Do You See Nothing II

Sometime you have to slow down, sometime you have to pause. You can’t always keep moving forward, you can’t always keep trucking: sometime you need to stop. You need to open your eyes: what have you been doing? Starting revolutions in Venice?

You don’t care about the Doge of Venice, you don’t care if he maintains authority over the city in a monarchical manner. He’s not a tyrant, all right he wasn’t a tyrant, not like Minos, so why did you join the Council on their crazy mission to overthrow him? To get some kind of revenge against the world for giving you Cavillace and then taking her away?

What are you doing out here anyhow– you’re so far south of Damascus, even further south of Skara Brae. Why are you here, why are you here, what are you doing in Dakota?

What are you doing? What does any of this matter: the Doge, Minos, the Lakota, the Council, Cavillace? The hallucinations come faster now, the trees melt away. The lack of food eats at your stomach until there’s nothing left, it eats into your chest, up your spine and into your head until you are a beautiful shell of a human, all definition and purpose removed, with only one thought pounding in your head. Everything has fallen away except for the dull question of your existence.

If you no longer are anything, if you can no longer identify unique aspects of yourself because they have been removed, if all you were before was a set of accumulated traits acquired outside of your design and now they are gone, gone, gone, how would you see yourself?

What are you? Why are you here?

Do You Know Nothing I

It’s unclear how much time he spent in the village. He started to talk to them eventually, with one in particular, Wakan Tanka, who helped him figure out how to translate various words into their respective languages. Telos became fascinated with the Lakota culture and Dakota itself, the village. He explored the areas around Dakota, and adopted various aspects of their lifestyle.

He witnessed a number of young men embarking on the Hanblecheyapi; they would return a few days later, visibly hungry and exhausted but deeply evolved. Tanka in fact undertook the Hanblecheyapi at one point and when he returned, his thoughts and conversations with Telos showed a marked depth that had not been apparent before.

Soon Telos got it into his head that he wanted to go on one of these personal quests, and he spoke to the chief with this in mind. The chief saw nothing wrong with wanting to explore personal growth and so blessed his journey, bidding him success and knowledge.

Telos spoke with Wicasa, the local medicine man, who advised him where to go in the forest and how best to experience the journey. After a week of preparations, Telos bid farewell to Tanka and went into the forest, seeking understanding of his self in combination with humanity.

The Shadow of This Red Rock III

And the sun would burn in bright colors, the sun would explode upon our very Earth and it would burn everything down, it would melt our faces and torch our houses until all that was left was a burnt rock, a crisp shell where humans once lived and once defined their lives by pieces of paper and shreds of happiness.

The world is a pillar of meaning and the sun burns it all away. It’s cleansing and refreshing and it gives rebirth to life. We come away new and whole yet different, we come away changed, the same, one and all.

His body washed up far downstream, south of the Imperiya, south of humanity it seemed. Some local villagers, tribesmen in the old vein, found him and brought him to their village where they tended to his wounds. When he woke up they fed him and let him sit, sit and watch the trees.

Telos didn’t speak for a long time. He couldn’t understand the villagers and they wouldn’t have understood him, so it did not really matter. But he didn’t speak because he had nothing to say. For the first time in his life, his soul was silent. He felt nothing, and nothing affected him.

The Shadow of This Red Rock II

He had forgotten how big the Imperiya was.

He had forgotten how hot.

Dragging himself through miles of dense tropical forest, the only respite was when he found small streams. Telos would wade into them and wash himself in the refreshing waters, sometimes even using the streams to swim south.

After having left Kismayu a number of days prior, he began to worry that he had been wandering in circles. Were those voices? Was that a city? No– he had stuck to a straight path based on the sun, he couldn’t have walked in circles, he couldn’t have, he couldn’t have, oh the sun! So oppressive! Goddammit, why don’t you just leave him alone! Leave him be!

Go away sun! Oh, river, thank God, thank fucking God, you rescue me– I shall swim in your waters until I am no longer a human, until I am a fish, until you see fit to boil me alive because I’m sure the sun hates you too, you are too cool and refreshing for him not to hate you. Fuck the sun. Did you hear that? Fuck you sun! Fuck you, sun. Come on river, let’s go, we don’t need that fucking sun.

I will swim in your waters until I am a fish and until that sun leaves us alone. I will swim in your waters until I am a fish.

I am a fish.

The Shadow of This Red Rock I

The areas past the Rockies, to the southwest (from both the mountains and Venice) are lush forests that seemingly go on forever. Telos knew this place: it was the Amazon. He had heard tell of it before, and the overbearing heat wearied him while he journeyed. He expected any day to enter the great southern empire of Rossiyskaya Imperiya.

Telos soon entered the boundary city of Kismayu, the northern signal of Rossiyskaya. He did not blend in as well as he had hoped as the people were of a darker skin; were any loyalist agents still hounding him, he would not be difficult to track down. He resolved to pass through Kismayu quickly.

On the journey into the heartland of the Imperiya, Telos spent a lot of his time thinking. The events in Venice had been given him an extreme rush of power and excitement, and for the first time since his days with Cavillace he felt fresh and alive.

Love had proven to be a potent influence but came with it the possibility to end catastrophically. Fighting, political upheaval, that brought continuous pleasure, and Telos knew he had to have more.

Council of Days II

They moved to the south and after two weeks eventually abandoned Ludivico at an inn. It would be some time before he could return to Venice, and if he even managed that it would likely be impossible for him to reinsert himself as the Doge. They had never intended to kill him but simply to remove him from power.

