Mannimarco , King of Worms Content . O sacred isle Artaeum , where rosy light infuses air , O ' er towers and through flowers , gentle breezes flow , Softly sloping green - kissed cliffs to crashing foam below , Always springtide afternoon housed within its border , This mystic , mist - protected home of the Psijic Order : Those counselors of kings , cautious , wise , and fair . Ten score years and thirty since the mighty Remans fell , Two brilliant students studied within the Psijics ' fold . One ' s heart was light and warm , the other dark and cold . The madder latter , Mannimarco , whirled in a deathly dance , His soul in bones and worms , the way of the necromance . Entrapping and enslaving souls , he cast a wicked spell . The former , Galerion had magic bold and bright as day . He confronted Mannimarco beneath gray Ceporah Tower , Saying , ' Your wicked mysticism is no way to wield your power , Bringing horror to the spirit world , your studies must cease . ' Mannimarco scoffed , hating well the ways of life and peace , And returned to his dark artistry ; his paints , death and decay . O sacred isle Artaeum , how slow to perceive the threat , When the ghastly truth revealed , how weak the punishment . The ghoulish Mannimarco from the isle of the wise was sentTo the mainland Dawn ' s Beauty , more death and souls to reap . ' You have found a wolf , and sent the beast to flocks of sheep , ' Galerion told his Masters , ' A terror on Tamriel has set . Speak no more of him , ' the sage Cloaks of Gray did say . ' Twas not the first time Galerion thought his Masters callous , Unconcerned for men and mer , aloof in their island palace . ' Twas not the first time Galerion thought ' twas time to buildA new Order to bring true magic to all , a mighty Mages Guild . But ' twas the time he left , at last , fair Artaeum ' s azure bay . O , but sung we have of Vanus Galerion many times before , How cast he off the Psijics ' chains , bringing magic to the land . Throughout the years , he saw the touch of Mannimarco ' s hand , Through Tamriel ' s deserts , forests , towns , mountains , and seas . The dark grip stretching out , growing like some dread diseaseBy his dark Necromancers , collecting cursed artifacts of yore . They brought to him these tools , mad wizards and witches , And brought blood - tainted herbs and oils to his cave of sin , Sweet Akaviri poison , dust from saints , sheafs of human skin , Toadstools , roots , and much more cluttered his alchemical shelf , Like a spider in his web , he sucked all their power into himself , Mannimarco , Worm King , world ' s first of the undying liches . Corruption on corruption , ' til the rot sunk to his very core , Though he kept the name Mannimarco , his body and his mindWere but a living , moving corpse as he left humanity behind . The blood in his veins became instead a poison acid stew . His power and his life increased as his fell collection grew . Mightiest were these artifacts , long cursed since days of yore . They say Galerion left the Guild , calling it ' a morass , ' But untruth is a powerful stream , polluting the river of time . Galerion beheld Mannimarco ' s rise through powers sublime , To his mages and Lamp Knights , ' Before my last breath , Face I must the tyranny of worms , and kill at last , undeath . ' He led them north to cursed lands , to a mountain pass . O those who survived the battle say its like was never seen . Armored with magicka , armed with ensorcelled sword and axe , Galerion cried , echoing , ' Worm King , surrender your artifacts , And their power to me , and you shall live as befits the dead . ' A hollow laugh answered , ' You die first , ' Mannimarco said . The mage army then clashed with the unholy force obscene . Imagine waves of fire and frost , and the mountain shivers , Picture lightning arching forth , crackling in a dragon ' s sigh . Like leaves , the battlemages fly to rain down from the sky , At the Necromancers ' call , corpses burst from earth to fight , To be shattered into nothingness with a flood of holy light . A maelstrom of energy unleashed , blood cascades in rivers . Like a thunderburst in blue skies or a lion ' s sudden roar , Like sharp razors tearing over delicate embroidered lace , So at a touch did Galerion shake the mountain to its base . The deathly horde fell fatally , but heeding their dying criesFrom the depths , the thing they called Worm King did rise . Nirn itself did scream in the Mages ' and Necromancers ' war . His eyes burning dark fire , he opened his toothless maw , Vomiting darkness with each exhalation of his breath , All sucking in the fetid air felt the icy touch of death . In the skies above the mountain , darkness overcame pale , Then Mannimarco Worm King felt his dismal powers fail : The artifacts of death pulled from his putrid skeletal claw . A thousand good and evil perished then , history confirms . Among , alas , Vanus Galerion , he who showed the way , It seemed once that Mannimarco had truly died that day . Scattered seemed the Necromancers , wicked , ghastly fools , Back to the Mages Guild , victors kept the accursed tools , Of him , living still in undeath , Mannimarco , King of Worms . Children , listen as the shadows cross your sleeping hutch , And the village sleeps away , streets emptied of the crowds , And the moons do balefully glare through the nightly clouds , And the graveyard ' s people rest , we hope , in eternal sleep , Listen and you ' ll hear the whispered tap of the footsteps creep , Then pray you ' ll never feel the Worm King ' s awful touch .