Wireflower
In the 2nd age, under the rulership of the Black Sun, the world was an evil and godless place. The Hungering Powers ruled the cosmos, and the Grand Architect was worshiped by a precious few. The tribe of Adam worshiped the Grand Architect. They prayed in hush tones, away from the prying eyes of the legates and initiates of the Lords of Chaos, the aristocracy which ruled Babylon under their heinous religion The Cult of the Black Sun.
Humanity was raised up as cattle under the service of these evil men. Their primary use as slaves or sacrifice for the blood tithes demanded by such dark worship. Hedonistic pleasure seeking was the only reward for compliance to the Black Sun. Becoming skilled and proving your value to your betters was the only way of moving up. There was no advancement without unquestioning servitude to the institutions which held up this dark kingdom.
A member of the tribe of Adam named Lamech who worked his way through the lesser gardens of Babylon to become the head gardener of the “Hall of Orchids” believed in the power of the Grand Architect. One of the few in this time who avoided an advancement through torture and pain. It was not a willingness to obey unceasingly which elevated him to the highest level, rather it was his unparalleled skill. Although serving was his nature, serving the Lords of Chaos was a challenge that only God gave him the strength to pursue. It was through his work with plants he knew gods nature was still alive in the dark world. His prowess with plants gained him renown, and with this he was able to protect his family from the Cult of the Black Sun.
His most prized possession was his daughter Eva. Eva was a girl of innocence in a harsh and cruel world; she was a fragile glass ornament protected only by the status Lamech could provide. Eva had a love for the wonderful flowers and history of the hanging gardens, and would spend hours asking her father about the many wonderful and rare species of flower Lamech kept therein. She especially loved hearing about the hallowed Hall of Orchids. The most prized flowers of the Lords of Chaos, and an unholy icon for the Cult of The Black Sun. Of course Eva would never be able to go there as it was forbidden for anyone to enter besides garden attendants or the Lords of chaos and Black Cult leadership. Even with it being forbidden Lamech promised to one day show Eva all of its wonders.
This however came crashing down as Lamech’s prized orchid the “Black Maw”, which he bred specifically for the Eye of the Cult of the Black Sun, mysteriously withered and died. Without this specimen it would be impossible to breed more Black Maws. This symbolic death of the of the icon of the Eye of the Cult of the Black Sun was powerful. The Eye was furious with this, and dealing with opposition from the lords of chaos turned the blame on to Lamech. This failure was unacceptable, and as tribute the Eye summoned legates to Lamech’s house to steal his precious daughter away from him to be offered as a dark sacrament to the Black Sun. Later that day an urn of ashes was returned to Lamech. Who collapsed into a heap and wept. Saddened he asked god for release from this awful existence, and in his grief Lamech determined to remember his daughter the way shed want to be. Lamech made his way to the Hall of Orchids to bury her ashes. This act was punishable by death, but Lamech had nothing to left to lose.
Once entering the hall Lamech locked and barred the door behind him praying loudly for all the hear the banned exaltation of the tribe of adam for the Grand Architect.
“The path of God is salvation for the sins of the earth.
It is contentment.
Happiness is for the one who pursues God for the sake of order, discipline, purity, and truth”
Lamech repeated this prayer loudly in song, ever increasing in intensity as he dug a patch of soil from where the Black Maw had been planted. He knelt over in prayer as the guards broke through the door and loosed an arrow piercing Lamech through the heart. As Lamech collapsed onto the soil, his blood pooling around him, he prayed to god to save the tribe of Adam from their mortal torture. Lamech prayed that his sacrifice, and that of his family, would not be in vein. Suddenly a blast of divine furious energy filled the room so intense as to blind any who dared look into it. It pierced the darkish purple skies of the land and revealed beautiful blue skies. This was followed by a rumbling of the temple complex of the great hanging gardens. This rumbling cracked and split the very foundations, and the entire temple was lifted into the sky and transported along many miles to a secluded mountain valley and dropped gently as if placed there by the hand of the Grand Architect. The evil men of the temple were gone, and the adamites of Babylon found themselves in the gardens transported divinely in seclusion and safety. As Lamech lost consciousness his body quickly turned into grassy moss covered in beautiful and pristine flowers, and the arrow no longer an arrow, but the wire flower stuck out amongst the bouquet as a gift from the Grand Architect for those who would stand against evil.
