His body seethes, it does not breathe,
His soul is black and cruel.
He sits upon his throne of tears,
and contemplates his rule.
No living things dare go too near,
Their fear is strong and true,
For he is the bane of life itself,
All fear him but the fool.

The Armadiel has come to dance the dance,
To spread his hands and challenge chance,
To cleave the thread of happenstance,
To cast his net upon the sea,
To gather the souls of the brave and free,
Too blinded by the light to see,
Salvation’s secret silver key.

For those of you who think you know
What evil is, where hatred grows,
Where pain begins, when pity dies,
The transgression that you recognize,
The broken vow, a trust decried,
The anguish of loss, your love defied,
What suffering means when hope has died,
The difference between truth and lie,
Beware the beast!
He comes for you,
And all of those whose aim is true,
Your world to sunder,
Your heart to still,
To gather the cloth in his hideous hands,
To rend the weave ’till nothing stands,
And all that is alive, to kill….
And all that is alive to kill!

GemQuest, Book III, The Shards