Quintessence of Dust

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Revelation

Part I: Being a Dragon

“He snorts, and the world lights up with fire, he blinks, and the dawn breaks. Comets pour out of his mouth, fireworks arc and branch.

Smoke erupts from his nostrils like steam from a boiling pot. He blows and fires blaze; flames of fire stream from his mouth. All muscle he is—sheer and seamless muscle. To meet him is to dance with death.

Sinewy and lithe, there’s not a soft spot in his entire body— As tough inside as out, rock-hard, invulnerable. Even angels run for cover when he surfaces, cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence.

The Leviathan, Book of Job

Paradise is the place every person dreams of. We seek it out, envision it in our dreams at night, and wonder about how to create it.

It seems that this is what humanity has sought ever since they first jumped down from the trees of the jungle and stood up right. But, where is paradise? Or do we need to make it ourselves?

I, for one, am not a part of your dreamy, dewy-eyed culture. I'm the descendant of one of the oldest and mightiest species around.

You humans call us dragons. Some of you call us dinosaurs. Either way, we are the mighty lizards who tower above.

What does it mean to be a dragon? It means guarding the planet and protecting all life.

You commonly paint us as evil, but that's just because we work for different things. You seek dominance of a world that could kill you. We seek balance and harmony of all life.

Eventually, this will mean your destruction. But, I suppose, I cannot blame you for fighting for survival.

All life fights for survival. Your species is just particularly good at it. Not by natural means, but simply by the very large lump of grey matter you carry around in your skulls.

I think you call it your brain…

Anyway! This is the story of the first time I met one of your kind. I was almost persuaded by your convictions, but I don't want to spoil the story for you!

Let's relive it together, shall we?

Part II: A Voice of One that Cries in the Wilderness

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.

Isaiah

The Mountains were painted a beautiful auburn that summer day. I recall how the sun's fire burned them a brilliant red, orange, and purple. I was not searching for the man-child that day, yet Fate brought him to me.

But before I leap into this part of my story, let me elaborate on who I am.

I am an elite member of the Watchers. We predate your kind by millions of years. Before your kind was a speck of micro bacteria on the Earth’s seething surface, Yahweh placed us in the Heavens.

Our burning brilliance, invincible hyde, and impressive eyesight made us the lords on high. We were not the highest of the high. That throne is reserved for the mighty winged serpent, Yahweh. We are, however, far above you in every manner.

Except for your will.

Your species has a will of its own. You strive against everything in nature. You do not accept your lot in life or your place in the universe. You believe you can be so much more than simple, hairless apes scavenging the Earth for food.

Why you think this, I don’t know. What I do know, however, is that you believe it with such a fervent zeal that no water can quench it. Yahweh knew this and told us that we must keep your will in check.

I did not understand why at the time. I still don’t completely understand why? However, as a Watcher, I am not supposed to know or even ask why? But your species ask this question all the time.

This is why Yahweh told us you are a threat. But we couldn’t just destroy you. The progenitor of Yahweh told him that you are a special creation that could not be stopped from exploring. You could be punished brutally and cruelly, but you cannot be stopped.

Before you ask, I don’t know the Progenitor. All I know is they are the Greatest of all. Nothing can stand against them, and they placed the Universe under Yahweh’s Governance.

Let me return to the story. All was going smoothly for millions of years until that morning. As I soared over the mountaintops, I heard a cry. It was fierce, blood-curdling, and begged for mercy. Without thinking, I cast myself down from my fiery throne of a Watcher and searched for you.

Then I found you, crying alone in the wilderness. I took pity upon you. I should never have, but I could not deny you.

Part III: I Hath Planted My Tree in the Wilderness

I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the Shi-tah tree, and the Myrtle, and the Oil tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and box tree together.

That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the Hand of the Lord hath done it. And that the Holy One of Israel hath created this.

Isaiah

I found a small man-child lying naked and alone in the burning sunlight. You were so small and helpless against the burning sun and coarse sand.

Who could abandon their baby? Who could forsake their child to the elements?

Now I know who you were. Now I know why you were cast away from your people. But, back then, I was unaware.

All I saw was a beautiful and innocent child.

I took you in my arms and carried you away to my cavern. I knew I was breaking one of the Seven Sacred Laws of the Universe.

Thou shalt not undo what Yahweh has ordained.

But how could this be Yahweh’s ordinance? How could Yahweh want this man-child killed? I could not see what Yahweh saw and ordered the miserable humans to perform, which was my folly.

I trusted my own eyesight and took pity upon you.

“Hungry,” you whimpered as soon as I nursed you back to health. Understanding your needs, I left you to sleep in the cavern as I searched the Earth for a suitable human meal.

I brought back the flesh of a deer, which is forbidden to you. Yahweh had not permitted humanity to consume flesh and blood of any living creature. I understood this, but I knew if you did not consume the flesh, you would surely die.

By doing so, I violated another of the Seven Sacred Laws of the Universe.

