fire ran along the ground in their wake.
The fish of the river died in the polluted waters; worms, insects and reptiles sprang up from the Earth in huge numbers. Great gusts of wind brought swarms of locusts which covered the sky. As the Destroyer flung itself through the Heavens, it blew great gusts of cinders across the face of the land. The gloom of a long night spread a dark mantle of blackness which extinguished every ray of light. None knew when it was day and when it was night, for the sun cast no shadow.
The darkness was not the clean blackness of night, but a thick darkness in which the breath of men was stopped in their throats. Men gasped in a hot cloud of vapour which enveloped all the land and snuffed out all lamps and fires. Men were benumbed and lay moaning in their beds. None spoke to another or took food, for they were overwhelmed with despair. Ships were sucked away from their moorings and destroyed in great whirlpools. It was a time of undoing.
The Earth turned over, as clay spun upon a potter’s wheel. The whole land was filled with uproar from the thunder of The Destroyer overhead and the cry of the people. There as the sound of moaning and lamentation on every side. The Earth spewed up its dead, corpses were cast up out of their resting places and the embalmed were revealed to the sight of all men. Pregnant women miscarried and the seed of men was stopped.
The craftsman left his task undone, the potter abandoned his wheel and the carpenter his tools, and they departed to dwell in the marshes. All crafts were neglected and the slaves lured the craftsmen away.
The dues of Pharaoh could not be collected, for there was neither wheat nor barley, goose nor fish. The rights of Pharaoh could not be enforced, for the fields of grain and the pastures were destroyed. The highborn and the lowly prayed together that life might come to an end and the turmoil and thundering cease to beat upon their ears. Terror was the companion of men by day and horror their companion by night. Men lost their senses and became mad, they were distracted by frightfulness.
On the great night of The Destroyer’s wrath, when its terror was at its height, there was a hail of rocks and the Earth heaved as pain rent her bowels. Gates, columns and walls were consumed by fire and the statues of Gods were overthrown and broken. People fled outside their dwellings in fear and were slain by the hail. Those who took shelter from the hail were swallowed when the Earth split open.
The habitations of men collapsed upon those inside and there was panic on every hand, but the slaves who lived in huts in the reedlands, at the place of pits, were spared. The land burnt like tinder, a man watched upon his rooftops and the Heavens hurled wrath upon him and he died.
The land writhed under the wrath of The Destroyer and groaned with the agony of Egypt. It shook itself and the temples and palaces of the nobles were thrown down from their foundations. The highborn ones perished in the midst of the ruins and all the strength of the land was stricken. Even the great one, the first born of Pharaoh, died with the highborn in the midst of the terror and falling stones. The children of princes were cast out into the streets and those who were not cast out died within their abodes.
There were nine days of darkness and upheaval, while a tempest raged such as never had been known before. When it passed away brother buried brother throughout the land. Men rose up against those in authority and fled from the cities to dwell in tents in the outlands.
Egypt lacked great men to deal with the times. The people were weak from fear and bestowed gold, silver, lapis lazuli, turquoise and copper upon the slaves, and to their priests they gave chalices, urns and ornaments. Pharaoh alone remained calm and strong in the midst of confusion. The people turned to wickedness in their weakness and despair. Harlots walked through the streets unashamed. Women paraded their limbs and flaunted their womanly charms. Highborn women were in rags and the virtuous were mocked.
The slaves spared by The Destroyer left the accursed land forthwith. Their multitude moved in the gloom of a half dawn, under a mantle of fine swirling grey ash, leaving the burnt fields and shattered cities behind them. Many Egyptians attached themselves to the host, for one who was great led them forth, a priest prince of the inner courtyard.
Fire mounted up on high and its burning left with the enemies of Egypt. It rose up from the ground as a fountain and hung as a curtain in the sky. In seven days, by Remwar the accursed ones journeyed to the waters. They crossed the heaving wilderness while the hills melted around them; above, the skies were torn with lightning. They were sped by terror, but their feet became entangled in the land and the wilderness shut them in. They knew not the way, for no sign was constant before them.
They turned before Noshari and stopped at Shokoth, the place of quarries. They passed the waters of Maha and came by the valley of Pikaroth, northward of Mara. They came up against the waters which blocked their way and their hearts were in despair. The night was a night of fear and dread, for there was a high moaning above and black winds from the underworld were loosed, and fire sprang up from the ground. The hearts of the slaves shrank within them, for they knew the wrath of Pharaoh followed them and that there was no way of escape. They hurled abuse on those who led them, strange rites were performed along the shore that night. The slaves disputed among themselves and there was violence.
Pharaoh had gathered his army and followed the slaves. After he departed there were riots and disorders behind him, for the cities were plundered. The laws were cast out of the judgment halls and trampled underfoot in the streets. The storehouses and granaries were burst open and robbed. Roads were flooded and none could pass along them. People lay dead on every side. The palace was split and the princes and officials fled, so that none was left with authority to command. The lists of numbers were destroyed, public places were overthrown and households became confused and unknown.
Pharaoh pressed on in sorrow, for behind him all was desolation and death. Before him were things he could not understand and he was afraid, but he carried himself well and stood before his host with courage. He sought to bring back the slaves, for the people said their magic was greater than the magic of Egypt.
