CotBG Archive ██/██/20██-███: Of Dragons and Serpents - SCP Foundation

Warning:

The following text may induce mild visual hallucinations. Personnel are to be applied with Memetic Counter-Agent: "Buzhou" before proceeding.

The following documents are a collection of poems retrieved from a previously unknown faction of GOI-004 ("The Church of the Broken God"). Upon discovery, personnel experienced mild visual hallucinations of various images, depicting dragons similar to those in eastern mythology, or unnaturally sized serpents. No long-term effect has been detected.

The poems appear to be translations of materials of different origins, written in various time periods and regions. Notably, unlike other CotBG literature, both the entity "Mekhane" (Broken God) and the entity "Yaldabaoth" (Sarkic God) are described as dragons or serpents in the texts. They also reveal a more complex relation between the two entities than previously believed. One shows a direct link to ancient Chinese myths; the other is suspected to be linked to SCP-████.

His Sword, Like Serpent

+ Hypatia, Circa 100 BCE, Lesbos

- Hypatia, Circa 100 BCE, Lesbos

I have picked up His sword by the seashore,

Who whispered to me soft words.

First it told me about two great dragons,

Then it spoke of man and war.

One was there to enlighten in the Eden, it said,

The other a reckless god.

One taught us to think and feel, it said,

The other bred us from soil.

The dragons once rest in the abyss, it said,

Then came their sons and daughters.

One had made a cage of His bronze skeleton,

The other trapped and suffered.

One wore a crown of thunder and lightning, it said,

The other sat on a throne of bones.

But the crown now in pieces and the throne concealed,

Their descendants on earth live oblivious.

I shall build Him a temple and an altar, I said,

So the dragons shall be remembered.

I shall light the candles and speak of prayers, I said,

And make sacrifice of blood and steel.

I have taken His sword back from the seashore,

Crafted an altar out of iron and silver.

I have laid the pillars and paved the floor,

Lit the candles at nightfall.

I have put His sword up on the altar,

Where it coiled like a serpent.

It sang in a language not of this world,

Then spoke about men and war.

It was when the priests lit the fire of bronze, it said,

That the beasts of blood had gathered.

Great colossi of metal stood tall with hammers,

As horrible angels were called.

It was when the sky bled a crimson red, it said,

That stars all flickered and trembled.

Teeth and thorns clutching together,

Roars and clanking long heard.

There stood the dragons' descendants,

Each fought for their only god.

Men implanted themselves with inventions of god;

Men reborn to be dragons and serpents.

The one dragon shall cry with His tears of mercury,

The other shall laugh as the chains rattle.

There stood the dragons' proud descendants,

Regarding one another as pests and cancer.

They bit and cut and summoned the lightings,

Until one was torn and the other was lost.

They fought on earth as their progenitors did in heaven,

In elder times and formless void.

The men are not better than their creators, it said,

As the dragons no better than us.

But broken is broken and lost is lost, it said,

And I am but a mere sword.

A sword forged by His sacred fires, it said,

Sharpened to impale the heart of another.

But as such a weapon I was never used, it said,

Now lay rusted and shameful.

In His Wasted Kingdom

+ Dario Narváez, Circa 1100 CE, Galicia

- Dario Narváez, Circa 1100 CE, Galicia

I have reached the Shore of Light,

Into His wasted kingdom.

Our great Father the Serpent,

Calls for his long lost children.

I have sailed in His tears of mercury,

And witnessed His blood of boiling iron.

He has sighed and wept,

For the strange fate we met.

Our vicious Mother the Dragon,

Her words are sweet, her powers are grand.

But how can we choose to be beasts,

Having learnt the ways of men?

We were once their proud descendants,

Given promises to inherit the land.

But having forgotten the past and lost our sight,

We crawled on earth like worms and pests.

Endless wars we fought,

All of them in vain.

Grand cities we built,

Only a shadow of past achievements.

But I have heard you call,

And know that you tolerate our ignorance.

I have listened to your heartbeats,

And know you have forgiven Mother's sins.

I now stand in your wasted kingdom,

Hearing the echoes of your voice and spirit.

I have promised to seek out the shattered pieces,

The heart, the eyes, and the cage of your skeleton.

Seven pieces you are scattered,

Seven pieces I will find.

Seven pieces I will gather,

So the dragon shall breathe again.

I have stood in a desert of gears,

Once components of a machine so grand.

But I know your heart will beat,

As your great fires reignite.

