The Mountains of Penzance fell to the sea all in a tumble.
From deep within them you could hear an ominous rumble!
The major stream cascaded over the edges in a fit and a fumble.
Crashing far below into the rocks at water's rough-carved edge,
she had beaten out over millennia a depression shaped like a wedge
and smoothed out every pointed outcrop and protruding ledge.
Further back from the edge on the Mountain's tops and backcountry,
deep into primeval forests, sudden deep canyons, many an old-growth tree
and rushing, glacier fed rivers, there lay ancient lands as far as you could see.
Utter Penzance. As old as the Rise of Man. Immutable. Inscrutable. Fearless.
A permanent haze and smoke rose from the lands as if they would confess
their many sins and deeds of daring, plunder and conflict. War. Wilderness.
Here dwelled human beings still with their massive dogs and beasts of burden.
Dark and gnarled from many years of hard labors grabbing life from the Mountain,
they'd learned the magic of the hills and their willpower and resolve would only harden.
And over them all an ethereal being, a beautiful and powerful Queen of light ruled
with gentle but unyielding hands backed up still by her huge sword that had drilled
many a miscreant and evil-doer. And her name was Enigma. And she was much feared.
Unbeknownst to them all, a volcano that had slept since the dawn of Earth's making
was preparing to awaken with all the pent-up violence of the molten core forsaking
all to a Doom only talked about in whispers around campfires since the land's taking.
Feeling the trembles and shakes well before the others, Enigma took up her sword.
Mystery it was called. She gathered her personal guard and rode off to face the Lord
of Fire. She never doubted her ability to deal with Nature Unleashed, could not be floored.
Riding up after a perilous journey through falling rocks from the sky to the crater's very edge,
she raised her brilliant, shining Mystery up high and shouted at the Lord to come off his ledge
and to face her in fair battle like the giants of old. But the smug being would not budge.
With a shattering cry, she leapt her horse off into the depths to land far below in his domain.
There, they fought for days and nights on end, until at last her great heart burst into a rain
of bright red blood. The Lord of Fire erupted then and Utter Penzance was never seen again.
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mindbringer, 10 June 2016
