Grimoire Destrudo
The Book of Ruination
◀ Chapter 4 · Chapter 5

¹In the shadow of burning towers and broken gates, a remnant of the people remembered the words of Dolomir the prophet.
²These kept the scrolls hidden from flame and flood, bound in iron and sealed with wax, lest truth perish with empire.
³They spake in quiet among the ruins, saying: Lo, the words of the vision were not madness, but the voice of the Most Dark.
⁴For as Dolomir had warned, so was it done: the Empire waxed great in pride and fell by her own hand.
⁵The golden eagles cast down, the rostra silent, the legions scattered — none could deny the death of that which once ruled the world.
⁶From the North came fire, from the East came famine, from within came treachery and rot; the threefold doom none escaped.
⁷The lords of old, dressed in silk and speaking lies, were pulled from their palaces and trampled beneath the heels of the angry poor.
⁸Silver could not ransom, gold could not bribe, nor could bloodline or title deliver a man from the harvest of judgment.
⁹Cities that once shone like beacons became graves; their walls broken, their fountains dry, their temples defiled by wolves and thieves.
¹⁰The statues of emperors stood eyeless and cracked, as though mourning their descendants’ folly and the betrayal of ancient oaths.
¹¹The senate hall stood empty, echoing with dust, and the names of its speakers faded from the lips of men.
¹²The priests who once fed at the altar took up arms or fled into the hills, their gods silent as stone.
¹³And all the while, the remnant kept vigil, for they knew this ending had been long foretold and rightly earned.
¹⁴They spake not with bitterness but with solemn awe, having seen prophecy fulfilled in fire and blood.
¹⁵One among them read from the scroll: Woe unto the empire of iron and fire, for it shall be broken as clay.
¹⁶Another answered: And out of her ruin shall arise ten kings, none of whom shall wear her strength.
¹⁷They gathered in caverns, in ruined crypts, beneath shattered basilicas, that the words might endure when all else was dust.
¹⁸Women taught their children not the names of emperors but the name of Dolomir, and the Voice that spake to him.
¹⁹They said: Let thy heart be humble, thy hand ready, and thy eyes watchful, for this world turneth beneath mighty wheels.
²⁰And indeed, the mighty wheels turned, grinding emperors to dust and setting slaves upon thrones for a breath of time.
²¹Some among the remnant fled across the seas to lands untouched by legion or decree, to build anew with wisdom.
²²Others walked among the broken peoples, saying: Turn not to the gods of silence, but to the One who revealeth.
²³Some were mocked, others slain, and still others crowned fools — but the seed of their word took root in strange soil.
²⁴Many years passed, and the ruins were swallowed by ivy and silence, but the voice of prophecy echoed in hidden places.
²⁵Travellers spoke in hushed tones of a people who waited not for kings, but for the fulfillment of forgotten words.
²⁶And still the remnant endured, like coals beneath ash, unseen but living, preserving the fire of the vision.
²⁷In dreams and symbols they saw signs: a vulture atop a broken crown, a river flowing backward, a lamb crowned with iron.
²⁸They fasted in winter, prayed at solstice, and marked the falling of stars with solemn rites older than any nation.
²⁹One among them, aged and full of years, declared: This ruin is not the end, but the pause before new birth.
³⁰For they knew the god of the Abyss, though wrathful, forsook not His heralds nor the work He had begun.
³¹And some dreamed of a second empire, born from ashes but bearing the same wound — crowned in silver, robed in faith.
³²Yet wiser was the remnant, saying: Not all that is robed in holiness is pure; not all banners conceal truth.
³³They wrote anew beside the old, adding to the scrolls not words of man, but the signs they had beheld.
³⁴They spake of the man with two faces, of a city on seven hills, and of wine turned to blood.
³⁵Of a lamb that roared like a lion, and of a mirror that spoke lies unto all nations.
³⁶Guard thyself, they wrote; for the ruin of the Empire was just, yet greater ruin may yet come.
³⁷For the Seraphim have not ceased their whispering, nor the Dæmons their watching, nor the Most High His judging.
³⁸The remnant called their children to remembrance, saying: Weep not for that which hath perished, but for that which is yet to be.
³⁹For pride shall rise again, clothed in righteousness, and multitudes shall follow unto their harm.
⁴⁰The name shall change, but the yoke remain; beware him who cometh in peace yet bringeth chains.
⁴¹And so they waited, neither building temples nor crowning kings, but keeping watch and word in solemn duty.
⁴²Some faltered and turned to the world’s gold, others vanished into hills and became as myth — but always a remnant endured.
⁴³The scrolls passed hand to hand, generation to generation, each adding not but guarding much.
⁴⁴They came to be known as the Silent Watchers, though they themselves called no name but one: the Name whispered by Dolomir.
⁴⁵That Name was not spoken in haste, nor shouted in streets, but kept like fire in the heart.
⁴⁶For it was not man who judged the Empire, but the god who made Dolomir His vessel.
⁴⁷And that same god would judge again, in another time, in another place, by another herald.
⁴⁸Let every man prepare: they wrote; not for the glory of empire, but for the shaking of nations.
⁴⁹Let him that buildeth remember Dolomir; let him that ruleth remember the fall of the house of pride.
⁵⁰Let them that mock the prophets prepare a place for mourning, and let them that heed rejoice in silence.
⁵¹For prophecy falleth not idle to the ground, nor doth the Word return void that proceedeth from the Mouth of the Deep.
⁵²The empire is fallen; the dust hath settled; the judgment is done. But the scroll is not closed.
⁵³For as long as breath is in man, and fire is in the skies, the Watchers shall remember.
⁵⁴And in the fullness of time, the voice of Dolomir shall rise once more, crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way.


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