Fools of Eden

Every day I awaken in my giant chamber enclosed by walls of pure, flawless glass high above the
skies to the sight of the endless city. It has been that way for near all the time I can remember and it
will stay that way till time ends. I am the last. The others all have vanished, but I will not be granted
that mercy, for I am the last to bear our guilt.
For me and eight others alike, existence seemed to have started at no particular point in time and for
no particular reason. It was at a day like there may have been oh so many millions before and that
may well be followed by infinitely others more, that we awoke amidst a great hall in this vast city of
stone and glass. Judging by our physique at this point, one might have easily classified us as nine
perfectly shaped adult men and women of humankind, several of each sex. It may seem strange
now, that, try as I might, I cannot recall any of my fellows' features other than that. But had you
seen what I was about to see, would you know what I do now, you too might understand why such
trifles are hardly able of penetrating my mind after all this time.
The first thing we realized was that none of us had any memory as to how we got there and that, in
fact, none of us seemed to possess any memories at all. We communicated, I recall, simply by
voice. Who had taught us this concept of articulating through speech, however, I could not tell back
then. The second thing we learned that day, upon leaving the tall, cathedral-like building, was that
we had been trapped within this giant, incomprehensibly old yet wonderfully preserved metropolis.
Even then, despite our limited understanding of this world, peculiar to anyone who has only just
been thrown onto it, we could not help but wonder how this place had been created and by whom.
Surely it could not have been done by any number of beings that, in shape and strength, resembled
the nine of us, as we wandered among huge pillars and marvelous temples, strange yet beautiful
sculptures of unknown kind and towers, dwarfing even the skies. Some of the buildings were led to
by staircases, the steps of which measuring several times the consecutive length of all of us
combined. We quickly came to the conclusion that, whoever this place belonged to might not likely
be one of our own kind.
Towards the end of the first day, which we noticed through the slow withdrawing of the light spent
by a sun we would barely ever see, we made another painful discovery, namely that, like any living
organism, we had certain basic needs. We grew tired and we grew hungry, which, at this point, was
especially frustrating considering none of us even knew about the concept of neither sleep nor food.
As for the latter, there was not much we could do, since we had so far not encountered anything but
a seemingly endless madness of masonry. Sleep on the other hand came more or less inevitably,
when we simply passed out due to sheer exhaustion some time during our first night.
Come to think of it, I am not even sure whether we were aware of our apparent captivity just then.
We had, after all, only started our exploring and may not yet have reached certainty about the nonexisting limits of our new home. What we did find out on our second day, though, was that we were
not alone. Not alone by far.
We awoke where we had fallen asleep on some wide area consisting of huge, even tiles of polished
stone. There was dim light and a soft, steady rain. We turned our head skywards and opened our
mouths greedily to welcome the precious water, realizing quickly that hydration was the foremost
base of sustaining life. We wrung it out of our soaked hair and gladly would have even drunk it up
from the ground, only it could not form any body of water there for its perfect evenness. It was not
clear, whether there even was any sort of drain at all. Mostly it would evaporate right upon landing.
On this day, however, it did not really concern us anyway. We drank as much as we could and were
grateful for all we got.
Newly refreshed we set out to continue examining our surroundings. By the time we had reached
the nearest buildings from our sleeping spot, the sun had fully set. Or so we supposed, as its direct

sight seemed still blocked out by the towering buildings around us.
As with the buildings we had seen the day before we tried entering a few of them, but found nothing
inside other than depressing emptiness. We went around a corner towards another plaza, though it
was significantly smaller than the one we had spent the night on.
It was then that we first saw the domes. Oh, what did we see. The greatest foolishness ever placed
on this world. They came in different sizes and thickness of their vitreous walls, yet all had in
common a certain sense of horror as we carefully approached them. Puzzled, we starred at the
transparent oddities. And they starred back at us. From a thousand pairs of eyes within it starred
back at us and from a thousand living souls we felt the hate and agony pointed at us through the
walls of their prisons placed so mockingly inside our own. They belonged to beasts of all forms;
evil looking, loathsome spiders, green-skinned humanoids with dull expressions on their horrible
faces in various states of decay, upright walking skeletons of shiny white bones, some of which
armed, tall ghostly black walkers with purple eyes and absurdly long limbs, and lastly there were
the unshapely monsters with green-white skin, large heads and tentacle-like limbs. Each of these
groups were located in different domes and for some there were several.