Thou shalt not bring the blood and the muscle, nor shalt thou feed the fat of any creature to the Son of Man and Woman.

Because I never asked why I did not comprehend just how disastrous it is for your kind to eat flesh and blood. I felt certain that this one time, the very first time you consumed flesh, would be alright,

I was never more wrong.

As soon as your small teeth sunk into the flesh, your eyes changed. It was as if your kind experienced power for the very time. You’ve never taken a life, nor have you ever consumed the life force of your fellow beast.

At that moment, though, the evil in your heart was awakened.

You felt control. You felt dominance. You no longer felt that you had to fear the universe. No, you were going to subdue the planet beneath you.

This was my fault, and for my sins, I am paying the highest price. But no degree of punishment will ever wipe my conscience and spirit clean of guilt.

Part IV: A Bloody Husband, Thou Art!

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. 1st John

What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the Earth!

Genesis 4.

I chose to ignore the red light in your eyes. But, I should have seen the evil festering and destroying you! Alas! I took pity upon your small stature and innocent face.

You were an evil seed, though. That is why your parents chose to let the universe take your life away. I didn’t know this, then, though. All I saw was an innocent boy-child growing into a man-child.

“Adonai,” the boy-child said to me one morning. This was the name he chose to give me, claiming it was the name his kind called the Progenitor. It means the beloved lord.

“Yes, Adam?” I answered him. Adam being the oldest name for mankind, I felt that it was a worthwhile name.

“Show me how to hunt the deer,” he insisted. We already went over this, and I told him I could not show him. It was a violation of the Seven Sacred Laws of the Universe.

“But, we’ve already broken them,” he insisted. I look at him with glaring eyes, angry that he had called out my guilt.

“I chose to save you because your innocence was apparent,” I rebuked him. “You do not get to choose what laws you break.”

“I will not allow you to be the only one who violates them!” He screamed, grabbing the small crossbow he fashioned from the deer’s bones. “You say Yahweh will condemn me for violating his laws? Well, where is he?”

“You don’t see the big picture,” I correct him calmly, grabbing the bow from his hands with my tail. “Every time we forsake the laws, we allow just a little more evil into the world. At some point, it will become so evil that Yahweh will be forced to reset in order to preserve balance.”

“What if we control the universe?” he asked me.

“That is a forbidden thought, Adam!” I shout and thrust the bow against the cavern wall, shattering it into a million pieces. “Yahweh sees all. If your kind tries to break out from the universal order, you will destroy yourselves with your unquenchable greed.”

“Humanity doesn’t have to grovel,” he told me ominously. He didn’t raise his voice, he didn’t threaten me, he just stated it n a low and serious tone.

It was at this time that I knew it was too late to turn back.

Adam left me that day. He went out into the Earth to challenge its dominance and assert his place within it. I should have stopped him. I should have burned his corpse into a pile of ash!

But, I feared the punishment for taking the life of a human of my own will. We are only permitted to kill under the orders of Yahweh. Or else we condemn our souls to two millennia of torture within the Euphrates.

I should have accepted this Fate. It would be far better than the Fate awaiting me.

I hoped the young Adam would die in the wilderness. He is far more powerful than I understood, though. Having tasted flesh and blood of life, his death lust was ignited.

He knew he could take life. He could subdue the Earth beneath his heel. He could lead his species into a new era where the Earth bent itself before their power.

I watched him leave the cavern that day and enter the wilderness. In the night I heard the cry of an animal being strangled to death. It echoed beyond my caverns and into the camps of humanity.

Some of them hated the sound. It made them sick and they toppled over in grief and anguish at the sound of suffering.

Others were intrigued. They followed the cries. They followed the pleas of the strangled creature and found Adam standing triumphantly over the vanquished beast. They drank its blood and fashioned weapons with its bones.

PART V: Your Eyes Shall Be Opened

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.

And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Genesis

I watched in horror as your power spread. There was a Holy Remnant that refused to consume the blood and flesh of life. But you, Adam, have amassed a following.

Now thousands of humans have gone over the face of the Earth, slaughtering and eating life. Every night I heard their cries for help.

I tried to resist you.

I would attack your kind. I would blow hot fiery coals at you. Some of my brethren came to help me.

We have now completely broken the natural covenant.

Yahweh did not order us to attack you. But what was I supposed to do? Leave those beasts to suffer at your greedy clutches?

The whole universe has been thrown into complete chaos because of me. I knew there was no undoing the events I had set in motion. But I wanted to try, and I only made things worse by doing so.

Mankind came to fear the image of the serpent. This means they came to view Yahweh as evil.

“Serpents kill us,” I heard you whispering in your hunting camps at night.

“Yes, they try to bring us low with their fire and venom,” some would agree.

“We will overcome them too,” I hear Adam answer his comrades. “Just yesterday, we took down a large female out of the sky. Now her skins cover our flesh. What have we to fear when we can take from the world what will give us strength?”

Finally, their destruction and evil became too great for me. I finally decided to beg at the throne of Yahweh.

