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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Mar 17, 2021 10:48:48 GMT -5
'Why does everyone say that?' said Beatrice. '"To have time." How can we say that, when it's time that has us?' I think you mean Eligton, here.
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Post by Isadora Is a Door on Mar 17, 2021 16:22:13 GMT -5
I've been more or less able to put together what's been happening so far, but as to where you're taking us, I can't imagine. I'm sure it will be worth the trip, though. It's not the fall that kills you, it's the landing... 'Why does everyone say that?' said Beatrice. '"To have time." How can we say that, when it's time that has us?' I think you mean Eligton, here. Now corrected. After 17 chapters I think I'm allowed one error to slip through! Also just to note that after tomorrows chapter there will be a 2 days hiatus. The story will resume with a bumper-length offering on Sunday and run for the remaining 8 days until the 28th.
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Post by Isadora Is a Door on Mar 18, 2021 7:46:29 GMT -5
March 2nd 2021
Daniel pushed the door to his apartment closed, locked and bolted the door, and slumped down onto the chair in his tiny kitchen. It had been only been a day or so since he had last been in his apartment, but even so he barely seemed to recognise it. It was like a forgotten spirit had moved everything around while his back was turned.
He had left Beatrice on the beach, but she had insisted it would make no difference. The Beast would get him in the end, she had said, no matter where he ran. But as far as Daniel could tell, that thing moved through the water. The longer he remained on dry land the safer he would be.
Even though it was getting dark outside he walked over to the window and pulled open the blind. The Fog was still there, and when he looked down to the street below he could only make out a few murky shapes in the dull light. He would be safe here, as he had been for so many years.
Thinking back on it, he couldn't understand why he had trusted Beatrice. She was a murder, a madwoman. He she have trusted his instinct, he should never have gotten involved. And yet he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She had lost everything, just like so many others.
There was a loud knock on the door, which made Daniel jump. It was heavy, and sounded like it wouldn't take no for an answer.
'Is that you Beatrice?' called Daniel
There was another knock, as loud as the first.
'Please go away.' called Daniel again
A third knock, this one even louder
'I'm not going to help you so please just -'
The door smashed open, as the man kicked it down forcefully. For a moment Daniel stood, staring at the man - a stranger.
'Hello Daniel.' said the man. He had a large backpack over his shoulders, and he was holding a long staff in his hand, carved out of a strange dark wood. 'My name is Quigley Quagmire, and I'm sorry for what I'm about to do.'
A second later, Quigley ran at Daniel. He lashed out at him with the staff, but Daniel leaped to the side and managed to avoid it, the staff smashing at the table. Daniel turned around and tried to run for the door, but Quigley threw the Staff after him. It hit Daniel squarely on the back of his head, and he fell to the ground, losing any sense of direction.
The next moment he could feel Quigley on top of him, and a hand holding his neck. He heard the noise of a stopper being removed, and the next second Daniel felt a strange thick liquid being poured down his throat. It was stodgy and hard to swallow, but when he tried to cough back up it only seemed to stick in his mouth.
'Just drink' said Quigley, as he began to climb off of Daniel. 'It'll make everything easier.'
A moment later the liquid was gone. Daniel was sat on the floor. 'Did you just poison me?'
'No.' said Quigley. 'I'm afraid this is much worse than poison.'
Quigley placed the backpack on the floor, and began to search for something inside it. A moment later he took out a metal tray.
'I'm sorry that I had to do that.' He told Daniel, as he walked over to the sink, and began to fill it with water. He placed the tray on the floor, and Daniel could see there was a thin layer of water covering its surface. Quigley reached into his pocket and took out a pocket watch set in gold, with the words 'Fortuna Juvat' engraved in its casing. As Daniel looked at the watch the minute hand moved again, and the time was 12:00.
At that exact moment, the ground beneath Daniel began to shake. Quigley walked around so that he was now stood opposite him, with the tray of water in the middle. The room began to shake more and more violently, but Daniel noticed the water in the tray was queerly undisturbed. Quigley held the watch about the tray, as streams of Black Ink began to flow out of its centre. As the Ink began to hit the surface of the water it steamed, and Daniel could feel a strange burning sensation inside him.
As more and more the ink began to flow out of the watch, the shaking began to subside. Water seemed to be spewing forth from the tray, emanating out across the ground. But in the centre of the water, resting on its surface, the ink flowing around it, was a Beast. it was unmistakably the same creature Daniel had encountered in the sewers the day before, but it was tiny, big enough to fit in the palm of his hand.
