Of Love

IT IS WRITTEN that ``Love is the law, love under will.'' Herein is an Arcanum concealed, for in the Greek Language Agaph, Love, is of the same numerical value as Velhma, Will. By this we understand that the Universal Will is of the nature of Love.

Now Love is the enkindling in ecstacy of Two that will to become One. It is thus an Universal formula of High Magick. For see now how all things, being in sorrow caused by dividuality, must of necessity will Oneness as their medicine.


Here also is Nature monitor to them that seek Wisdom at her breast: for in the uniting of elements of opposite polarities is there a glory of heat, of light, and of electricity. Thus also in mankind do we behold the spiritual fruit of poetry and all genius, arising from the seed of what is but an animal gesture, in the estimation of such as are schooled in Philosophy. And it is to be noted strongly that the most violent and divine passions are those between people of utterly unharmonious natures.

For us, then, emancipated from all base law, what shall we do to satisfy our Will to Unity? No less a mistress than the Universe: no lupanar more cramped than Infinite Space: no night of rape that is not co-evil with Eternity!

~ Aleister Crowley ~

Now Love is the enkindling in ecstacy of Two that will to become One. It is thus an Universal formula of High Magick. For see now how all things, being in sorrow caused by dividuality, must of necessity will Oneness as their medicine. (Crowley)

Coming Soon!

Lastly, by Liberty is the power to direct your course according to your Will. For the extent of the Universe is without bounds, and ye are free to make your pleasure as ye will. (Crowley)


Coming Soon!

Bryony de Rose lifted a hand to reach out for me, and as she grapsed hold of my trouser leg, she bade me to promise her, "You must go to my glade by the cascades and bury me. Promise me. Promise me you will do this for me.. promise me you will."

I saw the blue of her eyes roll upward, leaving them milk white as she slumped back to the ruined floor of an underground cavern that crumbled apart all around us. She died before dragging a promise from me that I had no intention of fulfilling.

Between this moment and the moment I had exorcised the demon from her body, there is left for me a rather blurry juxtoposition of events. And as nearly as I can fathom, I had not loved Bryony as she deserved. I had not held her. In fact, I could not even follow through the deed of taking her to bed and filling her with my own desire at an Inn we elected to remain at, rather than run off into hiding with the others, Shadow and Lara.

For she had angered me with her jealousy and her scorn over my dead wife, Alexandra; angered me to the point that I was no longer in control of my faculties. Bryony de Rose is.. was.. a virgin. And I took her by force in such a cruel manner, for I wanted her to feel every last inch of my own self-loathing.. until she crawled away from me in shock and in tears.

This was not the way I had wanted it to be. Not in the wee hours before I had sent her off once again to do battle with her Asmodeus, re-infested with the spirit of Leviathan.

I could not make this promise she beseeched of me, to bury Bryony in the cold ground. Instead, I backed myself well out of her reach and merely stared down at her with quite an ache inside of my chest. "Shall I bury you as well.. Taltos?"

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. It is I, not another, that willeth your whole Freedom, and the arising within you of full Knowledge and Power. (Crowley)



"It is me, Bryony." Following the last of her convulsions, the young woman blinked several times as confusion swept across her countenance. She knew not where she was, nor how she had gotten there. Yet when I had returned to kneel down beside her, relief washed over her insomuch that she turned and laid her head against my chest.

I had used one of the most forbidden and dangerous spells of all, cast by rote memory from the Necronomicon itself to bind the great beast, Leviathan. Who now lays imprisoned within a newly decapitated corpse.

By now, Shadow and Bryony's companion.. a curious woman named Lara, were urging us to hurry and go. Somewhere. Each offered their own domicile as a refuge. And yet.. I know we cannot leave. Not just yet.

"Is it over? Did I slay the Briar King?" Bryony asked, glancing about to the others before her blue eyes returned again to me.

It is not my desire to send the girl back into the pit of hell where her own trouble awaits. But I must. For there is no other way for her to break that spell under which she has become enslaved. I am even reluctant to touch or hold her.. for I know in my heart already..

Bryony de Rose will die.

Will you be laid low even at the sight of Leviathan? No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him. (Job 41)


Not every war casualty is in vain; not every death a worthless expense. When Shadow and I arrived within the Weald's sunless heart, the ground lay littered with fallen soldiers.. armed to the gills with pitchforks and lanterns. Their slaughter came not by any human means as far as I could tell.. for they each had been pierced through; impaled. Disembowled. And each with a telltale trace of some ruddy substance rather like lichen smeared near their wounds.

