On Paris

Inspired by from art of @apricot_tarte_

When she sat facing ?I''ri,, she hoped to recount many things she had discovered while in Paris with an enthusiasm that surged and foamed like that of an astronomer who had just beheld Mars and Pluto adrift beyond their appointed orbits. It could not be denied that the scent of the temple ?I''ri,, reeked of tobacco, and the tobacco burned together with the scented candles that swarmed about the two-headed sheep idol like frenzied ants, only rendering the girl still less able to restrain herself from pouring forth everything upon that god! Yet the idol itself would go nowhere; the idol had been with the girl—perhaps—for all eternity. Upon every side of the walls of the temple chamber, wrought of skin and granite, stood barrels and chests filled with a mingled wine and the rank odour of blood, piled tier upon tier; scored with deep gashes—though it appeared so stiflingly cramped, in truth the chamber was vastly spacious...

At first she approached the altar and walked round and round by the selfsame path: now and then glancing, turning with a smile, humming in a voice most sweet; her melody was so sweet that in the air the very notes seemed to issue from her, soft beyond telling. Meanwhile ?I''ri,, remained unmoved, and the girl smiled. “Very well,” she said to the idol, inhaling the perfume of the candles: she drew nearer and folded both arms behind her back. “While I wait, it would be well if this tedium were banished at once! Does ?I''ri,, desire a brimming cup of goat’s blood? Hee, it seems not, yes? My beloved will awaken, uh, roughly: in a little while.”

The two sheep heads of the idol appeared to listen with close attention.

“Yes! In a little while…” the girl went on, “It is thus,” and she let her body sink and sat cross-legged. “?I''ri,, surely remembers when I went to Paris. Yes, there it was most delightful! There were many new things I could never have beheld in Breton, nor in Csiris nor yet in Balluirr; places that are pious and obedient to us, I think. There… it was so crowded. If I may speak honestly whether I wished to remain there or not, I would answer: not in the least. So filthy… so arrogant… The mere sight of its people turned my stomach and nearly made me vomit inside a bakery. It seems we were truly ill-starred that time: I went with Gllow and Nn. Tin, remember? I longed to invite Shild, yet he had already arranged to wander to Kerselec upon the very day I asked him, while Bonaparta, who had been idle, suddenly resolved to journey to Ecarouh’ to tend his herd of horses. We made our way toward the Palace: then Gllow traced the pentagram with his blood and the blood of Nn. Tin; while I traced the sigil, arranged the bones, recited the incantation, and helped to widen the circle so that we might obtain a translocation site comfortable enough to arrive in Paris.

Nevertheless, as I have already said, ill fortune still found us. Nn. Tin was fortunate, for he became the fulcrum of the translocation and was at once mutilated by searing light. Thus, instead of a comfortable, spacious, or warm place of transfer, that accursed pentagram flung us into the intestines of a living man. The heat of the translocation set the flesh burning at once, and we witnessed second by second as we struggled to crawl forth like two tapeworms in a space so narrow, hemmed about by the shapes of organs, soft flesh, and veins; and I was forced to rip an exit at the end with my dagger so that the two of us might emerge together… That body reeked of scorching: Gllow could not endure to remain still after such constriction and at once ran toward the window. The room was not overly large, ?I''ri,,—perhaps the Lethal Chamber itself was larger than that chamber—and after a little observation I fixed my interest and attention upon the medical instruments, the vessels of alcohol, the long beds, and the like. Only then did I realise how remarkable was the human form that had served as our vessel of transport: it had become a charred corpse, black as pitch, its face ruined beyond all shape, its belly torn open yet revealing nothing save scorched entrails. Yet its forearms and ankles were already missing though I had done nothing. Now, in that moment I somehow remembered Shild and Bonaparta: what you beheld would surely have made them bleat without sense! It turned out you had only just been translocated into the guts of a mutilated corpse. A most startling experience!—

“Seeing how our place of arrival was arranged, there could be no mistake that we stood in a sufficiently mysterious ward; moreover the corpse that marked our coming made me the more certain that mad experiments such as those described in the ancient manuscripts of the Ecarouh’ library were being attempted anew. Though no papers scrawled with incantations, talmud, or other fresh bodies as experimental vessels for the umpteenth time were found—it could be said they ‘failed’ for a company of professionals who no longer believed in the animal gods deemed strange. ?I''ri,,, their necromantic experiment might be said to have failed in practice, yet if you had witnessed it directly there would be every likelihood you too would have deemed it almost successful; for seeing how that body was charred, they had beheld the first phase of necromancy: uh, the part wherein the soul is drawn back from the court!”

The girl paused and gazed at ?I''ri,, for an instant, then glanced toward the dark corridor behind it, curious, while she stretched her limbs… “What else, yes?” she interjected, then once more fixed her attention upon the tall idol ?I''ri,.

“Paris… Oh yes! Yes, yes, yes… I remember!” The girl smiled once more. “There were several things in Paris that could be said to differ from the world beyond it. The streets were truly beautiful: the city laid out with perfect order: its people of every kind… And it sounded most pleasant when I heard the rumours concerning pagan circles still to be met with, slipping from the lips of those folk. Moreover, it cannot be denied that the march of the age in these days has brought a twilight upon the likes of idols. Yes, this concerns you also, ?I''ri,, … It is most gratifying to me to know that the folk of Breton still worship you as the sole Spiritual. The people of Breton, judging by how they are nurtured and guarded, seem also most grateful! And it became of the utmost importance to me to keep their sanity low while villages and cities slowly prepared what you had prophesied to their ancestors across the millennia!

The capital of France itself displayed no great suspicion: and because the Pure Orthodox faithful there were few since the time of King-Saint Henry IV (according to certain Fathers and Cathedral Heads I encountered), the chance that your prophecy might be heard and believed by the greater part of them and the Catholics was small. This is no evil thing; on the contrary, it is advantageous from every side.

“The people of Paris likewise appear to have begun to weaken since the discovery of machines: this may be seen in the manner of their dress, their drama theatres, their food, their accents of speech, their faith, and the very nature that has been gradually displaced from its primal ecosystem by families. Many streets were paved merely to be traversed by a few horses, carriages, and people; tall buildings with monotonous, empty façades; lofty poles strung with cables; narrow pavements, even the settlements of the slum-dwellers and the poor. I and Gllow ourselves tried at that time to influence certain persons, yet without success… Well, not without success in the mind but in the flesh… A kind of rejection from their blood: … remnants of faith, yet a faith that sprang not from the gods common among them—but rather from foreign gods whose existence is the same as yours.”

Suddenly something of importance flashed across the girl’s mind… She stretched forth her arm; a hole opened from a sudden dark vortex of air about her fingers… Her fingers slipped into the hole, then drew forth a clot of fresh blood, jelly-like, that bubbled as though it boiled… “I took this,” the girl continued in explanation. “I slit the throats of those who failed, for I judged they too were not holy. And, if I may explain it plainly: boiling blood within the nerves of ordinary humans is truly impossible, is it not, ?I''ri,, … There is a trouble here…”

Of course the idol gave no reaction whatever, yet the girl continued:

“I am truly anxious because Gllow seemed to shun and loathe it, as did I: truly sickened at the sight… There is a flare of rage in this blood that I find hard to explain! Blood of a thick, dim-red hue, repulsive, like some tumour…” She looked again at the idol. “?I''ri,, what—is there something you are hiding—even from me?” —

The headless body entered the altar of worship and at once silenced the communion between the Worshiper and her God… The altar became utterly still… Save for the bleating of the lamb earlier, which had guided the headless body until it reached that altar.