Challenge 1, #3 [GLOGtober]
We interrupt our regularly scheduled posting for this breaking post prompted by this GLOGtober prompt: "Atlantis-type situation but in reverse. It goes up instead of down.
Mig-Hasatu, The First Patron City of Miglah
"There are two scrolls I know of which speak of Mig-Hasatu, the first dwelling place of Miglah. The first is in the temple library of Gestunisaba; the second is within my own personal collection. I know the story well.
Allow me to weave it for you.
Before Miglah had his footstool in Mig-Qaqar, when Mig-Qaqar was nothing more than Qaqar, a town with some local mining operations, there was the patron city of Mig-Hasatu to its southwest. It was said to be built upon a vein of gold revealed to the high priest of Miglah in a dream. It was upon this vein of gold that the temple of Miglah, El-Idha-Rasu ("On the River of Gold"), was built. It would turn out to be the source of Mig-Hasatu's great wealth and power.
The citizens of Mig-Hasatu were devout to Miglah above all others, for he was their father and they his children. They were diligent in their rituals; foremost among them was their king. Miglah-Allu, their first king, was the strongest of those who harvest from stone. In his zeal for Miglah, in the shine of his youth, he mined one ton of gold alone. He dedicated this ton to Miglah's throne where it was used to lay the foundation for El-Idha-Rasu.
Miglah extended kingship to Miglah-Allu for his deed. His family was richest of the mining families, for they were blessed with divine ownership of the golden veins which pulsed beneath their feet. His palace is said to have been gilded in gold from its ceiling to its pillars to its foundations.
Miglah-Allu's reach extended to all the mining operations of the land, including those of Qaqar. Rivers of gold, silver, copper, and tin flowed to his throne; rivers of the same flowed into El-Idha-Rasu. The kingdom was wealthy; even those without a man had their needs met, for their king had more than enough.
His sons were exemplary rulers in their own right, though never attaining to his glory, his riches, or his devotion. Yet his acts echoed through time. It was said the earth hummed with his life every time a pick struck a stone.
Who the king was when the plague struck is lost to time. Or to the demons. I have not been able to find a record of his name. Either way, the plague rampaged into the city as it did everywhere else. The citizens of Mig-Hasatu began to die. The rivers slowed to streams, then to trickles, then to nothing. In a last act of desperation Miglah took the city into his hands and lifted Mig-Hasatu above his head like a father lifts his laughing child. An arrow of a mountain was birthed under Mig-Hasatu which pierced the sky. The people were brought directly into the heavenly realms by the great strength of Miglah where they were kept safe from the plague and the chaos which followed.
...
Quickly! Look! The sunset! Do you see that mountain in the dying light? That is the strength of our father Miglah. Look at its beauty! It turns the burning radiance of Asmesh into golden light, arrayed like the feathers of the peacock. In all my travels, this is one of my favorite sights. It's golden rays give me hope against the blackness of night.
This is not where Mig-Hasatu's story ends, however. I've spoken on occasion with some of the wild men beyond the wall. Truthfully, they tell stories almost as well as I do; weavers in their own right. From what I've gathered from speaking with them, they claim to hear distant clangs on clear nights. A steady, rhythmic clang-clang-clang, like those which echo from the copper mines. They have all sworn to me by the divine council, the dead, the lost, and the living gods, that the sound comes from above. It would seem our long-lost city of miners now mines the stars.
A fate most unusual, but certainly one better than ours."