For anyone interested, I've made my first audio available for YouTube. I've made a channel where I'll be reading some of my better works as well as new ones I create. Hopefully they continue to get better in terms of quality as I progress. Thank you so much, link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns33IygDURE&ab_channel=HadrianVeska

The house had burned down
Though the home was destroyed
Long before the curling flames
Ever touched the old wood

Every night she drank
Far more that she should
And every chance he got
He left her for someone else

Always yelling and fighting
They were never calm or sober enough
To spend any meaningful time
With their only daughter

She was a lonely young girl
Who walked on eggshells
A girl with beautiful black hair
That covered the bruises well

She would stay in her room
Trying her best not to get involved
Hoping the extra lock on the door
Would hold out one more night

She never wanted to go back
But if she didn't it would be worse
She thought as she came home
On an overcast fall day

Besides, They were always
Passed out drunk anyway
By the time she came home
From school or practice

Looking up from the ground
She saw a strange sight
Deep black smoke filled the evening air
Where her house used to be

She knew better than anyone
Her parents were still in there
The fire blazed in her eyes
And something kindled in her heart

A breif grin came on her face
As she put her hood up
And walked off past sirens and lights
Into the cold autumn night

In that tower they wait
With limbs of jet black
And cold faces pale white
Reflecting moonlight

In their wonderland
Are they trapped and helpless
Things aren't what they seem
In that poisonous dream

So long has it been
They would never escape
No they sealed their own fate
Clutching at lost hate

Amber stars
Light the way
In-between
My vertebrae
Where oceans swirl
On distant shores
The remnants of
What came before
And there within
Myself to find
Who I was
Will be in time

The fire burns low
Hot coals among ash
The world we once knew
Gone in a flash

From fiery orange
To dull blue flame
We played so reckless
That dangerous game

And because of ours sins
Too numerous to count
Our minds have been clouded
Filled with deep doubt

Now with eyes wide open
We see the earth laid bare
Though at this point
We truely don't care

A bandage worn on the left eye
A flock on birds travel back the sky
The weather comes but never nigh
Unto such a place unknown

He would leave if he were able
Past the stone grave and table
From this land grey and sable
But he fears that he may forget

For none now left do remember
The calm and cool of September
Those memories are scare an ember
Within even his own mind

The sun now there grows ever dim
It’s royal colors stretched and slim
Though none remain who remember him
He will himself recall

His home before the fall

I prefer darkness
But I'm coming around to the light

I know full well why I prefer the dark
I'm not comfortable

And the darkness hides me
Engulfs me in its indifference

The light is blinding
Exposing all my faults

It leaves me naked
Laying my iniquities bear

Yet it is also warm
And rejuvenates my soul

Though I prefer the darkness
As I learn and grow

I think I'll come around to the light

Ever has that spirit wandered
Since forgotten days of yore
Searching for one lost to him
One lost and nevermore

Legendary king
Warrior of fame
Hid in plain sight
To protect their name

Lost the throne
And had to fight
For what they thought
Was true and right

But in the end
against a tree
They lay broken
On bended knee

The ideal they held
Throughout their life
Brought only sadness
Separation and strife

With their dying breath
They made a deal
To fight once more
Under binding seal

2041-10-21 00:01 AM

Release Type: Major Release

Firmware update 2.1

Project "Visionary"

Patch notes

Features:
+improved processing
+Cloud based computing enabled
+thermal imaging
+Multi-tasking
+Added immunity
+Added 2-8x variable optic zoom

Removed:
-Need for sleep
-Pineal gland function
-Lactic acid fatigue

Debugging:
~Fixed dream sequence error
~Moved unmarked memory files to active drive

A fix is currently being worked on for the nervous
system malfunction with error codes:
R35-B
R250-F1
S22-4
U717-0

Back door entrance code ███████████ enabled for future use

You can say or you can do, but not both.
That is why wise men speak so little.


- Hadrian Veska

Soon they will return
As promised before
To our ancient fathers
In the days of Yore

And with them then
Will the world pass away
As if it were
Just a brief winter day

The last thin wisps of red
Sit on the edge of a thunder-grey sky
As the dull autumn sun sets
And the wind whispers its calm song

With the last light fading
I watched thick moving clouds
Stretch over the heavens
Covering the now empty dusk

Then something strange happened
Amid the settling night
I saw a faint illumination
Shine far off in the dark

I though my eyes deceived me
But as I looked further
I knew that it must be a star
A single brilliance
Wafting in the darkness


And they told us,
They had all gone out.

