***Originally posted 12/8/15***
I didn’t mean to leave my blog neglected for 3 months, but I did. About 2 months ago I finally found the more up to date, revised copy of “Demon Seed, Holy Land” that I had made years ago. I’ve been meaning to post it ever since, but time gets away from me.
Before I post it though, I thought I would talk slightly on it. First, it doesn’t take place on the same world that most of my other stories such as my book “Exile, Magus” do. Instead it takes place on a sort of sister world to that one. While not within the same solar system or even local neighborhood (sort of across the galaxy really) as my main world, the two are linked by a series of portals. In the time before this poem the travel between the two worlds wasn’t common, but it wasn’t exactly uncommon either. After the events of this poem (or more specifically this poem’s unwritten sequel telling of the Demon Gods’ Invasion) those portals where sealed to prevent the evils of this sister world, now renamed Darkhaven, from once again spilling over into the main world (Moarugecia – pronounced Moe-ar-ooo-ghee-shee-ah).
That’s all the background I’m going to weigh you down with. Enjoy, and feel free to compare with the previous posting of the poem’s original version and provide any critique you wish to.
Vagabond army marched,
Thunder rolled with each heel,
On up to the fortress hill
Where they’d kill the Fool King.
Bloody thousands arose,
Slaughter of one they chose.
Northward a hundred miles
Was their choice to defile.
They moved through bergs and towns
Slowed by rape and pillage,
As in every village
They spread their Demonseed.
Common men hurled curses.
Soldiers filled their purses.
The bloody eyed listers
Pacified resisters.
The clash of steel on steel
Could not over thunder
Their river of murder,
Nor their year of evil.
Blood flowed free through the land
That’s now covered with sand.
Ages after their march
The evil remains large.
The bloody months surge on
As the army battle
Countless foes and rabble.
All this for their coffers.
Men went with the reaper
On down to the river.
The army nearly dead,
The Demonseed still spread.
Capitulating priests,
Reluctant to go dance,
Observed and saw their chance,
And moved to end these sins.
High Clergy ordered in
The Lords and Paladins
To lead their retinues,
And give sinners their dues.
Flanked by these shining knights,
Cutthroats begged for mercy,
Luring to heresy
Knight Lords by way of gold.
When this news reached Clergy
It roused dark energy
And talk of actions bold,
‘Til the halls filled with gold.
The High Priests moved forward
To guard their Holy Land
By sanctioning this band
To spread their Demonseed.
The newly holy force
Would hold true to its course
Forward through many foes
In this half year of woes.
Divinely strengthened troops
Marched through the Holy Land
Destroying many bands
Of the righteous rabble.
Even holy knights mate
Amidst these fields of rape,
Spreading to the Fool’s Land
Demon Seed, Holy Land.
These honorable men
To the honor of sin.
On to ultimate end
Was where their path would bend.
Day would soon fade to night,
But the hill was in sight.
When the moon took the sky,
King Cirdresse would soon die.
Night’s darkness had fallen
Upon the hill fortress
Of the Fool King, Cirdresse,
Before the armies climbed.
Armored horses and men
Rushed to loudly ascend.
King at the top sat and
Laughed at the Holy Land.
Welcomed by no defense
Against inward approach,
The Lords led to encroach
And were doomed to be damned.
The door lay wide open
As armies entered in.
The floor broke from its shell,
And the Lords fell to Hell.
Knights barely moved ahead,
Gaze down at those who led,
Fearing their Demon Seed
And cursing the Holy Land.
Guarding against a fall
Where the knights strong and tall.
Up the stairs they deployed
Straight up into the Void.
The remaining soldiers
Cut off from a retreat
Moved on against defeat
To bow before Cirdresse.
These vagabonds cowered
As the Fool King glowered
And heard loyal promise
Of eternal service.
So the defeated men
Lay pledging allegiance
Before their new Highness,
Fearing Demon Seed’s nest.
Accepting this pledge,
Cirdresse rose from his ledge
And roused up his horses
To carry his forces.
Now Cirdresse’s army
Of past enemies rode
Along as Fool King strode
Out to the nearest town.
Surrounding their new king
Armies began heading
Close to the central seat,
Holy Land, Demon Seed.
Angry, curious stares
Came forth from the rabble.
Unsure was the babble
That arose at this sight.
On the Great Fool King led
Armies to centerbed,
Where the power did rest.
Demon Seed’s marble nest.
Angry rabble attacked,
Pinning armies down,
And they placed their gold crown
Upon Cirdresse’s brow.
These fools pledged allegiance
To the King of Vengeance,
And so the Great Fool King
Cirdresse’s reign begins.
Blood soon filled all the streets
As soldiers lives were spent
To seal this agreement
Between ruler and ruled.
Sacrifices all made,
Rabble’s fury allayed,
They turned to the mandate
Of Lord to desecrate.
The clergy were all killed
And their churches were burned.
With this done, Cirdresse turned
To gaze upon his realm.
As he addressed his flock,
Cirdresse removed his frock
And revealed what’s within
As he peeled back his skin.
The mutilation done
He let his skin hang low,
As he prepared to sow
Fertilized Demon Seed.
The Demon King had freed
On all his Demon Seed
For the time was at hand
To corrupt Holy Land.
The pledged ones tried to run
From hasty oaths taken,
Their honor forsaken
As their Lord laid his claim.
Their flight was all for naught
As the Demon Seeds caught
And fed upon the souls
Of all in the King’s fold.
Their Demon Seeds devoured
All that these folk once were,
And then began to stir
A darkness over all.
From good men corrupted
Countless fiends erupted
To play in the twilight
Before eternal night.
Monsters roam and frolick
With sinful abandon
At the death of the sun
Under new crimson moon.
Thus the Demon King won
Darkhaven with no sun
With his own Demon Strand
In this new Holy Land.
Thomas J. Arnold 