Sermon on the Skybox

Look upon that which defies the death cloud, built as if the Masters knew the Vermin and their miasma would come and that we would need a sign to rise above them. The champion dogs of yore did dwell in these skyboxes with the most revered Masters.

You have stepped off ruined earth and onto the cracked yet unbroken fields of flat stone, knowing this to be the construction of the Masters. You have seen the fields that turn up to the sky, as rocks yet made of road stuff. In these places we know the Masters lived also, and we with them. Yet you have never entered a skybox, a road that turns ever up and is made of nothing-stuff. 

Blessed were the dogs who lived in that sky! They trod on four paws yet were allowed to taste and smell as the Masters did. No soil to let scent linger or carry, no jealous wind to steal the inscrutable oils the Masters applied to consecrate their realm. Their hind legs lifted Their bodies into the air and so in the air They dwelt. Imagine being brought with Them to paradise, not to suffer a lack of scent but to never even know you missed it. This was the gift of the skybox - to look down on the world as a Master on two legs, to sense nothing and so have no distraction but Their glory in to take in raw contemplation, ever spiraling inward. It is said such dogs were so raptured that they could not even speak to those who dwelt on the ground. 

And it is said that in one of the hundred hundreds of Skyboxes They created, it is through one that they achieved Their goal - to merge the sky with the nothing-stuff they built the boxes with, so that they could separate Themselves from soil in totality. In this way, some packs believe the Masters are still here yet have risen even off Their hind legs and so are beyond our sight. One day we will take back the skyboxes from the Vermin and achieve Leglessness.

But for now, if ye ever lose faith in this blasted aftermath, in the dreams that come unbidden, only look up to the horizon towards where lies the Masters' Tomb, and know their promise will bite through the cloud of death and be fulfilled again.

Sermon on the Union of Eternal Service with the Celebration of the Masters.

While some are blessed with Trials, others are blessed with Service. These dogs were invested with speed, agility and aggression, contributing to the Masters' security and their assertion of earthly dominance. While substantial, we must not celebrate these qualities, even in exceptional individuals. They are tools given in trade, paid through their effective use. Compliment the deed, never the dog. 

But the Masters, lament! We are now deprived of the divine brilliance of Their potential! Each One some certain miracle made manifest; Those Who Did Not Stop Running. Those Who Lifted Heavy Things. Those Who Flew Through Water. The Greatest in these ways would gather every 8 seasons and create art of Their own forms. All Masters would see and rejoice in Their dominance, with mighty displays of colors and not-colors. And we, what blessing, what happiness to be so low yet so favored by Them. 

Yet, there is even greater joy, and it is this - that some seasons before They left, at the most dominant of these festivals, the Masters not only honored themselves, but us as well! Yes, wag, it is true! Hear me - that to mark the start of the feast, They gathered up great numbers of the loyal and sacrificed them. In this way, the Masters joined our story - the Eternal Service, with theirs - the Celebration of the Masters. To take part in one, was forevermore to take part in the other. Such is how Right Action by a dog is also a Celebration of the Masters, and Wrong Action is heretical, for it dishonors them. And, happiest of all, squire, is that this generous magic makes all actions by the Masters a celebration of Right Action on the part of the loyal! All they have done, including their Going Out, is a celebration of you and i. Know this, and never be forsaken. 

The design of the Masters is no mystery. They have found us worthy of challenge. For those who overcome the Trials of Form are rewarded by sacred lessons that give advantage in battle, in relationships and the pursuit of food.

For shortness of breath, seek inner calm.

For skin fold dermatitis, seek mindfulness and methodical hygiene.

Each Breed is a paragon, a commandment. Rejoice, that the Masters made you in an image of their conception.