II. the shape of the wound
The second fragment was recovered from a different section of the destroyed stone. The Department notes a marked shift in register: the academic framework persists but buckles under the weight of what it is asked to contain. Three transcribers requested reassignment after this section. Two were granted it.
- Department of Antiquities, University of Rivermount
I. before Tohu spoke the first word, there was no thirst. i need you to understand this precisely. not that thirst was satisfied. not that water was abundant. thirst did not exist. the capacity to want was not yet installed. she did not give water to the thirsty. she created thirst and then called the water a gift. i am aware of how this sounds. i have the notes. i have checked the notes.
II. [six lines illegible. the stone surface here shows signs of having been wetted repeatedly. the department cannot determine the nature of the liquid.]
III. i spoke with Archivist Veris before he left. he was eating an apple. he was holding it in both hands like a child holds something precious. he looked at me and said "the skin of the apple is the same thickness as the skin of the world" and then he bit into it and the juice ran down his chin and he laughed. i did not understand then. i understand now. i wish i did not understand now.
ᛄᛠᚹᚡᛚᛠᚲᛈᚴᚿ
the light binds
IV. [five lines illegible]
V. i cut into my thigh last night with the bone stylus. not from despair. from enquiry. i wanted to see the inside. the fat beneath the skin is the same colour as the amber in the Spire at Ambers Call. the fascia beneath the fat is a membrane and the membrane is inscribed. not with runes i recognise. with something older. the fibres of the muscle run in channels and the channels follow the same paths as the Weave-lines i mapped in my second monograph. i have been mapping the Weave for thirty years and the Weave is inside me, has been inside me, the map and the territory were always the same thing. i sat on the floor of the transcription chamber with my leg open and i wept. not from pain. Mohn was right. the skin is thinner than the stone. it goes in faster through the skin. i understand her now. what she was writing on her arms was not madness. she had found the faster medium.
VI. [eight lines illegible. traces of the unidentified fifth script. one transcriber reported that staring at these traces for more than a few minutes produces a sensation of falling. another reported the sensation of being watched from below. a third reported both sensations simultaneously and added that they were the same sensation.]
VII. i tried to sleep last night. when i closed my eyes i saw the Weave from the other side. it does not look the same from the other side. from inside it looks like a tapestry. from outside it looks like a membrane. a membrane stretched over something wet. i could see shapes moving behind the membrane. the shapes were not monstrous. that is the worst part. the shapes were ordinary. they were moving with the calm efficiency of workers performing a familiar task. one of them paused and turned toward where i was looking and i knew it could see me seeing it and it did not care. it went back to its work. i have been awake for three days now. i am not going to sleep again.
𒀭𒆷𒆷𒀞𒀇𒈠𒀞𒀄𒀞𒋙𒌋𒂷𒂷𒂊𒊯𒀗
all form is suffering
VIII. [three lines illegible]
IX. the seals. the Codex-writer describes them with reverence. i have examined the seal-sites. not with instruments. with my hands. i put my palms flat against the ground above the Third Seal and held them there for six hours. at the end of the six hours i could feel a pulse. it was not the earth's pulse. it was a heartbeat. there is a person under there. the person is alive. the person has been alive for longer than any person should be alive. the Codex-writer says they "became the Seal." i say they are buried in it. the difference between becoming and being buried depends entirely on whether you asked them afterward, and nobody asked, because you cannot ask a foundation if it wanted to be a foundation. you can only build on it and call the building sacred.
you are not the vessel you are the fire