That's fabulous, Elleth! Spot-on word choices (prompts and otherwise ;^)) and a great rhythm, rising, swelling, then crashing. It reads like poetry. I love the imagery of the Smoth's hammer (tearing) open Arda's mantle that serves as bookends to "Cradle to Grave," which serves as an excellent illustration of how careful attention to wordcraft yields a powerful tale in an economy of words.