With each new thread they pulled, they were emboldened. No one watching seemed to be able to tell them “no.” The powerful were permissive and all the rest looked lost and helpless, even in their rage.
All the while, the colossus at the gates simply watched. But the thread pullers overestimated their position on the hill. Liberty, dormant as it may appear, both guides and razes with fire. And the thread pullers must have forgotten as they made that particularly brazen move: Liberty is a woman.
“So what are we talking about, gang? Come on, you can tell me. We’re all on the same team.”
“Why, he looks like a nice bloke to have a good chinwag with, if only we weren’t bloody fucking fish.”
Loc: 27°32'55.6"N 90°28'35.4"E
DSR12 in contact with local authorities. A family is claiming their 8 year old has been visited by what they describe as an apparition the past several nights.
Father claims to have seen the entity last night which he says took the form of a glowing red panda. Verifies child’s account. This suspected Scout speaks. First known instance of vocal communication.
Loc: 47°23'38.7"S - 37°08'53.9"E
9 more Scouts retrieved by Project Boneburrow Deep Sea Research outpost 3. Significantly fewer than most recent sample taken at DSR1.
However, current mapping shows an elevated risk of manifestation within commercial fishing routes. DSR Team Lead has expressed major concern for global food supply.
Loc: 76°04'12.8"N - 101°07'57.6"W
Civilian report of deceased great horned owl reanimated. 6 specimens of local wildlife confirmed host to entities designated “Scout” by Project Boneburrow.
Area of 37sq miles scrubbed. Specimens secured.
The Father of calamity from the clouds offers momentary bridges from the Earth to the Heavens, in brilliant flashes of heat and fury.
From the highest peak to the deepest trench, where there is life you can always follow Our Lady’s shimmering tresses back to her emerald sanctum.
The rind fractures, The juices boil
The whole fruit burns When the pulp’s the oil
When that particular solar circumnavigation came to a close, all on board knew that the next morning brought no end to their hardships. But from out of death bursts new life, and with every birth there is hope... and that’s enough.
Hotter than Hades
Colder than the Deep Abyss
Steel and Courage Fail
“How do you expect we’ll find a snow white beast in this frozen Hell?” Hadrian questioned his stoic guide.
“We look for the red.”
It’s an old town these days, whose faded grandeur is appreciated only by haughty ghosts.
The beneficiaries of the Great Machine were eager to turn it back on, citing the historical precedent that “if hundreds of thousands are going to die, we ought to at least turn a profit.”
Each of us would do well to remember, nothing that exists is beyond being eaten. Even the most horrible nightmares are helpless prey to the Baku.
The river Styx is actually bountiful with a striking breed of succulent harlequin crabs, and yet people choose rather to starve when they see one. I cannot fathom why.
A demon does evil by nature. It does good out of infinite boredom.
May the end be as dazzling as the beginning.
After 60 years, it’s not the incessant crash of cymbals that drove Jolly Charley to madness, but the quiet moments of dread between each beat.
If you’re looking to escape your reality for an evening, Wandering Wile provides multiversal excursions in capsule form, for a shockingly affordable price.
*Return to your universe of origin or preferred timeline not guaranteed.
“O Leviathan,
Calamity beneath the waves,
Beat your primeval might upon the bow,
So that Man will be undone.”
The Book of Giants, Canto 111
“Between the two of us, we hear and smell far better than we’ll ever need to see. For example, he can smell the blood beneath your skin but I don’t hear you running.”
For all our many failings, we’ve always excelled at feeding the soil.
The Twins are always watching the East and West simultaneously, never knowing from which direction the Prowler will return.
Our Lady of the Cosmos blesses us all equally with a benevolent indifference.
The watchful eyes that never blink.
The Pug King knows that the key to his rule is spectacle and tradition. He never skimps on fine royal trappings.
The Fallen, the Adversary, the Beast... Old Scratchpost, King of the Furnace where he bakes tiny widdle invisible biscuits. Baphocat tells us “Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the Paw.”
The few who find enlightenment are the most pitiable of all. They spend eternity fruitlessly dissecting the answer, muttering “This can’t be all there is.”
- The Book of Rana, canto 77
The Prowler is no more evil than you feasting upon a crunchwrap supreme, if only the crunchwrap was still living several bites in. Hunger is its curse, but the eating, its pleasure.
For the Great Sloth so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life and endless cecropia leaves for their tum tums.
There is nothing in this damned land that the Spirits of the West haven’t foreseen. They’ll feed their young on the fields of ash we leave behind.
The elusive urban manticore is comprised of the most beloved local fauna.