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But they never made it to God's kingdom...
Some said the villagers grew tired, and turned back home, exhausted and embarrassed. But others muttered darker things: that it was not the Holy Spirit that had possessed the two animals...but something else...
Its emergence will herald the end of the world, or so the story goes. When the mighty Bahamut finally rises from the black seas, chaos will engulf us all.
Existence will blink and then disappear, unmade.
For in that ocean, that infinite void, beyond the clouds and fog, a gargantuan shape can be seen. It is the dorsal fin of the creature the Arabs know as 'Bahamut' - the Leviathan.
And it is breaching.
There is a story from pre-Islamic folklore – though echoes of it can be found in many cultures – that tells of a great cosmic ocean upon which the earth and all creation floats. In this tale, there is said to be an old man standing on the rim of the earth, watching that dark sea.
Batten down the hatches, there's a storm coming...and more.
He’d been a guard for as long as he could remember. Day in and day out, he watched over the house from his little security booth. It was all he was paid to do, but he didn’t mind. The pay was good, and there wasn’t much going on—except for when Mr. Ruthven invited people over.
Some years later, Harry found himself reading a book that he really shouldn't have opened...