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Language:
English
Series:
Part 22 of this violent ritual
Stats:
Published:
2026-01-27
Completed:
2026-02-06
Words:
4,219
Chapters:
10/10
Comments:
68
Kudos:
43
Bookmarks:
10
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571

A Book of Joy

Summary:

You are dead, King Oryx. You didn’t think there would be anything else out beyond that threshold, did you? But here I am, talking to you. Hello.

Chapter 1: LI: The End

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Verse 6:0 — The End

Thus King Oryx was pierced the LIGHT, that liar weapon made true by the fruit of its use, and the Deep recoiled at His weakness. AIAT. See how the worm devours him! Hear the roar of His power as it tears Him apart! Oryx is dead for He was weak, and we the Hive take joy in this truth. We feast upon His corpse and make our dwelling in the gap left by His absence.

It is true and it is good. It is good for it is true. Truth is go(o)d and its blade wounds deeply, a hiltless sword with a million edges.

Aiat! Such is the end, which is too a beginning. Aiat! The King is dead. Aiat! We wail in joy that is the same as sorrow, for death is the same as love. Aiat! The King is dead for He loved us, and we will speak His love upon the world with fire and sword, unto eternity. AIAT!

Notes:

For Zee, who one night at 3 am said she would like “a whole ass Book of Sorrow but it’s Oryx playing chess with the Gardener”, with “the whole power of ‘my man Oryx’ but it’s said by the Gardener instead of the Winnower” (these are exact quotes). And I was like, “I will write that for ya”. And you don’t break a promise like that.

The imagery of the hiltless blade is taken from one of my favourite of Sylvie’s works. The entire fic is already written and chapters will be released daily.