Tanka Epic, Part 4

This is part four of the Tanka Epic, an experiment in writing an epic poem where each stanza is a standalone tanka. If you haven't read the first three parts, you should click "Tanka Epic" on the right side and find the rest of the series. Otherwise, click below to enjoy!

The Dark Lord hastens
Into the small stone doorway
Disguised as a wall.
Purpose fills his darkened heart
As he flies down the passage.

He enters a room
One thousand cubits per side
And smelling of death;
Here, his contingency plan
Rests: in his bestiary.

A hidden creature,
Crouched, cloaked in a darkened cage,
Growls warningly:
The sound of feral hunger
From a patient predator.

The Knight hesitates,
Feeling the beast’s low rumble
Deep within himself
As a quake within his bones
Which chills his very marrow.

As he struggles forth
Through his visceral terror,
He recalls the words
Spoken by the old sea hag:
The prophecy of his death.

Memories of her,
Hair caked with the ocean salt,
Wrinkled, greenish skin
And rotten, fetid brown teeth
Cause the Knight’s bile to rise.

During the voyage
From the city of Stoneholdt
Across the ocean
Toward the End of All Things,
The sea hag appeared to him.

“In the Dark Lord’s realm,”
She warned, unsolicited,
“Past your world’s bounds,
Will two suns meet, light and dark,
To do battle, sub terra.”

“As the earth and wind,
As the fire and water,
When these two shall meet
Shall they cancel each other,
And neither shall leave alive.”

With that, she vanished,
Returning to depths unknown;
The hero was left
To stew upon the hag’s words
And to brood upon his fate.

Now, in the dark hall,
The momentum of battle
Fades gradually
As he gives chase to his foe,
Leaving the Knight uncertain.

No longer is he
Caught up in blood-drunk fervor,
So now does fear
Of his mortality rise
And suddenly give him pause.

Right there in the hall,
The Knight, chosen of Maki,
Falls down to his knees
And begins to pray aloud,
Begging Maki for his strength.

A light fills the hall,
Slaying shadows where it falls.
In the center stands
A man of coalesced light,
Glaring downward at the Knight.

“A brave thing it is,”
The figure kindly allows,
“To have made it here
Through the nightmarish battle,
Knowing your fate all the while.”

“But now His chosen
Falls to the ground before me,
Afraid for your life,
As though Maki would forget
All that you have done for Him.”

The righteous anger
Behind the words strikes home true
Within the Knight’s chest.
Holy fire reignites
In his heart as he now stands.

The fear disappears
As he realizes his
Place in Paradise.
Weapon shouldered, he strides forth
To his last confrontation.