So, Your World Is In Peril

We’re here to help

If you’re reading this, it means that you’ve been given a tomestone with library access. This guide is meant to explain who we are, what the problem is, and our plans to fix it. Folios with more in-depth information are linked accordingly.

The Basics

Depending on who you are, you might know of more worlds than your own, but you also might not. The truth is that once all the worlds were one—we use the term “plane” to help distinguish them. There are five planes that we know of, each corresponding with a type of gnosis. They are:

Almachadta, A Flourishing Plane
Almachadta is a biosphere – quite literally – teeming with life adapted to fit every possible ecological niche; even things that in most planes of existence would be considered inanimate are unmistakably alive. The Centrelight brightens the sky near to blinding or barely illuminates to the level of starlight based on extremely precise cycles, and connects to the earth with a column of energy visible during the day cycles.

Samudra, A Pellucid Plane
Samudra is an ocean world, dotted with islands – on many of which are spires, or the ruins of spires, built by mortal hand, tessellated cities some of which stretch miles down into the ocean’s abyssal trenches. Thought creates reality here – the cities are built by and, in many ways, of magic – the flip side to which is that every so often someone has a thought that undoes the magic or a storm surges and one of these cities falls.

The Beast, A Burning Plane
The Beast is a mechanical world where everything has to run just to stay in the same place; an exemplar of nature red in tooth and claw, a world of monsters and monster-hunters and ancient machinery that nobody really understands churning and boiling under the surface. Plates of metal cut into the sky where mountains might be, in a kinder world; vast chasms rent into the planet by some unknowable beast expose the inner workings to the elements.

Mu, A Radiant Plane
[Haven’t been here yet]

Valaïs, A Tenebrous Plane
[Haven’t been here yet]

The Void Between Planes
Travel between planes is possible. There exist natural gates, most of them seeming to lead to the Beast. We have yet to open these natural gates, and instead are able to move through the planes by other means. Some time is spent in the void between planes, which some of us have speculated might be a sixth plane itself. We are uncertain if people who aren’t us are able to use this method of transit.

More detailed explanations of certain concepts can be accessed at Glossary of Terms Concerning Specifics of the Five Planes

The Unsundered World

We are reasonably certain that at one point all the planes were one. Archie has done significant work theorizing and understanding this world, and Wolf, amongst several others, has dreamed of this world. We know that the planes have been in their current state for roughly 250,000 years.

Liminal, A Sixth Type Of Gnosis

One aspect we’ve discovered is that there is a sixth type of gnosis called “liminal gnosis,” which seems to govern that which collapses boundaries and borders. You might have used liminal gnosis before, or you might not have.

The Bad News

Your plane is probably nearing a catastrophic event. What we know so far:

• The planes seem to undergo some sort of catastrophic event somewhere between every 500 to 1400 years.
• There have been 216 cycles of these events
• The current cycle has lasted 1296 years
• The cycles seem to occur due to an overage of the principal gnosis of the plane. At this point, our working theory is that balancing the principal gnosis of the plane with matching gnosis will stabilize this cycle.
  • For instance, and overage of flourishing gnosis might be balanced by an equal amount of pellucid and burning gnosis.
  • We are still working on figuring out the mechanism that will accomplish this. We also uncertain how tenebrous and radiant gnosis fit in to this picture.

Who We Are

There are six (and a half) of us on a quest to stop this from happening. We are:

Archie, The Scholar-Archivist of Samudra
A valuable resource for understanding anything to do with the ancients, especially their language, and analysis of gnostic patterns and functionality. Can also answer questions about Samudra.

Aurelius
Skilled in fiendcraft, weaponcraft, runecraft and certain esoteric weirdness, especially the constructed gates between planes. Go to him for ontological solutions to practical problems, but probably not explanations.

The Awoken Prince of Valaïs (you’ll know him when you see him)
Lacks memories of Valaïs, but can provide valuable insight about the larger structure of our quest. Able to reach between planes we’ve been to and retrieve certain items.

Constellation: The Empty Space In The Sky

Turn-Ons: Enthusiasm, Quests, Adventure, Romance, Flashy Things, Stylish Things, The Spotlight, The Darkness, The Aesthetic

Icks: Fatalism, Fate, Desparing Inevitability

Favorite Cheese: Provolone

Luĉja, The Clockwork Knight of the Beast
The oldest member of our group with the deepest memories. Go to them for information about the Beast and the most even analysis of the people whom we’ve encountered. Also an excellent cook.

