Rost propelled himself on one hand for forty miles,<\/p>\n
And with the other for forty more. In this manner,<\/p>\n
He crossed the Sea of Quietude, which was itself<\/p>\n
Spitefully away from the light of day. Rost wore heavy<\/p>\n
Armor fashioned from metal baking dishes and duct tape,<\/p>\n
And he carried his sword through his chest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rost\u2019s sword, the legendary Kyulchtr-chyutra<\/p>\n
Was the bread-cleaver of a dwarf-giantess. with a ruby<\/p>\n
Pommel and a claw-hilt for creaming butter.<\/p>\n
Rost had fandango\u2019d with the giantess for the privilege<\/p>\n
So long as he promised to keep it close to his heart;<\/p>\n
His sternum became its new sheath.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The sea was not water. Rost was careful not to drink<\/p>\n
A drop of the dark he swam through.<\/p>\n
To do so would sink him to the bottom,<\/p>\n
Dead beyond death,<\/p>\n
Where even the entropy slept.<\/p>\n
He was very tired.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To get here, he had cursed the moon-lit sky six times as life left through<\/p>\n
The sucking wound where Kyulchtr-chyutra slept.<\/p>\n
The ground he cursed six times more, and he walked until<\/p>\n
The world peeled from him and he fell through soft<\/p>\n
Breezes, slowing as his feet broke the surface<\/p>\n
And he was in the dark of the Sea.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The empty sun that hung overhead<\/p>\n
Was a white ring that sung dim light<\/p>\n
On Rost and helped illuminate his destination.<\/p>\n
For what might have been a day he swam two hundred miles,<\/p>\n
Falling into a slave stupor, his head bobbing lower<\/p>\n
And lower with each and every stroke.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The horrible scratching of jagged glass against his chest<\/p>\n
Woke him up, and he stood up on the eternal shore of silence.<\/p>\n
It was obsidian that in the dim light had a shine<\/p>\n
That made the coast look paved with lightning.<\/p>\n
He pulled the sword out of his chest<\/p>\n
And coughed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rost walked away from the coast, his left arm dragging<\/p>\n
His sword behind him, leaving a thin trail in the glass.<\/p>\n
Soon he was stepping on flat black stone and vicious little creatures<\/p>\n
Came out to meet him. He forced his point and rivulets of blood<\/p>\n
Wrapped themselves around the horns of the beheaded strewn like crumbs behind Rost.<\/p>\n
He did not come for them; they were taken without hesitation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In this twilight kingdom there was no<\/p>\n
Horizon waiting, only a clear dark that hung<\/p>\n
Over the empty space.<\/p>\n
The only sight, beside the sun, to see were corpses<\/p>\n
Of other men who came to face their demons<\/p>\n
And did not make it so far.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rost walked into a field of gravestones and<\/p>\n
The natives of this other world began to keep<\/p>\n
A healthy distance away from the man.<\/p>\n
Rost could not read the names of the lost<\/p>\n
And forgotten had come so far, only to bury<\/p>\n
Themselves alive with their own melancholia.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Past the stones, Rost found his quarry<\/p>\n
Wrapped around the steeple of a burnt church.<\/p>\n
It was an ancient dragon, long bearded<\/p>\n
And emaciated from the ages.<\/p>\n
Rost raised Kyulchtr-chyutra and issued<\/p>\n
Silent challenge to the dragon.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI am the Grand Holy!<\/p>\n
I am the Melchizedek and Melchior!<\/p>\n
I am What Is and All That Was!\u201d<\/p>\n
said the dragon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am Maker of Flames<\/p>\n
And my name is Rex!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Rost.<\/p>\n
I am a man.<\/p>\n
I come from above.\u201d<\/p>\n
said Rost.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis sword is not mine,<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ll have your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The dragon unwound itself from the church,<\/p>\n
Beating gales with its wings and gathering<\/p>\n
Breath in its terrible maw, many miles above.<\/p>\n
Rost stood firm with Kyulchtr-chyutra<\/p>\n
And the sword flourished,<\/p>\n
Hastening the wind down.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fire rained down<\/p>\n
Out the dragon\u2019s mouth,<\/p>\n
Smoke and lightning clouding its face.<\/p>\n
Rost covered his head and the cold steel<\/p>\n
Of Kyulchtr-chyutra took in the flames,<\/p>\n
Smelling of blood and bread freshly baking.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rost pressed forward while the dragon<\/p>\n
Was blind from its expulsions<\/p>\n
And removed one of its toes.<\/p>\n
He watched the pain quickly climb up<\/p>\n
The long of the dragon,<\/p>\n
Arching its back and forcing its roar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Down came a claw, and off it went too.<\/p>\n
Down came the maw, and the dragon<\/p>\n
Hesitated before Rost\u2019s sword.<\/p>\n
Rost thrust Kyulchtr-chyutra forward<\/p>\n
And cut into its jaw, the blade finally meeting<\/p>\n
A match worth fighting.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rost was flailed back and forth as<\/p>\n
The dragon tried to knock the sword<\/p>\n
Off of its face. Rost took a breath and<\/p>\n
In the middle of the tussle found<\/p>\n
Just the right angle to fling himself down<\/p>\n
The throat of the beast.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The dragon heaved and coughed<\/p>\n
With enough force that both Rost<\/p>\n
and Kyulchtr-chyutra were thrown<\/p>\n
Back to the stone-field where the corpse-trail<\/p>\n
and head-path remained.<\/p>\n
The dragon came soon.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rost took up the sword again<\/p>\n
With a resolute face.<\/p>\n
He stared down the dragon as it glared.<\/p>\n
There was a chittering noise,<\/p>\n
tiny and fierce.<\/p>\n
Rost heard it around him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
From the north came the dragon<\/p>\n
And from the west came that noise<\/p>\n
That in the south was just echo\u2019d<\/p>\n
But the east made in stereo.<\/p>\n
Rost held his blade firm when<\/p>\n
East came the first dragonling.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rost propelled himself on one hand for forty miles, And with the other for forty more. In this manner, He crossed the Sea of Quietude,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\n