In my time spent admiring the handiwork of some unknown assailant, Shadow had run off toward Carver's Outpost.. which was none too far from where I stood. He was bent upon enlisting himself in a war not his own.. if only for the sake of bringing it to an end. Yet it was not my intent to have his sword arm laid to waste in such pointlessness.. for I had need of him here.. among the slain.

Nevermind him though. He will return.. unless he himself becomes victim to the slayer of the others. I knelt down near my chosen vessel and with my dagger, I cast a circular boundary around the traditional five points into the deceased man's chest. He bled.. but not profusely. For he had been dead several hours by now.

No longer am I aware of the passing time, though the night sky had shifted through more than two constellations by the time Shadow returned. He was carrying Bryony unconscious in his arms and wearing a rather frantic expression upon his frightful maw.

"Lay her here," I indicated the carved up corpse whom I had been kneeling by. Shadow grimaced slightly as if he believed me mad, but after several moments and my own coaxing, he did finally relent and lay the red headed young woman to the ground beside the dead man.. and afterward retreated a safe distance to observe.

Within moments Bryony began to convulse and wretch, until the demon was expelled from her body.. not to return to me again.. but imprisoned inside the body of the corpse where he was angered to violence.

"Now, Shadow! Your sword!"

The man acquiesced and raised the blade overhead briefly before slicing down again with all his might.

Nerve thyself, then, to seek it and to do it. Naught can satisfy thee but the fulfilment of thy transcendent Will, that is hidden within thee. For this, then, up to arms! Win thine own Freedom for thyself! Strike hard! (Crowley)


Through the severed eye I saw a great fire. And many men running about in confusion, derision and all manner of chaos. Inside the fire stands a house, its timbers and beams slowly collapsing inward. Yet Bryony de Rose is nowhere in sight amidst what appears to be a war. Yes. A war. It is Astarté I have reached. She watches for me; listens to their unintelligible cries for vengeance.. and at last I have gathered that the burning house belongs to one of the men in Carver's Outpost. They blame.. Bryony.. for this great arsen.

"Are you any good with a sword?" This I asked of Shadow, who once again seemed revolted by the mere idea of fighting. I suppose he thought I would enlist him into a battle of arms. And while I did intend to enlist him.. it was nothing like he may have imagined. For it is a demon I mean to trap.

I must find Bryony soon.

Shadow and I had gone as far as we could without thoroughly exhausting our horses. Yet when we stopped to make camp for the night, we were surrounded by a small brigand of thugs who meant to lighten our burdens a wee bit. Though I am sure it did not help that neither of us had all that much in our possession to begin with.


Shadow attacked them with a blinding speed of dexterity, leaving all but one caught in his headlock. "What shall I do with him," he queried, seeming as if it might please Shadow to end the man's life on the spot.

Yet I have no desire to leave one dead nor even destitute for simple revenge. I took but one of the man's eyes from him. He screamed in remorse as Shadow held him fast.. as well as his own bile from rising. Yet it was necessary.

"Let him go, Shadow," I said quietly. My attention lay now on the man's eye as I held it up to the moonlight in the palm of my hand. It was my intention to see, if possible.. what sort of tangle my former bride may have gotten herself into. If any at all.

No sooner had I left the Inn, the woman with her interesting notions of soothesaying, and the warm meal from which I had partaken, I was met up by a hooded fellow of impressive height. He seemed taken keeping his visage well hidden.. though I cannot say I blamed him after my first glimpse. For he sported an entire faceful of red and black markings as well as a set of horns protruding through his bald head. Yet after once he had gained my favor, he admitted he too, was heading in the same direction.. to the Amberleaf Weald. As if to compound his intent to travel as my companion, the man hailed us two horses, procuring them with his own coin. My journey to reach Bryony de Rose was now.. godspeed.


The man with his strange facial markings introduced himself and henceforth became known to me as Shadow. Across the Ivory Prairie and all throughout the night we made our haste until we reached the Amber Mountains, inside of which lays nestled the Weald.. that enchanted forest from which my.. former bride.. hails.

