Kthaahthikha

XXI - 0800

'And so it decided upon a method of payment. Illusions, things made of matter and force, all could be made by it provided that it was kept well-fueled. It assimilates life energies, and it was for such a reason that I brought it living victims. When I questioned it about its abiliy to protrude itself into my mind, it revealed that it could in fact memorise entire minds, and recreate individuals as easily as false matter or cities.

'And such was the origin of Ville du Lac Bleu. Willing sacrifices travel to submit themselves to my master, their minds recreated, their forms made beautiful beyond compare, and heir bodies reanimated to serve in the up-keep of the city. And in exchange we provide my master with energy to sustain it at a conscious level, be it human or, when times are lean, animal. There is no gruesome murder here, and the mysterious are not overly dark.'

I was almost unable to fully comprehend what had been told to me. Nor could I fuly understand the reason of it.

'Why have you revealed all this to me?' I asked.

'Because,' said Maldoni, 'it is what I tell every person who enters the city. And then I give them one of the two following options - either dwell here with us in a city of eternal delights, or be sent with your memory tailored back into the world, an entirely-new chain of events within your mind.'

I thought about this. The shear wealth of knowledge concentrated in that city would be unfathomable, yet what the use if I could never spread it beyond those who already knew. And was what was contained within this city actually real? Could a mere version of myself, held within the infinite mind of some extra-terrestrial being, in any way be a continuation of myself? Or would death be final, and what was left behind be nothing more than a moving photograph?

'I will have to consider this,' I said.

'Of course,' was Maldoni's reply. 'They always do. You shall have free rein of the city, but under no circumstances attempt to flee. You will not succeed.'

I write these final passages now as I stand at the top of the wall, overlooking the ravine. I estimate that I shall be able to throw it a considerable distance, the height of the ravine considered. I can only hope that that thing does not have any conception of what I do, for if it does then this manuscript has been for naught, scribbled away in my sketchbook in the hopes that it be found by someone and provide a warning, before some fool wanders into the city without realising what lurks here.

* * *

'Oh, nothing,' said Maldino. 'I was simply finishing-off a book'.

_____________________

This is my cop-out ending, because I'm tired and bored, and I already did another 24 hour novel that was a lot more fun earlier this week. That one was crazy. This one is a bad pulp serial.

Anyway, here it is. There was going to to be a confrontation with the master, a chase-scene, and a well-rounded debate on the nature of reality, but meh.