The Nine Waves

Thumbnail: Soviet Poster from 1986. "There is no other home."

FUELED BY THE DESIRE TO DESTROY THE DARK INFERNAL, THE THIRD BEING WILL DESCEND UPON THE MORTAL PLANE AND BRING ABOUT END TO A WAR ETERNAL; WHETHER IT IS IN VICTORY OR DEFEAT MATTERS NOT TO THE MANTLE; FOR WHILE THE WAR EVERLASTING IS BOUND TO ALWAYS END, THE MANNER WILL DETERMINE THE CONTINUENCE OF THE CYCLE

Once upon a time, in the far-distant past and the eternal present and the far-flung future, there was a Sage, an Emperor, and a Soldier. Their story did not have a happy ending. In fact it did not have an ending at all, or a beginning. Their story simply repeats, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over --

[TAORIA'S DIVINE PLAN HAS BEEN WRITTEN, EXECUTED, REWRITTEN AND RE-EXECUTED THREE-THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SIX TIMES. HOW MANY TIMES MUST THIS STORY BE TOLD?]