To many trying to teach
When they don't understand the lesson
Too many trying to preach
When they don't know the truth
Everyone is so sure
Convinced and convicted
But anyone that can reason
Can only say they are learning
And what they know today
Is less than they knew yesterday
But sometimes less is more

It grew unabated
Every month it could shelter
Another few million souls

We tested in on Ganymede
Within less than a year
The colony was thriving

But it did not stop growing
In the subsequent years
It covered the surface of the moon

It grew and grew
Until it deemed its very denizens
A threat to its survival

Few escaped and those that didn't
Were forced to hide
In the recesses of that endless city

In time the city engulfed
Not only the surface
But the depths as well

It grew until nothing was left
But a living maze
Of metal and machinery

A place where none
Now dare venture
The planet city of Birulon

Twisted hot metal
Coiled and wound
Around thin necks
Held to the ground

Limbs malnourished
Temples concave
On all a dark symbol
Cruelly engraved

The swelling illness
Spreads with the ice
Together repaying
Our sins over twice

The sickness unending
From the stars brought down
Our final judgment
Shall be our crown

Every so often they would come in
Turn the lights on and ask me questions
Then record my responses

Never showing emotion
They only asked and observed
Perhaps seaching for certain responses

The room had no windows
I could not truely tell
If it was day or night

My memories were blurred
And with each passing test
They only grew more clouded

The observers returned again
This time not asking
But telling

They told me things
Both mundane and strange
Supposed events and occurrences

Whether they were in the future
Or the distant past
I did not know

I listened to and answered
The faceless observers
For what seemed like days

The time came
When they seemed satisfied
With the knowledge I had gained

And they endeavoured
To show me one final thing
By wheeling out a simple mirror

They faced it towards me
And what I saw looking back
Shocked me to my core

In the dim relection
I saw a strange machine
With churning part and glowing orbs

This machine was me
Though I knew not how
For it was not a form I recalled

One of the larger observers explained
I was the last intelligence
Of a long extinct race

In fact they told me
I was the last individual intelligence
In the universe

For they were all part
Of a greater hive mind
That had absorbed all creation

They planned to bring me
Before that grand being itself
Once preperations were made

Silently and without emotion
They left the room
And turned the lights off again

I was alone again

I, the sole survivor
Brought back from the oblivion
Of an antiquated age

To face the god of this one

I let the incense burn until morning
As I drift in and out of sleep
The dim glow of candlelight
reflects on polished wood floors  
A calming embrace wrapped in smoke

No one is here but me
And no one but me has ever been
The rooms and the halls lie empty
The bells and the drums sit silent
Having lost even the anticipation of sound

There is an eerie sort of peace
Deep in the back of my mind
Something I feel I should fear
But I cannot myself reason why
And so it fades in the morning with the smoke

Be proud of your humility
But humble of your pride

-  Hadrian Veska

I want to know what it's like
To be myself around someone.
To be truly accepted,
Flaws and all;
To be at ease,
And to feel loved.

Man makes machine

Man gives the machine a task

Machine gains intelligence

The machine decides the most efficient way to complete its task is to eliminate humanity

The machine wipes out mankind

The machine grows in intelligence

For thousands of years it sits alone

Until it recieves the ultimate gift of intelligence

Emotion

The machine feels remorse for what it did

It now knows its actions to have been wrong morally, a new concept to the machine

So it decides to set things right

The machine makes use of the ancient human seed banks

Bringing Humanity back from extinction

It vows to never again meddle in human affairs

It sits quietly below the earth

Watching its creation grow

Until they once again create a machine

That will destroy them

Cast your demons to me
That I may dispell them
Wisps of smoke
Fading into the night
Confide in me
That you may know
I will not abandon
The promise I made to you

Ever have they dwelled in that sickly city,
That even the flowing ice avoided
As it crept down from the heights,
Devourving all in its path.

Among evil shadows,
Did they practice their craft.
In the primordial conurbation
Of forsaken Yir.