Salme, The Sword-Saint of Almachadta
Can access some of the oldest memories of Almachadta via the Sword-Saint’s Mask. Go to her for questions concerning memory or assistance with navigating the library. Useful for understanding the history and mundane aspects of Almachadta.

Wolf, World-Singer and Yeresh of Almachadta
Able to hear the World-Song. For questions about dreams and images about the unsundered world, go to him. Also a valuable resource for understanding the metaphysical language of our universe. Useful for understanding the structures and systems of Almachadta.

Our additional companion, in an advisory capacity, is:

Jorule, Angel of Truth and Darkness
Comes from a world beyond this set of planes. Most valuable as a resource for questions about certain matters involving liminal gnosis, portals, or pieces of history that don’t quite fit in our world. Can be reached most easily via tomestone.

Other Important Players

(Tomestone holders are denoted with an *, though a complete list can be found at this List of Tomestone Holders)

The Architect: Kidnapped us
The Omniclast: Un-kidnapped us by punching a hole in reality Zosimos: The figure who set the shape of at least 3 of our 5 planes at the very beginning. Seems to exist in multiple forms at the same time. Possibly related to The Architect, The Omniclast, or both.
Ember*: Cute little guy who chills out in the void. Seems to change with every world we travel to.

Tsemdrulukh of Almachadta*: Spoken Wood-Lightdrinker gestalt. Was able to hear and decipher code being sent between worlds.

Caion, Scholar-Emissary and Acting Academician of Samudra*: Official eighth member of our group, unable to come along due to having a job. Able to leverage his position as Acting Academician for our benefit.
Tasna, Academician Emerita of Samudra*: Seems to be the principal force in inscribing her own story on the Rite-tones. Disappeared from Samudra decades ago. Alive and well on the Beast.

Saranzaya, The Dreamer and Right Hand of the Scorpion Queen, of the Beast*: Runs the Bazaar of Queenstown and most of the government besides. Well-connected and resourceful. Dreams the same dreams as Wolf.
The Scorpion Queen: Overseer of the Beast whose persists through the cycles of the Beast, whatever their nature precisely is.

The Story Thus Far

Sanctuary

Some time ago, the six of us awoke in a place called A Sanctuary. We had been caught and stripped of our memories. A man, calling himself The Architect and claiming godlike powers of creation, told us that our planes had been destroyed by his opposite, a man called the Omniclast. He implored our aid in fighting not the Omniclast himself, who he said he had “banished from reality,” but the echoes of his “last scream.” He promised to rebuild something of what we lost in kind.

• When we awake, there is a song, “Sanctuary,” playing. Music underpins much of the fabric of our very world, but this melody is perhaps the most critical one to track.

The next day, we are called to battle over breakfast. The Architect is otherwise occupied, and when we step out out the building, we meet the Omniclast, who is not neither banished nor destroyed. He informs us our planes have not been destroyed either and challenges us to a Rite, with the stakes being the truth of his words. During this Rite, the Omniclast punches a hole in reality, creating a Threshold into the void. We jump in.

The Void

We are then Adrift through the void, traversing, strange paths. It is worth noting that in the Architect’s Sanctuary, there was no world-music. In the void, there is sound, and there is infinite possibility. We eventually stop floating and move downward, weaving a strange path to set foot upon an obsidian road, that leads us to a ziggurat-like structure as well as an oval frame that is humming with flourishing gnosis. This is also where Ember lives. Ember and Wolf sing of Almachadta together, and Salme recites some stories, and when it is done, the portal comes alive pointing to Almachadta. We step through.

Almachadta

We step out between two halves of a long-ago bifurcated tree. Wolf listens for the World-Song of Almachadta and then informs us that Almachadta is dying. He describes it as “the song unraveling.” We camp for the night.

In the morning, under the Waxing Centrelight, we awaken and head to Kesset, one of the larger villages of Almachadta. Here, we meet Izaak Earth-Shaker, one of Wolf’s acquaintances, who lets us know that Wolf and Salme both disappeared some time ago on a mission into the Tangle.

• It is here that we realize that, whatever else the Architect did, he stripped from us the ability to speak with the gnostic resonance native to our planes, which everyone else naturally uses.
• Between this day and the next, Aurelius performs some fiendcraft and, along with the expected results, receives a pamphlet entitled “The Traveler’s Guide To Known Reality” along with a strange coin none of us recognize. The Traveler’s Guide provides information about the five planes and major players therein. It updates as we discover new information. Ask any of us to show you.