'How can it be so small?' asked Daniel.
'It isn't small.' said a voice from the doorway. It was Beatrice. 'That's just your perspective.'
She walked over to Daniel, and he saw that she was holding the same slender knife that she had used before.
'Beatrice, please.'
'I'm sorry Mr. Handler, but there is no other way.'
As she pushed the point of the knife into his chest, the burning sensation erupted inside him. When the knife retreated and Daniel looked down, he found not blood but Ink. Huge streams of Black Ink began to pour their way out of his chest, and they met with the water that was spreading on the ground. Suddenly, a loud bombinating sound began to echo around the room, and as the ink from Daniel, the ink from the watch, and the ink from the Beast began to combine, Daniel could see images forming once more in the centre, just like before.
They were smaller this time, just like the Beast seemed to be, but somehow the images were so clear to him, clearer than anything he had ever seen. In the first he could see Kit Snicket. He remembered her from so long ago, how long ago was this? She was with the woman Lemony had been with before, but she was younger here. They were in the lagoon. He tried to call out, to say something to them, but not words came out. Kit could see him, but she didn't recognise him. He was an old man now, why would she.
In the Second image, he saw Beatrice again. She looked much like she did now, she could barely be any younger, or perhaps even older. 'I'm sorry Mr. Handler.' said the other Beatrice.
Daniel looked around, and he realised that Quigley and Beatrice had both vanished. When he turned back to look at the images they too had gone. He was alone with the Beast.
The whole of the building began to shake again, and the Beast began to bombinate once more. Daniel struggled to stand up. The wound in his chest wasn't too deep. Maybe he'd be alright? The Black Ink was continuing to spew forth from the wound, however.
The building shuddered, and the Beast began to move across the thin film of water, and disappeared out of the door, the bombinating growing louder. Daniel was unsure whether to follow it, what to do. Everything around him felt like it was beginning to shake. What was going on?
Daniel staggered over to the window and looked outside. At first he thought the fog was playing tricks with his mind, or that whatever he had drunk was playing tricks with his mind. But what he saw was real.
Wave after wave of dense, inky black water was cascading over the city. Building after Building was crumbling in its path. Daniel couldn't tell what anything was. The water wasn't level, some parts of the city submerged, others as yet untouched. The Ink seemed to be dissolving where it touched as well. There was no sound, as if everything around it had simply ceased to be. He saw something moving in the street below, as the rising ink began to press against the glass of the window. It was Beast, growing to enormous size in the water, roaring in ecstasy at the destruction. The last thing that Daniel saw was a wave of Black Ink crashing towards him.
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Post by Isadora Is a Door on Mar 19, 2021 18:15:34 GMT -5
As I said upthread no new chapter today, but I'm busily working on the last third of the story. I'm interested to know on what people may be expecting the story to head as it reaches it's conclusion.
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Post by Isadora Is a Door on Mar 21, 2021 9:35:26 GMT -5
March 3rd 1801
When Abel had woken that morning he had been filled with a sense of dread, almost as if he had known. He could feel the trace of a dream, disappearing from his mind like smoke. Nothing clear remained, but the memory of it made him worry. He had dreamed such terrible things recently, and of late it seemed like they were beginning to come true.
The morning light was beginning to creep into the room, but outside it could still be mistaken for darkness. Trying his best to not wake his wife, he climbed out of bed and dressed himself, and slunk slowly out of the house.
It was a crisp morning, and the sky was clear. It would be warm soon, not that he would know. He began to walk through the woods, whistling to himself as he went. He couldn't quite shake the dream though, however much he tried. It had a hold on him.
Abel lived a simple life. He had a wife and a daughter, and one day soon, god willing, a son. His fathers wealth had afforded him a modest house, and if he had chosen to walk the same roads as his father than Abel could even have afforded to avoid the job at hand, but he felt uncomfortable with that. He had seen the crime that his father had committed, and he did not want to repeat them.
As he continued his walk, Abel couldn't help but ponder on the dream from last night. His father would have hated that. He had always told Abel that dreams were meant for lesser people, that the likes of us did not have to dream. Abel disagreed, he had always found dreams brought a clarity that he could never quite match while awake, and that's what he felt had happened last night. Clarity about what, he could not be sure.
