Tiamat Is Dead

Tiamat is dead
She who was one of the first two beings in existence
Consort of Apsu and mother of the gods
Tiamat died long ago, killed by her grandson Marduk
Tiamat is dead
Marduk slew her
Marduk fought Tiamat
Marduk engaged her in a titanic struggle
Marduk held Tiamat’s vast jaws open with the winds
He shot arrows down her gullet
Tiamat is dead
Marduk split once-mighty Tiamat in two
From her two halves he created Heaven and Earth
Mighty Marduk carved up her corpse
He quelled her great salt waters and tamed them
From Tiamat’s consort, Kingu, Marduk took life’s blood
Which he used to birth the race of man
That lives and dies like maggots on Tiamat’s carcass
Tiamat is dead
For ages immemorial we have lived and built on her bones
And burrowed deep into her flesh
From time beyond memory Marduk has stood vigil
We children of the blood of Kingu and the flesh of Tiamat now prepare to cross beyond the boundaries of the great corpse on which we have lived all of our existence
Tiamat is dead
All of this I know
Yet sometimes I feel tremors within the Earth
And something whispers to me the name Tiamat
Are they merely leftover death tremors from that ancient battle?
Or something more?
At night I feel emotions that are not my own
Faint emotions, as if from the depths of a deep sleep
Emotions of pain, and rage
But the worst of them is the hunger
A vast, all-consuming hunger for life
A yearning to devour all that has come into existence
Tiamat is dead
Marduk stands his eternal vigil
But something is awakening
It has lain dormant for a long time
But gods are notoriously difficult to kill permanently
And Tiamat predates even them
I have seen visions of the universe as it truly is
A seething ocean of chaos beyond a madman’s worst nightmares
That rolls with beings and intelligences outside the broadest definitions of life
We survive on an island of calm built out of Tiamat’s corpse
Marduk keeps our pitiful defenses up against the chaos
But its children lurk just outside the comforting light of safety
And eagerly watch in anticipation
Below the surface, something stirs and threatens to awaken
Tiamat is dead
But I fear not for long