Горд син имал цар

На огромно царство господар.

Луната целувала замъка нощем

И бдяла над него още и още.

Слънцето топлело царството денем

И гонело надалеч черният мрак леден.

Животът бил хубав, животът бил лесен

Започвал със труд и завършвал със песен.

Но един ден сянка закрила небето лазурно

И огньове в ливадите запламтели бурно.

С тежки стъпки през ниви безбройни

Дракон бълвал пламъци знойни.

Царството гълтал огънят гладен

А драокнът ревнал за човешка кръв жаден.

Армия сбрал царят велики

И сили от цялото кралство свикал.

Рамо до рамо, глава до глава

Твърда, непобедима войска.

А отпред на бял кон, целият златен

Яздел синът на царя, гордо изправен.

“Напред” изкомандвал и море от метал

Се нахвърлило на дракона без милост и жал.

Драконът бълвал огньове бели

И мравките под него изгаряли цели.

Човек след човека могъщи и стройни

Геройски загивали царските войни.

С меч на две счупен, с щит раздробен

С ризница обгорена и шлем изкривен.

Пред дракона се изправил царският син

А драконът го погледнал през огън и дим.

Човек срещу звяра, светлина срещу мрак

Сред ниви изгорели и армия избита до крак.

А някъде отдалече слънце пробило

И светлина заблестяла със страшна сила.

Вятър довеял песен прекрасна

И драконът обърнал главата ужасна.

Заслушал се той във звукът нежен

И легнал на земята с поглед премрежен.

Замахнал човекът с мечът в ръката

И с един замах му отрязал главата.

Мощно ‘Ура’ по полето отекнало

А нейде далече сълзите текнали.

Зад хълма на кон седяла девойка

И гледала към полето и странната двойка.

Човек срещу дракон, деца на земята

А във сърцата им още горяла враждата.

Капели сълзи, а под тях цветята

Съчувствали на майката за децата.

—————————————————

А поуката каква е от таз история тъжна?

Ще попитате вие, когато аз свърша.

Не убивайте земята, а спрете и помислете

Защото тя скърби по равно и за човек, и за цвете…

Night fell on on the urban wasteland so many people call home. The sun and the moon kissed each other farewell as they went on their neverending journeys – each with its own purpose and direction. While the sun brought hope to another part of the world, the moon extinguished all of it in the part which I called ‘home’. Starless night. Like so many others we’ve had. Not a single spark in the sky to remind humanity that there is still something worth living for…worth dying for…Only the pale face of the moon. Staring at me. Looking straight into my eyes and whispering in my head: “Betrayer…betrayer…betrayer…”.

I hadn’t had any sleep for months. For each time I closed my eyes I saw the moonlit face of all those I had turned my back to. Most of them had already given up the fight and their cold souls were now wandering the other world full of grief, righteously blaming me…Always blaming me…

Then came the rain. The tears of the heavens fell down to the tortured ground. Each and every one of them felt like a stone on my heart. And the moon. The moon was still there watching as if it was her tears that I now felt on my body and her burning gaze was always turned on me.

This was going on for almost two years now. The short moments I fell asleep were full of dark nightmares which seemed to become even darker with each passing day…untill I stopped closing my eyes at all. And every time dawn came again I was afraid…afraid that after it there is only dusk…and after dusk – the moon.

I was once their pride…HER pride. They relied on me, sought my counsel when in need and sought my consolation when in pain. And I was always willing to give. And she was always smiling. Watching over me while I slept and keeping my nightmares away with her silvery light. Untill I threw it all away…

I walked my own way leaving them blind for the dangers the world had to offer. Taking away that which they held most dear – friendship. When she realized what I had done she spoke to me no more. Only the whispers were left: “Betrayer…betrayer…betrayer…”.

