天を害し、太陽を屠れ ハブ(原題: Maim the Sky, Slay the Sun Hub)
Someone stole fire from the gods. Was the crime symbolic, literal, or something in between? It never mattered. Did mortals do it? One of their own? Just as unimportant. It was stolen, and the gods wanted it back. They lashed out in the way gods always do, with spiteful light and ferocious dark. Their ultimatums promised destruction, and their faithful's pleas went unanswered.
This isn't a story about them.
Of course, humans readied themselves for war. Clad in iron beliefs, armed with terrible symbols, they stormed the high places and buried the low places. The divine kingdoms were razed. The divinities themselves were drawn and quartered. Humans placed those holy pieces under salt flats, cast them into seas, and lost the rest in great forests. In the future, these fragments would bring no end of suffering to mankind.
This isn't a story about any of them either.
Far beyond that time, the Foundation won a second war against the gods. It unearthed, dredged, and scoured for their lost pieces, then locked them all away. It gorged and grew vast, strong, and unyielding. It made clear to its enemies that a final reckoning would soon come. Most of all, it wrought new thrones for its glorious masters.
This is a story about one of those masters, almost.
As it turns out, a pair of minions are useful to have around even when you can call down vicious lights and raise vast darknesses.
誰かが神々から火を盗んだ。その犯罪は象徴的なものだったのか、文字通りのものだったのか、あるいはその中間の何かだったのか？もうどうでもいいことだ。定命の者たちがやったのか？彼らの仲間の1人が？これも同様に重要なことではない。それは盗まれ、神々はそれを取り戻そうとした。彼らは神々がいつもしているように、悪意に満ちた光と獰猛な闇で激しく襲い掛かった。彼らの最後通牒は破壊を約束したが、彼らの忠実な嘆願は有耶無耶にされた。
これは彼らについてのお話ではない。
もちろん、人間は戦争の準備をしていた。 鉄の信念に身を包み、恐ろしきシンボルで武装した彼らは、高所を襲撃し、低所を埋めた。天国は焼き払われた。神々自身は四つ裂きの刑に処された。人間はそれらの聖片を塩原の下に設置し、海に投げ込み、残りは大森林にて失われた。将来、これらの断片が人類の苦しみを終わらせることはないだろう。
これは彼らについてのお話でもない。
その時をはるかに超えて、財団は神々との2度目の戦争に勝利した。財団は彼らの失われた断片を掘り出し、浚渫して、捜しまわって、それらをすべて閉じ込めた。財団は貪り食い、多大な成長を遂げ、屈服することはなかった。財団は敵に最終的な清算が近いうちに来ることを明らかにした。何よりも、財団は栄光に満ちた君主たちのために新たな玉座を作り上げたのだ。
これはほぼその君主の1人についてのお話だ。
結論から言えば、悪意ある光を呼び出し、広大な暗闇を膨らませることができる場合でさえも、周囲に召使いが2人いれば便利だ。
Series Tales:
Forgetting the Number of Dead Stars
"You can't kick me out just for this!"
"Just for this?" asked Coxswain, deadly calm.
"Yeah, you know…" said Wren. The phantom sensation of a pulled trigger ached in her finger as she spoke, and ghostly warmth from a vast fire rushed against her. She could feel herself prying out one of her teeth, feel herself walking through a field of bleeding soldiers, feel herself smiling in the face of a hundred more hale ones. "For forgetting."
Thirty Pieces of Silver, Plus Inflationary Costs
"Overseer?" she asked.
"Yes, I’m still here. It's unfortunate, but I believe we're dealing with a powerful idiot."
"Sorry?"
"You'll have to kill them, of course. Whoever edited this copy, and whoever was trying to sell it. Bring me their heads, as much of them as you can."
"Yes, Overseer. And the books? If there are more?"
"Burn them all."
Under a Baleful Sky
Dhole sat in the crook of a tree in some unknown place, surrounded by a vast field of strange plants, overwhelmed by the calls of unseen animals, and utterly oppressed by the alien sky. Clear, blue, and ominous, it hung far too low for her liking. It revealed the terrible face of this place’s sun with too much honesty, and bared everything to the attentive stars beyond. It was not a familiar place, and certainly not a good one.
Quarterly Performance Review
Egret grimaced, an expression still more pleasant than her smile. "There's been some… lingering contamination from the incident in China. It got into a section of childhood memory storage. The grade twos ordered a purge."
"Isn't that serious?"
"It won't impact our performance, ma'am."
"I meant, aren't those memories important to you?"
"It won't impact our performance, ma'am."
In the Manner of a Bad Apple
"░▒▓▒░" shouted the woman from behind. Egret reached for the pistol holstered under her arm and found it missing. The gnats in her head buzzed loudly. The train stopped in a dim night lit by furious stars and surrounded by the thundering beat of artillery fire. "░▒▓▓▒▒▓▒▓▒░" Egret reached for her pocket knife and found that missing too. The gnats howled. The footsteps came quicker and closer. "▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓"
Gall, Gulls, Gallows
"They’re scared. Lots of important people have been disappearing lately. Big holes opening up." Egret's crooked smile was apparent in her tone. "The Coalition’s still got all their big guns up in orbit pointing the wrong way, and the Autumn Firm don't get their hands dirty anymore, so who else could be responsible but the big, scary Foundation? They’re all coming to beg off our list, not that she can help."
