The Oratorio
Act 1: From the Top
In the beginning there was a bright white nothing. The Great Skald pierced their own instruments of change and reached out to touch the void. From the humors flowed multitudinous tendrils that snaked and warped creating the world in one continuous stroke.
And what a work it was, though incomplete.
The same line that drew the bottom of the ocean etched the highest mountain points and right up into the sky a beacon of light and swashes of cloud and star. This artwork coursed and surrounded the Great Skald until that was all that could be seen, layering on and on as depth lent itself to the hints of beings great and small, fragments of life that would populate the work.
And what a work it was, though incomplete.
The Great Skald then reached into the mortal tapestry of the new world and pulled from it the frayed threads and touched them to tongue. The wetting then returned to the works where the vibrant hues saturated the art spread like watercolors.
And what a work it was, though incomplete.
At last the unending coil of song was released into the world and we were born by breath into stories where we shaped our fables by deed and firelight. The Great Skald dove in to join us once and only once... where a handful were gathered to gain purpose by the bard's tale.
Because what a work it was, though forevermore incomplete.
Act 2: Sages and Stages
The Great Skald stood before the half moon of collected Maestro of their elements. The beings that had been gifted by the imperfections in the art's pooling mediums would now be considered champions of their own making, but these few above all held the distinction by the Great Skald's own design.
And so the stage was set for the sages of old, for players friend and foe.
It was said unto them: "It is you who will be charged with the direction of your many odysseys and aid others in theirs... by grieving upon them conflict to overcome or tools to do so. But know that at the end-all, you are equal and one in rhyme and legend."
And so the stage was set for the sages of old, for players friend and foe.
Their children's children and children's children would continue the ideals of the Great Skald's script long after it was forgotten for whom or why it was ever done. Duty became nature and personality. They became gods rather than guides.
And so the stage was set for the sages of old, for players friend and foe.
Wars raged, plagues spread, heroes rose into halls of note and malefactors into infamy. From tragic endings to perfect new beginnings, the Great Skald enjoyed them and the small incidents in daily lives most of all.
And so the stage was set for the sages of old, for players friend and foe.
Act 3: Klangfarbenmelodie
The Great Skald continues the unending song, weaving into the coils of the grand tapestry new threads pulled from the far reaches of the illustrious design. New blood to melt into the lineage of kings and curses alike. New inspirations and muses born from new minds and old souls.
Recycled stories into new reprisals
The lost are found again.
Then the Great Skald reached out and touched the magnum opus with both hands and the ripples spread and collided from the two starting points. Memories blurred and stitched with picky care for the sake of the polyphonic pizzicato of the ballad for our sound-color melody.
Recycled stories into new reprisals
The lost are found again.
The Great Skald attends each final repose and hears out each requiem presented. Speak, the loved and the hated, speak and breathe life back into the legend. And the bard may compose an aria for them, too. The artist may remember their image in a greater pointillism. The writer may record them still.
Recycled stories into new reprisals
The lost are found again.
