A dramatic poem in three acts
By Cassandra Tribe
The City of Love
"Where the Gods doth walk the Earth seeking a return
to the harmony of their original existence,
trying to find ways to undo the harms they have done."
The Story
Sadima, the goddess of War, wakes up on the sands of a beach just outside the walled City of Love. She cannot remember how she came to be there, who she is, or what, if anything, is her reason for being.
Ookeanu, the Lord of the Ocean, sees her and falls in love but cannot speak to her because he has no human form. His twin, Laineta of the Waves, goes to Issand the Creator and asks him to make a man for her brother so he can speak to Sadima. Issand goes into the Garden of Lost Things and builds a man, Sangar, from the memories others have lost.
Unknown to all, Issand has chosen to build Sangar from Sadima's lost memories. When they meet, she recognizes her life within him. Sadima is faced with a choice, does she take back who she was or does she leave the past behind to become someone new?
She falls asleep and dreams of entering the City of Love and is shown that there she will find Peace. Waking, she reaches out and takes back her memories, leaving Sangar lifeless on the beach. She goes the City to meet her destiny. The Lord of the Ocean follows, his grief at her rejection falling as rain.
In the city, Lootma, the Demon of Hope, rules for the Goddess of Love, who has been imprisoned by madness for centuries far beneath the City. Only as the Auslander approaches on a Black Horse in the sky, Wisdom sitting behind him blind and deaf from age, does Love begin to dream and stir.
The Auslander is racing Azuras, the Demon king, who is dancing on the mountain ridge and drawing near. All of this is coinciding with the celebration of the impending death of the oldest man and the birth of the newest, an event that only happens in simultaneity once a millenium. Should the gates be open to the Demon King, he will gain control of the City of Love forever and the World will be lost. Hope waits to lift the latch.
As the flames of the feast are lit, Love wakens and remembers why madness possessed her - the betrayal and death of her lover, Peace, at the hands of War.