Abel crested a ridge, and he found that a small crowd of people had gathered outside the entrance to the mine. This was unusual, as his employer had always seemed very keen on keeping things low key. Abel picked up his pace, and soon found out the reason for the commotion.
There was a body in the mine.
This was not unusual in of itself. It was not uncommon for an accident to occur, especially in this profession. But the body had not been there last night, when they had left. And none of the townspeople that had gathered round recognised the man either, though recognising anybody in that state would be hard going. The man was covered in a black substance that almost looked like oil, and there deep lacerations up and down his arms. His hands looked as though they had been burned, the ends of the fingers singed off.
Charlie, who had been first on site that morning, had found the body just a few meters in. He reckoned the body had been dumped there overnight, someone trying to cover their tracks. Abel was unsure; that wouldn't explain the blood that had spattered up the walls of the tunnels.
The townsfolk that had gathered round to observe any potential dramas that would unfold soon dispersed when it was clear that any excitement was long buried. They has always been suspicious of the mine, and the people who worked in it. Perhaps they were right to be.
Abel tried to put the body out of his mind, and got to the task at hand. It was hard, back-breaking stuff. His mother never liked the mines. She used to tell him; if you dig too deep, you'll let the devil out. They were heading deeper and deeper down into the bowels of the earth, and the Devil was already out. He came to visit them that afternoon.
Mr. Denouements arrival was heralded without the fanfare you could perhaps associate with a man of his societal stature, but he was not a man who needed to command respect. It flowed from his very being, subduing those around him into compliance and discipline. And Abel had been summoned by him.
Mr. Denouement had a sour expression on his face as he surveyed the body. The sheet they had used to cover it had been removed, and he was prodding his pallor-like skin with the end of a walking stick.
'How did this happen?' he asked Abel, as he emerged from the deep.
'One can only presume, Sir.'
'Hmm' said Mr. Denouement. 'This cannot be allowed to happen again. I will take this thing away with me, lest anything else catch wind of its scent. I should have hoped you would have learned your lesson after the last time, but it seems I must pull the leash once more. Why was he allowed to enter?'
'We did our best.' said Abel
'That is precisely the problem. You are primitive, and far below the requirements I need to maintain. Were there not men on guard, as I had instructed?'
'There were, Sir.' said Abel
'And yet the man got in. This man, you can see him as he lays there?'
'I...Well yes, of course Sir.'
'Good, I thought as much. So he is not invisible, which would have given him an advantage. He is solid, so he cannot dissipate beneath the earth and emerge elsewhere. Therefore, there is only one conclusion. We had a spy amongst our number.'
Abel remained silent. 'A Spy? But why?'
'They allowed this man into the mine with the intention of him stealing our secrets from its very core. Or mayhaps it was some other. The people of this town grow ever suspicious of our work here, Abel, and perhaps their curiosity got the better of them. Either way, I feel that our arrangement must now be at end.'
Abel stood silent for an even longer moment. He could feel anger growing inside him, a hundred thoughts about how to prove his innocence, but none of them could clarify to a response. Eventually, he simply said 'Why do you suspect me.'
Mr. Denouement let out a small, raspy laugh. 'He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.' He turned away from Abel to face the mines. 'You have a family, I'm told. A wife and daughter.'
'Yes, Sir.'
Mr. Denouement gave a curt nod. 'Then, I will let you live, for their sakes. However, If you speak a word about our operations here to anyone that arrangement will change immediately.'
Abel nodded. 'I understand.'
Mr. Denouement began walk into the entrance of the mines, not even turning back to look at Abel as he spoke. 'I would say it has been a pleasure, but I can assure that has not been the case.'
As Abel watched Mr. Denouement disappear into the chasm, he began to felt his anger subside. It could have been worse. He had been suspected of something bad, but at least he had not been suspected of the truth.
That afternoon he walked to the Lake to gather his thoughts. It was a warm day, and he soaked his feet the water, staring up at the clear blue sky, trying to gather a plan of action. He knew what he needed to do, but he was uncertain about if he would have the courage to do it.
When he returned home he told his wife and daughter nothing about the days events. He wanted to have one last evening of normality before everything would have to change. For a little while he could pretend that things were still okay, before the morning come, and the questions along with it.
As the light began to disappear from the world Abel sat with his daughter and read her a story. As he read the words washed over him, some story about someone trying to steal their brothers cattle. He couldn't take it all in, his mind was elsewhere. And so was his daughters too. She seemed distant, almost sad. Before she went to sleep he asked her what was troubling her.
