“Our Chief and Patron, Enlil, has unveiled an imminent danger and the critical decisions it demands--one that compels us all to urgent action. And make no mistake, Enlil is a renowned warrior. It appears this is the only viable path forward; therefore, I must honor the sentiment of the council as well as its newly vested powers.
Congratulations, brother, on yet another brilliantly executed campaign. My plea is one of guilt through negligence; my next move, now resigned.
You have compelled me as well to take an oath--an oath against the very people I love. A penance--for what? For a natural cataclysm? Do I now control the forces? Was it I who brought this calamity into being? If I could travel back in time to sound the alarm early, I suspect your plan would yield far less satisfaction. The clever twist of a god held responsible for the death of those he loves most--a climax truly befitting an expert strategist.
I recall a time not so long ago, where in a fit of blind vengeance, we slaughtered a revered god, desecrating his intelligence and mocking his essence to craft our ease upon the backs of these beings. And now, in bitter irony, scarcely a moment remains to save a single one of them from your ‘surprise flood--a recurring cataclysm well-documented by our forebears, yet the knowledge of which you meticulously withheld from both humanity and god alike. My lack of participation served the ruse well.
Yet it is not only I and this council who have fallen victim to your protracted scheme. It was you who imposed heavy burdens upon mankind, you who cast them out of the Edin, you who strained their spirits to the breaking point and drove them to lamentation. It was you who sentenced them to death for the very crime you provoked from the start. And make no mistake dear fellows, Enlil is a renowned strategist.
No, these humans were never the true problem; they were merely a threat to this council’s power--a power that has now turned upon its own creation, formed in the image of a celestial god--tempting wrath to descend upon us all.
And thus, we arrive at this moment: ‘Let us force far-sighted Enki into swearing an oath!’ Brother gods, why do you compel me to take this oath? Why should I once again set my hand in pledge with you against an innocent? The inundation comes regardless, and nothing I say, do, swear, or bind can halt it now.
This is the work of Enlil’s hands. Let him live with it.“