The Law

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

IN RIGHTEOUSNESS OF HEART come hither, and listen: for it is I, TO MEGA THERION, who gave this Law unto everyone that holdeth himself holy. It is I, not another, that willeth your whole Freedom, and the arising within you of full Knowledge and Power.

Behold! the Kingdom of God is within you, even as the Sun standeth eternal in the heavens, equal at midnight and at noon. He riseth not: he setteth not: it is but the shadow of the earth which concealeth him, or the clouds upon her face.


Let me then declare unto you this Mystery of the Law, as it hath been made known unto me in divers places, upon the mountains and in the deserts, but also in great cities, which thing I speak for your comfort and good courage. And so be it unto all of you.

Know first, that from the Law spring four Rays or Emanations: so that if the Law be the centre of your own being, they must needs fill you with their secret goodness. And these four are Light, Life, Love, and Liberty.

By Light shall ye look upon yourselves, and behold All Things that are in Truth One Thing only, whose name hath been called No Thing for a cause which later shall be declared unto you. But the substance of Light is Life, since without Existence and Energy it were naught. By Life therefore are you made yourselves, eternal and incorruptible, flaming forth as suns, self-created and self-supported, each the sole centre of the Universe.

Now by the Light ye beheld, by Love ye feel. There is an ecstacy of pure Knowledge, and another of pure Love. And this Love is the force that uniteth things diverse, for the contemplation in Light of their Oneness. Know that the Universe is not at rest, but in extreme motion whose sum is Rest. And this understanding that Stability is Change, and Change Stability, that Being is Becoming, and Becoming Being, is the Key to the Golden Palace of this Law.

Lastly, by Liberty is the power to direct your course according to your Will. For the extent of the Universe is without bounds, and ye are free to make your pleasure as ye will, seeing that the diversity of being is infinite also. For this also is the Joy of the Law, that no two stars are alike, and ye must understand also that this Multiplicity is itself Unity, and without it Unity could not be. And this is an hard saying against Reason: ye shall comprehend, when, rising above Reason, which is but a manipulation of the Mind, ye come to pure Knowledge by direct perception of the Truth.

Know also that these four Emanations of the Law flame forth upon all paths: ye shall use them not only in these Highways of the Universe whereof I have written, but in every By-path of your daily life.

Love is the law, love under will.

~ Aleister Crowley ~

Evelyn the whore. Her death was not in vain. For she served me well, allowing me to see across a vast chasm through her blood. And I see a burning.. a house, perhaps. And a village not far off from it, where the seeds of discord have been sown. I did not see Bryony, whom I sought. Yet I know.. she is still yet alive.. and in a place where even Astarté seems afraid to tread.

For now, my ears have closed to the prophetic utterings of a stranger whose eyes are far too blind to see even one shred of truth in me. My destiny is laid clear before me.. for Chaos is none other than the Sword of Leviathan. This much I have born witness to, time and again.

It shall not be very long before you come to understand that such a life is the true Liberty. You will feel distractions from your Will as being what they are. They will no longer appear pleasant and attractive, but as bonds, as shames. And when you have attained this point, know that you have passed the Middle Gate of this Path. For you will have unified your Will. (Crowley)


There is always the unseen risk of opening a portal and allowing other entities to trespass where they were not invited. Such as the divine scales of Retribution.. or Tisiphone, the avenger of the Erinyes. Although I cannot be for certain.

She brought a prophecy of a sort when she entered my rented room, compelling me, if possible, into a remorseful confession. I hear the words.. but not all of them are divine. And I am more than convinced it is a trick of Leviathan to repel me from my current path.

"Who has sent you here? Who are you?" I had asked her this more than once, though when her answer did finally arrive, there seemed a bitter sorcery to it that could not have its roots securely entwined in either the retributive justice of Nemesis, nor the avenging spirit of Tisiphone.

"I am the Catalyst Feyth de Macedo, one who is both warning and witness, at least as far as you are concerned. You should be more interested in why I was sent here." She says she has come to me on behalf of Change, Chance, and Chaos.

"Death holds little fear for me, Necromancer. I have already lived and died and lived again. Death and I have danced. But why do you leave your handiwork naked and forlorn upon a bed of blood and longing? This scene is a sculpture of your art, and more importantly, your Choice. Ah, the future is a creative act. And it rests on the sum of all our choices, yours more than most. You had no right to take her life. By making your Choice, you denied her hers. I am here to see that you have another and this one, will twist the destinies of thousands in its wake, yours not least among them. You seek to obtain that which you have not earned, unwilling to risk giving what could net you all you desire. And so, you sabotage your own secret dreams to hold graveyard dirt in your hands. There is much you will need to do before the conditions are met for the Choice you have been selected to make. We will meet again, I’m afraid."

