The Destroyer
The Destroyer
The Destroyer
Only the wise know where it went and that it will return in its appointed hour. It raged across the Heavens in the days of wrath, and this was its likeness: It was as a billowing cloud of smoke enwrapped in a ruddy glow, not distinguishable in oint or limb. Its mouth was an abyss from which came flame, smoke and hot cinders. !hen ages pass, certain laws operate upon the stars in the Heavens. "heir ways change, there is movement and restlessness, they are no longer constant and a great light appears redly in the skies. !hen blood drops upon the #arth, the Destroyer will appear and mountains will open up and belch forth fire and ashes. "rees will be destroyed and all living things engulfed. !aters will be swallowed up by the land and seas will boil. "he Heavens will burn brightly and redly, there will be a copper hue over the face of the land, followed by a day of darkness. $ new moon will appear and break up and fall. "he people will scatter in madness. "hey will hear the trumpet and battle cry of the Destroyer and will seek refuge in the den in the #arth. "error will eat away their hearts and their courage will flow from them like water from a broken pitcher. "hey will be eaten up in the flames of wrath and consumed by the breath of the Destroyer. "hus in the Days of Heavenly !rath, which have gone, and thus it will be in the Days of Doom when it comes again. "he times of its coming and going are known unto the wise. "hese are the signs and times which shall precede the Destroyer%s return: $ hundred and ten generations shall pass into the !est and nations will rise and fall. Men will fly in the air as birds and swim in the seas as fishes. Men will talk peace one with another, hypocrisy and deceit shall have their day. !omen will be as men and men as women, passion will be a plaything of man. $ nation of soothsayers shall rise and fall and their tongue shall be the speech learned. $ nation of law givers shall rule the #arth and pass away into nothingness. One worship will pass into the four &uarters of the #arth, talking peace and bringing war. $ nation of the seas will be greater than any other, but will be as an apple rotten at the core and will not endure. $ nation of traders will destroy men with wonders and it shall have its day. "hen shall the high strive with the low, the 'orth with the (outh, the #ast with the !est, and the light with the darkness. Men shall be divided by their races and the children will be born as strangers among them. )rother shall strive with brother and husband with wife. *athers will no longer instruct their sons and their sons will be wayward. !omen will become the common property of men and will no longer be held in regard and respect. "hen men will be ill at ease in their hearts, they will seek they know not what, and uncertainty and doubt will trouble them. "hey will possess great riches but be poor in spirit. "hen will the Heavens tremble and the #arth move, men will &uake in fear and while terror walks with them the Heralds of Doom will appear. "hey will come softly, as thieves to the tombs, men will no know them for what they are, men will be deceived, the hour of the Destroyer is at hand.
In those days men will have the +reat )ook before them, wisdom will be revealed, the few will be gathered for the stand, it is the hour of trial. "he dauntless ones will survive, the stout,hearted will not go down to destruction. +reat +od of $ll $ges, alike to all, who sets the trials of man, be merciful to our children in the Days of Doom. Man must suffer to be great, but hasten not his progress unduly. In the great winnowing, be not too harsh on the lesser ones among men. #ven the son of a thief has become -our scribe. O (entinels of the .niverse who watch for the Destroyer, how long will your coming vigil last/ O mortal men who wait without understanding, where will you hide yourselves in the Dread Days of Doom, when the Heavens shall be torn apart and the skies rent in twain, in the days when children will turn grey,headed/ "his is the thing which will be seen, this is the terror your eyes will behold, this is the form of destruction that will rush upon you: "here will be the great body of fire, the glowing head with many mouths and eyes ever changing. "errible teeth will be seen in formless mouths and a fearful dark belly will glow redly from fires inside. #ven the most stout,hearted man will tremble and his bowels be loosened, for this is not a thing understandable to men. It will be a vast sky,spanning form enwrapping #arth, burning with many hues within wide open mouths. "hese will descend to sweep across the face of the land, engulfing all in the yawning aws. "he greatest warriors will charge against it in vain. "he fangs will fall out, and lo, they are terror,inspiring things of cold hardened water. +reat boulders will be hurled down upon men, crushing them into red powder. $s the great salt waters rise up in its train and roaring torrents pour towards the land, even the heroes among mortal men will be overcome with madness. $s moths fly swiftly to their doom in the burning flame, so will these men rush to their own destruction. "he flames going before will devour all the works of men, the waters following will sweep away whatever remains. "he dew of death will fall softly, as grey carpet over the cleared land. Men will cry out in their madness, 0O whatever )eing there is, save us from this tall form of terror, save us from the grey dew of death.0 "he Doomshape, called the Destroyer, in #gypt, was seen in all the lands whereabouts. In colour it was bright and fiery, in appearance changing and unstable. It twisted about itself like a coil, like water bubbling into a pool from an underground supply, and all men agree it was a most fearsome sight. It was not a great comet or a loosened star, being more like a fiery body of flame. Its movements on high were slow, below it swirled in the manner of smoke and it remained close to the sun whose face it hid. "here was a bloody redness about it, which changed as it passed along its course. It caused death and destruction in its rising and setting. It swept the #arth with grey cinder rain and caused many plagues, hunger and other evils. It bit the skin of men and beast until they became mottled with sores.
"he #arth was troubled and shook, the hills and mountains moved and rocked. "he dark smoke, filled Heavens bowed over #arth and a great howl came to the ears of men, borne to them upon the wings of the wind. It was the cry of the Dark 1ord, the Master of Dread. "hick clouds of fiery smoke passed before him and there was an awful hail of hot stones and coals of fire. "he Doomshape thundered sharply in the Heavens and shot out bright lightings. "he channels of water were turned back unto themselves when the land tilted, and great trees were tossed about and snapped like twigs. "hen a voice like ten thousand trumpets was heard over the wilderness, and before its burning breath the flames parted. "he whole of the land moved and mountains melted. "he sky itself roared like ten thousand lions in agony, and bright arrows of blood sped back and forth across its face. #arth swelled up like bread upon the hearth. "his was the aspect of the Doomshape called the Destroyer, when it appeared in days long gone by, in olden times. It is thus described in the old records, few of which remain. It is said that when it appears in the Heavens above, #arth splits open from the heat, like a nut roasted before the fire. "hen flames shoot up through the surface and leap about like fiery fiends upon black blood. "he moisture inside the land is all dried up, the pastures and cultivated places are consumed in flames and they and all trees become white ashes. "he Doomshape is like a circling ball of flame which scatters small fiery offspring in its train. It covers about a fifth part of the sky and sends writhing snakelike fingers down to #arth. )efore it the sky appears frightened, and it breaks up and scatters away. Midday is no brighter than night. It spawns a host of terrible things. "hese are things said of the Destroyer in the old records, read them with a solemn heart, knowing that the Doomshape has its appointed time and will return. It would be foolish to let them go unheeded. 'ow men say, 0(uch things are not destined for our days0. May the +reat +od above grant that this be so. )ut come, the day surely will, and in accordance with his nature man will be unprepared. 2 $nd the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 3 $nd he opened the bottomless pit4 and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace4 and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 5 $nd there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 6 $nd it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree4 but only those men which have not the seal of +od in their foreheads. 7 $nd to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 8 $nd in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it4 and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
9 $nd the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle4 and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. : $nd they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. ; $nd they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron4 and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. 2< $nd they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 22 $nd they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is $baddon =>a?u,"iamon@, but in the +reek tongue hath his name $pollyon =>a?u,"iamon@. 23 One woe is past4 and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.