'Last night I had a strange dream', she told him. 'Everything was on fire, everything around us. The house, the trees, even the lake. But it wasn't damaged like wood is when it burns, everything was fine, just flames everywhere. And I was scared of the flames too, because I didn't want to get burned. You and Mummy were there, but you couldn't see the flames like I could. When I told you about the flames you looked at me and opened your mouth and.... when you tried to speak black ink came out, and it went all over me and covered me until I couldn't breathe.'
'Well, it was just a dream honey. Nothings on fire, and I don't have any ink in my mouth.' He opened his mouth wide to show, and she laughed. But Abel could only smile back at her. He could remember it now, the dream he had last night. He was unsure, because it seemed so ridiculous, but he felt that his dream had been the same as hers.
'Do you think we'll here the Beast again tonight daddy?' Genevieve asked him, a hint of trepidation in her voice.
'I'm hope we won't, I.... hope.'
After she had gone to sleep, Abel went out to the front porch, his head full of stray thoughts. He picked up the knife, and began to set to work, whittling and cutting it in to shape. He had been working on it for a few weeks now, fashioning the small statue into the shape of the beast. He carved many items in it's likeness over the last few years. He was unsure why, it happened almost unconsciously, as though some higher force was pushing him to do it.
It was night-time now, and it was slow going under the moonlight. The sky was still clear though, and he could see well, but the wind was beginning to pick up, send the stray remains of autumn leaves blowing around him.
And then he heard it, crashing through the silence of the night, the sound ripping through the air and cracking against his ears. The bombinating sound echoed across the valley, its message clear to all who heard it. The Beast was awake.
He heard a cry coming from inside the house. It was Genevieve, awakened by the noise. Abel could hear his wife talking to her, trying to calm her down. He sat for a moment longer on the porch, feeling the wind rising and rising, and the noise of the Beast growing ever louder. He couldn't keep living like this. It wasn't fair on anybody, least of all Genevieve. You cannot live your whole life in fear of the Unknown. He put down the wooden statue, stood up, and set off towards the lake.
As he walked through the woods he noticed that they were oddly devoid of any form of wildlife, as if the creatures of the night were also cowering fear at the noise echoing all around them. Abel reached into his pocket, and took out a golden watch with the words 'Fortuna Juvat' engraved in it's casing. It was a curious watch, with thirteen hours segmented on its face, rather than the usual twelve. Abel was never quite sure how it managed to skip that hour entirely. Beside that point, it functioned perfectly ordinarily, and the time was currently 9:57.
When he reached the lake, the clearness that had been his friend earlier now abandoned him. There was an black fog surrounding the lake, obscuring his vision. He could only just see The Beast floating in the water, its body curled up in the shape of a question mark. Black Ink seemed to be radiating from its surface, polluting everything around it until it was consumed by its touch.
Cautiously, Abel walked to the edge of the water. There was a faint buzzing coming from the Beast, and although Abel couldn't tell he had the distinct feeling like he was being watched. He caught a glimpse of what may have been a huge shiny black eye, and abel stopped his movement and stared back at it.
'I want you to leave.' he said to The Beast, more confidently than he felt.
The Beast almost seemed to hum in reply, but it didn't move.
'I said I want you to leave.' Abel repeated. 'You're not welcome here, you're not wanted.'
At first there was no reply, but then the Beast roared. The black fog suddenly spread forward towards Abel, and he couldn't see anything through the inky-mist. Then he felt something grabbing hold of him, he wasn't sure if it was a hand or a claw or something worse. The bombinating sound echoed all around as Abel felt himself pulled off the ground and wrenched towards the Beast. He struggled, trying to free himself from its grasp, but he couldn't see anything through the Ink. He didn't know where he was or how to get away.
But then he heard something from afar, a voice calling to him. He stopped struggling and then listened intently, and there it was again.
'Daddy!' cried Genevieve. Abel turned in the direction of her voice, and he saw her, the white of her nightdress standing out of the inky blackness. She was far away but running towards him. No! He couldn't let the Beast take her, not as well. He opened his mouth to try and shout a warning, but the words that came out were deadened by the Ink. He struggled again, to try and free himself, to get away. He felt the watch in his pocket, and pulled it out.
