A night at the Malt

Sing me a song, O Augra,
Of the sun and the stars and the sky,
Of summer haze, of forests ablaze,
Of love birds on the rye.

Sing me a song, O Augra,
Of the moon and the owls and the night,
Of darkest snow, of frozen flow,
Of love dying like candle light.

- unnamed children's poem
Diogenes, contemporary of A.D.A.S Knight,
from the latter's memoirs, A Malt et Falchion

I was sitting at my usual table at the Malt. Dirty, garrish and wearing the unkempt look of a beggar who's just had his bath at the sea port, the Malt was just my kind of place. The waitresses were buxom, the clientele were genteel, except when they had had a whiff of the alcohol and scrunchy sounds underfeet as the above mentioned buxom waitresses and gentlemen stepped on unsuspecting roaches. The Malt was also the place I came to listen to Ralf exercising his fingers. He called it Playing the Piano. No one was going to ask him to play anything ever again. He was lucky that a customer hadn't blackjacked him yet or that a wharf rat hadn't bitten his neck with cold steel. Ah well, passion makes up for talent, I suppose. What's left of us if there is no will, I always ask. Where would the Lightbringer have been without his infinite Will? Still up in heaven, eh?

How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, Lord of the Morning?

-Quotable Quote by Isiah, who mixed up the King of Babylon for the Morningstar, Venus, alluding to him bringing light to the earth. Finally responsible for the impression that some idiot had left heaven post creation and had decided to set up shop, preying on humanity.

I began to think hard about my growing disillusionment with life. My workplace isn't the most cheerful of places. Plagued with the despair of a thousand screaming souls, the miasma creeps upon you from behind, like the shadow of a vampire on a wall, looming large over the poor, jet black spectre of the unsuspecting victim. I could almost feel it's bite upon my neck. However, I had come to the Malt to get away from it all. Fortified with the strongest liquor, I hoped to forget,for, in the forgetting, I wished to forge new resolutions. I'm a sucker for bad poetry and all it's tardy tricks.

I wonder, though, when it began- this feeling that it matters not. I remember the passion with which I had thought I would complete my grand quest, this search for this bloody Falchion and all the power or peace of mind or what not that goes with it. And now, I find myself surrounded by this squallor of... of minds so tainted by the lust for power and performance that they forget balance and harmony, while in the midst of this battle lies my well-being and my sanity.

I met a girl as fair as summer,
With the sunshine in her hair.
I stared into her deep green eyes,
And called her ______ Fair.

I met a girl as cold as winter,
With the moonlight in her hair.
Her cool eyes shown as ebony,
When...

-Song often hear at the Cafe Malt,
Originally sung by Ralf as he played his Piano,
he himself copying parts from some book he had read.

Ah well, the night was growing late and I wasn't as old as I used to be. The young need to sleep more than the six cold hours the dying lay awake on their bed. I thought on the fact that Diogenes wasn't here with his Banshee wailing as he always was. I knew I was growing into a rut. But what was I to do? It was so much better to think that I was just a meek pawn being forced into the game by larger forces. However, as someone said, there was the one day to look forward to, when I would exercise my ultimate freedom- the freedom to leave. Until then, though, I console myself - So it goes.

... I turned back she wasn't there.

*All songs and quotes in the post are actually bastardisations of originals. Atleast a name or line is lifted from somewhere. Augra, for instance, comes from an old game called the Dark Crystal, made way back in 1988 or 1990. It was then made into a movie. I think the first line comes from the manual that came along with the game. The second quote, of course, is attributed to Isaiah. The first two lines of the third song are from A song of Ice and Fire by GRR Martin. I hope these acknowledgements are enough to prevent me getting sued, especially by God.