“My spirit will not always strive with mankind,” he told me as I lay prostrate on the floor of his throne room. “You have sinned a thousand times over, and the voice of the innocent blood cries out to me from the Earth. I will set his days to 120 years.”

Part VI: The Day Cometh

For, Behold! The day cometh that shall burn like an oven. And all the proud, yeah, and all that doeth wickedly shall be as stubble.

And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

But unto thee that feareth my name shall the Sun of Righteousness Arise with Healing in His Wings. And ye shall go forth and Grow…..

Micah

I did not understand why he waited. Why show these beasts mercy now? As soon as they tasted power, they succumbed to evil. I flew back down to the Earth and plotted to annihilate humanity.

There was no goodness within them. Even the Holy Remnant will fall to temptation. All they need is to taste the blood, and they will be corrupted. I had to destroy all of them. I knew only how to harness fire.

I flew to the tops of the greatest Volcano on earth’s surface. Right now, she slumbered, awaiting the Final Judgement, where she will be awakened by the Progenitor and destroy all life.

I would awaken her. I will cause her fires to gush forth and destroy mankind.

As I landed atop her caverns, I spotted a small man. My instincts were to destroy him immediately, but then I saw what he was doing. A small rabbit was caught in one of Adam’s cruel traps.

But this man was not harming the creature. He was helping it. He was removing the shards of glass from its skin and nursing it back to health.

“Why are you on Yahweh’s Sacred Mountain?” I growl at him.

“I heard cries for help,” the man told me. There was no fear in his face at my appearance. He only smiled at the small creature in his arms.

“Who are you?” I asked him. “Are you one of the Holy Remnants?”

“I am,” he tells me. “My name is Enochi. I am the final prophet before the end. Yahweh has told me in my sleep that he will destroy us in only 120 years.”

“That’s not soon enough!” I growled at him. “I will awaken the fires of the Earth and wipe you from the face of the earth.”

“Will you also destroy the Righteous with the Wicked?” he asked me. I could see in his eyes that he was a good soul. There was no wickedness inside him.

How could this be?

“There are no righteous among man,” I insist despite what my eyes told me.

“Aren’t there?” he asked me quizzically. “One will arise who will bring holiness to us. He will be the lamb to the slaughter. He will give himself. That is the only hope of our salvation from ourselves.”

“Someone will destroy your wickedness?” I felt perplexed.

“Look around you, Adonai,” he told me, standing and waving his hand over the beautiful landscape. “Our hearts are likened to the Earth. The earth brings forth horrible destruction and fires that destroy much of the life on the land. But, what does she leaves once the fires are calmed down?”

“Fertile soil,” I answered him.

“New life is spawned by her destruction,” he told me. “That is mankind. Some of us destroy, and others heal. But by our destruction, salvation arises. We have evil in our hearts and goodness. We need to learn how to feed the goodness.”

I stood shocked by his statements. This was why Yahweh spared them.

I flew up to the skies and watched the Earth from my throne. Once the Judgement was passed upon mankind, I knew that I would be condemned alongside them. For now, I can only watch and wait.

Part VII: The First Judgment of Man

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Isaiah

One hundred and twenty years have passed. Mankind has spread itself over the face of the Earth. The Evil Ones have multiplied greatly and press against the Holy Remnant.

Knowing my Fate is sealed, I descend my throne and fight to defend them. They’ve built a large vessel to ride out the wrath of Yahweh.

Finally, the Earth shakes.

Water bursts forth from every corner of the Earth. I see Adam stare in horror at the wrath and destruction of Yahweh.

The waters quickly consume every single man and woman. I feel my body bound in chains and pulled towards the depths of the oceans, where I still linger to the day.

The last sight I saw was the hull of the mighty vessel.

That vessel carries the Holy Remnant into the new era. I can only hope you who descend from them are Holy as well. I hope you respect the planet. I hope you respect life.

Do not let my sacrifice be in vain.

I believe there’s goodness in your heart. I believe Yahweh knows this.

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“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.”

Revelation 12

What a piece of work is a man?

How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, In form and moving how express and admirable, In action how like an Angel!

In apprehension how like a god!

The beauty of the world, The paragon of animals.

And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

Hamlet, Shakespeare

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I really hope you enjoyed my entry to the Dragon challenge! I know, it’s probably very different from the other entries. But as soon as I saw the prompt I thought of the vague verse in Revelation about a woman fleeing to wilderness with her child.

I love these Vocal challenges because they allow me to re-explore my old faith with new sight. They let me see them again as beautiful, archetypical messages from our distant past.

In this story, I hoped to portray the coming of good and evil.

I was greatly inspired by the following YouTube videos and channels:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXcUDMn64Lw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XogaHpV5oUs

The above video was particularly inspiring for this video. This is the reason I chose to portray the Watchers and Yahweh as a Dragon.

Finally, please check out this amazing video by a seriously under appreciated YouTuber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Kyv2xxatY

This video highlights death, sacrifice, and new life.

I hope you all enjoyed :)