Sermon Nineteen
Vivec put on his armor and stepped into a non-spatial space filling to
capacity with mortal interaction and information, a canvas-less
cartography of every single mind it has ever known, an event that had
developed some semblance of a divine spark. He said, 'From here I shall
launch my attack on the eight monsters.'
Vivec then saw the moths that would come from the starry heart, bringing
with them dust more horrible than the ash of Red Mountain. He saw the
twin head of a ruling king who had no equivalent. And eight
imperfections rubbed into precious stones, set into a crown that looked
like shackles, which he understood to be the twin crowns of the two-
headed king. And a river that fed into the mouth of the two-headed king,
because he contained multitudes.
Vivec then built the Provisional House at the Center of the Secret Door.
From here he could watch the age to come. Of the House is written:
Cornerstone one has a finger
Buried under, pointing through
Dirt, slow low in the ground
North cannot be guessed,
And yet it is spirit-free
Cornerstone two has a tongue,
And even dust can be talkative,
Listen and you will see the love
The ancient libraries need
Cornerstone three has a bit of string,
Shaped like your favorite color,
A girl remembers who left it there
But she is afraid to dig it out,
And see what it is attached to
Cornerstone four has nine bones,
Removed carefully from a black cat,
Arranged in the fashion of this word,
Protecting us from our enemies
Your house is safe now
So why is it--
Your house is safe now
So why is it--
The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
Sermon Twenty
The first monster was actually two, having been born twice like his
mother-father, Vivec. He was not the mightiest of the eight to escape
Muatra, but his actions were the most worrisome. He was known as
Moon Axle, and he harvested the leftovers foibles of nature. This he did
twice, as was said, and the second harvest always brought ruin or
unwritten law. His aspect was faceted like a polyhedron.
No perils are mentioned in the finding of Moon Axle, but it was known
that he was immune to spears, so Vivec had to use the sword not held
against him. Before he took issue with the monster, the warrior-poet
asked:
'How came you to be immune to spears?'
To which Moon Axle replied, 'Mine is a dual nature, and protean. I am in
fact made of many straight lines, though none last too long. In this way I
have learned to ignore all true segments.'
Luckily, the sword not held was curved and therefore could cut into
Moon Axle, and before the sun was up he was bleeding from many
wounds. Vivec did not slay him outright for to do so would to [sic] keep
the foibles of nature within him and not back where they belonged. Soon
Vivec had traced geography right again, and Moon Axle was ready to be
slain.
Vivec rose up in his giant-form, to be terrible to look upon. He reached
into the west and pulled out a canyon, holding it like a horn. He reached
east and ate a handful of nix hounds. Blowing their spirits through the
canyon made a terrible wail, not unlike an unsolved woman. He said:
'Let this overtake you,' and Moon Axle was overtaken by the curvatures
of stolen souls. They wrapped about the monster like resin, until finally
he could not move, nor could his dual nature.
Vivec said, 'Now you are solved,' and pierced his child with Muatra.
Moon Axle had been reduced to something static, and therefore shattered.
The lines of Moon Axle were collected by Velothi philosophers and taken
into caves. There, and for a year, Vivec taught the philosophers how to
turn the lines of his son into the spokes of mystery wheels. This was the
birth of the first Whirling School. Before, there had only been the surface
thought of fire.
Vivec looked at his first wheeling students and observed:
'Alike the egg-layered universe is this morbid possession of three-distant
coverage, soul-wrecked and alive, like my name is alive. In this cloister
you have discovered one walking path, hilled like a sword but more
coarsened. So edged it is that it has to be whispered to keep the tongue
from bleeding, where its signs evacuate their former meanings, like
empires that tarry too long.
'The sword is estrangement from statesmanship.
'Look on the estimable lines of my son, now crafted star-wise, his every
limb equidistant from the center. Is he solved because I will it so? There
cannot be a second stage. Think on the theory that my existence
promulgates the five elements and alike the egg-layered universe I am
cause for great density. Here is a thought that can break the wagon's axle;
here is another that can soar.'
The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
Sermon Twenty-One
The Scripture of the Wheel, First:
'The Spokes are the eight components of chaos, as yet solidified by the
law of time: static change, if you will, something the lizard gods refer to
as the Striking. That is the reptile wheel, coiled potential, ever-preamble
to the never-action.'
Second:
'They are the lent bones of the Aedra, the Eight gift-limbs to SITHISIT,
the wet earth of the new star our home. Outside them is the Aurbis, and
not within. Like most things inexplicable, it is a circle. Circles are
confused serpents, striking and striking and never given leave to bite. The
Aedra would have you believe different, but they were givers before
liars. Lies have turned them into biters. Their teeth are the proselytizers;
to convert is to place oneself in the mouth of falsehood; even to
propitiate is to be swallowed.'
Third:
'The enlightened are those uneaten by the world.'
Fourth:
'The spaces between the gift-limbs number sixteen, the signal shapes of
the Demon Princedoms. It is the key and the lock, series and manticore.'
Fifth:
'Look at the majesty sideways and all you see is the Tower, which our
ancestors made idols from. Look at its center and all you see is the
begotten hole, second serpent, womb-ready for the Right Reaching, exact
and without enchantment.'
Sixth:
'The heart of the second serpent holds the secret triangular gate.'
Seventh:
'Look at the secret triangular gate sideways and you see the secret Tower.'
Eighth:
'The secret Tower within the Tower is the shape of the only name of God,
I.'
The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
