MOONFALL by Ogwua ChimeremezeUpdated at Nov 10, 2024, 22:57
ZIGGURAT OF UR, SUMERIA, 2050. B.C DURING THE REIGN OF KING UR-NAMMU
It was a lunar eclipse in the summer solstice, and in the twilight hour beneath the celestial alignment of the seven stars, Aethera's fate was sealed.
The sky was darkened with a thick cloud, and the great god of the tides and oceans, Zha'thik stood above it. The humans below bowed and gave him praises.
"Nin-šul-ur-sa,
En-lil-la itima,
Nin-sub-ur-ra!
Ka-ga-lá-ni,
Ku-gi mu-šen, ku-gi šul,
A-ši-i gi-ša-ra,
Ni-te-ga-lá-ni"
Which translates to:
"Oh, Devourer of the Innocent, Thou who hast fashioned the lunar cycles,
Stirrer of the Ocean's Depths, hear our praise!
Thou hast provided for us, granting abundance from the sea:
Fish and crabs, seaweed and sustenance, that we may serve Thee."
Aethera, preistess of Nanna, Sumerian god of the moon was about to be offered as sacrifice to Zha'thik, the god who was banished from the realm of the gods because of his chaos and deep water floods in the hellish realm. Because of his hunger for power, he ordered his worshippers to get him the ancient texts of Nanna, hidden in the Zuggarat of Ur, Nanna's temple.
The cursed knowledge of Nanna, also known as "DUMUŠDA NA-NNA ŠUHULHALA", or 𒁾𒈬𒉿𒊏𒄭𒉿 𒊭𒄭𒉿𒊏𒄿𒇻 meaning the Cursed Texts of Nanna, was originally a forbidden script made of virgins' skin for it's pages and bound with black, iron clasps. The script had 333 pages in total, as it is a number associated with darkness, chaos, and the occult. It was 3.3 pounds or 1.5kg and 8.5 x 11 inches.
The first part of the script, a total sum of 11 chapters, from page 1 to 111 focused on stars, planets, Lunar spells, moon phases, invocations and moonlight rituals.
The second part, a total sum of 11 chapters, from page 112 to 222 focused on chapters exploring the mysteries, and origins of darkness, shadows and the Voidborns.
The third part, a total sum of 11 chapters, from page 222 to 333 focused on prophesies about beings and most importantly, the Divine One, who was Nanna's tool which he would use to cleanse the earth under the light of the moon, and the rest of it was written in shifting ink.
There were three special pages, page 13 which was blank except for a mysterious symbol, page 222 holding a message written in invisible ink, and finally page 333, a hidden prophecy, only visible under moonlight.
Written by the first god's Preistess, Ninsuna circa 2500 BCE, who was obsessed with the moon and the knowledge of the stars as she believed that it's movement affected the lives and fates of humans on earth, later discovered that the script was eventually consuming and required the sanity of it's reader. After it was completed, she hid it away from the world in the deserts of Ur, and committed suicide by bashing her skull repeatedly against the walls of the Zuggarat since the dark knowledge and energy emitted from the book wouldn't allow her have peace of mind and proper sleep.
However, years after her demise, the script was later discovered years by the Babylonian King Nabonidus in 550 BCE, during the war against Ur and Babylon. He got the secrets of the book and used it to summon the creatures known as Voidborn. Smoke-like spirits that purge the realm they are summoned into, stealing and destroying all that they find unclean. After the death of the king, the script was hidden by his trusted servant but was later discovered years after by a medieval alchemist, Nicolas Flamel, 1400 CE, who bound the script in a leather cover, giving it the form of a book, attempted to unlock the book's secrets resulting to his mysterious disappearance. Centuries later, the occultist, Aleister Crowley 1900 briefly possessed the book, claiming it had divine power and began trying to translate the texts to English. Exactly what happened to him was unknown. From then on, the book was passed down in the hands of many other people, covenes, cults, and simple humans who had no idea what the book was. But the story was always the same. Each owner was always driven mad or met a terrible fate. The book was hidden, lost, and rediscovered multiple times, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos. Now it was gotten back to it's homeland, Sumeria by the preistess, Aethera who was strictly bound to protect it.
The powers of the moon god was only limited to the night. Aethera couldn't even communicate with her god in the daytime, and was left defenseless even at sunset, in time which Zha'thik's worshippers attacked the temple. She was to be more than powerful during the lunar eclipse in about an hour, but they were to much for the woman and she was captured. The book was discovered and dug out of the temple.
The ritual began during nightfall and Zha'thik began to absorb her essence. She screamed in torture, but his worshippers kept praising their god. And, immediately the lunar eclipse was completed, Aethera instead of growing powerful, died. Immediately, Nanna, in his shinning glory stepped down from his......