She was gone before I could speak a further word on my own behalf. Though in the end, I suppose it was best that I held my tongue as I did. For I shall not bear a guilt that is not mine to bear. Nor shall I turn back from the choices I have already made. Leviathan awaits me. I will.. stop him. Even if Bryony must be ripped limb from limb in the crossfire.

Search yourselves cunningly, I pray you, analysing your inmost thoughts. And first you shall discard all those gross obvious hindrances to your Will: idleness, foolish friendships, waste employments or enjoyments, I will not enumerate the conspirators against the welfare of your State. (Crowley)


It is an insifnificant town that sits at the foothills of the Heroesbane Range, so insignificant that I do not recall its name. Nevertheless it brims with an age-old profession wherein painted women lurk about the Inns in search of lonely travelers with whom they might grant a sexual favor in exchange for a bit of bread.. or perhaps a coin. And while the town remains nameless in my mind, the whore does not.

I was accosted by more than a few before I relented and allowed one to capture my eyes and my attention. Evelyn. I suspected that at one time, she must have been very pretty. Long before the ravages and usury of time had caught up to her. For now, her smile is sad and her eyes filled with a hollowness. And I pity this woman, who for a piece of bread was willing to spread open wide and bare her very soul to me.. a stranger.

As for me, I cannot defile her. Not like that.

Yet she assured me she was quite willing to succumb to any secret proclivity, no matter how vile.. for the right price. And I am sure she has seen more than her share in her lifetime.

But I shall not take what is precious from her. I shall not know her in such a carnal manner. Though I doubt she was aware of this before she breathed her last and fell backward upon me, bathing me in the warm succor of her sacrifice.

And for this, I kissed her upon her cold brow as a father might. And I left her several coins for her passage into the next life. May she fare better than she did in this one.

For see, what hindereth you? It is either from without or from within, or both. It may be easy for the strong-minded seeker to put his heel upon public opinion, or to tear from his heart the objects which he loves, in a sense: but there will always remain in himself many discordant affections, as also the bond of habit, and these also must he conquer. (Crowley)


The journey to Amberleaf Weald is a grueling one from Eunomia, for I have no horse and I shall be weeks upon the road. Perhaps a month. I can only hope that Bryony is yet alive when I reach her.. for if not, I am the cause of the death of not one wife.. but of two.

I have buried my witch board in Eunomia. That part of Alexandra that I shall no longer desecrate, rests in peace in an unmarked grave with two other souls. I do know that the spirit of Leviathan was bound to it, as was I.. inextricably linked and held imprisoned together. In my haste to destroy it.. I have freed the Beast.

In the first weeks of my journey, I can only dwell upon Bryony day and night. She vexes me to the point of madness. Yes.. I am mad; sick with fever that is not so easily cured.

And if only I could but see her in a vision, to know that she is alive. I must take my lodging soon and devise a way in which to speak to her. I cannot rest, for I must reach her before it is too late.

Of Liberty

IT IS OF LIBERTY that I would first write unto you, for except ye be free to act, ye cannot act. Yet all four gifts of the Law must in some degree be exercised, seeing that these four are one. But for the Aspirant that cometh unto the Master, the first need is freedom.

The great bond of all bonds is ignorance. How shall a man be free to act if he know not his own purpose? You must therefore first of all discover which star of all the stars you are, your relation to the other stars about you, and your relation to, and identity with, the Whole.

In our Holy Books are given sundry means of making this discovery, and each must make it for himself, attaining absolute conviction by direct experience, not merely reasoning and calculating what is probable. And to each will come the knowledge of his finite will, whereby one is a poet, one prophet, one worker in steel, another in jade. But also to each be the knowledge of his infinite Will, his destiny to perform the Great Work, the realization of his True Self. Of this Will let me therefore speak clearly unto all, since it pertaineth unto all.