Dhole sniffed loudly and shook her head. She knew the type too well. "A magister should not seek to rule swine, no matter their number."
Thousand-Tooth Rat Trap
A muffled explosion sounded in the distance. The floor shook. Emergency lights flickered. Hidden speakers crackled. Egret smiled to herself as another one of her surprises went off. It was an oozing, wretched expression, she knew that much, but it was hers all the same. She ran the tip of her tongue over the teeth that the Overseer gave her years ago, still sharp as ever, and waited. Evacuation maps flashed on the long walls in jittering light. A droning automated voice announced that the perimeter had been breached. She had no intention of leaving.
Salt the Slug, Sheepdog
"High and bright before you," said the Exarch. His white robes billowed as he stepped closer, golden thread sparkling in the morning light. "High and bright indeed. The prize head of a most capable herd, sheared and shamed. Sheared, shamed, alone. Where is your brother lamb? Where are the prizes promised to me?"
Dhole picked at the bandages lining her fingers. "Dead. Gone. My apologies are unadorned."
Abject Blue Insomnia
Fill the pouches with it when you're done. Twist the wires around the connectors. Don't push too hard, or it might go off early. You've got stuff to do before you die.
She only paused the work long enough to stuff an energy bar into her mouth and tie her black hair back. It had become shaggy and matted in recent months, but she was too busy to cut it. Sweat gathered on her forehead, sliding down through thick eyebrows before dripping to the floor. Busy. Numb. That's what she aspired to.
Twenty-Step Death March To UltraHell
"You’ve set fires for me before, Egret. This one will need to be even brighter."
"I’ll singe the sky, ma'am. I’ll burn the world down for you."
"If that’s what it takes to save it. We’re the only ones left who can, after all. You have your orders."
Staring Down the Barrel of a Sun
"You may call me the Houndmaster," said Ahmadi in her haughtiest tone. "I serve at the behest of Delta Command, of the group you know and fear as the Chaos Insurgency." The phone screamed again, this time vicious enough to send blood running from her nostrils. It had been decades since she tasted its like. "You should fear me too. My hand struck down a hundred of your mutts. I could do far worse."
Taleシリーズ:
Forgetting the Number of Dead Stars
"このためだけに私を追い出さないでよ！"
"このためだけで？"とコックスウェインは、まったくもって落ち着きはらって尋ねた。
"ええ、そうよ…"とレンは言った。彼女が話すと、引き金を引いたような幻の感覚が彼女の指に痛みを感じさせ、巨大な火からぼんやりとした熱が彼女に襲いかかってきた。She could feel herself prying out one of her teeth, feel herself walking through a field of bleeding soldiers, feel herself smiling in the face of a hundred more hale ones. "For forgetting."
Thirty Pieces of Silver, Plus Inflationary Costs
"Overseer?" she asked.
"Yes, I’m still here. It's unfortunate, but I believe we're dealing with a powerful idiot."
"Sorry?"
"You'll have to kill them, of course. Whoever edited this copy, and whoever was trying to sell it. Bring me their heads, as much of them as you can."
"Yes, Overseer. And the books? If there are more?"
"Burn them all."
Under a Baleful Sky
Dhole sat in the crook of a tree in some unknown place, surrounded by a vast field of strange plants, overwhelmed by the calls of unseen animals, and utterly oppressed by the alien sky. Clear, blue, and ominous, it hung far too low for her liking. It revealed the terrible face of this place’s sun with too much honesty, and bared everything to the attentive stars beyond. It was not a familiar place, and certainly not a good one.
Quarterly Performance Review
Egret grimaced, an expression still more pleasant than her smile. "There's been some… lingering contamination from the incident in China. It got into a section of childhood memory storage. The grade twos ordered a purge."
"Isn't that serious?"
"It won't impact our performance, ma'am."
"I meant, aren't those memories important to you?"
"It won't impact our performance, ma'am."
In the Manner of a Bad Apple
"░▒▓▒░" shouted the woman from behind. Egret reached for the pistol holstered under her arm and found it missing. The gnats in her head buzzed loudly. The train stopped in a dim night lit by furious stars and surrounded by the thundering beat of artillery fire. "░▒▓▓▒▒▓▒▓▒░" Egret reached for her pocket knife and found that missing too. The gnats howled. The footsteps came quicker and closer. "▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓"
Gall, Gulls, Gallows
"They’re scared. Lots of important people have been disappearing lately. Big holes opening up." Egret's crooked smile was apparent in her tone. "The Coalition’s still got all their big guns up in orbit pointing the wrong way, and the Autumn Firm don't get their hands dirty anymore, so who else could be responsible but the big, scary Foundation? They’re all coming to beg off our list, not that she can help."
Dhole sniffed loudly and shook her head. She knew the type too well. "A magister should not seek to rule swine, no matter their number."
