Forgive me Father, For I have Sinned
Sandwich sighed, his vision blurring again. Soon he will be blind enough to be unable to carve his predictions
(Prophecies)
into the stone anymore. His wife, bless her heart, had offered to assist him more than once, but this was a job only he could do. Now his beloved wife was gone and he was going soon as well.
It mattered not, as long as he finished this final prophecy. This prophecy that would lead to peace here in the turbulent Underland. He was calling it "The Peacemaker".
He was not stupid, nor was he black-hearted (oh dearest Lord in Heaven, please let me not be unkind), so he understood that under his word of prophecy, his people in time will misguidedly follow his words into war and destruction. So much unneeded violence and cruelty; but it couldn't be done any other way. He could see that as his last prophecies came to life there would be people who would start seeing that they needed no prophecy to guide their way anymore. One day, far away it seems, his final prophecy will come to be and his people will not need his guiding hand any longer. He will become a relic of the past; beloved still, but put away.
His final prophecy; a gnawer with a cross of differing scars: one inflicted in heated battle and the other self-inflicted in cool calculation. Sandwich could see that the gnawer will use his last words to his own purposes, but if such purpose was to bring peace between his beloved children and the creatures of the Underland; Sandwich will make the prophecy and his child of vision will elect him Peacemaker.
One more line . . .
Sandwich was almost done with this prophecy. When he finished, he would finally allow the last of his breaths to leave his body and he would be at rest.
Was it enough? Had he done the right thing? Sandwich was no fool and he understood that the end was far away in time; but he needed to establish life here, in this sunless land, in order to preserve the lives of those who would seek salvation. He knew that his words would lead to war and blood in the future and many of his children will come to hate him for that; but he needed the words so peace can settle between Man and Beast. From the blood; there will rise a hero and a queen who will lead this unholy land into a blessed union of Human and Animal.
(Hate me, despair me, forget me)
He was a horrible man, but his intentions were good.
As he finished his final words, the few words of peace, Sandwich felt his body relax.
(I love you, my children. Hate me all you wish, but I love you)
In his final breath, Sandwich whispered hidden words from the Sun.
'Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I die before I awake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.'