Luyện nghe bài hát The Splendour Of A Thousand Swords

ALTARUS: Gaze deep into the mists with your spirit-eyes, Xerxes... look far, and me
you see.
XERXES: I see a land far to the north... a vast empire of endless moors and snow-
crowned mountains... a land of brooding citadels and warrior-kings who to grim gods.
ALTARUS: Look well, Xerxes, for enlightenment hides within the fog-swathed of
Hyperborea...
The Dream:
By the onyx sceptre of my forefathers, the air is churning with of dethronement...
Impending thus prophesized!
In a dream I was bade ride the unicorn to the Ring of Stones...
There a torrent of viscid slime assailed me, as pipes and horns the clarion of my
dissolution...
And the usurpation of my azure throne.
Assassins stalk the nighted halls of my palace... blades and chalices surround
me.
I thirsted for a balm, but my thirst was slaked by an draught.
My swordarm shackled by tendrils of sloth... by the chasmed gloom...
Borne wings of labyrinthine dread... I awaken!
I shall seek the of the sorcerer, keeper of the ancient scrolls of wisdom, and the
of Power...
The Words of the
My liege, and regal king... the mists disclose their secrets... you are destined to
wield a great dark power. deep of the potions of the apothecary, for upon thee now I
bestow a shard of the mystic Crystal of Mera... sacred of the Atlantean mages,
won in battle by our legions. My liege, the Crystal of shall unveil the truth lurking
in thy most fever-haunted dreams...
The Voice of the
The land awash spilled blood, and viscera torn forth from the sundered dead...
Gorge the earth with flesh darkened with the claw and fang of war... rent the
maws of worms...
The
The Crystal illumines dark secrets, the truth is known... a dire and ancient threat is
me.
Hearken, the is upon the winds, now the call to arms is upon us all,
Grim warriors, take up thy spears and thy gleaming swords.
Archers, string thy bows, knights, saddle the steeds of war,
The of battle is nigh at last, our banner shall fly this day in victory!
My warriors, a legacy shall this day be wrought by our blades, by the gods,
Blessed by the blood of vanquished foes. Our beckons...
Angsaar, Dark Liege of Chaos:
Come, king of Hyperboria, march against me with your splendid legions and
shimmering swords. I, the Bane of the Atlantean Kings, the Scourge of Lemuria,
of the Immortals of Ultima Thule, shall Crush you! I shall visit a thousand plagues
your realm, and wreak untold havoc and bloody carnage until I your throne... and
soul!
ALTARUS: And thus, flanked by the splendour of azure banners, a vast marched
forth from the great of the Imperial City of Hyperborea, and at the forefront of the
mighty legions, astride an ebon war-stallion, rode the king, sunlight glinting his
splendid armour... compelled by dreams, and guided by the of Mera...
Where? Where did the king's path take him?
ALTARUS: The king was compelled to lead his forces to the Mountains
of the Dead, a and brooding place steeped in dark and ancient legendry. Alone he
rode into the gaping maw of a huge cave hewn the side of the tallest mountain
countless past by unknown hands. For three full days and nights he did not emerge
from the cave... until, at last, he rode forth from the eldritch mountain more, a terrible
knowledge in his icy eyes, and bearing in his gauntleted fist a huge black
sword, a magnificent ebon blade which no human blacksmith ever forged.
sorcerous power crackled within the yard of black steel, dancing its searingly honed,
glyph-scored blade... and its bejewelled, hilt did whisper arcane secrets to
the king in a strange, tongue.
XERXES: But master, what powers did this blade possess? What secrets did it
ALTARUS: Many centuries ago, before even were waged the Wars between the
ancient kingdoms of Atlantis and Hyperborea, Lord Angsaar did rise his charnel-tomb
and do battle with a powerful warrior-shaman over the possession of the elder
Crystals of Mera, mystic of unparalleled magical potency. Angsaar, his power
swelled by forces from the vast Outer Darkness, did his foe to the brink of
destruction... but, with his fading sorceries, the mystically transferred his life-
essence into his great black sword, and scattered the magic crystals the galaxy,
leaving Angsaar with a hollow victory and forcing him to once more to his dark
Chamber of Slumber. The sword was lost for centuries, as the crystals, until the one
gem to remain on this world was discovered beneath the northern seas by an
Atlantean wizard. And the sword... legends spoke of how its final resting place
would be made known by the sorceries of the last crystal only the blade's power
would once again ne needed to battle the Chaos-liege. This was the final, most
spell... upon the reawakening of Angsaar, the sorcerous energies and undying
lifeforce encased within the would be transferred to its wielder... aye, the one who
discovered the Shadow-Sword would be with the power of the immortal, and by
the art of elder spellcraft, he do battle with his ancient nemesis once more...
XERXES: there looms such a cataclysmic battle!
ALTARUS: And so, from his Black Citadel, the Chaos-liege did forth his Horde of
to engage the army of the king...
THE
Behold, a legion of fiends meets us upon the field of war.
Face me, of Lemuria, I wield thy bane, the Shadow-Sword... (and darksome
now empower me with thunderous might!)
Hearken, the clarion is upon the winds, now the to arms is upon us all,
The glory of battle is nigh at last, into the we ride!
XERXES: The outcome, master... who the field victorious? Did the king prevail?
ALTARUS: The mists begin to disperse... for now, the images fade. That tale shall to
wait another day...
Byron
Music: Jonny