Seven Deadly Vignettes

You are walking through a misty garden. There is a hedge maze in this
garden, with an infnite amount of paths and routes through the maze. In one part of
the garden are seven statues of varying heights and looks. ne of them is fa!ing
the opposite way of the other si". #alking down one of these paths is a tall, !loaked
old man reading from a large $ook !hained to his right wrist. %e seems to $e
!ompletely intent with whatever he&s doing. %e&s not !asting a shadow, nor is he
leaving any footsteps. 'ooming in the !enter of the maze is a large !astle. You
attempt to talk to the man. %e duly ignores you. You ask who he is. %e speaks then,
!almly telling you he is Destiny, and you are intruding in his garden. %e $e!kons
you to follow him down one of the paths. You do. Soon you rea!h a gallery of seven
portraits, with a sigil in front of ea!h. ne of these portraits and sigils is shrouded in
!loth, and has a layer of dust on it. %e walks up to se!ond portrait in the gallery, a
pi!ture of a young, attra!tive gothi! woman with $la!k hair and a sym$ol that
resem$les the (ye of %orus around her right eye. The sigil in front of the pi!ture is
an ankh. Destiny tou!hes the ankh, mum$les in!oherently for a few minutes, and
suddenly you&re not in that gallery anymore.
You are in a di)erent gallery, almost identi!al in appearan!e to the gallery
you were *ust standing in. You walk out of the gallery into an austere, grey and $la!k
room. There are three doorways on three of the walls. n a ta$le in the !orner you
see a glass $owl with two goldfsh swimming in it. n the far wall are three shelves,
!ompletely !overed in +oppy hats. The young woman from the pi!ture in Destiny&s
gallery appears from one of the doorways in the room. She&s wearing a $la!k t,shirt
with an ankh design on the front of it, *eans, and a leather *a!ket. She has an ankh
pendant around her ne!k as well. 'ooking at her instill a surreal sense of pea!e in
you. You have a vague feeling of re!ognition, $ut you do not know where you&ve
seen her $efore. She speaks then, gently, and her voi!e seems to !all to you. She&s
!hiding you, saying you&re not supposed to $e there, and you&re not supposed to
see her yet. She leads you $a!k to the gallery, and approa!hes another portrait, this
time of a man with $one white skin, $la!k hair, and $luish !olored stars twinkling
where his eyes should $e. The woman, whom you have to assume, is Death,
tou!hes the o$*e!t in front of this portrait, a skull still !onne!ted to a spine, whi!h
looks like a #orld,#ar -,era gas mask. .gain, you seem to $e transported to a
nearly identi!al gallery in a !ompletely di)erent pla!e.
You are greeted $y the man in the portrait. %e is wearing a $illowing $la!k
!ape, with a +ame motif. %e wel!omes you $a!k to the Dreaming, and introdu!es
himself as /orpheus. You look around. You are in a !avernous, an!ient !astle.
/orpheus leads you outside, through a gate adorned with three statues, one of a
#yvern, one of a 0ri1n, and one of a %ippogri). utside, you fnd yourself in a vast,
misty pla!e that seems vaguely familiar. You see two houses in the distan!e, on a
tall hill, one higher on the hill than the other. You also see two gates, one that seems
to $e !arved out of horn, and one that seems to $e !arved out of ivory. /orpheus
e"plains that the Dreaming is a pla!e where everyone !omes at one time or the
other when they are dreaming. %e then e"plains that you shouldn&t have started the
*ourney you have em$arked on, $ut they will allow you to fnish. %e then leads you
$a!k inside, $a!k to the gallery where you frst entered the Dreaming. %e
approa!hes the portrait ne"t to his own, a pi!ture of a male or a female, depending
on how you look at it, with skin as pale as smoke and tawny yellow eyes. The o$*e!t
in front of the portrait is a heart of !ut glass. %e then tou!hes the o$*e!t, and again,
you seem to $e transported to a gallery mirroring the one you were *ust in.
The male 2female34 greets you. It introdu!es itself as Desire. It e"plains that
you are in the Threshold, a massive statue of Desire whi!h it lives in. You are
!urrently in the heart of the Threshold, the only pla!e suita$le to live. It takes you
on a walk through the massive veins of the statue, gaping tunnels that go on for
miles, seemingly endless. It e"plains that it, and the previous three people you have
met, are part of a group of $eings that have e"isted sin!e the $eginning of Time. It
!ontinues, saying there are three that you have yet to meet. Together, the seven of
them em$ody aspe!ts of the universe5 Destiny, Death, Dream, Desire, Dread,
Delirium, and Destru!tion. They are !alled the (ndless. Desire goes on, telling you
that you have $een visiting ea!h of the (ndless& realms, where they are a$solutely
sovereign. (a!h of the (ndless en!ompasses their aspe!t. It then leads you $a!k to
its gallery. It approa!hes the portrait ne"t to its own, a pi!ture of a woman, with
$la!k hair, pale skin, grey eyes, and teeth that are fled to points. The o$*e!t 2or sigil
as Desire e"plains to you4 in front of the portrait is a large, !urved hook. She
tou!hes it, and yet again, you seem to $e transported to a !ompletely di)erent
realm.
