Dark Days Oracle
A “Wise World Without End” tale for our times
It was foretold by the Oracle that the dark days would come, when we — the Abassa sentinels — would have to lay down our glorious wings in sacrificial exchange for freedom.
And of course, when the day came, it was much like any other ending: sudden, sharp and laden with the burden of knowing that everything was no longer to be the same.
On that fated day, we Abassa did not find it easy to release our wings to the enemy, but still we succumbed to the rituals of abject loss. We stood tall and unflinching — stretching our lanky, skeletal forms upright — before the chopping hand of the great Mikonas, where we were de-winged: cut deep in our shoulder blades.
While others screamed and wailed, we silently succumbed to the formation of our wounds that no longer bleed, but forever will symbolize the scarification of defeat.
We knew, by the laws of Kasaba, we had no choice but to abide to the findings of the Oracle; hence, that butchering ritual. Or else, we would further doom the millions of generations to come to an existence far worse than extinction.
We watched quietly as each of our wings was placed on the Great Slate; one on top of the other, until 30 scores high. At this point, green moss was sprinkled along the…
