Wisdom So Sweet: Lore Set #3

[madimpossibledreamer]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the legend of Resurrection Joe, and really like the line “Joe refused every point of etiquette and rule. Including dying.”
A lot of these Desmond probably didn’t find, or if he did it just reinforced stuff he knew already, so he didn’t react. Others he might get on a revisit (other than most of the Filth entries, because John’s a little pushy.)

 

(Spoilers through chapter 13 of Echoes) Time is another abstraction, little lost eagle. You begin to understand, to see, but you do not see the full picture. You walk through time as others live it only in memory, but that is still far from the whole.
Consider the Reanimated, and you may begin to understand. In them you see as we do, life and death not as separate points but occurring simultaneously. Your species fears becoming them, not knowing in a way you already are.
Admittedly walking is not always possible. Sometimes you try anyway.

 

(Spoilers through chapter 13 of Echoes) Always inhuman, tearing, consuming, directing the zombies in their invasion, dreaming of the alien state of being human. Humans dreaming of legend, taken by the sea. Both and neither, shaped to one more nightmare in Kingsmouth town. There’s always room for one more nightmare.

 

(Spoilers through chapter 27 of Echoes) The first of many heads, but not the last. It is no wonder that they weep not for any beheading. Their enemies forgot to use fire. Eventually some bright-eyed spark will remember they are lightning.

(Spoilers through chapter 29 of Echoes) Some express surprise to see a glimpse of purple. Others only are surprised that others are surprised. Flitting outside the candlelight was always the way of the Phoenicians. What is the use of careful, considering mercenaries if their existence and intentions are known to all? Do not meddle, come the orders, with the word ‘unless’ tattooed on the tongue.

(Spoilers through chapter 34 of Echoes) Fear nothing but the future postponed, say the flyers. Seize the now before it slips through your fingers. They promise no tomorrow, only an eternal present holy with the communion of your fellow star-people and smiles from ear to ear.

 

(Spoilers through chapter 35 of Echoes) Some might look upon the blasted hellscape and smile, mouths full of too many teeth. Others might not even notice a change has come on the air, burning with just a touch of brimstone. It is a place to visit, of course, and they just make themselves at home in a way they can’t before they went on vacation. Perhaps they might bring back a souvenir. The ghost of Wicker stirs.

(Spoilers through chapter 35 of Echoes) Still wanna know how it felt to stab that smug son of a bitch.
That’s really rude, Chuck. You’ve hurt my feelings.
Oh, I didn’t call you here. You’re the one tuning in to the broadcast. I’m just your friendly neighborhood DJ, just having a talk with my favorite caller. To the point, then. You’re feeling a little desperate, there. Sorcerors with swords. I can help you. Run.

(Spoilers through chapter 37 of Echoes) The Council was not always called so. It went by many names, shedding and taking on anew with every relocation. Its formation was a matter of necessity, not of choice. Words whispered on the wind, grudging promises given, and those who gave it power and legitimacy have been resenting the choice ever since. They wish to claw it back, not realizing that a gift freely given is better than petty inheritance squabbles. They believe it is safe to walk through the dark alone only because they have been walking together long enough none notices the lone straggler snatched.

(Spoilers through chapter 40 of Echoes) Witness the young. Experience has not taught them they cannot accomplish everything they imagine. The daily grind has not rendered their experience a hollow rote thing. They still dare to plot, to dream.
A double-edged sword, little eagle. To dream is to aspire, but also to be known.

(Spoilers through chapter 45 of Echoes) The tragedy was constructed before the walls. They did their tarot reading, and none of the cards read ‘past history’, so they forgot to be careful, to be cautious. Nothing had happened before the construction, but some events are traumatic enough they ripple through in all directions. If they had picked a different piece of land, the result would have remained the same. The tragedy lived in their hearts and minds and propagated with every line in the textbook, every lesson taught. The children engraved it on their hearts solemnly, so they would never forget.

(Spoilers through chapter 50 of Echoes) I love a good roller coaster, but you’ve been taken on one. You think you’ve got me all figured out. You think you finally know everything there is to know.
The Buzzing aren’t the good guys either, if you want to define things in that asinine way. The White Hats versus the Black Hats, all clean and neat and tidy. There’s a reason all the Greek punishments involved suffering for eternity. Just ask Lorraine, Chuck. Or talk to Sarah. You’ve got the answers. All you have to do is look.

