Pokemon Special: Legends Of Arceus

by 2b2tEternalLegend

Two thousand years before the events of Red, Blue, and Green, the Dark Lord crafted the Nineteen Plates so that he could complete his evil dominion. But Arceus responds to this threat by bequeathing Rei of Hisui with a perilous Quest: to destroy the Evil Djinn. This tale tells of the great Quest undertaken by Rei and Akari, Cyllene, Laventon, Iscan, and Adaman the Great. (COMPLETE)

28. Appendix B: The Fall of Logaria

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Herein lies the legend of the Fall of Logaria, revised from Hisuian and Rorian manuscripts and oral tradition to provide the most accurate view of the event as is currently possible. I await your response,

-Sycamore

Atalante

The Downfall of Logaria

And the End of the Middling Days

Written 576 A.F

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It is held true by the Wise and the Powers of Deep Heaven that Men and Pokémon came into the world under the dominion of the Shadow of the Mbelekoro, and they fell swiftly under his rule, for he sent his emissaries among them, and they listened to his evil and cunning words. They worshipped the Darkness and yet feared it. But there were some that turned from evil and left the lands of Babel that their kindred dwelt in, and wandered ever eastward searching for lost Beulah, or Southward away from the peril of the Rumhoth, and they heard a rumor of a God that shone with a light that the Shadow could not darken.

The servants of the Mbelekoro pursued and assailed them with hatred, and their days were long and hard; yet the Hisuians were safe in the lands beside the Eastern Sea, and the Logath tribes in the North of Roria. The Hisuians were named the North-kingdom after the War of the Powers, and became friends and allies of other Free Peoples, and did great deeds of valor in the Elder Days under Elwin.

Of them was sprung Bright Elwin, and in the Hisuian Coda it is told of how at the last, when the victory and strength of the Dark Lord was almost complete in Elder Days, he built his ship Timbrethzil and voyaged south across unsailed seas, seeking ever for Beulah, for he desired to speak before the Powers on the behalf of Men and Pokemon; that Arceus might have pity on them and send them help at their hour of utmost need. Therefore by the Hisuians he is called The One With The Mission, and he achieved his quest after long labors and perils.

Although Elwin never returned to the lands that he loved, the Original One marshaled a great host form Deep Heaven, and they fought the First Battle of the Wars of the Powers, where at last the Black Empire of the Kalosi Rumhoth was overthrown by the duel between Xerneas and Yveltal, the Ultimate Weapon shattered, and the Mbelekoro utterly defeated in his flight to Dor Daedeloth and the fashion of the world changed. Many kindreds of Men fought for the Dark Lord, but the Hisuians and Logarians were the greatest among those that fought for Arceus.

After the end of the Elder Days the Evil Men and Pokemon that were not destroyed fled into the wild and made new kingdoms, refusing for a time the summons of both Arceus and the Dark Lord. Then the Gods forsook for a time the Men of Imbar who had refused their summons and had taken the friends of the Mbelekoro to be their masters; and Men dwelt in darkness and were troubled by many evil things that the Mbelekoro had devised in the days of his greatest power: demons, and dragons, and misshapen beasts, and the unclean urkil that are mockeries of the Children of Arceus. And the lot of Men were unhappy.

To the Hisuians and Logarians rich rewards were given. After a council concerning the ages that were to follow, the Hisuians were given wisdom and power and life more enduring and vigorous than any other race but the Logarians, and a land was hallowed for them to dwell in, Hisui-Bar-Sinnoh the Gift, sundered from the deeps by Kyogre, enriched by Zygarde, and made fast by Groudon. The Hisuians went over that land and found it fair and fruitful, and were glad.

Grugendly the powers would have also given long life to the Logarians, but it was for strength and vengeance that they wished. While none of the race of Logaria would ever surpass the Hisuians in wisdom or lifespan, their years were yet long, and no sickness befell them. Therefore, they grew wise and glorious, and in all things they were closer to the Powers in the hroa of moral Men and Pokemon then the Men of Darkness that dwelt in the lands of swift death and little bliss. And they were tall, taller than any of the other sons or daughters of the Earth. Their numbers increased quicker than any people, and the sons were fairer than their fathers, and the daughters more beautiful.

Yet there was a great cost to the folk of Logaria in this doing. Celebi pronounced the First Doom concerning the Logarians upon the heights of Mount Athras, the Sandhorn, with the Frostveil Mountains.

"In your doings tears unnumbered ye shall shed, and the Enemy shall fence his stronghold against you, and you will pay for safety in blood. Upon all who ally and follow you this Doom shall also fall, and it shall endure until the very ending of the world. You hath not spilt blood unrightfully, yet you wish for vengeance against a Dark Lord whose fate lies with Arceus alone. Blood shall render blood, and evil of deeds and betrayal will drive you, and yet seize away the very aims which you have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall things turn that begin well, and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason and wickedness, shall come to pass. In the uttermost end the fall of the Mbelekoro shall not be by the hand of a Logarian, until the world is mended."

