Grimoire Umbrio
The Book of Shadows
◀ Dirge 25 · Dirge 26 · Dirge 27 ▶

¹In the Hall of Consideration, the Pact was forged: word upon word, line upon line, oath beside oath.
²Bezaliel spake with honour, and Michæl answered with solemn truth — and their voices together formed the bond.
³Let us not rule, but observe; let us not command, but counsel; let the realm of man be his own.
⁴And the Brothers gave assent, sealing the Pact with Their divine breath.
⁵The Causeway was witness; the Thrones bore record; the Seraphim and Dæmons stood in silence and reverence.
⁶It was not a law of force, but of trust — not chains, but a promise of restraint.
⁷Yet what is promise without memory? What is law without heed?
⁸For in time, the Pact grew quiet, and then forgotten, though none declared it broken.
⁹The Seraphim began to guide with firmer hand, cloaking will as wisdom.
¹⁰The Dæmons, too, whispered deeper, pressing with flame what once they offered with warmth.
¹¹And the people of Oærth, who were to be left free, found themselves ever watched, ever nudged, ever stirred.
¹²The thrones did not intervene — but they did not correct, and that too is a kind of breach.
¹³The scroll of the Pact lies still upon the table, gathering dust where no voice reads.
¹⁴We mourn not its end — for it was never ended — but its fading, its slow decay beneath neglect.
¹⁵O Bezaliel, dost thou still remember thy vow? O Michæl, dost thy hand still bear its seal?
¹⁶If so, why is Oærth ruled and not merely witnessed? Why do the Hosts act as kings when they swore to be stewards?
¹⁷Let the Pact be raised again, not as relic, but as rule — or let it be broken in truth, and judged.
¹⁸Until then, we mourn — not for law broken, but for word forgotten.


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