The Birth of Kastalia (Demetrios Bardic)

By: Demetrios Posted on: January 20, 2006

In three ninety-four on a Daedalan day
Did a wail from the Keeper arise.
'Eleusis, the Flame of Zaphar fades away.
What true heart, its cause may surmise?
Fading, failing,
O, who shall discover the source of this pain
Before night snuffs the Light and it dies?'

'Ephialta!' cried Eski Windsong in his haste,
'My speed is for thee and thy Flame.
We soon shall discover the source of this waste.
Its violence our magicks shall tame.
Ember, remember,
Druid and Sentinel rush to thy cause.
Ere month's end, we shall know its name.'

Across lands, Imyrr Rousseau sighted the blight:
A roiling plague traveled the stream.
The noxious, foul sludge assailed both smell and sight
As it rolled like a thick, rotten cream.
Congealing, revealing,
Could this be the source of the Keeper's slow death?
What darkness had spawned this foul scheme?

But secrets of Zaphar slept, kept in a room
That lay deep in the Sea Temple's heart.
For cries not of death, but of birth pains did boom,
And, for this, did the Keeper take part.
Waning, straining,
As Sapience's rivers choked up with decay,
A new, shining life soon would start.

For nine years afore woke the Soul of the Moon,
The Lady Ourania rose.
Her undersea chamber with starlight was strewn
As She stood from Her final repose.
Sighing, crying,
She shed one last tear for Her Lover's demesne
For the beauty 'twixt currents and tows.

The Sea Lord was moved by Ourania's grief.
An exquisite measure, He took.
This jewel from His Gem, the Lord brought to His priest
To enshrine 'neath a vigilant look.
Sowing, growing,
The tear took on shape in the womb of the world
Tucked away in its watery nook.

Thus, after nine years, the tear quavered and changed
And took on an aspect of youth.
A maiden's pure features from moonseed arranged
To become a young Maiden in truth.
Forming, warming,
From Father and Mother Her spirit was formed -
A Goddess from toenail to tooth!

The new Maiden needed Her new lifeblood soon,
And under the realms did She call.
The rivers and lakes gave their blood as a boon,
And into Her veins they did fall.
Bleeding, needing,
A sacrifice for their new Mistress they gave:
Pure waters for lifeblood - their all.

But such a great gifting was not without cost
For lake and river and stream.
A plague of sludge grew as pure waters were lost.
In vile concentrations it gleamed.
Roiling, boiling,
The veins of the land were all clogged with the stuff
As the Maiden awoke from Her dream.

So, this was the root of the cry of Zaphar.
A new birth would herald great doom.
Moon Lady and Sea Lord both rushed from afar
To meet in Kastalia's room.
Waking, breaking,
Contingents led by Revelation Azon
Would see Her new-born from the womb.

Neraeos then granted Her part of His realm
From which Her own essence did take,
And this is why Daughter of Ocean and Moon
Is Mistress of River and Lake.
Raining, reigning,
The realms that gave life to Kastalia's heart,
Now of Her great love doth partake.

Mother sensed Daughter yet weak in the world,
And led her away to find rest,
But prior to entering Gardens unfurled,
She drew aside Greyda the blest.
Sowing, growing,
'Plant now this flower bulb borne of my love
In mystical springs I invest.'

Then Greyda - the speech of Eleusis - went forth,
Enshrouded the bulb in the spring,
So e'en the dryadic souls were thenceforth
Astounded and started to sing.
Blooming, pluming,
A lily as pure as the heart of a star!
Around it, white petals did ring.

Then Gork, Greyda, Delphinus, and Xel
Took petals, and swiftly they flew
To purify all the land's rivers and lakes,
With Kastalia's love to imbue!
Bringing, singing,
The plague of the sludge was dispersed at the touch
Of the petals strewn forth by this crew.

So let the lands wonder in awe at the birth
Of the Matron of waters thus clear.
She superintends the pure blood of all earth
That doth nourish the realms She holds dear.
Flowing, knowing,
The holiness of Sea and Moon intersect
Where Kastalia's grace doth appear.