One, two, three, four
All the wardens in a row
Ruling us forever more
Watching over all below.
—Nursery rhyme sung in Ember schools
Another mooncycle has passed, and with each passing day the empire swells and grows. But it was not always so, as you know, as you know. The story I will tell today takes us to a time before the empire was an empire, before the wardens were called wardens.
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Oh, don’t groan and wail! You may know the story of the Ending Fire, but what of the Tannin?
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Oh, don’t scoff and cry! Bedside stories and nursery rhymes the Tannin may be, but listen to me…
Listen to me.
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Oh, I made you jump! That’s for the grumbles and heads that turned. Don’t get tired of a story or it’ll spook in return.
Eee, so listen to me. Listen to me.
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The sky began to crackle, the sun began to hide, the ground shook from beneath, and the rain came from the side.
“What could it be? What could it be?” the people howled.
The earth cracked open and lava flowed.
“What could it be? What could it be?” the people cried.
Three days passed, and many more had died.
And though they prayed and wailed and flailed, Anyme’s wrath still hailed.
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No one knew what they had done to cause the world to come undone, but on the fourth day the Abosom claimed, “Anyme was cleansing the land,” and they gave it a name.
The Ending Fire. The Ending Fire. THE ENDING FI—
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Ach! The people’s words were stolen as they were struck by rain of sparks and flame. Bringing the pain, the Ending Fire came.
The Abosom said the fire that would fall would be enough to befall the greatest of musawa, women, and men.
There was one group, eight ships all told, who had prepared for the journey before it took hold. Some say Anyme spoke to them, the wardens who were to come, and warned them of the need for hoarding, boarding and…gone!
Gone into the sea, the captains led their ships, with plants and animals, mortar and brick. All they would need to start a new world. All they would need to be freed from the old. Dusters and Ghostings and Embers all together.
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