The host of Pharaoh came upon the slaves by the saltwater shores, but was held back from them by a breath of fire. A great cloud was spread over the hosts and darkened the sky. None could see, except for the fiery glow and the unceasing lightnings which rent the covering cloud overhead.
A whirlwind arose in the East and swept over the encamped hosts. A gale raged all night and in the red twilit dawn there was a movement of the Earth, the waters receded from the seashore and were rolled back on themselves. There was a strange silence and men, in the gloom, it was seen that the waters had parted, leaving a passage between. The land had risen, but it was disturbed and trembled, the way was not straight or clear. The waters about were as if spun within a bowl, the swampland alone remained undisturbed. From the horn of The Destroyer came a high shrilling noise which stopped the ears of men.
The slaves had been making sacrifices in despair, their lamentations were loud. Now, before the strange sight, there was hesitation and doubt; for the space of a breath they stood still and silent. Then all was confusion and shouting, some pressing forward into the waters against all who sought to flee back from the unstable ground. Then, in exaltation, their leader led them into the midst of the waters through the confusion. Yet many sought to turn back into the host behind them, while others fled along the empty shores.
All became still over the sea and upon the shore, but behind, the Earth shook and boulders split with a great noise. The wrath of Heaven was removed to a distance and stood upwards of the two hosts.
Still the host of Pharaoh held its ranks, firm in resolve before the strange and awful happenings, and undaunted by the fury which raged by their side. Stern faces were lit darkly by the fiery curtain.
Then the fury departed and there was silence, stillness spread over the land while the host of Pharaoh stood without movement in the red glow. Then, with a shout, the captains went forward and the host rose up behind them. The curtain of fire had rolled up into a dark billowing cloud which spread out as a canopy. There was a stirring of the waters, but they followed the evildoers past the place of the great whirlpool.
The passage was confused in the midst of the waters and the ground beneath unstable. Here, in the midst of a tumult of waters, Pharaoh fought against the hindmost of the slaves and prevailed over them, and there was a great slaughter amid the sand, the swamp and the water. The slaves cried out in despair, but their cries were unheeded. Their possessions were scattered behind them as they fled, so that the way was easier for them than for those who followed.
Then the stillness was broken by a mighty roar and through the rolling pillars of cloud the wrath of The Destroyer descended upon the hosts. The Heavens roared as with a thousand thunders, the bowels of the Earth were sundered and Earth shrieked its agony. The cliffs were torn away and cast down. The dry ground fell beneath the waters and great waves broke upon the shore, sweeping in rocks from seaward.
The great surge of rocks and waters overwhelmed the chariots of the Egyptians who went before the footmen. The chariot of the Pharaoh was hurled into the air as if by a mighty hand and was crushed in the midst of the rolling waters.
Tidings of the disaster came back by Rageb, son of Thomat, who hastened on ahead of the terrified survivors because of his burning. He brought reports unto the people that the host had been destroyed by blast and deluge. The captains had gone, the strong men had fallen and none remained to command. Therefore, the people revolted because of the calamities which had befallen them. Cowards slunk from their lairs and came forth boldly to assume the high offices of the dead. Comely and noble women, their protectors gone, were their prey. Of the slaves the greater number had perished before the host of Pharaoh.
The broken land lay helpless and invaders came out of the gloom like carrion. A strange people came up against Egypt and none stood to fight, for strength and courage were gone.
The invaders, led by Alkenan, came up out of the Land of Gods, because of the wrath of Heaven which had laid their land waste. There, too, had been a plague of reptiles and ants, signs and omens and an earthquake. There, also, had been turmoil and disaster, disorder and famine, with the grey breath of The Destroyer sweeping the ground and stopping the breath of men.
Anturah gathered together the remnants of his fighting men and the fighting men who were left in Egypt, and set forth to meet the Children of Darkness who came out of the eastern mountains by way of the wilderness and by way of Yethnobis. They fell upon the stricken land from behind the grey cloud, before the lifting of the darkness and before the coming of the purifying winds.
Rageb went with Pharaoh and met the invaders at Herosher, but the hearts of the Egyptians were faint within them. Their spirits were no longer strong and they fell away before the battle was lost. Deserted by the Gods above and below, their dwellings destroyed, their households scattered, they were as men already half dead. Their hearts were still filled with terror and with the memory of the wrath which had struck them from out of Heaven. They were still filled with the memory of the fearsome sight of The Destroyer and they knew not what they did.
Pharaoh did not return to his city. He lost his heritage and was seized by a demon for many days. His women were polluted and his estates plundered. The Children of Darkness defiled the temples with rams and ravished women who were crazed and did not resist. They enslaved all who were left, the old, young men and boys. They oppressed the people and their delight was in mutilation and torture.
Pharaoh abandoned his hopes and fled into the wilderness beyond the province of the lake, which is in the West towards the South. He lived a goodly life among the sand wanderers and wrote books.
Good times came again, even under the invaders, and ships sailed upstream. The air was purified, the breath of The Destroyer passed away and the land became filled again with growing things. Life was renewed throughout the whole land.
Kair taught these things to the Children of Light in the days of darkness, after the building of the Rambudeth, before the death of the Pharaoh Anked.
This is written in this land and in our tongue by Leweddar who, himself, chose it for saving. It was not seen until the latter days.