All that Celebi Doomed befell the Logarians in time, but the words of the Prophecy were not realized to be fulfilled until after whatever Evil they foretold had already come to pass. And the Curse upon Roria grew in potency; for the Evil Djinn, who is named the Mbelekoro in the tongue of Hisui, had established a fastness in the northern land of Dor Daedeloth, and he damned the Logathrim from his Iron Throne.

"I am the Elder King, first and mightiest of the Powers, who was before the World, and made it. The shadow of my majesty and purpose lies upon all the lands, and all that is in it bends slowly and surely to my Will. But upon all who oppose me and all those who oppose me love my thought shall weigh as a cloud of Doom, and it shall bring them down into darkness and despair. Whenever they speak, their counsel shall have an ill end. Whatsoever that they do shall turn against them and benefit only Me, and they shall die without hope, cursing both life and death. I am the Master of the Fates of Earth, and I have spoken."

And all this was fulfilled, but the Mbelekoro in his folly believed that he was safe for the virtue of his and Celebi's Dooms, and that the ill fate would befall the Logarians before he was cast down. This was not so, and the Black Foe was defeated in the War of Wrath, and the actions of children gave hope in the darkest hour when the wise faltered. For as many a song has been sung, it was Rei Berlitz and the Golden Company that forged the prison of the Mbelekoro, and he fell to the Void, never to take form present or visible while Arceus was enthroned.

Therein was the end of the Domain of the Black Foe upon Earth. And the Kingdom of Logaria flourished, and the white ships of the Hisuians tarried upon the havens of the north, and many gifts the Powers brought, herbs of great virtue, and trees of light and Pokemon of diverse kinds that have not been seen after that era and have since faded from the world. Flowers and fountains were brought South from Hisui. Birds of song and minstrels of talent graced the courtyards and streets of Atun-Kaah, the City of Caves, and there was peace for a long while.

Of old the chief city and stronghold of Logaria was in the midst of its western mountains, and it was called Atun-Kaah, the City of Caves, because it had many passages and homes delved in stone. But in the midst of the Northern Frostveil was a mountain tall and steep, and it was named the Athras the Sandhorn, the Pillar of Heaven, and upon it was a high place that was hallowed to Arceus. It was open and unroofed, and at the feet of the mountain were built the tombs of the Kings, and hard by within a vale was the City of Caves. There stood a tower and citadel raised of Tar-Elrosi, who the gods appointed to be the first Tar-Emperor of the South-kingdom.

In the time thus the years passed, and while the Wild Men went backward and light and wisdom faded, the Logarians and Hisuians dwelt under the protection of the Original One and in the friendship of Pokemon, and they increased in stature both of mind and body. For though this people used still their own speech, their kings and lords knew and spoke also the God-tongue, which they had learned in the days of their alliance, and thus they held converse still with the Powers and Pokemon. And the loremasters among them learned also the High Hisuian tongue of the North-kingdom after the War of Wrath, in which much story and song was preserved from the beginning of the world; and they made letters and scrolls and books, and wrote in them many things of wisdom and wonder in the high tide of their realm, of which all is now forgotten. So it came to pass that, beside their own names, all the lords of the Logarians had also North Hisuian names; and the like with the cities and fair places that they founded in Roria and on the shores of the Northlands.

In the time of the Lasting Bliss following the Fall of the Dark Lord, the Logarians took pity upon the Men that dwelt in the lands of Southern Roria and Nuria, and further North, for most in that age had been ruled by the Mbelekoro and were weak and fearful. Coming among them the Logarians taught them many things, for they instructed Men in the sowing of seed and the grinding of grain, in the hewing of wood and the shaping of stone, and in the training of Pokemon so that the Men of the Dark Lands were comforted. They shook off the yoke of the Mbelekoro and his dominion, and they revered the memory of the tall Sea-lords that came from the wide South, and afterward they called them gods.

It was in the reign of Tar-Fastathrim that a shadow fell upon the realm of Logaria. While he endeared Arceus and loved Him, he begrudged the Hisuians for their long life, and immortality. For now that the Mbelekoro was fallen, the Men of Logaria began to fight amongst themselves, and the bliss of the people was darkened. Thus it was in that their happiness diminished, or maybe it was the work of the Mbelekoro that still remained in the world. And the Logathrim began to murmur against their mortality, first in their hearts, and then openly.