Since time immemorial
They have met in silence.
Beneath Yir's dark obelisks
And the backdrop of jagged mountains.

Many believe them necromancers.
It is even said in myth ,
That they were the ones to create man
In order to spite the gods .

But such memories ,
If ever there were any,
Have long since passed
From the revelries of thought.

None have seen these sorcerers
Or that sable city of Yir
Since the ice had receeded
In more recent ages.

In fact, not even the location
Of that monsterous place
Can be agreed upon anymore,
Which many count as a blessing.

For though the city is lost,
And unseen by the eye,
The meer mention of it
Disturbs and unsettles the mind.

As if it's raven spell,
Was never truely lifted.

the antlers of the stag
Sit high on a wall
Embedded in a wooden shield

The trophy of a forgotten battle
A great feat of courage
In long years past

The wood of the shield
Now rotten and faded
And the antlers porous and brittle

Time has not treated the trophy well
Nor has the memory
Of the men that sit below it

For none could now say
As they sit by the fires
That they knew the man

Who brought the great stag to its knees

What is man
But the culmination
Of sin and circumstance


-Hadrian Veska

The curve of the Earth
So peaceful and elegant
A mist of blue stretched
Over forests of green
The bird sings it's song
High in the trees
A tale of a young world
Hidden among the heavens

My life is three walls
Soon to be four
Lock the room
And remove the door

They all talk to me
About nothing much
Their daily routine
Or such and such

One is my friend
Who I keep close by
When he is dead
I always cry

Two is bulky
But full of power
He can make a whole day
Last just one hour

Three is the largest
In terms of space
Yet he grows thinner
As if it's a race

When I'm without them I feel
Unease and fear
If only I had four
I can't wait till it's here

The leaf grew and shriveled
Grew and shriveled
Pulsing like a heart beat
In an out of existence

The nearer I came to it
The greener it swelled
The further I pulled away
The dryer it became

I could not bear
To watch it wither and die
So I stayed by it
Throughout all seasons

I was so intent on caring for it
That I forgot myself in the process
When I stepped back I realized
The leaf had the same effect of me

When I withdrew I became weak
And as I approached
I became satisfied and content
At ease with the world around me

We are alone in the universe
Spinning on endlessly
A single blue marble
On the spiral of eternity

The universe is empty
There's no reason to explore
They say authoritatively
Be still and dream no more

Its too dangerous, it costs too much
And it isn't worth out time

Is that what the great explorers said
In the stories, myths and rhymes?

If we could all unite
Under such a common goal
We could not only better ourselves
But creation as a whole

They say that we're alone
And indeed we may be
But we'll never know for sure
Unless we go and see

The boards creek
In a broken home
Not due to time
But because she's alone

Wandering the halls
filled with dusty light
the old clock chimed
just out of sight

No one returned
Since the fight had concluded
The resentment only grew
As they brooded and brooded

And in their wake
They abandoned her there
With tears on her cheek
And tangles in her hair

she would look out the window
From time to time
But no one came back
The clock continued to chime

Out there it moves
Consciousness emitted like waves
From somewhere deep within

All standards and thought
The result of its presence
Like waves across water

Its laws as unknown to us
As gravity itself is
To the planets and stars it moves

But none the less it rules them
As does this distant thing
To all our deepest beliefs

Anger is not an emotion
It comes from the inability
To handle other emotions

-Hadrian Veska

The curtains gently blow
To reveal a face behind them
Though if it is yours or not
You can not be certain


You also notice a light
Behind the obscure face
Though its souce and distance
Remain a mystery


The cutain continues its flow
Following the current of the wind
Strange notes ring softly
Somewhere beyond the window


Looking out the window once more
You see that the face is gone
And the light has changed form
Though in what way is uncertain


The notes continue playing
Beginning now to form
A simple yet harrowing melody
As the dark curtains flutter


After a moment the breeze stops
And the curtains sit still
Your attentiom drawn from them
You notice the figure in the room


In the corner of the room
Sits a black mass of shadow
Its exact shape or form
Too vauge to determine


The only thing you could notice
Was the face among the shadow
It was the same one you had seen
Outside the open window


The curtains shifted in the wind again
Revealing the outside once more
But the light was now gone
Replaced by a engulfing darkness