Understand now that in yourselves is a certain discontent. Analyse well its nature: at the end is in every case one conclusion. The ill springs from the belief in two things, the Self and the Not-Self, and the conflict between them. This also is a restriction of the Will. He who is sick is in conflict with his own body: he who is poor is at odds with society: and so for the rest. Ultimately, therefore, the problem is how to destroy this perception of duality, to attain to the apprehension of unity.

Now then let us suppose that you have come to the Master, and that He has declared to you the Way of this attainment. What hindereth you? Alas! there is yet much Freedom afar off.

Understand clearly this: that if you are sure of your Will, and sure of your means, then any thoughts or actions which are contrary to those means are contrary also to that Will.

If therefore the Master should enjoin upon you a Vow of Holy Obedience, compliance is not a surrender of the Will, but a fulfilment thereof.

For see, what hindereth you? It is either from without or from within, or both. It may be easy for the strong-minded seeker to put his heel upon public opinion, or to tear from his heart the objects which he loves, in a sense: but there will always remain in himself many discordant affections, as also the bond of habit, and these also must he conquer.

In our holiest Book it is written: "Thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay.'' Write it also in your heart and in your brain: for this is the key of the whole matter.

Here Nature herself be your preacher: for in every phenomenon of force and motion doth she proclaim aloud this truth. Even in so small a matter as driving a nail into a plank, hear this same sermon. Your nail must be hard, smooth, fine-pointed, or it will not move swiftly in the direction willed. Imagine then a nail of tinder-wood with twenty points--it is verily no longer a nail. Yet nigh all mankind are like unto this. They wish a dozen different careers; and the force which might have been sufficient to attain eminence in one is wasted on the others: they are null.

Here then let me make oÿen confession, and say thus: though I pledged myself almost in boyhood to the Great Work, though to my aid came the most puissant forces in the whole Universe to hold me to it, though habit itself now constraineth me in the right direction, yet I have not fulfilled my Will: I turn aside daily from the appointed task. I waver. I falter. I lag.

Let this then be of great comfort to you all, that if I be so imperfect--and for very shame I have not emphasized that imperfection--if I, the chosen one, still fail, then how easy for yourselves to surpass me! Or, should you only equal me, then even so how great attainment should be yours!

Be of good cheer, therefore, since both my failure and my success are arguments of courage for yourselves.

Search yourselves cunningly, I pray you, analysing your inmost thoughts. And first you shall discard all those gross obvious hindrances to your Will: idleness, foolish friendships, waste employments or enjoyments, I will not enumerate the conspirators against the welfare of your State.

Next, find the minimum of daily time which is in good sooth necessary to your natural life. The rest you shall devote to the True Means of your Attainment. And even these necessary hours you shall consecrate to the Great Work, saying consciously always while at these Tasks that you perform them only in order to preserve your body and mind in health for the right application to that sublime and single Object.

It shall not be very long before you come to understand that such a life is the true Liberty. You will feel distractions from your Will as being what they are. They will no longer appear pleasant and attractive, but as bonds, as shames. And when you have attained this point, know that you have passed the Middle Gate of this Path. For you will have unified your Will.

Even thus, were a man sitting in a theatre where the play wearies him, he would welcome every distraction, and find amusement in any accident: but if he were intent upon the play, every such incident would annoy him. His attitude to these is then an indication of his attitude towards the play itself.

At first the habit of attention is hard to acquire. Persevere, and you will have spasms of revulsion periodically. Reason itself will attack you, saying: how can so strict a bondage be the Path of Freedom?

Persevere. You have never yet known Liberty. When the temptations are overcome, the voice of Reason silenced, then will your soul bound forward unhampered upon its chosen course, and for the first time will you experience the extreme delight of being Master of Yourself, and therefore of the Universe.

When this is fully attained, when you sit securely in the saddle, then you may enjoy also all those distractions which first pleased you and then angered you. Now then will do neither any more: for they are your slaves and toys.

Until you have reached this point, you are not wholly free. You must kill out desire, and kill out fear. The end of all is the power to live according to your own nature, without danger that one part may develop to the detriment of the whole, or concern lest that danger should arise.

The sot drinks, and is drunken: the coward drinks not, and shivers: the wise man, brave and free, drinks, and gives glory to the Most High God.

This then is the Law of Liberty: you possess all Liberty in your own right, but you must buttress Right with Might: you must win Freedom for yourself in many a war. Woe unto the children who sleep in the Freedom that their forefathers won for them!