The watch was burning bright and hot, as if it were on fire. It's hands were spinning wildly in circles, and the Ink was penetrating through the watch into it's skin. He heard Genevieve cry out for him again and, not quite knowing why, he threw the watch in her direction.
The Beast roared even louder, and Abel felt himself being thrown from side to side, the whole world shaking around him. The blackness pressed in around him, until he heard and felt no more.
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Post by R. on Mar 21, 2021 10:21:59 GMT -5
Genevieve! Esmé’s middle name! I wonder what that means??
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Post by the panopticountolaf on Mar 21, 2021 12:26:03 GMT -5
Phew! I haven't been commenting as often as I would like to, but this chapter really drove me to say something. Isadora Is a Door, this is one of the very best Snicketfics I've ever had the chance to read. This whole conspiracy you've created with Fortuna Juvat is fascinating, and your interpretation of the Beast is really quite terrifying -- I get a very Lovecraftian feeling from the chapters where the Beast appears. The eclectic cast, mind-bending time jumps, unexplained plot twists (what on earth is up with destroying the city, and what does it have to do with Fortuna Juvat's end-goal?) -- it's all top-notch. I think that even if you weren't to win a Dante for this this year, you could easily submit it again next year. Bravo, old chap.
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Post by counto on Mar 21, 2021 20:10:01 GMT -5
I'm really confused, cause Abel appeared in earlier chapters in the future (2020's). Also is Genevieve Esme's great grandmother and Mr Denouementa descendant of the Denouement Triplet?
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Mar 22, 2021 2:12:29 GMT -5
I feel like in the series "the 13 monkeys". But much better, of course. It is good to know that there is a really detailed historical background for the things that we have already seen happen. So, the D family was on a secret project many years before. And a dead body mysteriously appeared in a mine. Is it the dead body of a time traveler, as in Steins Gate? Although nobody turned into a green gelatin.
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Post by counto on Mar 22, 2021 3:24:00 GMT -5
Time travel in the ASOUE universe? I guess it's possible. Still I have so many questions.
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Post by Isadora Is a Door on Mar 22, 2021 4:31:16 GMT -5
March 3rd 2026
She could see the ruins of the city on the horizon. Beatrice could see the decayed black buildings peircing the skyline like so many needles. She had never quite been able to bring herself to go back there, there were too many bad memories. She had been there on the day the great wave had came. Her and Quigley had fled into the tunnels, they were some of the few survivors. But now all these years later Quigley had abandoned, like everyone else abandoned her. She had been left to fend for herself in this desolate and hostile world, and she did not like it one bit.
That morning she walked to one of the military outposts that ran through the hinterlands. A few years ago they had cordoned of the city to anyone without official business, though of course Beatrice knew there were still other ways to get in. She spoke to a general at the checkpoint there, and after failing to gleam any further information from him, she went to the encampment nearby to collect her weekly ration. This would be the last time she would ever need to make this journey, but she couldn't feel happy. She'd lost too much to ever feel happy again.
As she trudged back towards the house, she cast her mind back to the last time she had seen her family. Sunny, who had always been more like a friend to her than a sister had hugged her tightly before she had left. She had said that she was too young, that it would be too dangerous for her to go with them, and that they wanted her to be safe. Well, she wasn't safe. Since that day she had never, ever been safe.
When she reached her house, she saw someone sat by the front door. Instinctively, Beatrice reached for the knife in her pocket, but the person stood up, and Beatrice relaxed her hand. Whoever she was, she didn't look like a threat. She was an old, frail woman. She had long grey hair, but eyebrows were as black as ink, and they were shaped almost like question marks.
'Hello Beatrice.' said the woman. 'I've been waiting a long, long time to meet you. But now that the moment has come I am filled with nothing bad sadness, for it means the end is almost near.' The woman smiled at Beatrice. 'It's strange. I have lived a long life, yet I thought I had more time.'
''Why does everyone say that?' Scowled Beatrice. '"To have time." How can we say that, when it's time that has us?'
The woman let out a small laugh 'Your mother once said the same thing to me, thought I fear she never truly understood it.'
'My mother?' Beatrice was cofnused. 'What do you want? How do you know my mother? How do you know my name?'
'I want to help you, because your mother helped me, and you need help too, I fear.'
'Who are you?'
'My name is Ellington Feint. I'm sure you've heard of me.'