Today. This evening. All this is going to change. Only one quarter left until her face shines in full upone the mortal world. Only one quarter left for me to prove I have changed. Their souls will no longer walk withouth a path and scream without a voice. Their bodies will no longer wither and slowly die. For I am the Evening Star, the first light to shine upon the world in times of darkness, the last light to fade away before the coming dawn. I am the Guardian of Hope and I will never turn my back on you again. Forgive me…

It’s Saturday again. The sun is setting behind the buildings. No romance there. Living in a big city has deprived you of the raw beauty of nature and you watch the last flickers of light caress the tall office buildings instead. The city has other advantages. You try to name them all in your mind but one of them keeps shining more than the others – the nightlife.

You’ve received the text message on the cell phone a few hours ago. ‘2300hrs at the spot’. Short but full of meaning for those who can understand it. You are one of them. There is only an hour left to prepare but it is just enough for someone who knows what he’s doing. From the deodorant and hair gel to the clothes and accessories, everything you wear is aimed at drawing attention. You leave the house.

23:00. The meeting place is full of different hair styles and clothes in all colors of the rainbow screaming for attention. And if that doesn’t work there are always the real screams and whistles. The club promises to be full tonight…

You are in the centre of the party. The sound waves blast through your body and mind and suddenly there’s no one left. You are all alone with the music that excites your every feeling and makes you fly then lets you fall and picks you up again moments before you touch the ground. No one else on Earth can see that perilous dance of death but everyone can feel it as clearly as you do for they are all captivated by it and also take part.

 Your mind is in color. Your eyes see scenes from other worlds as you move with the rhytm of each beat. Music is all you are now. You ride it, dance to it, become it. Music can turn you into something more than lesser men. All you have to do is listen. Such is the essence of sound…

When you are touched by a hand full of love, you fly. Your minds goes blank and your soul soars higher and higher untill ouf of sight. People describe these moments as ‘the only thing worth living for’, but are the consequences worth it?

Nothing lasts, but nothing is lost. One day she will go away. She sill say that things are getting too serious for her or any reason she can think of at that current moment. Later she may regret it but she will never let you know, leaving your mind wounded adn thinking that it is all your fault and you have done something wrong. After the coveted touch goes away your heart will fade and become incapable of any feeling for a week at least (in the best scenario) or forever…

After the touch is gone you will think that you will never love another. And that is the worst part – when the love sickness affects your mind. You can’t think straight, you are unable to concentrate, simple operations like solving a crossword puzzle take you at least an hour. Your mind would be unable to adapt to the fact that she is gone. Something that has occupied your thoughts for so long is now nowhere to be found…

After the touch everything dies. You struggle to survive and swear you will never let this happen again. Then comes the touch again and the wheel is set in motion all over again…

When earth is sundered, and skies choked black,
And sleepers serve the seven curses,
To the hearth there comes a stranger,
Journeyed far ‘neath moon and star.

Though stark-born to sire uncertain,
His aspect marks his certain fate.
Wicked stalk him, righteous curse him.
Prophets speak, but all deny.

Many trials make manifest
The stranger’s fate, the curses’ bane.
Many touchstones try the stranger.
Many fall, but one remains.

~~The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (“The Stranger”)

seven trials
What he puts his hand to, that shall be done.
What is left undone, that shall be done.

first trial
On a certain day to uncertain parents
Incarnate moon and star reborn.

second trial
Neither blight nor age can harm him.
The Curse-of-Flesh before him flies.

third trial
In caverns dark Azura’s eye sees
And makes to shine the moon and star.

fourth trial
A stranger’s voice unites the Houses.
Three Halls call him Hortator.

fifth trial
A stranger’s hand unites the Velothi.
Four Tribes call him Nerevarine.

sixth trial
He honors blood of the tribe unmourned.
He eats their sin, and is reborn.

seventh trial
His mercy frees the cursed false gods,
Binds the broken, redeems the mad.

one destiny
He speaks the law for Veloth’s people.
He speaks for their land, and names them great.

~~The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (“Seven Visions of Seven Trials of the Incarnate”)~~

Ten centuries shall the fortress stand
Walls of spirit wrapped in walls of fire
And horned lords shall bow their heads
To one not yet born, of the darkest sire

One century of blood and strife
The moon shall darken and none know why
The resting place at last is found
Of the Seventh who soared so high

Last daughter of a forlorn line
Shall guide him into history
Beneath the crypts prophecies clash
The war of ancient enemies

The conscious of a hacker…

Another one got caught today, it’s all over the papers. “Teenager Arrested in a Computer Crime Scandal”, “Hacker arrested after Bank Tampering”…

Damn kids. They’re all alike.

