Some notes: I have found two versions circulating. First there is the version that was in Amiss's article, Dark Weavings. Second there is the version that I first saw, that was written down by someone present when the Mirror Wraith said it. My sources for these two articles are [Waerd Aev Magazine, and] the messages left at the Wren's Nest Tavern, for Amiss's and "my" versions, respectively.
I call Amiss's version "A", and the other version - the one I first saw - "B". I believe that B is the version that the Mirror Wraith told everyone. Line numbers are in "Arabic" and stanza numbers in "Roman" numerals. Where the A and B texts differ, the A lines' numbers are preceded with an A, and the B lines' with a B. Also, A's are in red and B's in blue.
| I |
|
| 1 |
Gather round, good worthies, and hear what I've seen, |
| 2 |
Reflected in a glassy eye[.] |
| 3 |
Heed the truth of my words alone... |
| 4 |
...for prophets never lie. |
| II |
|
| 5 |
Three Deceivers set forth upon the lands |
| 6 |
Emerging from the cold -- |
| 7 |
While your protectors sleep and dream soft dreams |
| 8 |
Their plans already unfold. |
| III |
|
| 9 |
No king! No [no] squire! No [no] heart nor reason |
| 10 |
Can alone unturn this darkling treason[,] |
| 11 |
But an army or a legion |
| 12 |
Will find their weapons worthless lead {A: . , B: -- } |
| B:13 |
'pon Elanthia, barren, dead. |
| A: III.5 |
|
| A: 13 |
And hear, pray allow, some light be shed. |
| IV |
|
| 14 |
To the first, a man with platinum eyes that once reflected moons[.] |
| 15 |
He grasps at all he cannot have in a chamber of lapis and gold[.] |
| 16 |
For the promise of power he'll bring forth change... |
| IV.5 |
|
| 17 |
...And ruination, ere this tale is told. |
| V |
|
| 18 |
To the second, once a warrior saint, |
| 19 |
Now a fiend to the eyes of the blind. |
| 20 |
Only one knows where his path truly leads, |
| 21 |
Through battle, and aethyr, and time. |
| VI |
|
| 22 |
To the third, a bone-yard, and a restless grave, |
| 23 |
Lost in the trinkets of a tragic past. |
| 24 |
When every hour is spent in delirium dreams |
| 25 |
A moment's peace is a fortune amassed. |
| VII |
|
| 26 |
An artisan will become his final work, |
| 27 |
When the stars begin to fall. |
| 28 |
The first Deceiver re-awoken -- |
| 29 |
And its brethren hear the call. |
| VIII |
|
| 30 |
Trust not what you know, o worthies, |
| 31 |
In a realm of confusion and strife. |
| 32 |
Nothing is as it first appears, |
| 33 |
Illusion the deadliest knife. |
| IX |
|
| 34 |
With this weapon the Deceivers shall strike, |
| 35 |
And a mighty blow be laid. |
| 36 |
An ally will fall, one hope be lost, |
| 37 |
In a grave that your ignorance made. |
| X |
|
| 38 |
One shall travel a province most unwilling, |
| 39 |
Kidnapped by a righteous man. |
| 40 |
Blood will be shed as it passes into |
| 41 |
Strange circles and stranger hands. |
| XI |
|
| 42 |
While the wise mourn, the wiser take heed, |
| 43 |
And brace against turbulent times -- |
| 44 |
Now comes the season of discontent, |
| 45 |
With a shadow o'er people's minds. |
| XII |
|
| 46 |
War begins in an unlikely place, |
| 47 |
Fought with precious metal and lies, |
| 48 |
Sides are chosen, lives are staked |
| 49 |
With a curse the only prize. |
| XIII |
|
| 50 |
Now two are one and one is lost, |
| 51 |
Held in a sanctified place. |
| 52 |
A dead man knows what the living do not, |
| 53 |
But keeps a somber face. |
| XIV |
|
| 54 |
A confession is a treacherous thing, |
| 55 |
From a soul so weary and tattered -- |
| 56 |
But words of truth will unmask the darnkess... |
| 57 |
...And the work of five centuries, shattered. |
| XV |
|
| 58 |
With hours left upon the clock, |
| 59 |
And doomsday well at hand, |
| 60 |
A midnight sun will shine upon |
| 61 |
A forever altered land. |
| XVI |
|
| 62 |
And what of the future, o learned ones. [?] |
| 63 |
What will become of you [?] -- |
| 64 |
The choice resides in your hands alone... |
| 65 |
...And this is the only thing that's true. |
|