There is no law beyond 'Do what thou wilt,' but it is only the greatest of the race who have the strength and courage to obey it.

O man! behold thyself! With what pains wast thou fashioned! What ages have gone to thy shaping! The history of the planet is woven into the very substance of thy brain! Was all this for naught? Is there no purpose in thee? Wast thou made thus that thou shouldst eat, and breed, and die? Think it not so! Thou dost incorporate so many elements, thou art the fruit of so many aeons of labour, thou art fashioned thus as thou art, and not otherwise, for some colossal End.

Nerve thyself, then, to seek it and to do it. Naught can satisfy thee but the fulfilment of thy transcendent Will, that is hidden within thee. For this, then, up to arms! Win thine own Freedom for thyself! Strike hard!

~ Aleister Crowley ~

Only in the case of thy wife this is difficult, since she is more to thee than all others, and in this case thou mayst act with temperance, lest her personality overcome and destroy that of thy Deity. (Crowley)


It is but a few days gone by since I have last seen Bryony.. or Astarté, for that matter. And I have begun to suspect this lightness upon my shoulders.. this liberation.. the absense of Leviathan can mean but one thing: My love is in grave danger.

Leviathan will demand an exorbitant price from her, if not her very life. And this I fear, is all my own doing. I was weak when I should have been strong. I allowed her to trespass into the natural affections of a woman for a man.. when I should have banished her.

I allowed her tears to seep through my fortified strongholds.. when I had been forewarned. And now.. she will suffer for my transgression.

Further concerning the value of this Method. Certain objections arise. Firstly, in the nature of all human love is illusion, and a certain blindness. Nor is there any true love below the Veil of the Abyss. (Crowley)


Wife.

She is constantly on my mind, now more than ever. Three days of utter darkness and pain have left me little else to dwell upon.. until at last, and much to his surprise, I have allowed Priam the Executioner to find me. All the while he had held to his belief that I and Bryony had left Eunomia together. Perhaps Astarté held the same assumption as well.. for she is nowhere to be found.

It is unknown whether anyone may recover from the injuries inflicted by such a bed of nails, for most who've had the misfortune of tasting the cruelties of Priam's torture chamber, are swiftly put to death beneath his blood stained axe in the end. It has taken me several weeks to feel as though I might actually join the living once again.. though I dare not say I shall ever be fully alive.

It is in my best interest to take my bounty share of Eunomia's harvest and head back to my own home within the Gloumenwood. For I am certain I have overstayed my welcome.. and the Executioner's hospitality wears thin.

And yet a part of me.. longs to seek my wife.
Bryony.

Concerning the secrecy and the rites of Blood. During this practice it is most wise that the Philosophus utter no word concerning his sacrifice, as if it were a Forbidden Love that consumeth him. (Crowley)


"Be mine."

This last time when I kissed her, it was rather deliberate on my part. And I felt a tremendous weight lifted from my shoulders in the process. It is hard to describe really.. but I feel as if I have been liberated. And now I wish for her to be mine.. be my wife. Come and fill that void I have been denying for so very long.

Bryony became ill.. and nauseatingly so. Yet awhile later when she had recovered, her joy seemed writ upon her countenance. And remarkably she became.. the epitomé of health.. despite the fact that Thanatos, the Healer never had a chance to treat her.

"But.. what of your wife, Warrick?"

"She died.. long ago," I whispered at first, only to reiterate a little more audibly, "Long ago. Say you will be mine, yes?"

Bryony seemed eager, even plotting out the night ahead. For I was not sure whether she would want to wait until the knot had been officially tied by an invested cleric. Yes, she seemed eager, beseeching me to teach her tonight how to be a woman. And tomorrow, a wife.

Within the Executioner's home there lies a cellar.. common as most. Though his is almost utterly devoid of roots and the like. In their stead are various implements of torture. Devices meant to pry confessions from the damned.. before their eventual executions. I led my bride-to-be down into Priam's cellar.. for it is inside my heart to confess to her. Confess what truly became of Alexandra.. all those many years ago.

Pain is necessary to extract from me what I know will be difficult to say. Yet I never quite got the chance to employ her in a bit of my own need for torture.. for Bryony rushed back up the stairs out of the cellar and locked the door, leaving me to my own demise down there in the dark.

I have lost.. everything. And for a time..I feared I had lost my own life as well.