Chapter X — Of the Cry in the Wilderness

(The Veil Version — VV)
1. And after the market spoke and was judged,
a cry arose beyond the cities,
not amplified by towers,
nor approved by crowds,
but carried by those who could no longer pretend.
2. It was not a popular cry,
nor a safe one,
for it called men away from comfort
and toward truth without shelter.
3. The wilderness was not empty land,
but empty minds —
places where meaning had been stripped
and replaced with noise.
4. There the cry was heard:
“Choose this day whom you will serve —
the voice that flatters,
or the truth that costs.”
5. For many had learned to fear speaking,
yet no longer feared lying;
they guarded words more carefully than deeds
and punished questions more than crimes.
6. The crowd moved as one body without a soul,
guided by signals,
trained to react,
rewarded for rage,
and starved of wisdom.
7. They called confusion compassion,
weakness virtue,
and surrender peace,
while the innocent paid the price of their silence.
8. And the watchers recorded every breath,
yet protected no life;
they cataloged thoughts,
but ignored blood in the streets.
9. Then the cry grew louder,
not in volume,
but in clarity:
“Prepare the way —
not for a ruler,
but for reckoning.”
10. For truth does not ask permission,
and justice does not wait for consensus;
they arrive when ignored long enough.
11. Blessed are they who hear the cry
and do not harden themselves,
for they shall not be swept away
when the shouting turns to silence.
12. Thus it is written:
the wilderness shall bloom,
the noise shall fade,
and those who answered the cry
shall stand when the crowd cannot.