Thousand-Tooth Rat Trap
A muffled explosion sounded in the distance. The floor shook. Emergency lights flickered. Hidden speakers crackled. Egret smiled to herself as another one of her surprises went off. It was an oozing, wretched expression, she knew that much, but it was hers all the same. She ran the tip of her tongue over the teeth that the Overseer gave her years ago, still sharp as ever, and waited. Evacuation maps flashed on the long walls in jittering light. A droning automated voice announced that the perimeter had been breached. She had no intention of leaving.
Salt the Slug, Sheepdog
"High and bright before you," said the Exarch. His white robes billowed as he stepped closer, golden thread sparkling in the morning light. "High and bright indeed. The prize head of a most capable herd, sheared and shamed. Sheared, shamed, alone. Where is your brother lamb? Where are the prizes promised to me?"
Dhole picked at the bandages lining her fingers. "Dead. Gone. My apologies are unadorned."
Abject Blue Insomnia
Fill the pouches with it when you're done. Twist the wires around the connectors. Don't push too hard, or it might go off early. You've got stuff to do before you die.
She only paused the work long enough to stuff an energy bar into her mouth and tie her black hair back. It had become shaggy and matted in recent months, but she was too busy to cut it. Sweat gathered on her forehead, sliding down through thick eyebrows before dripping to the floor. Busy. Numb. That's what she aspired to.
Twenty-Step Death March To UltraHell
"You’ve set fires for me before, Egret. This one will need to be even brighter."
"I’ll singe the sky, ma'am. I’ll burn the world down for you."
"If that’s what it takes to save it. We’re the only ones left who can, after all. You have your orders."
Staring Down the Barrel of a Sun
"You may call me the Houndmaster," said Ahmadi in her haughtiest tone. "I serve at the behest of Delta Command, of the group you know and fear as the Chaos Insurgency." The phone screamed again, this time vicious enough to send blood running from her nostrils. It had been decades since she tasted its like. "You should fear me too. My hand struck down a hundred of your mutts. I could do far worse."
Side Stories:
Heed the Hand That Feeds
Elizabeth ended up in the nurse's office again and again with hours missing from her mind. Days, sometimes. Weeks, occasionally. Other things quickly filled the gaps left behind. She lost a day and remembered a handful of French adverbs like they were seared into her brain. She lost a week and the series of motions to perform a shoulder throw became a new gospel. Others had the same experience. Rumors about the collective forgetting festered in the student body. The ones with the biggest mouths always forgot the most. Karma, or something like it. Elizabeth kept to herself more than most, but not so much that she failed to notice other students vanishing.
Fattening Stacks, Fashioning Stones
▓▓▒░▓'s fingers itched fiercely as she watched brighter lights streak across the night. Base to tip, tip to base, as though things crawled laps inside her. Nothing was there though. She had picked them raw enough times to see inside. Scratching offered little solace, but she did it all the same. An old reminder of older punishments.
Floral Arrangement Fundamentals: Chapter 26 - Calcified Hearts and Dental Oddities
A head of the same muck poured through, shape indeterminate. Reptilian, canine, and avian in turn, it stared at Tomoe with eyes unburdened by fermenting emotions. A child might have looked at her the same way. A pet might have, so long as it chewed with 155 mm shells and breathed Agent Orange.
Related Articles:
SCP-910: Dust, Embodied
SCP-910 is an 156-page book titled Organizational Symbology: New Tools for the Oldest Craft, which describes methods to transform mundane organizations into anomalous entities for use in thaumaturgic rituals. Approximately 10 copies of SCP-910 have been published yearly since 1955 by the Penn & Brooke Scribeworks (GoI-154). The author is listed as Erin Ahmadi, whose back-cover biography describes as a thaumaturgist and amateur botanist living in Hell, Michigan. No records of this individual have been located.
SCP-3985: Focus of a Regulatory Dispute
In the event that SCP-3985 vocalizes more frequently than a total of ten minutes per 24 hours or refers to itself in the first person, Protocol COMMANDMENT NOON is to be executed. In the event that COMMANDMENT NOON fails to achieve desired results, the Overseer Council is to be immediately notified through secure communication channels.
SCP-5656: DEEPWATER DOWNWELL
All known SCP-5656 instances are currently incorporated into the OKMGLOS full-spectrum surveillance network. This was accomplished following after implementing technologies derived from Project DEEPWATER DOWNWELL, as well as direct communication conducted under the auspices of the Overseer Council. Current OKMGLOS capabilities enable triangulation of any terrestrial entity emitting a thaumatic signature, encompassing 100% of the baseline human population and large portions of active anomalous entities.
SCP-4470: Endure
Under no circumstances are individuals within the purview of SCP-4470 to be exempted from currently implemented procedures. Authorization for enforcing mandatory treatment is derived from the original instating order, Administrator communication with Director of Foundation Internal Security, March 19, 1965. Mandatory treatment methods are to be determined at the discretion of MTF Alpha-1 OPCOM, and may include any means that do not directly counteract the objective of SCP-4470 implementation.
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