Beatrice scoffed. 'The last thing I heard you were trying to fill Quigley's head with nonsense about fate and prophecies and Fortuna Juvat.'
Ellington smiled sadly. 'I'm sorry about what happened to Quigley. I hope that now I can make up for it. And the first time?'
'The first Time I heard of you was when Lemony told me who you were. That was before I'd killed him, obviously.' Beatrice stared at Ellington, defiantly.
'Yes, I understand. We all the face same end. You, me, your mother, my father, Lemony, Esme, Quigley, all of us. Our end is as inevitable as our beginning. It up to us how we face it. And itt is my hope, Beatrice, that me and you can face ours together. Show me the watch.'
Beatrice reached into her pocket and took out the golden watch. The time was 12:29. Ellington smiled at the watch like she was greeting an old friend.
'Good' said Ellington. 'We may not have more time than I wanted, but I think we have exactly as much time as we need.'
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Mar 22, 2021 7:41:02 GMT -5
So where the ink wave actually happened ... I was pretty sure it was just a hallucination of Daniel Handler.
So ... what we have so far. If somehow the watch and the beast are connected. Pausing to think, this is quite a breakthrough involving my theory of whistle controlling the TGU. An ancient artifact that already existed 200 years ago. A beast that changes its shape according to people's perspective. And that can materialize in places that have puddled water. I think the beast is a creature similar to those in the Upset Down of Strager Things.
In the Mister M universe, however, the creatures of this inverted world have a special relationship with time. The time for them is different from the time for us. Just as the space is different. When Daniel Handler saw the small beast, he saw a three-dimensional representation (of our dimensions) of a creature that has more dimensions. (time being one of those dimensions. There may be even more dimensions of time). The question is: "who forged The clock" and "how does this Pocket Clock work"?
Perhaps some genius from the past, able to concentrate on various dimensions and with the beast. But the question is, if Hangfire was responsible for the beast's reappearance, how could the beast have appeared 200 years earlier? And I think the answer is exactly the fact that the beast has several dimensions. Thus, Lady Mallahan killed the same beast 200 years earlier, in Abel's days. But the end of the Beast was before its beginning.
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Post by Isadora Is a Door on Mar 22, 2021 9:35:40 GMT -5
The eclectic cast, mind-bending time jumps, unexplained plot twists (what on earth is up with destroying the city, and what does it have to do with Fortuna Juvat's end-goal?) -- it's all top-notch. Thank you! I hope that things can come together in a satisfactory way in the last few chapters. I hope that people will appreciate the questions that have been asked at least. I'm really confused, cause Abel appeared in earlier chapters in the future (2020's). 'Abel. You were named after the first, but that is all you share with him.'.
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Post by Isadora Is a Door on Mar 23, 2021 7:01:51 GMT -5
March 3rd 2001
Ellington was not sure how long she had slept for it. It could have been days, it could have been hours, it could have been weeks. She was hesitant to open her eyes in case of what she might find before her, but when she did she saw a woman standing over her bedside.
'Good Morning. I wish to speak with you.' She stretched out a hand to Ellington 'Would you come with me?'
Ellington looked around for a moment, and then hesitantly nodded, refusing to shake the hand as she climbed out of bed.
The woman led the way, and they walked out of the room into the main auditorium of Forutna Juvat. There were various members of the society hovering around the room, and they all eyed her intensely as she passed. They walked past an enormous pendulum, and across to other the side. The woman pushed up against a section of the wall, and it opened like a door.
Ellington found herself in an elegant study. The walls were adorned with images depicting the Great Beast from across the years, and there was a chair fashioned in the likeness of the beast, which the woman went and sent herself upon.
'Please, do sit.' she said, indicating to a nearby chair.
Ellington sat, and for a moment there was silence between them. The woman looked at Ellington almost carelessly, but she could feel that she was being studied deeply.
'My name is Esme Squalor.' said Esme. 'And you must be Ellington Feint.'
'Correct' said Ellington. There was no time for games.
'We have much to discuss. I am hoping that you will be understanding that honesty is the simplest way to understanding, especially as there is so much that you wish to understand.'
Ellington nodded. 'I agree. Perhaps you should tell me what you're doing with me? Where is the beast?'
Esme smiled. 'I think you misunderstand the situation. You are my prisoner, Ellington. I will not answer questions until I know I can trust you.'
'And why should I trust you?'
'Because I have the answers that you have spent your entire life searching for.' Esme picked an item up from the desk. It was the leather notebook.