Only the most daring of us ventured forth to touch the walls of one of them. But nothing happened.
The beasts inside remained steady and for the moment we were contempt with knowing that they
could not get out. Over the course of the next hours we found many more of these things and
concluded that they must be scattered throughout the entire city. And indeed, we kept making these
discoveries as days passed on.
Yet as we did so, still lacking any source of nourishment besides the water, we also grew weaker. It
might have been on the fourth, perhaps the fifth day, that the first of us collapsed. She walked
slower, she kept behind, she died. There was naught we could do but move on. Still, her sudden
disappearance showed us we had to take fate into our own hands in order to survive. Luckily
enough it was later that same day, that we found out not all of the domes contained these hostile or
weird looking beasts. As it so happens, those actually seem to form the minority. We have, it seems,
merely been unlucky to stumble upon them first.
The one we found then was actually one of an entirely different sort. For one thing it was
immensely larger, but the most impressive thing about it had to be the interior. For, much like the
others, it too was swarming with life, though of a less terrifying sort. It was plants, trees and green
meadows we saw there and streams of freely flowing water. We also beheld stones there that were
not placed there in any fashion architectural like elsewhere in the city, but rather appeared to be
plain rocks. Never having seen anything outside of this city, implying that there is such a thing as
'outside of this city', it was kind of a hard idea to grasp, but I suppose this is what you would call
nature. That, which is not made by any living creature on it, but by the world itself. Beautiful as it
seemed in comparison to the cold, dead city beyond, I did feel a hint of unexplainable dread for it.
Either way, we saw that our chance had come. Looking for means to preach the wall separating us
from our salvation we noticed that we still had not come across any portable items and thus had to
rely on our bare hands and feet. This proved to be quite a laborious task, considering how weakened
we have been by then.
After hours of kicking and hitting and desperately throwing our exhausted bodies against the wall,
we gave up on the attempt. The good side of that was the reassurement, that those other things
would likewise be unable to break it. What brought us through, in the end, was the sacrifice of one
of my remaining seven fellows. Climbing up the stairs of a tower neighboring the dome, we looked
onto it and, although we could not even then see the end of it, noticed that right beneath us there
was a considerably large body of water. And with that, he jumped.
The thickness of these walls was decreasing the higher up you went. So at the point where he hit the
surface it was much thinner, than on the bottom and he burst through. I assume he was dead
immediately. It was an unsightly event, but one that opened the way for us. Two more, one of them
having been me, dared the jump and through that newly opened hole we dived right into the water.

It did not hurt, not as I had expected, though the change of temperatures was shocking.
We made it to the shore and watched as the others followed our descend, once they saw it was safe.
Of the body of the one who went first, there was no trace.
It was in that dome that we were first introduced to the pleasures of eating, though we did not
bother to eat the fruits on the trees, or the berries from the shrubs, but were rather contempt with
just eating the grass and the leafs of any plant we could find, some even attempting to chew the bark
of the trees. The richer forms of nourishment we discovered only later.
Another thing that separated the world inside the dome from that in the city without, was the
brightness. It did not come from the sun, as this was still blocked out, but from strange, luminous
pillars rising up from the ground in irregular distances. They emitted a strong, yellowish glow and
seemed to be made of a sort of luminescent stone. During the days they naturally fitted the whole
picture of the dome, but during the nights their light was truly a remarkably outstanding sight. It
seemed obvious that, however natural the surroundings may have been, it was this artificial light
that kept the plants alive.
Life inside of this microcosm was not without its charm, until some day, let it have been the thirtieth
or fortieth after our adventurous breaking in, we observed a steady knocking that echoed throughout
the dome. We tracked the sound down to its source at the border of our newly found paradise, where
we were awaited by an astonishing sight indeed. The knocking came from the outside and the things
causing it, by hitting the class with their bare hands, were none other than our two companions
believed dead!
They appeared to be just like they had the day we all woke up for the first time. Quickly we came
into motion and searched for ways to admit them in. With the use of small rocks that we now had at
our disposal, we tore down a part of the wall, big enough for the two of them to enter and share
their tale, which they did after filling their starving stomachs much like the rest of us had done
earlier. What we should hear then left us even more puzzled.