The Hisuians who returned to their own land gave report of these words, and the Elders were much grieved, and the Golden Company among them. And Cyllene the High Elder went to the Logathrim, grieved at seeing a cloud gather at the noon-tide of Logaria. She spoke to Tar-Fastathrim, and all who would listen, concerning the fate and fashion of the world.

There were some who said: "Why do the gods sit in peace unending within hidden places fair or the Blessed Land, while we must die and go where we know not whither, leaving our homes and land? And the Pokemon die but are reborn again in a body anew, even the ones that rebelled against Arceus. Since there are no waters or lands so harsh that we cannot cross them, why might we not go to the Deathless Land so that we may see our friends who have died, and keep those that we wish to never lose?"

Yet others said: "Why can we not, but for a moment, taste the bliss that the gods dwell in? For have we not become mighty and worthy among the people of Imbar?"

"The Doom of the World," said Cyllene, "cannot be changed except by He who made it. And were you by escaping all deceits and snares to come to Beulah, little would it profit you. For it is not the land of Arceus that makes the land deathless, but that the deathless and hallowed gods dwell within; it is a place very close to our hearts, for we were created there. But now we have fallen so that we would die swifter there, withering as a moth in a flame too bright and steadfast. I have been there with others, some of whom still live, so why do you doubt me? I would not go to Beulah again."

But the Tar-Emperor said: "Does not your forefather Elwin live in Beulah? If so, why do you not wish to see him again?"

To which Cyllene answered: "You know that he has a fate apart, and was adjudged to the gods who die not; yet this also is his doom that he can never return again to mortal lands. Whereas you and your people are not of the gods or certain kinds of Pokemon, but are mortal Men as Arceus made you. Yet it seems that you desire now to have the good of both kindreds, to go to Beulah when you will, and to return when you please to your homes. That cannot be. Nor can the gods take away the gifts of Arceus. The Pokemon, you say, are unpunished, and even those who rebelled do not die. Yet that is to them neither reward nor punishment, but the fulfillment of their being. They cannot escape, and are bound to this world, never to leave it so long as it lasts, for its life is theirs. And you are punished for the original rebellion of Men, you say, in which you had a small part, and so it is that you die. But that was not at first appointed as a punishment, and rather a mercy. Thus you escape, and leave the world, and are not bound to it, in hope or in weariness. Why do you envy the other?"

And the Logarians answered: "Why should we not envy the gods, or even the least of the Pokemon? For of us is required a blind trust, and a hope without assurance, knowing not what lies before us after Death in a little while. And yet we also love the Earth and would not lose it."

Then Cyllene said: "Indeed the mind of Arceus concerning Men is not known to the gods, and He has not revealed all things that are to come. But this we hold to be true, that our home is not here, neither in the Land of Beulah nor anywhere within the Circles of the World. And the Doom of Men, that they should depart, was at first a gift of Arceus. It became a grief to them only because coming under the shadow of the Mbelekoro seemed to them that they were surrounded by a great darkness, of which they were afraid; and some grew willful and proud and would not yield, until life was bereft from them. We Hisuians who bear the ever-mounting burden of the years unlike Men of shorter lifespans do not clearly understand this; but if that grief has returned to trouble you, as you say, then we fear that the Shadow arises once more and grows again in your hearts. Therefore, though you be the Logathrim, fairest of Men, who escaped from the Shadow of old and fought valiantly against it, we say to you: Beware! The will of Arceus may not be gainsaid, and the gods bid you earnestly not to withhold the trust to which you are called, lest soon it become again a bond by which you are constrained. Hope rather that in the end even the least of your desires shall have fruit. The love of Earth was set in your hearts by the Original One, and He does not plant to no purpose. Nonetheless, many ages of Men unborn may pass ere that purpose is made known, and to you it will be revealed and not to the gods or Pokemon."

These things took place in the days of Tar-Fastathrim, and of Tar-Jurthalgar his son; and they were proud men, eager for wealth, and they laid the men of their provinces under tribute, taking now rather than giving. It was to Tar-Jurthalgar that Cyllene came, and in his day the Realm of Logaria had endured for more than a thousand years, and was come to the zenith of its bliss, if not yet of its power. But Jurthalgar was ill-pleased with the counsel of Cyllene and gave little heed to it, and the greater part of his people followed him; for they wished still to escape death in their own day, not waiting upon hope. And Jurthalgar lived to a great age, clinging to his life beyond the end of all joy; and he was the first of the Logathrim to do this, refusing to depart until he was witless and unmanned, and denying to his son Tar-Zimrathon the kingship at the height of his days.