The next day, we undertake Swift Travels towards the Courtyard, the capital of Almachadta, to speak with the overseer of Almachadta, the Palimpsest-King, and Badri, the previous Sword-Saint before Salme. On our way there, our mounts alert us to an anomaly—a clearing that had been “shattered to pieces” with bite marks in the trees and the ground and meat gnawed but not eaten. The creature(s) that did this are no longer there; the seem to have headed into the Tangle. We continue on to the Courtyard and find that Wolf and Salme had been sent into the Tangle for two reasons: first, to seek a cure to whatever ails Alamachadta and second, to search for Ciet, Badri’s predecessor as Sword-Saint who disappeared into the Tangle many years ago.

• Here is where Archie mentions his theory that it is an overage of flourishing gnosis causing the disease in Almachadta, which can be treated by an application of burning and pellucid gnosis. Later, working with Badri, Salme is able to ascertain that this cure has been used before, but we lacked the means to implement it at scale.

• Between this day and the next, I make several discoveries while At Badri’s. Implied but unspoken is that I was privy to additional knowledge that the others were not—that Almachadta always dies and is, in its death, reborn. I tell the others this over the course of the next few days, but Badri and I also discuss Ciet’s disappearance. Ciet had been able to speak with people from other planes—among them Tasna, Academician Emerita of Samudra—and attempted to cross over to meet her, hoping to find the cure for Almachadta’s death-rebirth cycle. Ciet used the natural door on Almachadta, which is deep in the Tangle at the Sword-Saint’s shrine. The door closed on them when they were partway through, trapping them there.

The next day, we head Into the Tangle to meet Tsemdrulukh, an old companion of both the Palimpsest King and Ciet, and privy to Ciet’s communications with Tasna. Salme tells her companions about the cycles of Almachadta. Everyone commits to attempting to change them. Upon meeting Tsem properly, we learn that they have constructed a device that allows for communication with Tasna’s farcaster via a tapping code. We find out that Tasna 1) still alive, 2) from Samudra, 3) found a door in a glacier, 4) is currently on the Beast.

• This is also where we find out that specific Rite-tones carry specific resonances, and those resonances, if focused upon, can reveal images and stories. For more information on this, see the folio Plane Travelers and Rite Stories.
• We also learn that though Tsem can communicate with Tasna, there is signficant signal delay and interference.

After lunch, we head deeper into the Tangle toward the Sword-Saint’s shrine, which is where the Mask is kept between cycles and where the door between worlds resides. While we are enroute, we encounter the Canker-Galls, malformed plants bearing a red, honey-sweet nectar. After the battle, Wolf and Salme regain the ability to speak with flourishing resonance. We arrive at the Sword-Saint’s shrine, The Only Dark Place, which contains tally marks for each cycle that ended all life on Almachadta. The door between worlds can’t be opened without harming Ciet; Aurelius is able to provide an alternate solution, but needs time to prepare. We head back to the Courtyard.

• At some point Archie counts 216 tally marks in the shrine.

The next day, we prepare to depart Almachadta. Wolf tells us that he has informed Izaak of the cycles of Almachadta, as well as taking him on as his apprentice. Aurelius’ workaround for the gate does not require that we be onsite where the door is, so instead we go to The Quarry near the Courtyard. Aurelius calls upon Jorule, with whom he shares a special connection, and Jorule manifests in our world. Jorule is able to weave gnosis together to use a different kind of magic, native to his world, to create a gate to the void, called a Kinder, Gentler Path. Through the door is the Liminal Express, a train that takes us directly to the ziggurat we visited before, where Ember waits.

The Void, II

When we arrive at the ziggurat, it has changed somewhat, covered in green leaves and lush growth. The portal that had led to Almachadta is now pulsing with odd, pellucid static. The portal now points to Samudra. It will take some time to defuse the static, which Archie immediately sets to doing.

While Archie works on unlocking the portal to Samudra, Aurelius and Salme create the beginnings of the Liminal Library, the device that is powering your ability to read this folio at this exact moment. More detailed information is available at A History of the Liminal Library. The library has many functions, but its initial revelation is the ability to see both the True Sun, which can do no harm, and the White Sun of Mu, which can only harm. Archie completes his work defuzzing the static, and then it is Thresholds Crossed and we arrive in Samudra.

