Act II - The Ancient Mysteries:A rare source speaks of dreadful days
And of lurking dangers that thousands of years ago
Thousands of years ago
At a time before the secret societies of today had arisen
Our horror was already near
An eternity before Avignon was built, within the walls of Babylon
When the ruler in his mighty temple city
Ancient legends say that the ruler spoke to two fallen angels
Which was soon his doom and the end of Babylon
But he did not see it coming, he did not yet foresee
Of the approaching calamity that was to come
For he let himself be driven by the lust for power, madness and stupidity
Of his wishful fantasies
When they said they would show him dark magic and teach him to use it
The sorrow was profound under the spell of the black art
Of the black art the people died of hunger and war
Hundreds of pastures from Mediterranean regions
To the interior of the country, burnt in a hot spell
As did most of the forests, corn and wheat fields.
Only the richest men had full storehouses then
It was extraordinary
The whole empire became a cruel wasteland, except for the king's capital.
That blossomed all the more
He drained power from the land to shine himself, that's what the dark art taught him
And he raged about as barbarian hordes once did
With black magic words, like satanic orders
Had swords and daggers sharpened
Anyone who rose up was to be pursued by henchmen with wooden spears.
He sat on mountains of gold in shielded bulwarks
On safe ground in glittering splendour and let his people die
All this happened in Babylon's darkest days
That held the greatest atrocities for hundreds of years
And one day the two angels appear again
Dressed in the elegant robes of sombre temple priests
They spoke of infamy
And the king's misuse of the priesthood's gifts, the magic power
Which would have been but a test
Whether man, endowed with the powers of this earth, would stray from the right path