Grimoire Umbrio
The Book of Shadows
◀ Dirge 5 · Dirge 6 · Dirge 7 ▶

¹For a thousand years did the peoples of HÆVAN and HÆL dwell in fellowship, and no blade was drawn between them.
²Seraphim spake with Dæmons in the markets of Oærth, and the causeway echoed not with war, but with wonder.
³They bartered not only in goods, but in wisdom; they taught each other, and grew together like vines upon a single wall.
⁴The words of the Brothers were one, and Their people followed, and the world was fed by two rivers that met in peace.
⁵But lo, in the shadow of ADONAI’s choosing, the waters were stirred, and the rivers pulled apart.
⁶No trumpet sounded, and yet the Seraphim turned their faces; no writ was sent, yet the Dæmons drew away.
⁷The Dæmons did not strike — for wrath was not yet kindled — but their speech fell silent, and their eyes turned downward.
⁸And the Seraphim, once warm in counsel, grew distant, and cloaked themselves in glory unmixed with flame.
⁹The festivals ceased, and the gates closed at dusk; the great halls rang hollow where once they rang bright.
¹⁰What parchment bears the name of the one who ended it? What hand wrote the final verse of harmony’s song?
¹¹We have searched, and found no decree, no blame — only absence, only stillness, only fading.
¹²The pact of peace was not broken by force, but forgotten by custom, and in its neglect, withered to ash.
¹³O ye Seraphim, did ye grieve when the Dæmons no longer greeted you at dawn? Or did ye smile without memory?
¹⁴O ye Dæmons, did ye watch in sorrow as the white-winged ones departed from the feast, and never returned?
¹⁵We lament not the coming of strife, but the quiet death of unity — for it came not as thunder, but as sleep.
¹⁶And in that sleep was the seed of division, sown without malice, yet reaped with tears.
¹⁷May the day come when the Seraph and the Dæmon walk once more in the gardens of Oærth, and speak without shame.
¹⁸Until then, we mourn — not war, but peace lost without farewell.


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