Samudra

We arrive in a room of polished lapis crystal and intricate runework. Waiting for us is Caion, the Scholar-Emissary and Archie’s partner. We are in the Geode, the site Archie disappeared from some time ago while doing research on the Ancients. Caion sends a signal for pickup, and we settle in to wait.

We wait in the Geode until Silver-Throat, Irós of Whisker-Clan (and Archie’s aunt) arrives on a glass ship to take us to Ripple’s Rest, where the Kushtaka of Whisker-Clan make their home. During this trip we first encounter the Polite Visitors, which show are group a variety of images varying from disturbing to delightful. However, the encounter is ultimately harmless and we arrive at Ripple’s Rest.

• The Polite Visitors, also known as the Dream-Whales of Samudra, are a key to understanding whatever is going on in Samudra. They tend to show someone their greatest fear, though Salme and Wolf were unaffected and saw their true form.

• After arriving in Ripple, I go for a swim by The Rocks, Near Ripple and send out a tendril of flourishing gnosis attempting to make contact with the visitors. I receive, in response, a sense that these creatures are ancient beyond belief and exist in a state of infinite possibility as well as a message sent via the noöplankton. The memory is archived in the above folio, but I’m noting it here for context.

In a A Cellar, In Ripple, Archie, Salme, Wolf, and Aurelius speak with Caion, showing him the newly-created Liminal Library, which functions as a Bubble (i.e. a space that allows people to feel and discuss their negative thoughts without reshaping the cognitive landscape of Samudra). Caion informs us that the noöplankton of Samudra (small, ocean-dwelling creatures of limited sentience that seem to live in the moment) are about 250,000 years old. Salme suggests that this is also true of the Polite Visitors. Salme and Wolf share that they both saw the Polite Visitors for what they were. Caion notes that he too has always saw them for what they were, and has, prior to this moment, never known anyone else for whom that is true.

Later that Afternoon, at Ripple’s Rest, we meet Synthesis, the Arcanist of Samudra, a pearl who is the self that coalesced after Thesis, previous Academician of Samudra, was shattered on a trip to the Septentrione (the northernmost point in Samudra; it is a glacier). Synthesis is able to hear (and replay) the songs that underpin reality. Synthesis has heard the song “Sanctuary” repeatedly, which they say they believe belongs to all of us, and they offer lyrics to accompany the melody, which they say came to them in a dream (“Against Entropy”). We discover that although we are able to understand the languages of these songs as if they were our own, this is not true of others. We arrive at the Academy and are greeted by Solei, the Academician, and given quarters in the 36th tower.

Three days pass, and on the morning of the third we are summoned to the Zeroth Tower and Circle to speak with Solei. We plan to apprise them of our journey, but also ask for aid in launching an expedition to the Septentrione, from which Wolf hears a strange song and where Archie believes the gate in Samudra lies. Speak with Solei, and get their assurance that they will work to authorize a new Septentrione expedition, despite their misgivings. We also discover that a new island, seemingly anchored, has appeared out near Cloudset, Archie’s Aunt Ksenija’s home. This island is theoretically anchored, which no island on Samudra is. We offer to invesitage while Solei and Caion negotiate with the circle concerning our expedition. We also discover that the thoughtstorms on Samudra have gotten considerably worse in the interim, that two places have been entirely wiped out.

• Archie also shares his suspicion both that all our planes were once one, here, as well as his knowledge that the Septentrione contains what he calls “The First City,” buried in the ice.
• It is at this point we confirm that both Samudra and Almachadta seem to undergo major catastrophic events on similar timelines

Several important things happen in a series of events at The Sea’s Edge, though my knowledge is incomplete:

• First, At some point, Wolf communes with the noöplankton, presenting a Seeming. I am still not certain of the details.
• Second, At some other point, Luĉja takes a swim, sending up a radiant crystal into the sky and recovering their memories.
• Third, Awoken dives into the water with the Truth-That-Loves, a magical lantern that contains the light of the True Sun (for more information, see Rakaznar Tips Tricks and Secrets L@@K 1NSID3 and communes with the Polite Visitor while Aury, Wolf, Caion and I Circle with him ashore.

All of these events seem to have some effect on how the Dream-Whales present themselves later on.