I call upon you, Father Serpent!

So our path may be clear.

I shall rebuild you, Father Serpent!

So Her sins may meet redemption.

I have stood in His wasted kingdom,

And wish I have seen its grander days.

But we shall fulfill your wishes, Father Serpent!

So our family may reunite.

To Call on the Dragon

+ Unknown, Circa 1400 BCE, Anatolia

- Unknown, Circa 1400 BCE, Anatolia

To call on the brass dragon,

And have it consume your flesh.

It is like a wolf indeed,

To feed on the lambs of meat.

Let it sink its teeth,

Through the bones and organs.

Let it claw out your heart,

Drinking the blood and feast.

To call on the brass dragon,

And have it swallow your body.

It is like a serpent indeed,

To take the bird into its skin.

Let it sink its fangs,

Infecting with poisonous mercury.

Let it coil around you,

Crushing the spine and ribs.

To call on the brass dragon,

And have it bite you to pieces.

It is like a beast indeed,

To chop down the prey's head.

Let it sink its claws,

Through your final breath.

Let it rip you open,

Revealing the foul things beneath.

To call on the brass dragon,

And have it take your mortal body.

It is like a god indeed,

To release the man's spirit.

To have your body sacrificed,

To have your soul remade.

To replace blood with mercury,

And put cogs down your skin.

To call on the brass dragon,

What a marvelous machine!

Leave behind your body of flesh,

And rejoice in the dragon's realm.

I Have Seen the Dragon in the Great Brass Cage

+ Serik, Circa 900 CE, Tibetan Plateau

- Serik, Circa 900 CE, Tibetan Plateau

Upon the mountain came a man,

His lips were sealed but his eyes are many.

In his company were beasts and serpents,

Chained to his many hands reluctantly following.

I came in front of him in fear and worship,

Listening to the prophecy from the tongueless prophet.

The serpents coiled and the beasts restless,

But each held back by the eyes ever watching.

"I have seen the dragon in the Great Brass Cage," He said,

"Its claws are sharp and its breeds are many.

Its mouth consuming stars and its scales large as cities,

It coils and bends with the cage rusting.

"I have heard chanting and seen his servants,

Reborn from mere men to serpents and beasts.

Sacrifices were made in exchange for power,

But the great dragon never needs to feed.

"It fed on the bodies of gods not the flesh of men,

And it fell into slumber for ages and ages.

But its glory reduces not and his crown ever flaming,

Only a fool would claim mastery to such a thing.

"Pity the Great Sorcerer King of Adytum,

Who regards himself a god but an insect merely.

Pity his Klavigar and proud Karcists,

Who seek to rule the land but will all perish.

"Pity the followers of the great brass machine,

Their master scattered still in pieces.

Pity the mortals who know not about the dragons,

Descendants of the same blood but will die in ashes."

My face went pale as the beasts roared,

And I could hear the serpents shifting in darkness.

The moon shed down a blood red light,

As the mouthless prophet spoke once more.

"I have seen the dragon in the great brass cage," He said,

"Its teeth are sharp and its eyes are opening.

Its crown shines and its throne to be remade,

And when the cage shatters it will breathe."

In the Shape of the Dragon

+ Unknown, Circa 1900 CE, ████████

- Unknown, Circa 1900 CE, ████████

I have long been suspicious of the dark secrets in the false city,

but it is only when I'm here that I came to know how terrible the secrets might be.

I have only a wild guess of what unspeakable god the Hanged King bargained with,

and I do not dare to think about the rotten things hidden in the opposite side.

I have to write down my horrible discovery, but as the city's rules stand,

I'm compelled to compose a poem instead of a journal. It is a carnival, after all.

I have arrived at the great city of Alagadda,

The place of treasure and the court of revelry.

But as I peek deep down beneath,

The rubies crafted out of blood and the gold made of meat.

I have walked down the black corridors,

Quiet and away from the cheers and feasts.

As the singing faded and the black stars shined,

I smelled in the darkness the rotten things.

I stepped on the pathways and they felt like organs,

I look up to see the pillars resembling ribs.

I turned and ran until I met a blood river,

And each step I made sounded like a scream.

I have traced to find a deep black hole,

All the blood flooded roaring underneath.

I heard crows laughed vague and distant,

From the star-like holes the heaven bore.

I have seen the crowd approach once more,

With broken masks and decaying bodies.