Both their stories concurred in so far, as that after dying they had found themselves waking up in
rooms of their own. For one of them it had been at the top level of a ludicrously high tower, for the
other inside an immense palace. Both these buildings had been within relatively close proximity to
the cathedral-like one our lives had started at. So they had made their way through the city on their
own then, until they found each other by chance. They also remembered each other, just like they
remembered everything else that had happened thus far, including their unlucky ends. Since one of
them had had a pretty good idea as for the whereabouts of the rest of us, he did his best to lead them
there. However, since they often lost their orientation in the maze-like building complexes and even
upon finding the dome could not spot the tower we had used to get in, this had been no easy
endeavor. In fact, it seemed they found themselves waking up in their respective rooms a good deal
more often before finally finding us, meaning they suffered deaths through starvation, exhaustion or
even crueler still, lack of water when it did not rain for several days in a row. And every single one
of which carved itself into their minds, since death did no cleanse their memories.
Now, this was all rather exciting and uncalled for, but since none of us could come up with any
solution for this strange puzzle, we did soon come to a point where we simply did not think of this
no more. The other news these two revenants brought us had a more practical side to them anyways.
During their hazardous search for the rest of us, they had come across other domes of similar
magnitude and nature-like interiors. Inside one of them they even spotted life-forms other than
plants or those beasts we had not seen, since our first encounter with the domes. And so, after some
preparations, we set out to find those as well, led by the two who had come about them first.
They had not promised us too much, that was for sure. After entering the nearest of the enormities,
this time using primitive tools we had made out of wood and rocks from our first home rather than
taking our own lives in the progress, we soon found out that it was inhabited. There were animals in
the water, on the surface and in the air. Trout, pheasant, wolf, eagle, hare the names came to us

naturally as we saw them, despite our never having seen other living creatures before. Except of
course, for the foul beasts safely sealed within their prisons. Those we came to refer to simply as
'Mobs', so as to separate them from these newly discovered non-hostile animals. Perhaps nonhostile is not the best way of phrasing it. Indifferent would suit it better. And this indifference we
soon learned to use to our advantage.
It was the beginning of our reign over the other species. Not only did some of them serve to enrich
our food plans, no, we also took to hold a good few of them as pets. The wolves for instance were
of a relatively shy sort and could be tamed. Figuring it was the easier way of living to receive their
food from us, rather than hunting themselves, they could be taught to pick the traces of other
animals and to guard those that we kept in captivity, such as sheep, cow, chicken and pig. Those we
had found in further domes.
After tasting the raw flesh for the first time, with hardly satisfying results, a sudden inspiration hit
us. Fire. We could not actually take credit for inventing it ourselves, because it was as if the idea
had always been there somewhere in our subconsciousness. All it needed was this impulse to burst
into our minds. Later on it would be that way with many other things too. We built simple fences
from tree branches and kept our animals close. Our tools got a deal more complex too, though so far
still mostly consisting only of wood and stone. Additionally we even fashioned crude clothing from
cow hides and sheepskins. Not so much for warmth or protection, as the climate seemed constantly
comfortable even at night. I believe the true reason was that, at least since domesticating the
wolves, we had developed a certain sense of pride. We started feeling superior and we sought ways
to further separate us from those we deemed lesser beings. In hindsight the irony of this is almost
comical.
Of course these changes to our simple life did not happen overnight, but over the span of many
days. During that time accidents and bad health conditions proved the rest of us to be just as hard to
kill as the two that had already made this experience. The latter often were the result of the short
time, when we still ate our meat raw and of our drinking dirty water from shallow streams.
Accidents happened from time to time, when wolves were not as tamed as thought to be or when
someone slipped on muddy ground by the water and drowned. In any case the person in question
would wake up finding themselves in their own chamber in equally gigantic edifices centered
around the building of our supposed birth. After a while we found out the exact locations and
allocations of almost all of them. Soon thereafter a very singular incident made us change our
attitude towards these reincarnations again from puzzlement to acceptance to real appreciation.
The trigger for this was the discovery of yet another dome. This one was of medium size and
contained vegetation similar to that in others we had entered before. By then it had become almost
daily routine to exploit new domes. We would set out in groups of three of four and bring back
information on especially resourceful ones. So when the expedition that had spotted the dome in
question had a first look inside, they did not expect anything unusual to happen and surely not to
start what would turn into the most shameful event of the early years of our lives.
