Further Selections from the Devastaticon

The Book of Brush Fires and Forest Fires

Textual Note: This apocryphal book of the Devastaticon exists in only one badly charred copy at the library in the city of the Dewies. The text consists, quite simply, of the names of all those beings which suffered flaming death at the hands of Havoc. Despite its burnt state, the preserved text runs for many thousands of pages.

[Text omitted]

The Second Book of Havoc (the Satellite, not Our Lord)

Textual note: This Book was written during the brief, yet intense, cultural efflorescence of the Fire Orcs. After Fury’s Obliteration, the Fire Orcs experienced an unprecedented century of artistic and literary achievement as they redirected their aggressive energies into the sole worship of Havoc. The text of the Book is attributed to Shagrat, the renowned Fire Orc prophet and prosodist of this intellectually fertile period.

Chapter 1

In the Bone Palace, shrouded by the greasy haze that permeates the Abyss, the four Gods of Death met: fiery Yultan, fearsome Mordak, foppish Euclidates and ferocious Havoc, the Master of Disaster. The Four had met for the forging of the most potent weapon the Universe would ever see, stronger by far than the very Hammer of Worlds.

The weapon commingled the several powers of fire, destruction, obliteration and chaos. This conjunction of magic could have only one purpose: the resurrection of Havoc-moon.

First fire would flame the heavenly rind of the satellite.

Second, the very matter of the moon would be torn apart by the destructive forces implanted by Our Cataclysmic Lord.

Third, the powers of obliteration would be unleashed to end the current state of the moon’s existence.

Finally, the primal chaos was embedded within, to unleash the pent up energy of the Void upon the moon.

Knowing the awe-inspiring fate of the moon that would ensue from the use of the prodigious weapon, the Four agreed to name it:

The Genesis Device.

Chapter 2

But, as yet, the moon could not fulfil its destined role. There remained the seemingly insoluble problem of reining in the powers of protean Chaos that would roil throughout the matter of the moon.

Fortunately, the Gods are indeed generous to mortals, and an answer was found. However, the proposed method required the voluntary Obliteration of bright Luminos and verdant Kudzu. Their sacrifice shall be remembered forever by all the races of the world. If only they had not immolated themselves on the pyre of the moon, we would all bend down in homage and worship them zealously.

As it seemed to Luminos, who once Illuminated All, there could be no finer gift to offer to the Universe than to remake the satellite in resplendence, making it a beacon of the powers of Light and Life. And to Kudzu, Patron of Growth, the opportunity to reshape the moon so as to support Life and Light was irresistible.

They agreed to submit themselves to the ultimate violence of the Genesis Device, in hopes of resurrecting Havoc-moon into an effulgent reflection of the Earth -- smaller, but infinitely more priceless and infinitely more dear to the Gods.

Chapter 3

Yet still the Universe offered obstacles to the Resurrection of Havoc-moon. A means must be found to transport the necessary Gods and the Genesis Device to the moon. Havoc, son of the Nameless Mortal Woman who bore him, could easily descend to his namesake in the sky of the world. Well do most races know Havoc’s proclivity to descend to the earth and wreak slaughter and disaster among the mortals.

But he could not ferry others along and it seemed for a short time that there was no hope. Our Lord, accompanied by Luminos and the Twins, sought the answer in the Void. Divine meditation revealed that consultation would have to be made with a god of Knowledge. Accordingly, Luminos sought out sinister Skulk and inquired whether Skulk might share the secret of travelling to the moon.

Sibilantly, Skulk whispered in the ear of Luminos, swearing him to silence. And Luminos, sensing the foretold Time had come, prepared the path.

The gods who dared convert the Moon converged in Luminopolis, and the God of Light extinguished the Sun with a wave of his hand. Swiftly traversing the paths of the heavens, Luminos led the way, Kudzu, Yultan and Havoc blindly following their silent guide.

They arrived at the cooling orb, and all marveled at the jewel-like ornamentation that encrusted every facet of the gigantic Lamp of the World. Havoc wondered at the work, so superior in quality to his moon, and suddenly considered the practical desirability of being so close to it.

Before Lord Havoc could flee to the Earth, the Sun exploded in a bloom of sudden golden radiance. Even the ever-blazing Yultan showed signs of great discomfort at the heat, while the other three gods were blasted near the brink of oblivion.

