Connections V

There are the Black Caves. The truth can be found there, if you are willing give something up. The Caves are passageways.
CONNECTION: ALL YOU SEE THROUGH YOUR EYES.


There are the Winter Courts. If you can survive the cold, you may travel there, but beware of what the cold brings. The Courts are passageways.
CONNECTION: WITH THE BOY THERE, GOING IS UNWISE.


There are the Night Lands. If they allow you, you may try to traverse the land of shadows -- just be careful of where you go. The Lands are passageways.
CONNECTION: WHERE SHADOWS DARKEN THE SKIES.

The Past Is A Different Country

In 1964, a group of four teenagers made a pact. They had each turned seventeen, one after the other, and they made this pact after much thought and worry. They had seen things, had experience certain events, been made aware of the hidden nature of the world.

In the years to come, three of the four would break this pact. Each would have their breaking point -- war, death, love, sacrifice. One gave his life for another. One went to work for the thing it swore it would never work for. One became a hermit, living alone among shadows, working for everyone and no one.

The fourth, the one who never broke the pact, eventually came to realize that he had no friends. He was a friend to no one.

So he decided he would take what he learned, take all his knowledge and share it. Spread it among the newest generation in the form of puzzles and clues. He knew this was a silly way to disseminate information, but he decided that knowledge had to be earned, had to be worked for.

Knowledge is power, but power corrupts. Too much knowledge will corrupt, as it did with three of the four. The fourth, who never broke the pact, sometimes wishes he had, wishes he was still that seventeen-year-old, sitting with his friends on that cool summer day in '64.

But the past has slipped away. Soon the future becomes the present and the present becomes the past and everything will slip away.

I, Amicus Nemini, of the unbroken pact, friend to no one, will soon be past. I will soon die. If by one of Their hands, I will simply fade into nothing, but if not, I will meet the Hourless and be with all the others. I will meet it unafraid.

I will still impart some more knowledge before I go. I will tell you of the other passageways and of the others, the three who broke the pact. I will try to prepare for tomorrow to become today.

For soon today will become yesterday. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.

Connections IV

There are the Catacombs. They are lined with books and bones, an ossuary for those who become lost in their own lives. The Catacombs are passageways.
CONNECTION: WHERE THE SPIDERS SPIN THE PAGES.

There are the Whispering Galleries. Within them, all secrets are revealed if only you listen. The Whispering Galleries are passageways.
CONNECTION: WITH SHARP TEETH AND RED RAGES.

There are the Rabbit Holes. They connect to two places that should never be connected. The Rabbit Holes are passageways.
CONNECTION: WHERE ALL ARE TRAPPED IN CAGES.

Comfortably Numbers

There are four letters. There are five suns. There are nine circles and ten plagues. There are three bodies. There are five mansions. There are seven heavens and seven hells. There are ten bridges and ten passageways.

Aren't there?

Connections III

There is a Station. A place to rest, to stop, the Station is stark and colorless. The Station is a bridge.
CONNECTION: WHERE THERE'S NO BLACK AND WHITE, ONLY GRAY.

There is a Staircase. The Staircase spirals, curves around existence itself. The Staircase is a bridge.
CONNECTION: STRANGE SPIRALS WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY.

There is a Wall. The unbroken Wall is the only thing keeping you safe. The Wall is a bridge.
CONNECTION: THAT IT STAYS UNBROKEN, LET US ALL PRAY.

An Excerpt

Ronson, Jon, The Psycopath Test: a journey through the madness industry (Riverhead Books, 2011)
ISBN 978-1-59448-801-6

Pages 115 - 117:

   "When I was doing my Ph.D.," he said, "I devised this personality test, and I advertised for volunteers amongst the student population. I put notices on the notice board, and a girl turned up. Young girl. She was a second-year student. About nineteen. She said, 'This is a personality test, isn't it?' I said, 'Yes.' She said, 'I've got a bad personality. I like to hurt people.' I thought she was winding me up. I said, 'Okay, fine.' So we went through the tests. When she was looking at photographs of the mutilated bodies, the sensors showed that she was getting a kick off of them. Her sexual reward center--it's a sexual thing--was fired up by blood and death. It's subconscious. It happens in milliseconds. She found those things pleasant." 

[...]

  "Where is this woman now?" I asked Adam. "Maybe I could meet her for my book? In a busy cafe or something."
  "I've no means of tracking her down," Adam said. "Participants in my studies are recorded only by numbers, not by name." He fell silent for a second. "So she's gone," he said.

72 69 76 76 79 13 10 73 78 65 78 78 65 13 10 69 82 69 83 72 75 73 71 65 76

Connections II

There is a Crossroad. Many roads branch out from it, leading to many trials. The Crossroad is a bridge.
CONNECTION: ALL THAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND.

There is a Shore. The Shore is desolate and cold, with storms building up on its horizon. The Shore is a bridge.
CONNECTION: THE BROKEN, BIRDS, AND BLIND.

There is a Way. The Way can only be walked by gods and monsters. The Way is a bridge.
CONNECTION: NONE, YOU ARE CONFINED.