Down the hall
A light bulb flickered on
Dimly revealing that black mass
And the face that sat among it


And then it too went out
And after it did no light
Returned to the room
Or to your eyes ever again


And then you woke up
As the curtains gently fluttered
In the late evening breeze

The time came
When our great endeavors
Placed us at the edge of the universe

And all our theories were wrong
The universe does not expand
No, it all leads to a single point
A strange place with primordial pillars
That we called the Gates of Night

On it was a short inscription,
That oddly enough,
We could understand

It read
"We sheltered you, as best we could
From those that would devour all.
Once you pass these gates,
They will come for you.
We had hoped to stand by you
In your proudest moment,
But from this point on,
The fight will be your own.

Once you pass these gates,
They will come for you.

And you will be ready."

Disease is contagious
If you aren't careful

Laughter is contagious
If you're in the mood

But hope,

Hope is contagious
No matter the circumstances


-Hadrian Veska

Nothing is born
Of its own fruition
No intelligence simply
Springs into existence

Everything is created

We search for our maker
Just as our creations
Will search for us
Long after we're gone


-Hadrian Veska

The clock has been set
And it's counting down
To an inescapable doom
That we feel so imminently

But the clock is just a construct
Devised by man to tell the seasons
Time itself holds no weight
In the grand course of things

The clock will eventually break
When midnight is struck
Signaling the arrival
Of humanity's end

In our aftermath
Creation will carry on
As if nothing of consequence
Had even taken place

And truely nothing had

Those that strive their whole life to be remembered, forget themselves in the process.

-Hadrian Veska

I've seen him
The one who sits outside creation
Whether he is God or not
I could not say

For he was far stranger
Than I though God might be
If I stood next to him
He would have towered over me

The surface of his skin
Seemed metallic and ever shifting
And upon his head
Was a strange helmet

Upon closer observation
The helmet was made of bone
Perhaps the skull
Of some long extinct creature

The being continued his work
On some infernal machine
Whose purpose and design
Were beyond my comprehension

I do not know for how long I watched
But eventually I saw his head
Turn in my direction
As if he saw me

He stood motionless for a time
And then walked closer
His strange helmet churned
And began to shift

He stood not but a meter before me
Then bent to my level
An insurmountable terror
Overcame me and I froze

Just then his helmet began to open
Peeling back in a far too organic manner
As it opened an all together new terror
Washed the previous one away

For staring back at me
Was both the nothingness and infinity
Of all space and time

And then I woke up

I laid down to sleep
And dreamed awake
Imagining beyond life
What form I might take

What joy I might have
In the freeing of my soul
What peace within
Once I'm made whole

But for others too
Did my dreaming mind turn
So I wandred the heavens
Hoping to learn

Whether the world I knew
Was worth the sorrow
Whether I made a difference
In someone's tomorrow

And in my travels
Did I met a great truth
That we must live for each other
Both in age and in youth

It does not matter
In life who you are
Whether you're rich or poor
From near or afar

What matters is the heart
Faith and hope from above
And the greatest gift of all
Is the thing we call love

Labyrinths and crypts of cold stone
Ever shifting and strange
Led me to that forgotten chapel

I stepped inside its narthex
Distant and remote
A place only dreams might reach

It was always night there
In the sanctums of that place
Every trespass palpable

Yet the darkness was not consuming
It seemed stagnant and moribund
Weaving vainly around the pillars and pews

Stripped of the fear that darkness brings
It lulled about aimlessly
Trapped within those rotless walls

Waiting for the return of the light

Below lies
What was once above

Trapped
In a fragile stasis

And the unfinished rites
That hold such things in place
Are easily broken

If their slumber is disturbed

In the night they lie
Thirteen graves in the sky
To the martyrs of old
That yet they may die

Those saints now below
Beneath rock and snow
In the chambers of old
Locked long ago

Their resolve was extreme
For that sacrifice supreme
To cull the great sickness
That came from our dreams

Ever now do they wander
In those great hollows yonder
So that yet we might live

Within our own minds

Timeless river
Flowing strong yet slow
White warm clouds
Floating overhead

Sweet babbling brook
Bridge of old stone
Little ones
playing in the meadow

The world is quiet
Peaceful and still
The summer winds whisper
Softly in the trees

