By Ted Hogeman

A note from the author:

Originally published in the Winter 2010 Nushtcho, a newsletter by and for Peace Corps Volunteers in Ukraine. During breaks while cooped up in my house, I had a lot of time to think and come up with story ideas. I was also still getting used to Ukraine that winter, and somehow got it into my head that some of the nearby town names sounded more like the names of epic monsters than places people lived. Thus, Krasnodon (a town in the south of Luhansk Oblast) vs Bilozerka (Kherson Oblast), came into being.  

Of Ancient Ones, the legends tell

Of creatures forged in Ancient Hell

Hidden from the eyes of men

Until the Beasts shall rise again

From under Earth, came such a one

Awakened mighty Krasnodon

Blotting out the sun, wings spread wide

Lesser creatures fled, in scampering tide

To the South, the tides fiercely leapt

From the Beast of Black Sea depths

Off its sides, sea water poured

As Bilozerka strode ashore

Oh, fearsome skull! Oh poison breath!

Visage of Prehistoric death!

Oh tentacle, and tooth, and claw,

Finned terror with a gaping maw!

In a field of sunflowers, they battled

Until the crust itself was rattled

Like a storm, their blood rained down

And seeped into the very ground

Thus it's said, by tellers of the tale,

That those who every day, without fail

Consume the seeds of such sun-flowers

Will gain a portion of Ancient Powers.