With a Carving Knife

It was a punishment. Retribution. The three mice, you see, had transgressed. They had sinned. And as sinners they deserved the severance of a part of themselves. A sacrifice.

Blind? Yes, they were. It's the title of the song. Your point?

You're not following, I see. What simpleton could be so deluded as to intend defiance of the Divine? No, they were sinful in themselves, as part of their very nature. That is the secret.

Well, there's metaphorical and then there's metaphorical, if you see my point. Now hold still, or this will hurt far more than it already would.

I Will Write Our Names in Fire on the Sky

Never fret. The Wisest Stone is later today; this is *yesterday's* flitterfic.

---

The view from up here is terrifying in its beauty. I can see the curvature of the Earth, a soft rounding of the horizon. Cities speckle the nightside with pinpricks of light, like holes punched in the planet to let the sun's fire show through.

Outside, it is silent. Still. The seas here are unmoving dust, showing the marks of impacts millenia old. The seas of Earth don't hold imprints. They wash away the memory of you in the space of a breath.

That is why I will boil them away.

They will remember me then.

That's what's important.

Love Letter

When I destroy you, I will bear no malice. I will obliterate you cleanly, quickly, as painlessly as feasible under the circumstances. It is important to me that you know that. I do not hate. It is not my way.

When I destroy you, you mustn’t struggle. That would only prolong the matter. Your complete eradication is inevitable. Accept that, and be at peace.

When I destroy you, I will do it thoroughly. The atoms of your being will be expunged. Everything you know and love will be dead.

When I destroy you, I will have a reason. Remember that.

The First Step to Acceptance is Understanding

“I used to be afraid of them,” Vitari said. “Something in the mind just… recoils. Too many legs, moving too many directions.” He scratched at his ear. “They’re not like us. They’re alien. We can’t understand how that kind of brain can work, and so we fear them.”

Mari kept her back to the wall, watching wide-eyed.

“You have to open to the possibility. Once you understand them, the fear goes away. I know you’ll see. You only have to let them in.”

His eyelid twitched, then bulged, as something with too many legs began to push its way out…