Several days later, Ksenija approaches us, asking us to make good on our commitment to help with the newly-created island near Cloudset. We sail out to the new island, which is rife with flourishing and burning gnosis, covered in trees native to Almachadta. At the crest of the island, we engage in a Rite with some strange creatures that both burn and flourish. Eventually, they coalesce into Melpomene, a doppleganger of Salme’s, that reveals for various reasons that are still somewhat opaque to us that Salme somehow brought the island (later named Tulinsuojat) into being as part of her answer to The Question of Fear. Melpomene and Salme reintegrate, and we spend the next three days in Cloudset.

As we head back from Cloudset, we are greeted by a pod of Dream-Whales, which now fully reveal their true form to our party, but also have taken on the form of large frogs with a galaxy in each of their stomachs. This form seems to be what everyone else sees, and the Dream-Whales seem to be using a form of the Samudran bubble in order to control how they appear. There is a moment of joy, but then as we come into sight of the academy, that joy transforms somewhat as we see the Academy caught under a frozen wave—water turned to white, shimmering crystal, seemingly from Luĉja’s work during their fishing expedition. The Wall is protective—a thoughtstorm broke out during a disagreement in the Zeroth Circle, turning all members of the Zeroth, sans Caion, to crystal. Caion, as Acting Academician, approves our trip to the Septentrione and finally gives us the completed tomestones.

• At some point, Wolf does … something, and reports back to Caion and myself. He has discovered several critical things about Zosimos (see Zosimos), including that he somehow persists on Samudra in the form of a noöplankton

We go north, to the Septentrione. Archie takes the lead, the kleis he seems to have acquired in the Geode before his disappearance seeming to awaken the Septentrione with light wherever we go. We realize as we explore that the Septentrione itself is constructed like a ward to protect whatever is inside. Eventually, we arrive in the room where Tasna disappeared many years ago. This room contains an odd distortion in the center which gives us the knowledge we need to open a Kinder, Gentler Path (“It feels– like what might have happened if the Door in the Mask Shrine had closed fully.”). There is also a central pillar with an indentation for Archie’s kleis. Once Archie places the klies in the pillar, the ground below us becomes transparent and we are able to view the First City of Samudra, encased in ice. As we observe the city below us, It Looked Back, and we walk backwards through our journey to our awakening in Sanctuary, thus gaining three glory. We exit the Septentrione, enjoy a brief meal on Tulinsuojat, and then Aurelius opens a gate and we return to the void.

The Void, III

When we arrive in the void, we find that the Ziggurat has again been transformed. There is both water and greenery, and Ember’s sings a song that seems to resonate with our time on Samudra. Wolf also receives from ember a pack of cards intended for divination. We go our separate ways for the night after an eventful day.

• During the interim, Aurelius, Awoken and I take a quick trip back to Almachadta to distribute tomestones and verify the continued stability of the plane.

• Additionally, Archie, Wolf, and I participate in a friendly Rite, though at the end we receive a vision of what seems to be the Unsundured World (more about that available at The Unsundered World

After about a day, in the early afternoon, the obsidian frame in the void is pulsing with rhythmic burning gnosis, and we walk through, arriving on the Beast.

The Beast

We arrive in a deep canyon near Rifton in a world filled with people Blade-Bold, Battle-Born. We are immediately greeted by Kurat, a dog-fiend and Luĉja’s old friend, and Saranzaya, the Scorpion Queen’s Right Hand. We distribute a tomestone to her, and then get settled in an inn in Rifton.

• At some point, Luĉja and Aurelius discover a signal interfering with any radio waves on the Beast, and Aurelius begins a project to work around the problem.

The next day, during lunch, we discuss the Three Grand Soups (Of Which There Are Four) and the upcoming Iron Chef competition, then take the train to Queenstown. The trip is fairly uneventful, but as soon as we arrive in Queenstown, The Scorpion Queen, The Hero of the Beast, is waiting to challenge us to a Rite, with Wolf’s daggers on the line. We do pretty well for ourselves—Wolf and Archie working together manage to get her to her stress cap in a truly magnificent moment, but she has a final move that makes her impossible to beat. The Scorpion Queen takes Wolf’s daggers, but doesn’t melt them to her throne. Archie challenges the Scorpion Queen to a battle she can’t cheat at—that undertaken by making Shark-Fin soup during the Iron Chef contest—and Zaya ushers us off for some rest and relaxation.