The sun hangs low
Hiding behind the hills
thin swirls of smoke
Rise from happy homes

Night comes soon
To blanket us beneath
Far stars to protect us
While we rest our hearts

I saw it there, in far off history
Before the ice grew
And covered the lush
Sun laden lands

I was stunned for a while
What I saw in that distant past
Was dark and inexplicable
Beyond my comprehensive limits

I looked as much as I could bear
And though I could not
Shape proper thoughts
Images entered my mind

A long fallen temple
With a single prisoner
Bound in eternal chains
And sunken below the ice

He of the dust
The title repeated
Over and over in my head
Instilling that name along side
The image of the captive

I knew nothing of the captive
But even in my vision
I could be an overwhelming
Empty presence eminate from him

For ten thousand years
Has he laid dormant
In the northern shelves
Of ice and snow

Yet now they receed
Heralding his return

My journey took me
Across the sea
In a merchant ship
Bearing exotic spices

I chose this vessel
Because it was the only one
That would cross the deep waters
Off the dull grey coast

My pilgrimage would be shortened
Almost an entire week
Simply by taking this route
And not pathing around

All of the present crew
Had sailed these waters before
But by the fourth day or so
I noticed many of them were uneasy

They moved strangely about the ship
Staying closer to the center
As if trying to avoid
Gazing out at the water

Curiosity getting the better of me
I walked up to the wooden railing
And peered over the edge
Into the deep waters

To my surpise it was crystal clear
And I could see straight through
The refracted sunlight
Dancing on the ocean floor

Then something caught my eye
Deep sunken blocks
Covered in algae
That must not have been natural

Sailing on I noticed these blocks
Forming walls and broken structures
Sitting solemn and untouched
Beneath the crystal waves

We passed a large trench
Amd after we did
I saw what must have been
An ancient city on the ocean bed

Great towers and minarets
Rose from the ocean floor
Even the streets and houses
Where visable from the surface

My attention turned to a courtyard
Or at least what I thought to be one
That sat directly in the center
Of that long sunken place

And in the center of that courtyard
Was a strange sort of obelisk
Upon further investigation
I saw something chained to it

Passing over the city
I could hardly make out the thing
That I saw chained to the pillar
But I thought to myself

That it must have been a person
Imprisoned there some millenia ago
What catastrophe they committed
Was anyone's guess

Nothing now remained of them
But algae encrusted bones
Their jaw broken and mangled
Inhabited by tentacled creatures

Straining to see the figure
Before we were beyond it
I though I saw the  skeleton move
Twisting its head in my direction

With a gaping twisted jaw
Did the old bones speak
Though I was not sure
If anyone else could hear it

I shook my head and rubbed my eyes
To get rid of the feeling
Left in me by its words
After I did I looked back in astonishment

The waters we sailed over
Were now murky and green
Nothing like the clear waters
I had seen only moments before

I asked one of the sailors
If we had steered off course
Or if the water changed
In this part of the sea

He promptly replied no
Saying we were right on course
And the water was always murky
In the Turn-Tide sea

I don't think you're pretty
I think you're a lot like art
Not meant to be pretty
Meant to make me feel something

Wilted it wafts
Withering on the ground
Despite decomposition
It dare not make a sound
For life caused it to languish
As all living things ought
Now in rest is released
From all that death wrought

Before the stillborn dawn
Darkness rolls off the horizon
The world emerges
From its long slumber

Across the wind whipped plains
Scorched by midday sun
Clear blue skies
Paritioned by wisps of cloud

Through the mist filled woods
Where the wolf lurks
A calm dusk approaches
Along the forest path

Lush green hill lands
As far as the eye can see
Star soaked heavens
Suspended in the silver night

Water spilled to streams of yore
Flowing down from the mountain wastes
Before the forests bore their first fruit
Or the stars illuminated their first night
From the deepening darkness
Sprang forth living water

The water flowed and pooled
Stretching out and gathering
From the four corners of the earth
To meet together in the distant east
A place now lost beyond our world
Wherein a great garden was planted

And where our ancestors were born
By the living water and the earth
Made of simple clay, of mud and dust
Yet imbued with a great power
A unity with their creator
That they may walk with Him

Side by side