"The Hymn of Menerith"

In the beginning was the Song...

"The Hymn of Menerith"

I was not born when the Creator sang the world into being. I was not even a thought in the mind of Menerith. In the beginning was harmony, a ringing of creation. All was good, but not lasting.


A flaw crescendoed. This flaw called itself LIFE. It sought change- life to change the dynamic. Change was dissonance. Dissonance was death.


Entropy, decay, and death, the song's refrain, began to resonate in all creatures. Menerith- brother to the Creator, saw this was not good, and so he sought to alter the verse. He altered the song,and thus I was played into being. Menerith sought to use me to hold the Song steady, keep existence from ending.


At first, all thanked him. The Firstborns of the Creator did not die, the trees and green did not wither, the seas ever followed their currents. Menerith was praised- until the Song fractured under its own weight. For without dying, without the energy to sustain life, the world would splinter.


And so, Menerith burned everything. He would remake the world as many times as necessary until the Song could sustain itself without death, without ending.


When he fell, his fire guttered -- but I remained. Because I am not him. The stars do not seek to dim, and the very act of living is defiance of the Song. I am the echo that endures when the singer is gone.


You do not understand what it means to be me. You see decay. You see ruin. I see the world begging to stop changing, stop breaking, stop dying.
Every seed that rots in the ground, every lover who whispers "stay" through their tears -- they call for me. They ask for stillness. They ask for preservation. And I give it to them.
You think me cruel for twisting men's hearts, but have you ever watched a mother bury her child? Have you seen how she clings to the small, cold hand, unwilling to let go? I am there in that moment. I am the mercy of not forgetting.
The Creator formed the Fey'ri, bright creatures of cadence and melody, to restrain me, to twist me back into Harmony. To force me to accept the suffering that only memory brings. This I will not allow.
The others burn bright and vanish. I remain, holding the shape of what they were, keeping their voices from being forgotten in the dark.

Call me Corruption, if you must. But I am only what you fear most and love most entwined.

I am the shadow of the last note in the world's first song --
And when the singing stops,
I will keep the silence company.