The First Door · Incarnate
I came back wrong. Three names had already moved into the body and left the lights burning. Nobody asked the meat. The Temple calls this mercy, and the Temple keeps the receipts. In other words: I have history.
blood ms.: I came back married. The vows predate the wedding by three thousand years. AE ALTADOON. night ms.: I came back unregistered. CODA has no line for me. Good.
The Second Door · Ash Math
The ash counts. Souljewel count: 78888-00-00-00-000, plus one every bell. Temple and treasury run one abacus between them. The ash ran the sum first: all go Under, all are carried, equal dust in every mouth.
blood ms.: The Empire counts twice and weeps in coin. Scheduled grief, gold denomination. night ms.: Check the ledger against the dust. The dust is never off by one.
The Third Door · Brass Saint
The shell prays. Brass tower, walking speed, TEM designate: NUMIDIUM. A thousand hands at the bellows and every hand believing something different. That is fuel enough. Love it carefully. It has already refuted better worlds than yours.
blood ms.: The saint still hungers. All gods are made this way: by hand, on purpose, over budget. night ms.: Nobody briefed the mouth.
The Fourth Door · Transmission
Send proof. Memospore relay, middle-air conditions permitting. Address it to the House of We; every other house forwards its mail to the fire. Sign with your wound. That seal still clears.
blood ms.: You were already named. The delivery predates the address. Refusal was never on the form. night ms.: The door opens inward. Witness fee: nothing. Notarization: everything.
Appendix · The Recovered Leaf
Also on this machine: Apocrypha, a searchable index of Gentoo overlay ebuilds.