consuming even the stones. no one survived. young and old alike perished in that terrible day. it was over in a moment
but the black smoke rolled up to heaven for many days to become a shroud to cover the sky. on that day
a desert where no living thing could ever survive. a dark epoch followed. sickness became our constant companion: our men grew old too quickly and died suddenly; those of our women who were not barren gave birth to dead babies or produced monsters from their diseased wombs; our flesh withered while still young; little children lost teeth and hair
they vomited blood. our proud ancestors became a nation afflicted with sores and running wounds. all that we knew passed away; all that we loved died. the treasures of our great civilization fell into dust. we lost the knowledge we had worked so hard to discover - we lost everything to the dark time.