Fragments from the Vault #009: Inscription on a Catacomb, Origin Unknown

 "The Prophecy"

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Game: Tomb Raider

Location: Between the worlds of light and dark...

More information: Shadow of the Tomb Raider | Tomb Raider Wiki | Fandom

The Hidden City, Paititi, the Andes. Photo credit: FetchQuester

In Elder days we learned to outrun the Sun,
Firstborn, my form was the consistency of starlight: I thrived in this substance.

In the Second Age my heart was hale, and I became a thing of clay.
One sense was touch. And this was new and sweet and strong -
My voice became the thing of song.

In the Third Age I rose from the low-roofed dock-houses, 
Groaning and gargantuan, swamped on our shores -
Like a lost ark.
And when it ended I became the writhing desert,
Lashing its tail.

The Prophet's Tomb, Syria. Photo credit: FetchQuester

In the age of darkness I never knew the forbidden warmth of the Gods
Whose love I so unwisely craved,
They sapped my knowledge, and
Cold and shattered, my ruins softened like sponges into sand as snow
soaked the flanks of childless trees.

But as the moon-bleached sea woke the thirst of a thousand sails,
I primed my maw as their bones stirred in the shades of my steppes,
Only then did I know glory, for I was reborn among the satellites
Of that astrosphere

From whence my wrath will come.

Threshold of Kitezh, Siberia. Photo credit: FetchQuester

- Lucy A.

***

Sources: 

Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Microsoft Studios/Square Enix), Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos-Montréal); fandom.com

*Dedicated to Czarina and Diego.