'That's mine' said Ellington.
Esme smiled again. 'Actually, it's mine. Beatrice stole it from me, she gave it to Kit who gave it to you, and now I am taking it back, so that everything can be in its proper place once again. I know you have read the information in here, but you do not understand it. I can help you understand, but first you must answer me this; What were you and Lemony Snicket doing? What were you hoping to accomplish last night?'
'I want it to end. I want to destroy the Beast, once and for all. I wanted Lemony to help me, to make up for killing my father all these years ago and....perhaps, if things turned ugly, I could use him as a sacrifice to save myself. But it didn't work.'
'That is because it cannot be destroyed Ellington. You must know that by now, surely? 20 years ago you saw time converge, you saw the future. And 2 days ago you saw the future again. The Beast will not be destroyed because it exists in your future, in my future, in all of our futures. It is a constant throughout time, one that cannot be displaced.'
'That's your opinion. Time is just a matter of perspective' said Ellington. '15 years ago I saw a future you. If I kill you now, that future won't happen.'
'And then neither will your past. We all face the same end, you and I. Our end is as inevitable as our beginning. You cannot argue with it, you can only accept it. It is up to us how we face it.
'You sound like my father.' Ellington sighed. 'He once told me that time catches us all in the end, we cannot escape its grasp. Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, they are all connected. One influences the other. We cannot escape our future because the future has us in it's web. '
'Your father was a wise man.'
'He was the best man I've ever known.'
Esme laughed. 'He was an bear and a fool. He thought he knew the truth, but what he learned was only a small part of a greater whole. Only Fortuna Juvat knows the truth.'
'And what is that?' said Ellington.
Esme rose from the chair, and walked over to an image of the bombinating Beast. In the painting, the beast was standing tall over a forgotten town by a forgotten sea. 'It began many centuries ago. A group of people who had the courage to question the unknown. They formed a society to try and find the truth, and to share it with the world. You may have heard of them, they called themselves VFD. At first, things went well, but after a while, as there always is, there was a disagreement of some sort, a schism. A son disagreed with his father, who wanted to hide the knowledge from the world. And so Abel Snicket ran away, and took his wife's name and began a new life.
'But you cannot run away from your destiny, it will always find you. Abel was taken by The Beast. His daughter, Genevieve Mallahan sought revenge, and though legend would tell you she slew the beast, you and I both know that it is not that simple. The Beast lived on, and so a society was formed to research it, learn its secrets, and to protect the world from it.
'Your father was one of us, once, but he disagreed with out views. He felt that we were preventing The Beast from unlocking it's true potential. If we were to do that the results would be catastrophic, so instead we are forced to maintain the current situation. Some sacrifices are necessary.'
'You're mad.' said Ellington, shaking her head. 'This is just madness.'
'It doesn't matter what you think.' said Esme, sharply. 'Your father said that were enslaving The Beast, but we are all slaves, and time is our master. It does not matter what you think or feel or say, everything will inevitably happen as it always should.'
Esme reached into her pocket and took out the golden pocket watch. 'This watch was mine, my mother gave it to me when I was born. Beatrice stole it from me, but I knew it would find its way back to me once more.'
'I don't want any part of this.'
Esme nodded. 'For now. But that will change, one day. We have all lost people to The Beast, but you are unlike the others. You were scared of your father in the end, and of what he had become. Because of this, you do not want to believe that those we have lost can come back. But you will, one day. And when that day comes, everything will be in its final position, as it was always meant to be'
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Black Ink
Mar 23, 2021 14:02:46 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Mar 23, 2021 14:02:46 GMT -5
Well ... I at least came close to quoting Lady Mallahan ... So Moxie and Lemony were distant relatives ... This is interesting. Maybe that's why they were connected. Still, the beast was not born at the time of Hangfire. It appeared at the time of Hangfire. It makes more sense ... Hangifire wanted to make the beast reproduce, he got it. That was his plan. Controlling several beasts like these, he would be a master of time. But the Mallahan family also built equipment to control the beast (the statuette) and not just to monitor it (the clock). In its dimension, the beast swims in an ocean of black ink. Where does so much ink come from? Probably a big octopus. It makes sense to imagine that in the original inverted world of the beast, there is a dispute between the Sea serpent and the gigantic octopus, which was somewhat "replicated" when the question-shaped vessel chased Olaf's stolen submarine.
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