(Spoilers through chapter 54 of Echoes) Fear turns to guilt, but not in time for the story not to play out exactly as it always has. The pyramid prefers the monopoly. Nice place you have here. It’s a shame if someone were to incite a mob. The retribution came not from those who supposedly worshiped justice and truly believed themselves deities of their own domain, paid tribute in the form of painted green paper. Fear spreads in fire, and the remaining ash looks like accusation in the shape of every misdeed.

(Spoilers through chapter 55 of Echoes) This close, a pistol’s probably better, but you got one in your bag already, and you know how to use it. Don’t say I never get you anything, Chuck.

(Spoilers through chapter 56 of Echoes) Leashing fear is like lashing a tornado. Carried on the wind one can believe one rides the storm, commands it, but the tornado goes nowhere it does not wish. Nathaniel Winter obtained his dearest wish, twisted in the aftermath of Henderson’s blood. A parasite believes itself to be in control of its own addiction. The thought hasn’t even occurred to it to try to kick the habit. When the tornado moves on it falls in the wake, a broken toy.

(Spoilers through chapter 60 of Echoes) The story does not end. REWIND. Tell it again.
The Pied Piper does a favor for the town. The townsfolk refuse to pay him, but the Piper does not mind. He has sweeter recompense in mind.
They awake without their sailors, Margaret at the helm. They cry and scream and gnash their teeth. A song waylaid them in the Sargasso. “Bring back our people; we will pay you a fair price,” they insist, not knowing that they have already paid.
“But of course,” the Piper agrees. Those that return are not the same that left, full of anger and hollow barnacle insides. Again during the night the song plays, and this time it is not merely the sailors that march into the sea on unsteady legs, and again they awake without friends, family, neighbors.
“Bring back our people,” they beg, the ones who remain, and the Piper smiles. It is not a nice smile, full of jagged teeth and edges that bleed black.
“Are you sure you wish them returned?” he asks, voice an oily midnight.
“Yes!” they cry in unison, and he does not ask them if they are sure. (They are always sure.)
Be careful what you wish for, little eagle.

(Spoilers through chapter 63 of Echoes) We work alone, they say, hiding the knife behind their back. We work alone, they say, ignoring their siblings bleeding Tyrian just out of line of sight. We work alone, they say, forgetting their history.
We will remember for them, little eagle. It has been so long since they’ve had another over for milk and cookies, after all.

(Spoilers through chapter 65 of Echoes) The children of the Eye see much and know much. The inheritors of the Pyramid control much through their knowledge. The moneychangers on Brooklyn streets put so much stock in trade they mistake “much” for “all”. It has been so long since humiliation they forget their power illuminates little outside their lamps. Time to change the lightbulb, and enlighten once more.

(Spoilers through chapter 66 of Echoes) The People of the Dawn have not all forgotten. Some plant their flag on the edge of entropy and try to catch the sand of time. Night will fall, but for the time being dawn sits lightly on the land.

(Spoilers through chapter 68 of Echoes) Their natures say they are here to fight a war in the dark, to wake dark. Their natures say they are malevolence incarnate, here to destroy and consume. Their natures say that their natures are unchangeable, that they live for nothing but revenge, that their grudge has held for aeons and will hold for millennia more.
But even untiring soldiers can grow tired of an endless war. Forgotten in a land far from their home, all generals long dead, even natures can be discarded in favor of new ways.

(Spoilers through chapter 72 of Echoes) The Illuminati scoff at the Dragon, but for all their mockery they do little better. Hoarded knowledge unshared rots in hermetically sealed cases. Guardians mock the truth-seeker for the mere presumption. Once forgotten the glimmering pages dull with each passing year. This is good, say the ones to whom the secret unused for blackmail is little more than dirt underfoot.

(Spoilers through chapter 76 of Echoes) The birds remember even as we do, little eagle. Their hollow bones dance with anima and the memories of a life ruling the earth. You do not presume to fly, but to follow in the footsteps of your own treasured names in joyous freefall. Everything has something to teach, and the birds are your greatest mentors.