Yet as they wandered around the already well-known trees and plants and meadows, they came
upon the sight of a wholly new organism. And other than any previously encountered forms of life,
this one seemed to stand above us. They lived in huts that, although nowhere near as impressive as
the buildings out there in the city, were obviously built by themselves. They held animals as well,
though they seemed to actually breed them, instead of just keeping them captive for eating at a later
time as we did. They grew plants deliberately and harvested them when ripe, whereas we took fruits
from the trees and bushes as seemed fit. They even had superior tools, made of a curious material
we had not seen before. They built wells to guarantee an ample supply of water at any time. They
had bodies bearing a distant familiarity to ours, albeit definitely not of the same species.
What they did not have, was our arrogance.
When the rest of us had assembled, after having been led there by the three scouts, we decided to
pay our new neighbors a visit. Slowly approaching, we carefully chose our words to greet them

with. In vain, as it turned out, since none of them could utter even a single comprehensible word.
At first they did not even react to our presence at all and mechanically kept to their businesses. We
moved among them and only were noticed, when accidentally bumping into them. That was usually
answered by a deep-voiced grunt. They were an odd people indeed. Their skin was strangely
wooden and in fact their whole appearance seemed abnormally shapeless. We did learn from them,
however. How to plant seeds of plants and make them grow for instance. Or how to turn crops into
bread. We were inclined to find out in how far a friendship to these individuals could benefit us. As
a token of our good will we offered them fruits and even one or two of our tamed wolves. This
should prove to work out even better than expected. Though they would not initially accept our
gifts, they did agree on trading them for objects of their own. Tools mostly, the worth of which
could not be denied. There were axes, shovels, pickaxes, hoes and blades. And, just like before, we
knew how to use them right away, as if the idea had already been there and merely needed to be set
free. There was simply no learning process.
Unfortunately for us, they deemed these items equally useful. We had hoped to win their favor with
our simple offerings of fruits that did not grow in their dome. At first they were curious to find out
about anything unbeknownst to them, but after some time they showed no more interest in our
trading offers, as they did not require any source of food besides their own. When that happened,
we grew angry and, acting all entitled by our pride, took their items anyway. The Villagers, as we
had grown to call them, did not like that one bit. I suppose by then our opinion on them was no
higher than that on the sheep and cows and other animals we merely saw as livestock. Perhaps it
was their inability to communicate through words or maybe we had already been to helplessly full
of ourselves by then.
From there it was not long before the situation got out of hand. People were falling, stones were
thrown, people were dying. Only we did not stay dead for long. Most of us had not survived that
first fight and some died again at later dates, but we kept coming back until they were all gone. It
must haven been somewhere around fifty of them in that village and I suppose that have been all
there ever were. At least we never found any others despite the sheer endless amounts of domes we
would still enter. Was it wrong to kill them? It was an odd feeling, but I would have to lie, if I said
that any of us had felt any remorse at this point. Who was to say, that, given the chance, they would
not have done the same with us. Surely, they must have felt superiority of their own, at least to some
degree. After all, they did hold and breed animals for their own advantage. Still, they never ventured
outside of the dome to conquer life elsewhere.
For us, life had reached its high point after this sorry episode and we prospered more than ever
before. We had a sure and steady supply of food and drinking water and were able to defend
ourselves against any possible threat, few as there were. Every basic need could be fulfilled and for
the first time all of us remained alive over a longer consecutive period. We found out how to gain
and work with the material, namely iron, that we had found at the Villagers. We started mining for
ore and melting it down to form it. We also examined the light-spending pillars more closely.
Though we would never fully get behind their secret, we had been successful in finding out what
fed them. They were led to by thin lines of a curiously glowing, reddish metal that were connected
to little machines under the ground. Had we had more time, we might have grasped this concept of
electricity, but even so we were soon able to move the pillars to our liking as far as the copper wire
would allow.
We had also started to express our creativity. We did not stay inside the domes forever. Some went
out to make their respective buildings more comfortable. Beds and other pieces of furniture were
made out of wood and wool, the gray walls of the city were decorated with flowers and paintings.
