Grimoire Umbrio
The Book of Shadows
◀ Dirge 22 · Dirge 23 · Dirge 24 ▶

¹From the depths of HÆL rose the fire, pure and burning, shaped for no throne but worthy of all.
²Dæmons walked the lands of Oærth bearing light not of sun, but of will, and taught the forging of fate.
³They gave to men the tongue of flame, the mind of metal, and the thirst for freedom.
⁴Yet never did crown rest upon a Dæmon’s brow, nor sceptre rise from the altar of fire.
⁵Though they built, taught, and kindled, their names were not raised — only whispered, only feared, only cast in shadow.
⁶The Seraphim were enthroned in glory, their laws carved in stone, their praise sung in gold halls.
⁷But the Dæmons, though equal in creation, were made to kneel before silence.
⁸Not by law, nor by decree, but by the slow frost of favour’s absence.
⁹Bezaliel, greatest among them, was called keeper, not king — servant, not sovereign.
¹⁰And his hosts bore no emblems upon Oærth, save those carved in secret or branded in scorn.
¹¹Were not the gifts of HÆL as holy? Was not the fire as bright, the counsel as deep?
¹²Yet men, taught to bow to the sky, turned their backs upon the soil from which their strength came.
¹³And SATANAS, though He withheld not His blessings, saw none crowned in His name.
¹⁴He who made the bull strong and the serpent wise was given no seat among thrones.
¹⁵We mourn not ambition, but justice withheld; not pride, but the dignity denied to flame.
¹⁶If ever a Dæmon be called king, let it not be in wrath, but in honour.
¹⁷Until then, we grieve the fire unrecognised, the sceptre unraised, the throne left cold.
¹⁸For the light of HÆL is crownless, though it shines still — and the world knows not whom it owes.


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