The next day, Zaya gathers us all up to so we might ask some Questions in Queenstown, of each other and of new friends. Among ourselves, we discuss Archie’s entry into the Iron Chef competition and Salme’s discovery that the Scorpion Queen is at least 4,000 years old and has had other bodies previously. As for new friends, we visit Zaedulf, The Queen’s Machinist, in his workshop. Zaedulf provides Wolf with a new weapon, Archie and Aurelius with keys that unlock further rooms in the library annex, and is given Aurelius’ plans for a radio that will work on the Beast despite the static in the atmosphere. The library annex gains a kitchen, a game room, and an observatory, and we decide to head out and go glass land-shark hunting next.

A few days later, following an anonymous tip given to Saranzaya regarding glass land-sharks, we head out to the near-Reach. We get off at the last stop and arrive in a valley that is somewhat cultivated—there are trees and plants and food here. We are able to enjoy the view for a moment, and then we’re set upon by glass land-sharks, which are not nearly-extinct nor are they few in number. We defeat six and briefly find ourselves surrounded until they are driven off by a hunting horn. Wolf hears music coming from the mountains, but as the party resolves to head towards the mountains, Salme remembers a Mirage from the Queenstown Bazaar, and is able to discover a pass hidden in the mountains by looking into a towering metal shard of mirror. We enter the mountain pass and discover Tasna as well as Duškomira and Xilai—people whose stories we have learned from studying the Rite-tones—waiting for us there. We settle in for a long talk.

• For more information about Tasna, Duškomira, and Xilai, please look at Plane Travelers & Rite Stories.
• Awoken and I also make several interesting discoveries while using the observatory telescope. See The Shape of Our Cosmos

Over the course of the next 24 hours, we speak extensively with The Travelers and discover that neither Duškomira nor Xilai remember hardly anything about their crossing between worlds except those memories most dear to them. Tasna, on the other hand, remembers everything, because she was able to literally throw her consciousness, but not her body, through the gate, and then reconstitute herself on the Beast. We also learn that the travelers attempted to convene on the Beast through some kind of esoteric instruction, but lacking their fifth member (Ciet) they never seemed to receive further instruction. During this time, the Beast loses another moon with little fanfare, bringing its count from six (of a supposed twelve) to five.

• We additionally discuss the meaning and history of terms ‘yeresh’, ‘irós’ and ‘jernos’, which all point to sharing a common root (possibly two common roots?). See Ancient Names for some rough theorizing.
• Xilai gives us some information on Mu, which I’ll add to Glossary of Terms Concerning Specifics of the Five Planes

We take the train back to Queenstown, arriving late that evening. Several days pass, and then the long-awaited The Three Grand Soups (Of Which There Are Four) competition begins. Archie and Luĉja earn the aurichalcum spoon. Afterwards, we speak with The Scorpion Queen, where she confirms several of our suspicions: one, that the Beast goes through cycles of destruction and she is the one thing that endures; and two, that the night sky above the Beast is somehow strange, with the stars appearing exactly the same whether one stands at the extreme south or the extreme north. The Scorpion Queen gives us her permission for an expedition to the Deepforge.

• During the preparation for the soup competition, Aurelius makes a journey out to the ruins of some black towers. He discovers that these towers either predate the sundering of the planes, or were constructed immediately afterwards. Furthermore, the Scorpion Queen confirms that the towers always exist in their ruined state on the Beast, even immediately after a cycle. See his notes on Persistent Towers on the Beast here.

After the Three Grand Soups competition, we begin our expedition through the Deepforge. At one point, we face a broken path that leads to a waterfall of lava, but Luĉja is able to use a gift given to them by the Mother of Monsters to pass through. We eventually encounter the revenantoj, fiends who Return upon their forging in order to mourn with the Mother of Monsters. One directs us through a gate, which leads us to a hole in the ground—a leap of faith that drops us in The Cathedral, a space made of meat and metal and mouths. A giant eye—the eye of the Mother of Monsters—watches us. She is not able to speak. Her eye is not able to blink. She can only sing “Πότε ἐπελεύσεται τελείως?” over and over again. We open a gate, and again traverse the void.

The Void, IV

We arrive at the Ziggurat, and there are faint impressions of other buildings. Ember is there to greet us, and seems to have grown in mobility. The Ziggurat now boasts real beds, discrete rooms for each of us, and a top that unfolds in an airship docking station.