Dialogue Excerpt from The Untitled Manuscript

"You need to understand something." Field Marshal Morgan turned from the window overlooking the courtyard and rested his elbows on the desk. A shadow fell across his face, and his eyes glinted with a steely gaze from atop the pyramid of his folded fingers. "Your malcontent—I will not have you breeding your illness among my men. If you threaten the harmony of Arago, I will not hesitate to have you dealt with. It is bad enough I must tolerate that fool and his marble worshipping cult. But the priest and his harlot are unfortunately the only ones who can treat my sick men. The moment they no longer prove useful, or dare become a real problem, they too will be dealt with.


"There was never a before. There is nothing beyond. Rid those delusions from your mind before you spread the sickness to someone else. You think you are the first to feel such feelings? You think you are special to think such thoughts? I too felt them once. I have been in this place for lifetimes. I've seen this again and again; if you continue down this path, your worsening condition will leave me no choice but to protect everyone around you... from you.


This place is everything, forever. And I am its keeper. You will do well to remember that, and to forget the forgetting.


"One more thing." Morgan reached across his desk and lit the gas lamp.


"I say all of this for your own good. Dismissed."