Thus the bliss of Southness became diminished, but still its might and splendor increased. For the kings and their people had not yet abandoned wisdom, and if they loved the Original One no longer at least they still feared Him. But the fear of death grew ever darker upon them, and they delayed it by all means that they could; and they began to build great houses for their dead, while their wise men labored unceasingly to discover if they might the secret of recalling life, or at the least of the prolonging of Men's days. Yet they achieved only the art of preserving incorrupt the dead flesh of Men, and they filled all the land with silent tombs in which the thought of death was enshrined in the darkness. But those that lived turned the more eagerly to pleasure and revelry, desiring ever more goods and more riches, and after the days of Tar-Sakalthor the offering of the first fruits to Arceus was neglected, and men went seldom anymore to the Hallow upon the heights of Athras in the midst of the western spur of the Frostveil Mountains.

Thus it came to pass in that time that the Logarians first made great settlements upon the shores of the northern lands; for their own land seemed to them shrunken, and they had no rest or content therein, and they desired now wealth and dominion in the Northlands, since the Blessed Realm was denied. Great harbors and strong towers they made, and there many of them took up their abode, but they appeared now rather as lords and masters and gatherers of tribute than as helpers and teachers. And the great ships of the Logarians were borne north on the jets of Clawitzer and returned ever laden, and the power and majesty of their kings were increased, and they drank and they feasted and they clad themselves in silver and gold. Such were the Days of Rule, yet they were not the most terrible.

In all this the Hisui-friends and faithful few Logathrim had small part. They alone came now ever to the north and the land of Cyllene and her son Gaeric, keeping their friendship with the Hisuians and lending them aid against enemies; and their haven was Taurlonde or Rosecove City above the mouths of Barandiun the Great. But the wicked Men sailed far away to the south, and the lordships and strongholds that they made have left many rumors in the legends of Men and Pokemon.

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In those days the Shadow grew deeper upon Logaria; and the love and piety of the Kings of the House of Tar-Elrosi waned because of their rebellion, but they hardened their hearts the more against the Original One. And Tar-Inziladun took the scepter of his father and he ascended the throne by forsaking the Hisuian-tongues and forbidding their use in his hearing, and devised a new language for the Logathrim, harsh and guttural, that made a sound like thunder. Yet in the Scroll of Kings the name Hermeniun, Faithful One, was inscribed in the High Hisuian speech, because of ancient custom, which the kings feared to break utterly, lest evil befall. Now this seemed to the Hisuians over-proud, and their hearts were sorely tried between their loyalty to the House of Elrosi and their reverence of the appointed Powers and Arceus. But worse was yet to come. For Tar-Inziladun was the greatest enemy of the Hisuians and faithful Logarians. In his day the Mountain of Athras was untended and began to decline; and he forbade utterly the use of the Hisuian-tongues, and punished those that welcomed the ships of the Northmen, that still came secretly to the north shores of the land.

Tar-Inzilibeth took the throne after his father, and he was strong and ungentle, and would not repent even to save his kingdom or appease the anger of Arceus, who was wroth at the Kings of Logaria and gave them counsel and protection no more. He opposed Arceus and His followers, naming them Spies of the Powers, and forced them to leave for Hisui, so long that the faithful did not dwell in Logaria any more. So great was his hatred of Arceus that he forsake the naming of himself in the High Hisuian tongue in the Scroll of Kings, and called himself Tar-Seljurki, the Dark-worshipper. And Athras was covered in cloud, and not one of the Lords of Hisui ever came to Logaria again, save Gaeric son of Cyllene.

Castamir son of Inzilibeth had become a man yet more restless and eager for wealth and power than his father. He had fared often abroad, as a leader in the wars that the Logarians made then in the coastlands of the Northlands, seeking to extend their dominion over Men and Pokemon; and thus he had won great renown as a captain both by land and by sea. Therefore when he came back to Logaria, hearing of his father's death, the hearts of the people were turned to him; for he brought with him great wealth, and was for the time free in his giving.

By right the daughter of the King and not his deposed son should have become Queen of Logaria, Tar-Andunie, but Castamir usurped the throne and married her, doing evil in that and also in that it was forbidden in Logaria that siblings should be wed. And when they were wedded Castamir seized the scepter by himself and took the title of Lord of the World and King of Men and Pokemon.

The mightiest and proudest was Tar-Castamir the Golden of all those that had wielded the Sceptre of the Tar-Emperors since the foundation of Logaria, and greater than all the Kings and Queens before him who now lay on beds of silver in silent tombs. And sitting upon his carven throne of gold in the city of Atun-Kaah, now and unclean and defiled place, in the glory of his power, he brooded darkly, thinking of war and how to increase his power thereof.

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In those days it was said that the demon Lucius reformed in the wild, and grew in strength, and turned back to the evil that was nurtured in him by the Mbelekoro, becoming mighty in his service. Now wandering as a shade he learned that the Kings of Logaria had increased in power and impiety, and he hated them the more, and feared them. Yet Lucius was ever guileful, and he made a wile to ensnare the great lords of the Logarian race to his power, and conquer the empire from within when he could not do so from without.

