Ransom

Here I walk, 
A wanderer, alone
Sojourning in a country
That I cannot call home.

In this vast, dark world
I posses nothing in hand
The path ahead reminds me,
I am weary of this land.

Strangers find me
Unprepared and unaware.
They introduce me to wonders
Odd creatures and light so fair.

There are quiet tidings
That I am to be presented,
To what, only heaven knows.
Is it wrong to have resented

These creatures that give summon?
Yes, now I clearly see. 
They are not the monsters
I led myself to believe.

In the deep blue water, 
I hear a faint voice speak, 
To my companion it told,
Bid me Meldilorn to seek.

My companions urge me go,
But I chose to stay.
To hunt in their boat,
The water monster to slay.

Besting the beast,
We rejoice after the strife.
From afar we heard a crack
Leaden death stole Hoy’s life.

I run toward the hill,
To climb with all my power
The mountainous plateau
To arrive at Augrey’s Tower.

There is terror in my heart, 
But something else unknown.
Inside my chest I find
A sprig of courage has grown.

This ogre tells me stories,
Of worlds so far and near.
And that one, Thulcandra,
The Heavens can no longer hear.

The highlands are so desolate.
No air for my earthly frame.
On a giant’s back I ride
To meet this creature of such fame.

From the surface wastes into
The lowlands we descend
Where the beauty of Meldilorn 
Lay just around the bend.

The valley is a paradise, 
With an island inside a lake.
We met a Hross at the shore,
Said, “To Meldilorn now take.”

The coracle covered the distance.
I stepped upon the shore.
The boater bid me go inside.
Now my fear grew all the more.

The dwelling has many creatures.
I’m told, “dwell in this valley, await.
They will call you when it’s time.”
Now I sit and ponder my fate.

Who is this ruler, Oyarsa, 
That soon bids me come?
Was I stolen from my world
To answer for all I’d done?

My time here gives me rest.
Mind refreshed, now at ease.
When an eldil voice did say,
“To Oyarsa now go, please.”

So the court of the ruler,
Of this strange world I sought.
To the clearing I entered
When suddenly I had a thought.

Strange sensation all around me,
There are Malacandrians too.
But the voice of an eldil
Now fills my senses through.

This Oyarsa bids me welcome
But asks me what did keep,
Me from obeying the summons.
Now the world does weep. 

“For evil came back to the planet
Through three Thulcandrian men.
Two fired death upon my hnau.
Again we feel the sting of sin.”

All I could do was stand there, 
Looking at the three who died;
And the two men that brought me.
I just wanted to hide.

I am then told wonders
Of this universe so vast.
That on this world,
War raged in far past.

The Oyarsa of my world
Rebelled in days of old.
Thrown from high heaven
And struck this planet, I’m told.

Malacandra’s surface now cold,
From the bent one’s violence.
But Oyarsa Malancandra
Bound him to his world in silence.

Oyarsa did not know,
From that point the full story.
He asked me to tell him,
Tales of Maleldil’s glory.

Did He step down into Thulcandra,
To wrestle with its Powers?
Set the ‘hnau’ free,
Toppling the world’s dark towers?

The reality of it hit me.
A whole paradigm shift
I now understood,
My eyes to Him now lift.

I admit, my world is bent.
Not like this world, Mars.
But to it came the One,
Who rules all planets and stars.

But at the center of it all
Is just one blessed name
Maleldil the young
The son of God, slain.

To make war on that Oyarsa,
Who long ago fell.
Took my race with him.
Dragging them to his hell.

Maleldil became man, 
Took to self, body and breath.
They lifted Him on a tree,
He drank our cup of death.

In His love so large,
And us creatures so small.
He resurrected from the grave
Reversing our parents fall.