1. LIBERA SOLIS

For twenty days of nightfall, our people have suffered endlessly
Their bones tremble, tremble upon the graves of their sons
Where the once mighty river flowed clear and prosperous
A parasitic channel pervades, feasting on the buried

Turned to the gods, their will to appease
Pleading without avail for the sun to answer
To answer the dying valley, devoured by turmoil
Long since eclipsed by the mountains, the village is cast into nothingness

Amassed at the temple, auto-sacrifice commences
Daughters ushered from their shelter, tearing for escape
Cast to the foot of the temple, their veins reluctant
To beckon for the light, to obey the divine

Each bled and butchered to a revolting pulp
Where tissue met neither blade nor spear
Jagged boulders served as their final burial
Littered with bones, stretching beyond light’s grasp

The exiled, the widower, demanded is his presence
Enter he whose spirit shall summon the sun


2. ALTAR OF THE SUN

A top the summit, my eyes trace the mountainside
Gusts of rain and wind on torches, illuminating the night
A starless and blackened endeavor is my descent along the mountain
Taking heed to falling rain, knowing it well to be my last

Rope saturated with rain and sweat, abrading my wrists
With limbs dragged through entrails and bone

The people await me at the foot of the temple, each calling
Calling for my blood, to feed the earth
Mirrored statues preside over the foot of the temple,
Each bearing torch in hand

The flames engulfing my vision
Mictlan, Mictlan, My fate you have foreseen

Closer, Brighter, The mantra swells in fury
Obsidian grasped by darkness masked, the altar stands abhorring
Bound by rope, deafened by fear
The frigid stone greets my torso, as raw and biting as the wind

Alas, the eyes of the masses are upon me
To bestow the wrath of their bludgeoning sacrament

This vessel to feed the earth, plasma flowing through every channel
Trickling through the temple, to saturate the soil for eternity

Closer, Brighter, The mantra swells in fury
Obsidian grasped by darkness masked, the altar stands abhorring
Bound by rope, deafened by fear
The frigid stone greets my torso, as raw and biting as the wind

A great energy surrounds the temple, imbuing its essence within the stone
Aura growing, rainfall deafening, the equilibrium shifts
Accept this sacrifice upon our people, atop our highest peak


3. MICTLAN

Before my feet lay scattered, remnant offerings of a world far lost
Topaz and silver glisten among the frailest blades of grass
Each motionless, deafened by the stillness of the dead, void of color
Long neglected by the light, a reflection of attrition

Kneeling to collect thy worldly offerings, my path remains uncertain
A familiar apparition receives me, a construct of my living memory

Long since passed from the land, her spirit has come to guide me

Anima from life beyond, extending her reach to me
Rising to my feet, I awaken from transmigration
Where flesh has expired, spirit shall wander
Where the light goes to slumber, delusions conjure

Radiating upon a blackened sky, the sleeping star extends its grasp
To a land which He does not reveal, dwelling eternally in dismal twilight

The plains are silent and windless, the air stilled as if listening for His presence
The one who hoards, mounding a temple of souls
His collection lacking but one, one named I
Once bound to me through lineage, since eradicated through banishment

He waits, ever patient, harboring a malice
Shadow of the former son, bones dissolved within the sand

The skin reduced to an ophidian reflection of his former self
Complexion misconstrued by spite, cast from light eternally
Waiting for the passage to unfold, such that he may inhabit the living once more

Kneeling to collect thy worldly offerings, my path remains uncertain



4. PLAINS OF THE SOARING DAGGER

With no torch to light the way, my steps are slow and silent
Ever cautious is the hunted, in the domain of shadows
Gripping my guide’s wrist, I feel the wind begin to grow
Faint at first, hastening into a bellowing gust
Bowing every tree to its will

Distraught, I stagger to my feet, nearly overcome from the winds
My guide looks to me with knowing eyes, telling of the fate of the land
The land of an earthen tomb, where we must venture
Through the plains of the soaring dagger

My pulse quickens, as our pace hastens towards the mountains
Still miles beyond, with the grave of the dismembered stretching indefinitely
The shrieks in the field ever silenced by the gale,
Their hopes banished, their bodies motionless.
Spirit flowing from the egress of their eyes, leaving the shell to decompose

The end is never within reach, with every step met by dread
Where each stride evades their bones, snarling roots snare and moan
To immobilize the prey for the fleeting knife to have its way
May my rest be not met within this forsaken place of misery

Breathless and delirious, I collapse
Lamenting the fate of his inevitable wickedness
Still I see his face, once virtuous and pure
Now slain by the father


5. SOLAR MIGRATION

A migration of souls, orbs floating in unison
Emitting but a faint luminescence, each seeking to enter the sun
Offerings fulfilled, their souls returned to flesh
Suspended in anticipation for the passage to reveal

Following their path, I traverse the land
From life into death, through bestial plains I spanned
Now exalted, I gaze with weary eyes to the
Radiating summit, cascading from the sky
With offerings in hand, and limbs struck by atrophy
Begun is my ascent, to rise beyond this dreary land
Through valleys of the nameless and ephemeral, to the summit undying

Standing before the unspoken, overseer of barrenness
Amassed at his feet lay the offerings of each celestial migrant
Trembling with trepidation, summoning my voice
I depart from my physical form

Sanctioned by their gods, I embrace the land
Seeping through the cracks, the essence projects through stone
Every fiber scorching as if lit by an insatiable blaze
Submitting, the remains migrate within the atrium

Before the altar of the immortal one, in the court of a dismal sun
Amber light flickers throughout the hall
With walls towering beyond sight
Stretching like fingers to grasp the light beyond

Without hesitation, the light envelops me
Rotating in a manic haze, the walls begin to shift
A great, turbulent energy fills the void
through the entity, this celestial vessel

Migration now seamless, every element of being coalesced into the enduring eternal
my passage is now complete