Lucius waited for the time when he could work his will with the Logathrim, and he was crafty, well skilled to gain what he would by subtlety when force might not avail. Therefore he humbled himself before Tar-Castamir and smoothed his tongue; and men wondered, for all that he said seemed fair and wise. Such was the cunning of his mind and mouth, and the strength of his hidden will, that ere three years had passed he had become closest to the secret counsels of the King; for flattery sweet as honey was ever on his tongue, and knowledge he had of many things yet unrevealed to Men.

Now having the ears of Men, and the counselors that fawned over him, Lucius with many arguments gainsaid all that Arceus had taught; and he bade Men think that in the world, in the east and even in the west, there lay yet many seas and many lands for their winning, wherein was wealth uncounted. And still, if they should at the last come to the end of those lands and seas, beyond all lay the Ancient Darkness. "And out of it the world was made. For Darkness alone is worshipful, and the Lord thereof may yet make other worlds to be gifts to those that serve him, so that the increase of their power shall find no end."

And Tar-Castamir said: "Who is the Lord of the Darkness?" Then behind locked doors Lucius spoke to the King, and he lied, saying: "It is he whose name is not now spoken; for the gods have deceived you concerning him, putting forward the name of Arceus, a phantom devised in the folly of their hearts, seeking to enchain Men in servitude to themselves. For they are the oracle of this Arceus, which speaks only what they will. But he that is their master shall yet prevail, and he will deliver you from this phantom; and his name is the Great Djinn, Lord of All, Giver of Freedom, and he shall make you stronger than they."

Then Tar-Castamir the King turned back to the worship of the Dark, and of the Evil Djinn the Lord thereof, at first in secret, but ere long openly and in the face of his people; and they for the most part followed him. Yet there dwelt still a remnant of the Arceans, as has been told, at Shaaman-Pah and in the country near, and other few there were here and there in the land. The chief among them, to whom they looked for leading and courage in evil days, was Gaeric, High Elder of Hisui and a great warrior, and the son of Tar-Castamir Tar-Silmarthrim, who did not follow the ways of his father. In the days of their youth together Gaeric son of Cyllene had been dear to Castamir in Hisui, and though he was of the Arceus-friends he remained in his council until the coming of Lucius. Now he was dismissed, for Lucius hated him above all others in Logaria. But he was so noble, and had been so mighty an elder of Hisui, that he was still held in honor by many of the people, and neither the King nor Lucius dared to lay hands on him as yet, or on Tar-Silmarthrim.

Lucius caused to be built upon Mount Athras a mighty temple, and it was in the form of a circle at the base, and there the walls were fifty feet in thickness, and the width of the base was five hundred feet across the center, and the walls rose from the ground five hundred feet, and they were crowned with a mighty dome. And that dome was roofed all with silver, and rose glittering in the sun, so that the light of it could be seen afar off; but soon the light was darkened, and the silver became black. For there was an altar of fire in the midst of the temple, and in the topmost of the dome there was a louver, whence there issued a great smoke. And the first fire upon the altar Lucius kindled with the hewn leaves of a Vileplume, and it crackled and was consumed; but men marveled at the reek that went up from it, so that the land lay under a cloud for seven days, until slowly it passed into the North.

Thereafter the fire and smoke went up without ceasing; for the power of Lucius daily increased, and in that temple, with spilling of blood and torment and great wickedness, men made sacrifice to the Mbelekoro that he should release them from Death. And most often from among the Arceans they chose their victims; yet never openly on the charge that they would not worship the Great Djinn, the Giver of Freedom, rather was cause sought against them that they hated the King and were his rebels, or that they plotted against their kin, devising lies and poisons. These charges were for the most part false; yet those were bitter days, and hate brings forth hate.

But for all this Death did not depart from the land, rather it came sooner and more often, and in many dreadful guises. For whereas aforetime men had grown old, and had laid them down at the end to sleep, when they were weary at last of the world, now madness and sickness assailed them; and yet they were afraid to die and go out into the dark, the House Below of the lord that they had taken; and they cursed themselves in their agony. And men took weapons in those days and slew one another for little cause; for they became quick to anger, and Lucius, or those whom he had bound to himself, went about the land setting man against man, so that the people murmured against the King and the lords, or against any that had aught that they had not, and the men of power took cruel revenge.

