"There was once a rock person who can gave life to rocks, who fell in love with a flame person who wanted to be the strongest flame person in their kingdom, but the whole place was ruled by the light empire and they don't like the flame people, so the flame person decided to be friends with the light person and..."
"Wait a minute, can't we give them names?" Dorin asked as Johan gave them the summary of the 'Song of Ifrits'. "At least say if it's a guy or a girl."
"Well, in mine speech, we don't have words like 'him' or 'her', we just call every one 'people' so I can't really say king or queen, just 'ruler'..." Johan tried to explain, his forehead creasing.
"Well, since the rock person fell in love with the flame person, let's just call them Prince Rock and Princess Flame," suggested Margarette as she sat in a circle with the rest of their friends.
"And let's call that emperor guy King Light."
"But there are other light characters and flame characters too!" complained Johan.
"Don't they use names in the song?" asked Dorin.
"Only some kind of code," said Johan. "Like the... rock prince is the 'Dark Rock' and the flame princess who died is the 'Flaming One' and that she was the 'true flame' but was killed by her 'tiny flame' brothers because she was next in line to be crowned king..."
"Now, I'm really confused..." said Margarette.
Xander and his companions were all silent, though.
"So, where does this 'King Light' come in?" asked Lilith.
"King Light is the bad guy who destroyed the 'Homeland'. He blew up the land by cutting tiny balls in half..." Johan was perspiring now, trying to find the best way to tell his story.
"How about translating the stanzas one line at a time?" Matt suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea," Xander piped in.
Johan took a deep breath with his eyes closed, then he started to speak again...
The land is thirsty, they are sucking up the bones
from the bowels of the earth until the life is sipped dry
the land of light wants to shine brighter
than the sun in the summer sky
The land of flame is dying for this wish
as the light emperor cries for his murdered heart
his spawn is aiming to touch the sun
and reach higher than the chosen light
"A chosen light? And a spawn?" asked Dorin.
"Emperor light had many children, the chosen light was the youngest, but his older siblings wanted the throne for themselves," explained Mordecai, much to Dorin and Johan's surprise.
"Shh..." said Xander, "Let him continue."
So Princess Flame whose true flame can raise volcanoes
went to see the Gold Prince and the Silver Deity
to ask for peace instead of destruction
for her true love's wish is to save the people and the land
Yet the small Lights and the small Flames had plans of their own
they were jealous of the big light and the big flame
so they accused Princess Flame of a crime
of wanting to cut the Silver Deity's tongue
Dorin raised his brows, his thought wondering what Sebastian might be doing at that moment.
'Dark Rock whose love for princess Flame knew no bounds
met with the Gold Prince whose light shines brightest
together with the Silver Deity, they saw through the masked faces in the darkness
and searched for the missing Princess Flame.'
'The old light is put out by the brightest one
but he has been long dead due to a broken heart
and as Dark Rock finds his Flame, they ignite in a tower in the sky
and dream of rain in the desserts together
As one they fly back to the kingdom of volcanoes
the Golden Prince, bringing rain to the dry sands
The Silver Deity, bringing life to the barren land
together with the Rock and the Flame shall burn true
But as they returned, a remaining mask
unveiled itself and stabbed the Flaming heart
almost extinguishing even the brightest light
and the old Flame was surrounded and doused by the small ones
Prince Rock was heart broken
he was spared for his art of living rock
for he makes rocks move with living water
and the small flames and small lights wanted this power
The Silver Deity would not let the Golden Light die
with a breath, she saves him, taking them to the garden of paradise
where the flaming Princess burned her last
while the Golden Prince shone in fury
In his anger, Dark Rock crumbled the volcano
over the small flames who gathered beneath it
but the evil of the small lights have brought the power of the sun
and planned to burn Dark Rock and the Golden Prince together
Once more, the Silver Deity's word saved them
and as they return to paradise, they swore to blow out
those pesky small lights that try to blind them
by flying on table clothes in disguise as clouds...
"Hold on, wait a minute..." Dorin raised a hand. "Flying on table clothes?"
"Perhaps they meant tablecloths? Like flying carpets?" asked Margarette.
"I'm getting really lost here..." mumbled Dorin.
"As a kid, I imagine them to be fake clouds, since they say that living water and magic air give them life," said Johan.
"Actually, scholars say that this might imply the use of steam to propel hot air balloons," Mordecai explained. "It shows that our ancestors came from a world that was probably in the beginning of the industrial revolution. There were even old texts unearthed from thousands of years ago which included blue prints for agricultural equipment that ran on steam. Sadly, they seem to have lost favor as the people relied more on the use of magic..."
"Oh..." Dorin, Margarette and Johan both looked at Mordecai wide-eyed.
"Now, can we go on with the rest of the translations?" Xander said impatiently.
"Oh, where was I...?" Johan took a deep breath.
They turned off the small lights, keeping the weakened
and smallest light that shone most true
in the darkness that the fake sun left in it's wake
so as to find a way to bring life back to the mother land
thus, prince Rock and weakened Light shared minds
and through years shared hearts and their beds
as they created ways to clear the mother land
him with his living rocks, and the other with inextinguishable light
They wait for the Golden prince and his Silver Deity to open once more
the door to the mother land and take them home
to the garden of paradise where they will once again burn bright,
bring warm fire, sweet air, and living water to the home land
"And that's it," Johan said with a sigh.