The Harbinger of Dread

The Harbinger of Dread

She rode upon a battered path
Over barren hills of desolation
Fire erupted in the sky
Her message nigh of salvation

A hellish hooded robe of black
Atop a steed of heavenly white
Galloping at the speed of wind
A contradiction in the fight

Throughout the land she searched
For the recipients of her hallowed news
Worthy were not most of them
It was not her fate to choose

She held a bag of leather
That had seen its better day
Confined in her possession
It held directions for her prey

A barer of their fates
A herald of impending doom
She cast upon the wanderers
A message filled with gloom

In the lands of Purgatory
She was such an unwelcomed sight
Any being who met with her
Had no hope to see the light

For the Lords of Purgatory
Had charged her with a task
Of delivering a summons
To those who hid behind the mask

Sinners, murderers, doers of wrong
Walked the roads as the undead
Living in constant fear of news
From the Harbinger of Dread

Their fate was sealed, their penance known
By the letter in her hand
It gave them the secreted map
To end their wandering of the land

And so they marched, fearfully onward
To the gates of the mighty throne
Ready to serve their punishment
An eternity all alone

A macabre level of atonement
For each and every sin
Never ending in the torture
No chance of life again

They begged and screamed and bellowed
At the vast and ghastly sight
The devil’s own chamber
A bastion of the unright

Winged and horned creatures
Attacking as they walked
Beaten by the hand of Satan
Their destinies forever locked

Branded upon there chest
A burning sign of hate
A rite they must sacrifice
Before entering the gate

And so for the forgotten traveler
The journey all but ends
Once they enter the burning walls
Their souls they must amend

With a fleeting glance from the wanderer
They could see her as she fled
Looking for another lost soul
The Harbinger of Dread