Salem

Light wasn’t worth anything now. Creatures of the dark were all that roamed. Gryphons, dragons, beasts beyond imagination. And light’s lack of worth made it an especially eerie thing to behold. The purple glow of a glass lamp was a sight that caused a sense of fear to wash over people, and the lamp carrier was possibly more unnerving than light. Sinbad was its name, a gargantuan gryphon with the face of a bat. It wandered aimlessly, lamp in its maw. The lamp was older, the glass dusty and stained lilac, a color that matched so well with the fading purples of its carrier. Sinbad was the lamp-bringer, a being that struck fear into other creatures, for light was eerie now. Light had no worth, so it was no longer used. And light was where wrongdoings were shown.

“Come down from your placement up high…” The ghostly voice echoed. It was like fog, filling the area from no particular source as Sinbad continued to lumber through the forest. “Walk from the river, where there’s no gold nor silver.” The gryphon’s tail dragged like a dead creature against the ground as it walked. “...And find such a place, where they’d die.”

“In death there is mourning…” Sinbad’s wings were crooked and tattered, like the old mangled branches of a tree. “In the river, there’s longing…” Its eyes were like a poison, radioactive with apathy. “And walk from the place, where they’d die…..”

“Such creatures, such care…” Its fur was speckled like brimstone had fallen on its body, ready to burn like a Salem witch. “Worship the foot of a hare…” And people want to burn the witch. “And they’ll find such a place, where you’ll die….”

“And so the people, with care, tried the witch unfair……”

“And they walked to the river, where there’s no gold nor silver…..”

“They cried at the light, so full of fear and fright….”

“And with fire and flame, they threw their blame….”

“And brought the witch to the river, where I’d die.”

But the lamp refused to dim.