The food they carried sprout rats and maggots,

The wine in their glasses a dark red liquid.

I have dived down deep into the great fall of madness,

And heard laughter come from the Ambassador.

I recalled meeting with the Hanged King,

All chained and bandaged with a painful moaning.

I have landed in a tunnel as the waves washed me,

Decay and mold crawled upon my body.

I have crawled deep down to the center,

And saw the mark of the dragon.

I have looked around the chamber,

But it was void and empty.

The blood dried and the waves ceased,

And the structure around still and lifeless.

I have arrived at the bowels of the city,

Resting in its long dead rotting body.

I have smelled death upon approaching,

Only to find it was something even more empty.

It was the shape of a great dragon,

Who once resided here for ages and ages.

But now a mere hole dark and gaping,

The phantom of a god ripping reality.

I have seen the hole of the great dragon,

In the dark center of Alagadda.

My mind shattered before the truth,

As I screamed and screamed.

All the blood for the Hanged King,

But he was a mere tunnel for the greater things.

The blood and flesh flowed into a great brass cage,

A prison where the dragon patiently waiting.

To Mother's Call, To Father's Wish

+ Gernot, Circa 1700 CE, Bavaria

- Gernot, Circa 1700 CE, Bavaria

In a war-torn battlefield,

I hold up my lifeless body.

Once a being of flesh,

Now a meatless thing.

A serpent coils around my spine,

I hear it say to me:

"Mother has heard your call,

Father is broken but waiting.

To whose call you will answer,

Down whose path you will walk?"

I ask it for Hell and Heaven,

And hear the crows laugh at me.

The serpent crawls up to my skull,

And whispers to me soft things.

"Hell and Heaven are but foolish dreams,

Father has asked you to purify your soul,

And ascend into godly machines.

Or do you want be like Mother,

Merge your soul with body,

To be a dragon reborn from the ashes?"

I ask it which way is to salvation,

Which way is the devil’s wish.

The serpent slips into my empty chest,

And rests where my heart was beating.

"Both ways are divine as your creators,

Both paths are that of the dragons.

But blood and mercury was shed over the decision,

As Mother and Father fought for ages.

To choose one is to be damned by another,

To answer Mother’s call, or to fulfill Father’s wish?"

I can feel my bones cracking,

Where new flesh is to be.

I can hear the call from heaven,

Where my spirit can ascend godly.

Do I walk immortal among the living,

Do I become a god all-seeing?

I ponder over the question,

As the serpent slips down and away,

As the crows cease laughing,

And my skeleton reduces to ashes.

To the Dragons' Witness

+ Ziqian, 1900 - 1800 BCE, South China

- Ziqian, 1900 - 1800 BCE, South China

In the great abyss the two dragons resided,

Their forms grand and their glory uncanny.

Eons after Pangu separated earth from heaven,

The dragons rose from Yang and Yin.

One is flesh and matter concentrated,

The other of wind and pure spirit.

One called Nüwa, our great mother,

The other one Fuxi, who guided us wisely.

To the great fields the two dragons went,

Storms and thunders raging in between.

They had seen fish in seas and birds in heaven,

While great beasts strolled the wilderness.

Grand as high mountains and long valleys,

No one was there to witness.

Delicate as early flowers and shallow streams,

No one was there to see.

It was when Nüwa sighed,

That mankind was created.

From the ancient soil she shaped our bodies,

Into the husks great life she breathed.

Nüwa bestowed us forms and senses,

Built us into great serpents as she is.

Fuxi gave us souls and minds,

Taught us wisdom and knowledge.

Above the great cities the two dragons lingered,

High towers and gigantic machines lined beneath.

Their proud descendants now ruled the land,

Serpents as they were, shaping mountains and seas.

Fish caught in the nets, birds now in cages,

The great beast there no longer, as wilderness vanished.

Storms and thunders paled by their inventions,

Fires and waters obeyed man's wishes.

In the great skies the two dragons fought,

Their teeth sharp and their claws clutching.

Nüwa demanded that we be beasts once more,

Fuxi wanted us to learn, and become greater beings.

Heavens collapsed with Yin and Yang disturbed,

Grounds shattered as fire and water rampaged.

Metal and bones impaling the body of another,

As the two dragons roared and wept.

Down the great abyss the two dragons battled,

One asked to destroy and one preserving.

As Nüwa's rage could not be appeased,

Fuxi shattered himself to be a cage, trapping her in Taisuixing.