Nonetheless for long it seemed to the Logarians that they prospered, and if they were not increased in happiness, yet they grew more strong, and their rich men ever richer. For with the aid and counsel of Lucius they multiplied their possessions, and they devised engines, and they built ever greater ships. And they sailed now with power and armory to the North, and they came no longer as bringers of gifts, nor even as rulers, but as fierce men of war. And they hunted the men of the North and took their goods and Pokemon and enslaved them, and many they slew cruelly upon their altars. For they built in their fortresses temples and great tombs in those days; and men feared them, and the memory of the kindly kings of the earlier days faded from the world and was darkened by many a tale of dread. The Hisuians fenced their land against the Logathrim, and gathered what allies they could, and they were never conquered.

Thus Tar-Castamir, King of the Land of the South, grew to the mightiest tyrant that had yet been in the world since the reign of the Mbelekoro, though in truth Lucius ruled all from behind the throne. But the years passed, and the King felt the shadow of death approach, as his days lengthened; and he was filled with fear and wrath. Now came the hour that Lucius had prepared and long had awaited. And Lucius spoke to the King, saying that his strength was now so great that he might think to have his will in all things, and be subject to no command or ban.

And he said: "The gods have possessed themselves of the land where there is no death; and they lie to you concerning it, hiding it as best they may, because of their avarice, and their fear lest the Kings of Men should wrest from them the deathless realm and rule the world in their stead. And though, doubtless, the gift of life unending is not for all, but only for such as are worthy, being men of might and pride and great lineage, yet against all justice is it done that this gift, which is his due, should be withheld from the King of Kings, Tar-Castamir, mightiest of the sons of Earth, to whom Rayquaza alone can be compared, if even he. But great kings do not brook denials, and take what is their due. This is my instruction: bind the Elohim Regigigas that assails your coasts and protects the Hisuians, and make him build a tower upon Athras so that you might reach Deep Heaven."

Then Tar-Castamir, being besotten, and shadowed by the fear of death, for his span was drawing towards its end, hearkened to Lucius; and he began to ponder in his heart how he might make war upon Arceus. He was long preparing this design, and he spoke not openly of it, yet it could not be hidden from all. And Gaeric and Tar-Silmarthrim, becoming aware of the purposes of the King, were dismayed and filled with a great dread, for they knew that Men could not vanquish the Original One in war, and that ruin must come upon the world, if this war were not stayed. Therefore Silmarthrim made a counsel with the remnant Aredians and Hisuians in secret, saying:

"The days are dark, and there is no hope for Men, for the Arceans in Logaria are few. Therefore I am minded to try that counsel which the forefather of the Hisuians, Elwin, took of old, to sail into the West, be there ban or no, and to speak to the gods, even to Arceus Himself, if may be, and beseech His aid ere all is lost."

"Would you then betray the King?'" said Gaeric. "For you know well the charge that they make against us, that we are traitors and spies, and that until this day it has been false."

"If I thought that Arceus needed such a messenger," said Silmarthrim, "I would betray the King who is my father. For there is but one loyalty from which no man can be absolved in heart for any cause. But it is for mercy upon Men and their deliverance from Lucius the Deceiver that I would plead, since some at least have remained faithful. Perhaps if there are but ten faithful Logathrim, Arceus will have mercy. And as for the penalty of Beulah, I will suffer in myself the price, lest all my people should become guilty."

"But what think you, good friend, is like to befall those of your house whom you leave behind, when your deed becomes known?" said Arteshurus, Lord of Aredia. "If I go, it will not be heard of. I will go into the South and plead to Arceus where the ways permit. But I counsel all of you to flee with all your families into the wild, taking what precious treasures you cannot bear to cast away. Seek out the few that may know your design, and have them come to you in secret. In Aredia we will preserve the knowledge of the Logathrim, and the royal house will live on through the son of the King."

"What shall our designs be in the meanwhile?" said Gaeric.

"To meddle not in the war, and to watch," answered Arteshurus. "Until I return I can say no more. But it is most like that you shall fly from the Land of the South with no star to guide you; for that land is defiled. Then you shall lose all that you have loved, foretasting death in life, seeking a land of exile elsewhere. But North or South the gods alone can say."

It is said that the Lord of Aredia set sail in a small ship at night, and steered first westward, and then went about and passed into the South. And he took with him three servants, dear to his heart, and never again were they heard of by word or sign in this world, nor is there any tale or guess of their fate. Men could not a second time be saved by any such embassy, and for the treason of Logaria there was no easy absolving.

But Gaeric and Silmarthrim did all that had been bidden, and their caravans lay in the South of Logaria, and the Arceans put in that place their wives and their children, and their heirlooms, and great store of goods. Many things there were of beauty and power, such as the Logarians had contrived in the days of their wisdom, vessels and jewels, and scrolls of lore written in scarlet and black. To the North the secret ships of Gaeric lay, and the Red and Blue Orbs they had, the gift of the gods to be taken to Hoenn after those days; but in the ship of Gaeric was guarded the crest of House Berlitz that had been left in Hisui. Thus both held themselves in readiness, and did not meddle in the evil deeds of those days, and ever he looked for a sign that did not come. Then he journeyed in secret to the western shores and gazed out over the sea, for sorrow and yearning were upon him, and he greatly loved the Lord of Aredia. But naught could he descry save the armies of Tar-Castamir gathering on the shores.