But did you, in your ghetto psychology and 1950s technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker?

Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?

I am a hacker, enter my world…

Mine is a world that begins with school…I’m smarter than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me…

Damn underachievers. They’re all alike…

I’m in junior high or high school. I’ve listened to teachers explain to us for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. “No, Ms. Smith, I didn’t show my work. I did it in my head…”

“Damn kid. Probably copied it. They’re all alike…”

I made a discovery today. I found a computer…

Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it’s because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn’t like me…

Or feels threatened by me…

Or thinks I’m a smart ass…

Or doesn’t like teaching and shouldn’t be here…

“Damn kid. All he does is play games. They’re all alike.”

And then it happened…a door opened to a world…rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict’s veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought, a board is found.

“This is it…this is where I belong…”

I know everyone here…even if I’ve never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again…I know you all…

“Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They’re all alike…”

You bet your ass we’re all alike…

We’ve been spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak. The bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We’ve been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils but those few were like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now. The world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn’t run by profiteering gluttons and you call us criminals. We explore and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it’s for our own good, yet we are the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity.

My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.

My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto.

You may stop this individual, but you can’t stop us all…

After all, we’re all alike…

The Vision… 7/19/89

~NB~This is taken from ‘Culpa Innata’ the game.~NB~

            Tune up your circuits. Check out your chips. Colors of light…Pulses of sound…All goes to One…
Tune up your circuits. Check out your chips. Because you’re going to live a long life. Check the identity card. It shows your code. Listen to the white noise in your ears. It fades away…
Reality is just a bunch of illusions. Check the pixels of them. Stop your radio for a second and tell me what you see and hear. Is not that the beauty of the truth? There’s nothing else but you. Pay your credit of life today…

Do the twisted dance again. Smile that fool to dance. See the theatre of pulses. ..Colors of light…Pulses of sound…All goes to One…

Learn distortion until you realize there’s nothing but the truth. We are born and we die. Tune up your chips and circuits. You’re going to live longer…

~~NB: These are the lyrics of ‘Tune Up’ by Electric Universe~~

            And the moon…the moon was shining on the sand. Soaked in blood…covered with bodies…full of debris. The sand on which a battle thousands of years in the making took place…

Two thousand years ago invaders came to the lands of the Vertigo tribe. Covered in mystery these shadowed warriors came out of the mist, massacred the tribe’s finest men and disappeared as quickly as they came. But they returned and this time they stayed. They enslaved the rest of the populations using women for breeding and sacrificing every boy to honor their gods. The girls they kept for themselves. The heritage and memory of the Vertigo was on the brink of extinction. For two thousand years the tribe struggled to keep their history alive. For two thousand years brave women hid they baby boys in the forests praying to their Goddess for their survival. And they did survive. Magical creatures lived in the forests of Vertigo. The tribesmen called them ‘demons’ for all things unknown to them were evil. But these creatures were old…they had the wisdom of eons for they were immortal.

They raised a child…the first of many…on who would lead the armies of Vertigo and liberate his homeland. They called him Salus – ‘Salvation’ and they granted him and everyone after him the gift of eternal life. For two thousand years Salus gathered his army until one faithful day…

The sun was red in the horizon. The night was closing in on the lands of Vertigo. Then the forests thundered and the armies of Vertigo poured on the invaders like raindrops in summer. Not losing even in the smallest bit their ability to fight after two thousand years of peace, the invaders quickly took control of the battlefield. One by one the men fell on the sands of their homeland kissing it before their last breaths left their bodies. By midnight it was all over. The invaders had won with almost no casualties. The cries of the women of Vertigo echoed through the darkness…

And then they disappeared. Just as quickly as they came two thousands years ago the invaders were gone…back into the mist never to be seen again. Vertigo was freed by the blood of its children…

And the moon…the moon was shining on the sand…