This time, you are in grey, open spa!e. There is a thi!k white fog $illowing
over everything, and you hear the sound of rats s!urrying around in the gloom.
(verywhere you look, there are mirrors +oating in open spa!e, and in some of those
mirrors you see other people in a$solute despair. The woman from the portrait
6uietly greets you, introdu!ing herself as Despair. %er voi!e is like a whisper. She is
s6uat, +a$$y, and !ompletely naked, e"!ept for a hooked ring. #hile she introdu!es
herself as Despair, she almost mindlessly !arves a pie!e of +esh from her arm. She
then e"plains to you that the mirrors that you see are !onne!ted to mirrors in your
realm, looking on at people who are in despair. She motions for you to look into one.
You approa!h one of the mirrors that have a person on the other side. It&s a middle,
aged woman, $runette, in a wedding dress, $ut she&s !rying her eyes out. There&s
an empty $ottle of pills on the sink in front of her, and an empty glass. You have to
look away. Despair is ne"t to you, mindlessly !arving more +esh out of her arm,
entran!ed with what is o!!urring in the mirror, and you suddenly have a !hilling
!larity, that this is Despair. She seems to know what you *ust realized, and she nods.
She motions you to follow her $a!k to her gallery. She approa!hes the last portrait
and sigil, the only one you haven&t met. It is a pi!ture of a young woman, with one
$lue +e!ked with silver eye, and one green eye. %er hair appears to have every
!olor of the rain$ow dyed into it. The sigil in front of the portrait is an a$stra!t swirl
of !olor. Despair gra$s it, and you are transported to Delirium&s realm.
7pon entering this realm, you feel8separated, almost like you&ve turned into
a s!hool of fsh. There are whispers all around you5 unintelligi$le senten!es, !razed
!hanting, sui!idal e"!lamations. There is no defned +oor, or !eiling, or walls. You
are +oating in a !onstantly !hanging, vi$rant swirl of !olors, $utter+ies, fsh, shapes
and other random oddities. In what you !an only guess is the !enter of the realm is
a sundial with the words T(/97S :;.<0IT engraved on the side. You noti!e a
pe!uliarly !olored s!hool of fsh suddenly !oales!e into Delirium, the woman from
the portrait. She greets you with an odd statement5 $eing fsh suits you. She then
goes on to e"plain her day, you think. She also asks you the strangest thing yet5
=have you ever spent days and days and days making up +avors of i!e !ream no
one&s ever heard of $efore3 'ike !hi!ken i!e !ream and telephone i!e !ream>. #hile
she&s talking, you feel a sense of8re!onne!tion. Delirium then !omplains that the
fsh went away. She then seems to !ompose herself a little $it, $e!oming more8
normal. She tells you that you are lu!ky she&s the youngest, $e!ause only she
knows where the 9rodigal is, her older $rother. Seemingly out of nowhere, you hear
a third voi!e. That voi!e turns into a 0erman shepherd, who introdu!es himself as
?arna$as. Delirium e"plains, in a rounda$out and !onfusing way, that ?arna$as
used to $e her $rother&s dog, and he !an lead you to him. ?arna$as turns around 2at
least, you assume he turned around in this formless realm4 and walks o), slowing
fading from view. You +oat in what you hope is the right dire!tion.
Slowly, the light, !olors, smells, sounds, and voi!es fade, and a green
peninsula sharpens into view. . large, *olly looking, red haired, $ear of a man greets
you and ?arna$as merrily. There is a house on the peninsula, with an easel set up
looking out to sea, a half,fnished painting sitting on the easel. ) to the side of the
house, there is a long unused gallery, with every sigil you&ve seen so far, as well as
a sword. The man, who introdu!es himself, $egrudgingly, as Destru!tion, invites you
into the house for some 0reek !o)ee. You sit down with him and !hat. %e shows you
some of his paintings, and lets you read some of his poetry. <either is very good,
although that&s to $e e"pe!ted, !onsidering he&s Destru!tion. You point this out to
Destru!tion, and he tells you that instead of $eing the lords of one thing, the
(ndless are a!tually lords of opposites5 Death and life, Destru!tion and !reation,
Dream and reality. That is why, he e"plains, he turned his $a!k on his $rothers and
his responsi$ility. %e !ouldn&t deal with $eing responsi$le with the destru!tion that
the invention of the atomi! $om$ $rought. So now, he&s trying to $e the master of
his own nature, trying to learn and !ontrol destru!tion. That is why he has $een
painting and writing poetry. %e then goes on to tell you that he&s glad you made this
*ourney you weren&t supposed to, and that he hopes to meet you again someday.
?arna$as approa!hes and tells you that your *ourney will $e !omplete as soon as
you wake up. .nd you do, safe at home, in your $ed. #as the *ourney you *ust
e"perien!ed real3 You will never know8.