v i c I O u s
BIFF BAM No. 9
1$
BO O
oblation
words • david ward art • jp fallavollita
IT STOOD BEFORE HIM.
SO HE CLIMBED.
THE MOUNTAIN.
and climbed.
LIKE HIS FATHER BEFORE HIM, ELDGRIM HAD TRAVELLED THROUGH THE FOREST OF BEARS, ACROSS THE COLD LAKE, OVER THE HILLS OF BONES (WHERE HIS PEOPLE HAD BEEN BURIED AND BURNT FOR MOONPASSINGS IMMEMORIAL, AND WHERE HE, TOO, WOULD ONE DAY OFFER HIS BLOOD AND BONES TO THE EARTH, SEA, AND SKY).
HE KNEW ONLY THROUGH WHISPERS, THROUGH THE MUTTERINGS OF THE GODI, OF WHAT AWAITED HIM.
NOW THERE WAS ONLY THE MOUNTAIN. ONLY ROCK. here...
...on the mountain.
IT’S TIME, ELDGRIM MY SON. IT’S TIME YOU SAW. TIME YOU UNDERSTOOD.
THEY’RE A WARNING. THEY MEAN NOTHING. IF ONE MANAGED TO EVEN FIND THIS PLACE, OUR PEOPLE PLACED THOSE AS WARNINGS: “ENTER AND YOU’LL BE PICKED APART. YOUR BONES SPLIT, YOUR TENDONS RIPPED.”
YES, FATHER. BUT WHAT IS THIS PLACE? WHY THESE RIDICULOUS BONES?
OUR PEOPLE, ELDGRIM. NONE FROM THE VILLAGE ARE OUR PEOPLE. WE ARE GODKUNNIGR. KIN OF GODS AND STARS. THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST LEARN. THE GODS ARE REAL.
OUR PEOPLE? BUT NONE FROM THE VILLAGE KNOW OF THIS PLACE, YOU SAID. REAL? FATHER, YOU’VE SPAT UPON THE NAMES OF ODINN AND THoRR. YOU’VE LAUGHED AT VALHALLA. WIPED YOUR ARSE WITH THEM.
I HAVE AND I WILL. THOSE GODS ARE FALSE, MEADSODDEN IMAGININGS OF THE BLIND. YOU ARE HERE TO SEE THE TRUTH. TO SEE THE SKYWALKER.
LOKI?
NO, SON. NOT LOKI.
THEN ASGEIR TOLD HIS SON OF RAGNARoK. THE END-TIMES. THE BURNING. ELDGRIM LEARNED THE TRUTH: OF GREAT CTHULHU, THE SEA-GOD WHO WALKED THE STARS AND SMOTE THE HEAVENS. OF THE ELDER ONES IN THEIR MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, AND OF THEIR WAR. WHEN THE HEAVENS RAINED FIRE AND THE WORLD BELOW TREMBLED AND SHOOK. WHEN THE WORLD WAS NEW AND WHEN THE WORLD WILL DIE. WHEN CTHULHU WOULD ONCE AGAIN RULE AND DEVOUR THE SUN.
ELDGRIM, TAKE THIS, AND GIVE IT YOUR BLOOD. FOR WHEN HE RISES, HE WILL KNOW US BY OUR BLOOD. WE WILL SMITE IN HIS NAME. THE WORLD WILL BE AWASH IN FIRE AND BLOOD. HE IS THE SKYWALKER AND BURNER OF WORLDS. WE WILL BATHE IN THE FLAMES.
FATHER, THANK YOU. I SEE NOW WHY YOU SHIT ON THEIR “GODS”. THEY ARE NOTHING. THEY STINK OF FALSEHOOD. WE ARE THE BURNING ONES, ARE WE NOT? THE ONES WHO WILL BRING THE FIRE, BRING THE END-TIMES?
SON, THERE IS STILL MORE TO LEARN, BUT NO, WE WILL NOT BRING THE FIRE.
we will bring him.