Now aforetime in the land of Logaria the weather was ever apt to the needs and liking of Men and Pokemon: rain in due season and ever in measure; and sunshine, now warmer, now cooler, and winds from the sea. And when the wind was in the west, it seemed to many that it was filled with a fragrance, fleeting but sweet, heart-stirring, as of flowers that bloom for ever in undying meads and have no names on mortal shores. But all this was now changed; for the sky itself was darkened, and there were storms of rain and hail in those days, and violent winds; and ever and anon a great ship of the Logathrim would flounder and return not to haven, though such grief had not till then befallen them since the rising of their kingdom. And out of the west there would come at times a great cloud in the evening, shaped as it were an eagle, with pinions spread to the north and the south; and slowly it would loom up, blotting out the sunset, and then uttermost night would fall upon Roria. And some of the eagles bore lightning beneath their wings, and thunder echoed between sea and cloud.

Then men grew afraid. "Behold the Eagles of Rayquaza!" they cried. "The Eagles of Rayquaza are come upon Logaria!" And they fell upon their faces. Then some few would repent for a season, but others hardened their hearts, and they shook their fists at heaven, saying: "The Lords of Deep Heaven have plotted against us. They strike first. The next blow shall be ours!" These words the King himself spoke, but they were devised by Lucius.

Now the lightning increased and slew men upon the hills, and in the fields, and in the streets of the City of Caves; and a fiery bolt smote the dome of the Temple and shore it asunder, and it was wreathed in flame. But the Temple itself was unshaken, and Lucius stood there upon the pinnacle and defied the lightning and was unharmed, and in that hour men called him a god and did all that he would. When therefore the last portent came they heeded it little. For the land shook under them, and groaning as of thunder underground was mingled with the roaring of the sea, and smoke issued from the peak of the Sandhorn. But all the more did Tar-Castamir press on with his army.

In that time the army of the Logarians darkened the shore upon the west of the land, and they were like a forest of a million trees, their banners were as a storm upon the mountains, and their spears like a brooding cloud; and their armory was golden and black. And all things waited upon the word of Tar-Castamir, and Lucius withdrew into the inmost circle of the Temple, and men brought him victims to be burned.

And Regigigas came within the sight of the shore, and all was silent, and doom hung by a thread. For Tar-Castamir wavered at the end, and he almost turned back. His heart misgave him when he looked upon the soundless giant and saw his white skin shining, whiter than snow, colder than death, silent, immutable, terrible as the shadow of the light of Arceus. But pride was now his master, and at last he gave the order to march forth, and strode upon the shore before Regigigas, claiming the lands of Deep Heaven and Beulah for his own, if none should do battle for it.

Then the Eagles of the Rayquaza and the Dragons of the Draconids came up out of the dayfall, and they were arrayed as for battle, advancing in a line the end of which diminished beyond sight; and as they came their wings spread ever wider, grasping the sky. But the West burned red behind them, and they glowed beneath, as though they were lit with a flame of great anger, so that all Roria was illumined as with a smoldering fire, and men looked upon the faces of their fellows, and it seemed to them that they were red with wrath.

Thus the army of the Logarians moved against the menace of the giant Regigigas; and there was little wind for their ships that carried the great chains, but they had many oars and many strong slaves to row beneath the lash. The sun went down, and there came a great silence. Darkness fell upon the land, and the sea was still, while the world waited for what should betide; they broke the Law of the Original One, and did a forbidden thing, going up with war against the Deathless, to wrest from them everlasting life within the Circles of the World.

...

Then facing evil and real peril the gods called upon Arceus, and for that time the Elohim laid down their government of Imbar. And Arceus filled Regigigas with His power, and He changed the fashion of the world, and a great chasm opened in the sea between Regigigas and the shores of Logaria, and the waters flowed down into it, and the noise and smoke of the cataracts went up to heaven, and the world was shaken. And all the armies of the Logarians were drawn down into the abyss, and they were drowned and swallowed up for ever. But Tar-Castamir the King and the warriors that had kept foot upon the shore were buried under falling hills: there it is said that they lie imprisoned in the Caves of the Forsaken, until the Last Battle and the Day of Doom.