Luminos nodded his acceptance of his pre-ordained fate, Havoc could do naught but marvel at the enormous destructive power of incineration contained in the sun, and Kudzu became alarmed at the wounds inflicted upon his companions. "If only," quoth the God of Growth, "my powers of healing were of any avail here in this realm betwixt Heaven and Earth."

Chapter 4

Thence made they their way to the moon, to work the Resurrection of that satellite. Exchanging solemn nods amongst them, the four readied themselves for the final act, in which Luminos and Kudzu would be forever destroyed. Yultan faced Luminos and Havoc faced Kudzu. Exerting deathlike grips upon the Genesis Device, Havoc and Yultan steadied it as the two other gods impaled themselves on either end.

As the final potency of their divinities ebbed into the artifact, each dying god spoke a final word as the History of the World came to its precise midpoint:

"Glow," murmured Luminos.

"Grow," whispered Kudzu.

Havoc and Yultan detonated the Genesis Device.

Chapter 5

Fire rushed forth upon the surface of the moon in the burst that blinded the eyes of the Byblosian astrologers.

Destructive forces rent the moon apart into its constituents. To this day, small chunks of Havoc-moon continue to rain down upon us in fiery sheets of cosmic brilliance. We thank the Demolition God that the chunks are too small to kill any but those doomed unfortunates who happen to be directly in their path.

Obliteration poured into the moon-matter, ending the current state of the moon’s existence, leaving it ripe for what was to come. The high priests of the tiny moon-cults of the primitive races of Earth were all struck stone dead, and their squalid temples continue to lie empty and forlorn, places shunned forever.

Ever-changing chaos raced across the face of the satellite, unleashing the pent up energies of the Void upon the formlessness that was once Havoc-satellite. Generating wild possibilities and impossibilities, the creative fire of the Genesis Device had wiped clean the slate and set the stage for a new act of Creation. None at that time, not even Artifice, could say for sure what the final outcome of the moon might be.

Chapter 6

Just before the Great Artifact detonated, Yultan felt the power of Luminos’ Brilliance pouring through the Device and into his body, and thence into the moon. With a blast of radiance, Yultan was killed and his soul migrated to the Abyss, leaving a cometary trail of shining power streaking across the sky.

Conversely, Havoc felt the life-force of Kudzu travel through his divine frame and into the unstable matter that once had been the moon. The Healing Power of Nature and the Life-Giving power of the Sea coursed through him as through a conduit, and the glory and majesty of it was almost too much for Him to bear. At the end, the blast of detonation slew Him as it had Yultan, releasing power throughout the heavens and enriching the gods through the noble sacrifices of the Four.

However, Havoc, being born of mortal woman before ever a mortal lived on the World, was not drawn off to the Abyss. Rather, His corpse was assimilated into the reformulating moon.

The Genesis Device had reawakened the Seed of Havoc that had long lain inert within the satellite. The Seed quickened and sought out the seared body of Havoc and enveloped it and sustained it.

The Genesis Device had also reawakened the Seed of Kowabunga. The nurturing power of Kudzu merged with the life-fostering oceanic power of Kowabunga to slowly bring Life to the moon, but not as the Four had expected.

Chapter 7

At the time I write these words, it has been fifty years since the Ignition of the Genesis Device. Havoc has not been seen on Earth or in Heaven. I, your prophet, will now reveal the reason for the absence of our sole and solitary God.

The work of the Genesis Device requires an entire century; a century in which we enlightened and Havoc-worshipping Fire Orcs live, while the moon blossoms into a new home of that Life which is dearest to us.

At the beginning of that century, the enveloped Havoc-seed descended to rest at the very center of the reconstituted satellite, the Coronet of Light upon the lifeless chest of Havoc within it. There, the life-sustaining and healing powers of Nature bathed the dead god in the embrace of the potent Sea.

In fifty more years at the end of this century, when some of those now living will still be alive to witness it, Havoc will awaken, alive again and fully restored, at the center of the reformulated moon. Invigorated by His newly mended body, Havoc will burst out upon the surface and give thanks to Kudzu for having given up life to restore Havoc’s.

Although the gods had intended the Resurrection of Havoc the moon, they will have achieved the Resurrection of Havoc the God.