We transported fertile soil to the open plazas and established a modest agriculture there. Our
clothing became more beautiful and we even fashioned iron armor, though we could not imagine
what we would need it for.
Love-making became a well-liked diversion between the nine of us then. No form of intercourse
would ever result in any offsprings though, no matter the sexes of those involved. To my knowledge

none of us had truly ever developed any sense of affection towards one another either.
As time passed on, several of us took to make long journeys through the city. But no matter how far
out we would venture, not once would we see anything but bleak stone and the occasional domes,
containing either Mobs or the more pleasant life-forms. Those who would go furthest sometimes
came back with claims of having seen particular structures again and again, almost as if they had
been walking in circles, and concluded the city must be enclosed within itself. It is hard to tell how
much of this is true. As with many things, we just came to accept them and stopped bothering.
Some of us kept more to themselves, some felt the need to socialize. Those were the first to make
up names for each other, names that would change every so often as the days went by in their
thousands. That was how we lived our lives for a long time and I like to think of this time as the
best, we could have possibly made of it.
Only on extremely rare occasions would it still happen, that one of us passed away, and those
mostly resulted form lone wanderings through the city, when one went too far and suddenly found
themselves completely bereft of food or water. We did not praise this immortality of sorts, as we
foolishly called it. At least not since it had been our key in defeating the Villagers. In fact, all of us
had a very strong will of living. As a result of that and the appreciable amount of time that passed,
we had to face and accept another truth. We did not age.
And so it came, that we all still had our unchanged, original bodies, when there was made a sighting
of change in the landscape after all. It had been the last of those still searching for an exit from the
city who had reported the news. Many days she had been gone, yet when she led us to her
discovery, it turned out to be away no more than one from the part of the city we had cultivated by
then, thus reinforcing the idea of the city bearing its own limits.
What it was that had been found there could be described as a giant arc, but even then it was
obvious to me, that there was more to it. The first thing we all noticed, was how entirely different its
style of architecture was compared to the rest of the city. Whereas everywhere else the buildings
were placed in neatly, orderly fashion and all consisted of the same blank, gray stone, this
monstrosity appeared more haphazardly built. The material had hues of black and purple and was
harder than any of the gray stones surrounding it. The way it was rising from the ground it looked
almost raping it. Deep gouges went along its base and around it there were stones broken lose from
the tiles, something we had not seen before. All nine of us could walk through it abreast, though we
had to climb over its base of purple-black stone that went up to our waists. Despite its uniqueness,
the others were quick to name the thing the ugliest obscurity we had encountered so far, worse even
than those domes containing the horrible Mobs, which we rarely even thought about anymore.
Although I could not disagree with them, I sensed a weird attraction drawing me to it. One after
another my fellows would leave, either for losing interest in or being plainly afraid of the strange
arc. Even its discoverer did not stay for long. I believe it was also the last time she went out to
explore. They all went on with their lives. But not me.
The Gate. Yes. That is what I called it then.
For hours I would sit in front of it and stare. To no avail. Days would go by, during which not a
single noise was heard. And I waited. For what, I could not have said even in my wildest dreams.
Unlike the way it had been with other objects, touching the Gate did not bring back any memories
on what is was there for. Still, I kept my silent guard.
After some time it became more and more intolerable for me to leave its presence in order to obtain
food and water, until I stopped doing so altogether. More than once I found myself waking up in my
chamber, the same chamber I remain in, to this very day. The others started shunning me then. Not
even so much, I imagine, because of my obsession with the hideous structure. After all, how could
my absence influence them in any way. What was more crucial to them, was the way I reminded
them of our unnatural attitude towards death. They could not help noticing, how I kept appearing in
my tower. Frankly, I believe this resentment towards me had been the only genuine emotion ever

being expressed by any of us.

Since it was the most beneficial for all of us, I gathered my remaining willpower and undertook one
last enormous effort by transporting a respectable amount of soil along with numerous animals,
tools, plant seeds and the means to grow them, to the small, open space before the Gate and settled
there. I had become an eremite to my fellows. Every now and then, at least in the beginning, they
would come by and bring me food or restock my supplies of fertile soil, so as if to ensure I would
not die again. But it was all well. At least that way we would all be merrier.
