talien
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The Consequences of Vice: Part 2e – The Freeport Institute
Kham sat at the bow of the boat. It was a bright little vessel of polished wood with a white sail, and it moved gently across the lake in front of the breeze. He looked down into the water, past where his trailing hand disturbed the surface. It was spirit-thick and gray.
Was that movement?
Kham pulled up his hand and a mottled shape ballooned past him not far below, then another—huge marine creatures. Up ahead, the water slapped.
The fluorescent green back of one of the things cleared the surface for a moment, and then dove.
Kham saw it still. It was coming right at him—bigger and bigger. Then it reared out of the water fully, looming above the boat like a cliff. He couldn’t wait for it.
He stood and stepped off into the water. Falling. Falling. Eyes closed.
The water became a mist. It cleared, and a landscape stretched out around him, stone and heathland and then a walled cemetery.
Kham stepped through he gates. The mossy graves fanned out all around him.
He walked on and on. Plain markers were everywhere, tens of thousands—there were no angels or other superstitions.
Finally, Kham came to a corner that he seemed to know. He read some of the names. They were all familiar to him. It was his family and friends; everyone living and dead was there. And the dates of the graves were all only a few years past.
His own grave was cracked. It was a plain tablet without even his name, but he knew it well. He felt a half-memory of how it was before he was in that boat, before the King in Yellow came. But everyone was there now.
For he was in Carcosa, the cemetery for all of dead Onara.
Kham sat at the bow of the boat. It was a bright little vessel of polished wood with a white sail, and it moved gently across the lake in front of the breeze. He looked down into the water, past where his trailing hand disturbed the surface. It was spirit-thick and gray.
Was that movement?
Kham pulled up his hand and a mottled shape ballooned past him not far below, then another—huge marine creatures. Up ahead, the water slapped.
The fluorescent green back of one of the things cleared the surface for a moment, and then dove.
Kham saw it still. It was coming right at him—bigger and bigger. Then it reared out of the water fully, looming above the boat like a cliff. He couldn’t wait for it.
He stood and stepped off into the water. Falling. Falling. Eyes closed.
The water became a mist. It cleared, and a landscape stretched out around him, stone and heathland and then a walled cemetery.
Kham stepped through he gates. The mossy graves fanned out all around him.
He walked on and on. Plain markers were everywhere, tens of thousands—there were no angels or other superstitions.
Finally, Kham came to a corner that he seemed to know. He read some of the names. They were all familiar to him. It was his family and friends; everyone living and dead was there. And the dates of the graves were all only a few years past.
His own grave was cracked. It was a plain tablet without even his name, but he knew it well. He felt a half-memory of how it was before he was in that boat, before the King in Yellow came. But everyone was there now.
For he was in Carcosa, the cemetery for all of dead Onara.