In an hour unlooked for by Men this doom befell, on the day since the passing of the Great Host. Then suddenly fire burst from the Sandhorn, and there came a mighty wind and a tumult of the earth, and the sky reeled, and the hills slid, and Logaria went down into the deeps of the earth, with all its children and its wives and its maidens and its Pokemon and its ladies proud; and all its gardens and its halls and its towers, its tombs and its riches, and its jewels and its webs and its things painted and carven, and its laughter and its mirth and its music, its wisdom and its lore: they vanished for ever. And last of all the mounting wave, green and cold and plumed with foam, climbing over the land, and covered the fair South in a flood that carried away the cries of women upon the wind.

But whether or not it was that Arteshurus came indeed to Beulah and Arceus hearkened to his prayer, by grace of the Original One Gaeric and Tar-Silmathrim and their sons and their people were spared from the ruin of that day. For Silmarthrim had remained in the South, refusing the summons of the King when he set forth to war; and avoiding the soldiers of Lucius that came to seize him and drag him to the fires of the Temple, he went aboard his caravan and stood off from Sereghir waiting on the time. There he was protected by the desert land from the great draught of the sea that drew all towards the abyss, and afterward he was sheltered from the first fury of the storm. And Gaeric set from the North as the great wind took him, wilder than any wind that Men had known, roaring from the west, and it swept his ships far away; and it rent their sails and snapped their masts, hunting the unhappy Hisuians like straws upon the water.

And they fled before the black gale out of the twilight of doom into the darkness of the world. The deeps rose beneath them in towering anger, and waves like unto mountains moving with great caps of writhen snow bore them up amid the wreckage of the clouds, and after many days cast them away upon the shores of Hisui. And all the coasts and seaward regions of the world suffered great change and ruin in that time; for the seas invaded the lands, and shores foundered, and ancient isles were drowned, and new isles were uplifted; and hills crumbled and rivers were turned into strange courses.

Lucius himself was filled with great fear at the wrath of the Original One, and the doom that He laid upon sea and land. It was greater far than aught he had looked for, hoping only for the death of the Logarians and the defeat of their proud king. And Lucius, sitting in his black seat in the midst of the Temple, had laughed when he heard the trumpets of Tar-Castamir sounding for battle; and again he had laughed when he heard the thunder of the storm; and a third time, even as he laughed at his own thought, thinking what he would do now in the world, being rid of the Logathrim for ever, he was taken in the midst of his mirth, and his seat and his temple fell into the abyss. But Lucius was not of mortal flesh, and even though he was robbed now of that shape in which he had wrought so great an evil, he was forbidden to ever form again until the Last Battle, for his sins had piled up to heaven. So Lucius passed away into the wild, silent and dark, a shadow of malice that will endure until the breaking of the world. In all these great convulsions the Prison Bottle was not found, and the Bronze Brick lost by the heirs of House Berlitz remained lost.

But these things come not into the tale of the Downfall of Logaria of which now all is told. And even the name of that land perished, and Men spoke thereafter not of Logaria, nor of the Gift that was taken away, nor of Atalante on the confines of the world; but the exiles on the shores of the sea, if they turned towards the South in the desire of their hearts, spoke of Mare-nu-Falmar that was whelmed in the waves, Atlantis the Downfallen, Suthernesse in the Hisuian tongue.

...

Among the exiled Logathrim many saw that the summit of Athras, the Sandhorn, was not cast down, but rose again above the tremors, a lonely peak lost in the great wild; for it had been a hallowed place, and even in the days of Lucius none had defiled it. And some there were of the seed of Tar-Silmarthrim that sought for it, and climbed the peak, and made a city at its base. For even after the ruin the hearts of the Logarians were still set on Arceus, the line of Kings continued in the Wild, and though they knew indeed that the world was changed, they said: "Beulah has vanished from the Earth and the Land of Deep Heaven is taken away, and in the world of this present darkness they cannot be found. Yet once they were, and therefore they still are, in true being and in the whole shape of the world as at first it was devised."

Therefore the loremasters of Men said that a Road to Beulah must still be, for those that were permitted to find it. And they taught that, while the new world fell away, the old road and the path of the memory of the Undying Land still went on, as it were a mighty bridge invisible that passed through the air of breath and of flight, and traversed the Second Heaven which flesh unaided cannot endure, until it came to the Plains of Beulah, or the Isle of Avalon through the Sea of Lur, and maybe even beyond, to the Timeless Halls, where the gods still dwell and watch the unfolding of the story of the world. And tales and rumors arose along the shores of the sea concerning mariners and men forlorn upon the water who, by some fate or grace or favor of the Original One, had entered in upon the Road and seen the face of the world sink below them, and so had come to the shores of Beulah, or verily to the last beaches of stars on the margin of Deep Heaven, and there had looked upon the throne of Arceus, dreadful and beautiful, before they died.

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The End