The time that followed this actually formed the largest part of our mutual history. The most
uneventful too, at least from my perspective, but by no means the most unimportant as fate goes.
I do not know how much time passed in days, but of the seeds I had planted there sprang forth a
number of trees that grew to almost kiss the skies, only to fall down again, rot away and be replaced
by the next generation. Spending their lives in the half shadows of the surrounding towers, though,
they were not exactly pretty to look at.
And all that time my outside remained the same, as long as I helped myself to nourishment, while
my inside was bleak. The only time the arc left my sight for a longer period, was when I climbed
one of the nearby towers to have a look from above. It did not add up to much, except for that I
found out, that snow sets on walls of the higher levels of the buildings.
Chances are it would have gone on like this for all time being, had not my astonishing idleness at
this point allowed the plants to overgrow the arc itself. Ivy climbed up its sides and all kinds of
weed slowly but surely conquered the base. In and by itself that meant little and less, until one
fateful night, heaven would relish its wrath on us.
It was a thunderstorm of mediocre size, but one with most fatal consequences. They had happened
before, even back when I was still with the others. Ruined by my time spent at the arc, however, I
did not run for shelter in any of the stone buildings, but frantically kept clinging to my onus.
Only then, in an instant of mercilessly cruel happenstance, did a lightning stroke hit one of said
trees. It was aflame right away and I could only watch in awe as its burning top fell down and set
the plants below aflame as well. Startled by this sudden danger, my thoughts were strangely focused
on the crops. The idea of having to leave the arc to get new ones made me almost sad. Desperate, I
ran, looking for means to quench the flames and save at least a few of the plants. It was no use. And
worse than that, I soon found myself trapped in a cataclysm of heat.
It was the most terrible experience I ever had to go through. Burning alive, the feel of flesh melting
right off from my bones, the ghastly taste of smoke pouring down my throat, choking off what little
noise I would have been able to make after half an eternity of silence. It was no comfort to know I
would wake up unharmed later on. Like every death before, this one too would carve itself into my
memory and the pain would never be gone. I huddled down and tried covering my face with my
arms, watching in agony as they fell apart.
In this very last moment before finally receiving the blissful balm of death, I turned my head and
saw the arc. Flames were dancing on the ivy ranks covering its sides, engulfing it in a fiery frame.
Yet it was what had been inside of it, reaching from top to bottom and from side to side, that truly
pushed me over the edge of sanity. Through the dense smoke and sea of flames, I saw it as clearly
as if right before my eyes. A blasphemous vale of purple. A mad shiver of lights. Transparent it was,
but seemed solid as stone nonetheless. And it was calling me. Beyond the realms of mere sound,
touch or sight it was calling me.
When I woke up, I laid still for the better part of a day, unable to move or think. When I did finally
come to senses, I hurried down the tower and to the place of my gruesome death. It had all been
gone. The trees, the ivy, the shiver. Only ashes remained and, of course, the arc. It had lost its spell
on me, though, for I knew more about its horror after that night. Rain had bested the flames in the
end. To make sure there would be no other way for any new flames to reach the arc, I even scraped
the burnt leftovers of ivy from its side. Once I was sure there was no way it could be ignited again, I

went back to the others.

I had half expected to be met by puzzled faces and excitement regarding my return, but none of that
happened. In fact, they hardly even noticed me at all, for there was lots of commotion and
excitement as it was. People were shouting and pointing, some of them running along clad in armor
and carrying weaponry of the finest sorts. Frantic voices spoke of the Mobs having been freed.
Despite my dizziness, I was dimly aware of the clamor of battle going on in the background. But I
was too wrapped up in thought to pay much attention to that. Ominously, I made my way to my
chamber, which seemed like the only logical destination after the loss of my last home.
Half way up the tower, I observed a white shadow passing one of the countless windows. Upon
closer inspection, I was stunned to see what was happening on the ground. Waves of Mobs were
storming the plazas. Skeletons, zombies, spiders and more sinister creatures still. Torches in one
hand, swords in the other, my eight companions held against the oncoming assaults. Back on back,
they found themselves encircled by those dreadful beasts. When one would fall, only their armor
remained. But they kept coming again upon dying, eager to drive back this menace. It was plain to
see, that they stood no chance, though. As the hours went by and the skies grew dark, the enemy
became more and more powerful, both in strength and numbers. They would move more agile and
the desperation in my fellows was clearly visible. No matter how many the slew, ten would come
take their place. They breed in the dark and feed on life.
