Hooks

you're just meat, you're a future corpse

variables change, probability warps

you can't pull them out, these things tug at you

things like fishhooks cruel and steel so blue

while the air pulls, the seawater pushes

your skin flushes, your blood blooms and blushes

and, while what drives you might be very clear

people don’t always seek what they find dear

whether it’s gold, war, wisdom, or knowledge

when hooks yank your skin you may hemorrhage

there is cold weather and warm women, some are unwillingly there

witches stalk lines between things, rumors of their business carry far

there are letters, from an unknown guest in a castle, who is she

letter courier dies en route, you are tasked with delivery

there's women that breastfeed goats, and sorts of secret ancient knowledge

cannibal horde must be stopped, it grows and grows – headed west, and fast

some of your memories are triggered by wandering the wastes

there is ice drilling for lost ruins known to exist, and good pay

archaeologists need porters, bodyguards, specialists, and fools

indexes and lost pages lead here, a land inhospitable

searching for artifice rimed over, underneath iron hatches

texts scrawled on hide and etched in stone, strange passages and old contexts

magic pervades certain locations, phenomena unknown

few heed war's clarion call, but war marches west regardless, and fast

drafted from jails, prisoners shiver and march east – a cold, sad camp

fighting in this clime is brutal, only the toughest emerge here

important sites for several religions lay forgotten here

god wants the invaders dead, you get directed here to kill them

there is insidious forces at play, swirling forms enclose portents

there are active cities, and information is valuable

there are many mountains, ruins, tunnels, places oft forgotten

there are many ports, strange people coming and going with strange goods

there are many dungeons, and threats to be discovered, fought, fled from

there are many industries, trapping, whaling, killing, and looting