The Council continued into the Rockies, hiding in a series of abandoned silver mines. For a time they felt invincible; no one had come looking for them, and every week news would come in concerning the new government in Venice. Ludivico had foregone returning to Venice and had instead journeyed to Damascus in order to help consolidate Minos’s strength. Strange reports also came in about Syme having disappeared.

Sooner or layer though, loyalists to the Doge were bound to show up: driven out of Venice, they had nowhere to go but to pursue their vengeance against the traitors. They laid siege to the encampment at the Coeur d’Alene mine for a treacherous three days. Rain accompanied the attack, and the sword combat was dirty and bloody. The loyalists broke through the line on the third day and ran the Council into the mine, killing anyone they could find.

By this point, Telos had attained some kind of nirvana between fear and exhiliration. He rushed through the mines with anxiety, attacking anyone he met. Exiting the mines on the other side of the Rockies, he emerged soaked in blood and sweat, his eyes frozen in shock. The sounds of battle following him out of the cavern, instincts kicked in and he fled the scene.

Council of Days I

The agreed upon date came eventually, and Telos left his hotel to meet the rest of the Council of Days in front of the Basilica. It was a few minutes before midnight and thus the place was almost entirely deserted. They entered the Basilica with no trouble quickly dispatching guards they ran into.

Their meeting with Ludivico remains one of the most interestingly enigmatic events in this ordeal. The Council generally refuse to discuss it, to even hint at what was discussed. It is unclear why, although no doubt it had great effect upon Telos. They ended up kidnapping Ludivico, running to the Arsenal and fleeing via boat.

Venice woke up to a lack of authority as the police were busy trying to figure out what had happened and what to do. The elements that the Council had planted quickly sprang up: elements of a republic, elements of a democracy. The loyalists initially resisted but the city council had their way, and soon the city council was adopting all the reigns of power that the Doge had once held.

The Council of Days were hiding out on a small island, south of Venice in the Laguna Veneta. They knew it was only time before men loyal to the Doge assembled and began to hunt for both him and his kidnappers. Undoubtedly, other cities with rulers loyal to the Doge (and if not him, to the idea of a monarchy) would also have a hand in the search. Maximilien and Marco discussed what their next course should be, both agreeing to flee to the south.

Élan in Venice V

What do you do before you overthrow a Doge? Perhaps an abstract question to readers unfamiliar with the concept, perhaps not. Either way, Telos spent the next days, between the Conclave and the uprising, in a fairly inconspicuous manner.

He ate at local cafes and stopped visiting the landmarks. Telos says now (in retrospect) it’s a good idea to avoid people knowing your face if you’re planning a coup: that way, if it fails, well not everyone will know who you are. Seemingly obvious advice, no doubt.

A couple of the other conspirators sent him covert messages, and Telos took it all in stride, as if he had been bred a revolutionary from his humble beginnings in the village of Skara Brae. Likely, it was the anger at being driven from his city of choice that pushed him to such drastic acts. But having faced his depression, gaping at the vast chasm of self-pity, he found himself turning to another passionate act: anger against the state.

These days before the coup are very critical in Telos’s formation. Prior, he had been much more passive, willing to take what the world threw at him. Maximilien had shown another path to him, had opened up new doors. The world was laying in a very different light now.

The Conclave I

It’s unclear where Maximilien led Telos, and Telos has, since that time, refused to specify where they went (most likely for political reasons). Somewhere in Venice it is certain, but exactly where is known to only six people. However, it is known it was somewhere in the heart of Venice, near the Basilica; a few anonymous witnesses have corroborated stories seeing them together: a shell of a man in Telos, broken, and a strong-looking man, presumably Maximilien.

When they got to wherever they were going, Telos was introduced to men he had already met. The man he had met upon the Via Regia, Marco Polo, was there with a glass of nebbiolo. Pietro del Morrone was there, reading through a package of notes that Telos recognized had been in the hands of the man at the Arsenal, who was also there. That man introduced himself Saadi Yacef, but did not offer his hand to Telos, instead choosing to continue his discussion with Polo. Last but not least, Lord Wilmore was at the table, listening indifferently to their conversation.

When Maximilien and Telos entered the frivolous talking ceased and they set about business. Telos observed as Maximilien revealed their intent: to overthrow the Doge, Ludivico Manin. Details at this point are sketchy at best, as the six men have observed it is wise to keep the true notes of rebellion under wraps.

Suffice it to say they left with a clear plan of action. Telos was stunned by the turn of events and found himself caught up in the revolutionary passion. Somehow, striking at Ludivico would be like striking at Minos. It would be attacking authority itself.

Élan in Venice IV

The feeling was inescapable, laughable as it might be. It had unsettled Telos since he thought of it, and now everywhere he looked, Venice seemed to be a cardboard cutout.

Where had that happiness gone? That refreshment? Suddenly there were questions instead of calm reflections. It all came back to Cavillace, to Cavillace, that wonder of Damascus, that rose in the concrete. Overwhelming doubt fell upon Telos. He retired to his hotel room.

He slowly moved past his depression, if for nothing else than he had to. Stumbling through alleys in Venice, he eventually collapsed against a wall, unable to move or think anymore. He had tried to escape his memories and regrets. He had failed.

A robust hand gripped his shoulder and bade Telos stand up. The man who did so looked like a youth in aristocratic clothes, and gave his name only as Maximilien. Like an old friend, Maximilien encouraged Telos to explain his anxiety, and once he had done so, Maximilien nodded, familiar with the struggle raging within Telos.

The state had interfered with matters of the heart, and while it may have made logical sense, it always ended in despair. Telos, broken, inquired as to what he should do. Maximilien told him to follow as closely as possible, for where they were going, no normal man could find on his own.