It went on like that for a long time, until a huge, ear-shattering blast woke me from my trance.
Where there had been one of the others' homes, a magnificent, giant palace, there remained only
ashes and smoke. Seven times more this happened and all their homes lay in ruins. They kept on
fighting, but when they died, they did not come back. Eventually every single one of them was
swallowed by the many-mouthed monster. And then I saw what had caused the explosions. I fell on
my knees, unable to move. I had seen these things before. I knew where they came from. Suddenly,
I knew everything I once had.
I remembered how we had built the towers, the temples, the sculptures, how we had decided to
design them as marvelous as any of us could imagine. I remembered how we had brought upon the
face of this world the creatures of many forms and species and how we had put them in those
damnable domes. Like a giant exhibition, only meant to celebrate our own genius.
The most ironic statement imaginable, is it not? Or was it genius that had made us built the towers
high enough to block out the sun? We knew the Mobs, being creatures of darkness, would vanish in
full light and so we came up with this solution. Only that way we would never get rid of them
either.
Some of those domes we had filled with vice, some only with desire to serve, but none were granted
freedom of will. The poor Villagers had been the highest forms of living we had dared to come up
with, and now we had butchered them like sheep. We gave them a sense for development, though
we denied them the will to use this power for breaking out of their prison.
But I especially remembered, how I had built the Gate. It was meant to be the pinnacle of all
creation. Yet when it was finished, not even we had been able to contemplate its inner workings. I
knew it would lead somewhere, somewhere we had not been before. We did not know what that
other place was, nor do I now. When we had gone through that gate, we were greeted by a horrible
place of red stone, fire and death. Monsters a hundred times worse than any of those created by us.
Creatures made purely out of flame, unholy mixtures of pigs and men, and the fire-spitting, flying
ghosts that in our world had destroyed the houses of the other eight and that had broke down the
walls of all domes holding back the Mobs.
It was too much for our minds to bear. Where did it come from? Had not we created everything
there was? Back when we had not yet donned these human bodies, which the Villagers had been the
prototype for, we had been the lords of the world. But there we had no power. What were we to
make out of this? The answer was simple flight.
A decision was quickly made. Giving up on our god-like status, we left behind everything that we

had been. As living beings in our self-made world we would understand even less about the ways of
existence, but at least that way we would never think of us as the first there was only to be
confronted with cruel realization.
Nine human bodies we formed, since we thought them to be the most advanced organism our world
had to offer. Immortal we made them, though in hindsight this turned out not quite as expected.
And neither did the city turn out to be the paradise we had imagined it to be, when we built it.
But it was worth the effort. Sweet amnesia saved us from our bane, and ignorance replaced fear.
Until life took a turn for the worse again. The short period between the flames touching the arc and
whatever time it took the rain to quench them, had been enough to let our worlds connect. And more
than enough to ruin everything there was. We had been naive to believe it was impossible for the
Gate to be activated again.
This all seems so long ago now, I can barely believe it ever happened.
I stay within my tower now, for outside there is naught but decay. The last time I had taken a look
down, there had been a great gathering of these foul beasts around the centre of the tower, starring,
luring, waiting for me to come down. They are slow and will not make the ascend in one night.
Once the sun comes up, it cleanses the world of all those that went as far as to the first windows.
They will not reach me up here, but they will never leave either. No doubt they will have consumed
every other living creature in the city by now.
I have all the time there is to ponder on our, on my faults. It had been us, who created the city, true.
But it had also been us, who had created the domes. I have to pay the price. Every day I awaken in
my giant chamber enclosed by walls of pure, flawless glass high above the skies to the sight of the
endless city.
But there is no point in getting up. I awake, I fall asleep, sleep blends over in death until I find
myself awake again, fully recovered, but still without ambition to move. An eternal helix created by
my own foolishness. Don't ask me to answer for any of the ever lasting mysteries of time. Eternal
life, if that is what you would call my miserable existence, does not grant wisdom, but only dread. I
hope the others have found peace. I will not. The thing that has destroyed their homes and ended
their circle of death and rebirth, has long been gone. And I will last.