Anthem by Ayn Rand – Sci-Fi Full Length Audiobook | A Provocative Tale of Individualism and Identity

Welcome to English audio books listen read and learn your gateway to Classic tales and learning dive into today’s story with the accompanying ebook linked below ready for an adventure in literature let’s begin the journey happy listening Anthem by on Rand part one it

Is a sin to write this it is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see it is base and evil it is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our

Own and we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone we have broken the laws the laws say that men may not write unless the Council of vocations bid them s may we be forgiven but this is not the only

Sin upon us we have committed a greater crime and for this crime there is no name what punishment awaits us if it be discovered we know not for No Such crime has come in the memory of men and there are no laws to provide for it it is dark

Here the flame of the candle stands still in the air nothing Moves In This tunnel SA our hand on the paper we alone here under the Earth it is a fearful word alone the laws say that none among men may be alone ever and at any time

For this is the great transgression and the root of all evil but we have broken many loss and now there is nothing here save our one body and it is strange to see only two legs stretched on the ground and on the wall before us the

Shadow of our one head the walls are cracked and water runs upon them in thin threads without sound black and glistening as blood we stole the candle from the Larder of the home of the street sweepers we shall be sentenced to 10 years in the Palace of corrective

Detention if it be discovered but this matters not it matters only that the light is precious and we should not waste it to right when we need it for that work which is our crime nothing matters save the work our secret our evil our precious work still we must

Also write for May the council have mercy upon us we wish to speak for once to no ears but our own our name is equality 7200 521 as it is written on the iron bracelet which all men wear on their left wrist with their names upon it we

Are 21 years old we are 6 feet tall and this is a burden for there are not many men who are 6 feet tall ever have the teachers and the leaders pointed to us and frowned and said there is evil in your bones equality 7221 for your body has grown beyond the

Bodies of your brothers but we cannot change our bones nor our body we were born with a curse it has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden it has always given us wishes which men may not wish we know that we are evil but

There is no will in us and no power to resist it this is our wonder and our secret fear that we know and do not resist we strive to be like all our brother men for all men must be alike over the portals of the Palace of the

World Council there are words cut in the marble which we repeat to ourselves whenever we are tempted We Are One in all and all in one there are no men but only the great we one one indivisible and forever we repeat this to ourselves but it helps us not these words were cut

Long ago there is green mold in the grooves of the letters and yellow streaks on the marble which come for more years than men could count and these words are the truth for they are written on the Palace of the World Council and the World Council is the

Body of all truth thus has it been ever since the great rebirth and farther back than that no memory can reach but we must never speak of the times before the great rebirth else we are sentenced to three years in the Palace of corrected detention it is only the old ones who

Whisper about it in the evenings in the home of the useless they whisper many strange things of the towers which rose to the sky and those unmentionable times and of the wagons which moved without horses and of the lights which burned without flame but those times were evil

And those times passed away when men saw the great truth which is this that all men are one and that there is no will save the will of all men together all men are good and wise it is only we equality 7221 we alone who were born with a curse

For we are not like our brothers and as we look back upon our life we see that it has ever been thus and that it has brought us step by step to our last Supreme transgression our crime of crimes hidden here under the ground we remember the home of the infants where

We lived till we were 5 years old together with all the children of the city who had been born in the same year the sleeping halls there were white and clean and be of all things save 100 beds we were just like all our brothers then save for the one transgression we fought

With our brothers there are few offenses blacker than to fight with our brothers at any age and for any cause whatsoever the Council of the home told us so and of all the children of that year we were locked in the cellar most often when we

Were 5 years old we were sent to the home of the students where there are 10 warts for our 10 years of learning Men Must Learn till they reach their 15th year then they go to work in the home of the students we arose when the big bell

Rang in the tower and and we went to our beds when it rang again before we removed our garments we stood in the great sleeping Hall and we raised our right arms and we set all together with the three teachers at the head we are nothing mankind is all by the grace of

Our brothers are we allowed our lives We Exist through by and for our brothers who are the state amen then we slept the sleeping Halls were white and clean and be of all things save 100 beds we equality 7252 were not happy those years in the

Home of the students it was not that the learning was too hard for us it was that the learning was too easy this is a great sin to be born with a head which is too quick it is not good to be different from our brothers but it is

Evil to be superior to them the teachers told us so and they frowned when they looked upon us so we fought against this curse we tried to forget our lessons but we always remembered we tried not to understand what the teachers taught but we always understood it before the

Teachers had spoken we looked upon you iion 539 92 who were a pale boy with only half a brain and we tried to say and do as they did that we might be like them like Union 539 92 but somehow the teachers knew that we were not and we

Were lashed more often than all the other children the teachers were just for they had been appointed by the councils and the councils are the voice of all Justice for they are the voice of all men and if sometimes in the secret darkness of our heart we regret that

Which beell us on our 15th birthday we know that it was through our own guilt we had broken a law for we had not paid he to the words of our teachers the teachers had said to us all dare not choose in your minds the work you would

Like to do when you leave the home of the students you shall do that which the Council of vocations shall prescribe for you for the Council of vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your brother men better than you can know it in your unworthy little minds

And if you’re not needed by your brother man there is no reason for you to burden the Earth with your bodies we knew this well in the years of our childhood but our curse broke our will we were guilty and we confess it here we were guilty of

The great transgression of preference we preferred some work and some lessons to the others we did not listen well to the history of all the councils elected since the great rebirth but we love the science of things we wish to know we wish to know about all the things which

Make the Earth around us we asked so many questions that the teachers forbade it we think that there are mysteries in the sky and under the water and in the plants which grow but the Council of Scholars has said that there are no Mysteries and the Council of Scholars

Knows all things and we learned much from our teachers we learned that the Earth is flat and that the sun revolves around it which causes the day and the night we learned the names of all the winds which blow over the seas and push the sails of our great ships we learned

How to bleed men to cure them of all ailments we love the science of things and in the darkness in the secret hour when we awoke in the night and there were no brothers around us but only their shapes in the beds and their snores we closed our eyes and we held

Our lips shut and we stopped our breath that no shutter might let our brothers see or hear or guess and we thought that we wish to be sent to the home of the scholars when our time would come all the great modern inventions come from the home of the scholars such as the

Newest one which was found only a hundred years ago of how to make candles from wax and string also how to make glass which is put in our Windows to protect us from the rain to find these things the scholars must study the Earth and learn from the rivers from the Sands

From the winds and the rocks and if we went to the home of the scholars we could learn from these also we could ask questions of these for they do not forbid questions and questions give us no rest we know not why our curse makes

Us seek we know not what ever and ever but we cannot resist it it Whispers to us that there are great things on this Earth of ours and that we can know them if we try and that we must know them we ask why must we know but it has no

Answer to give us we must know that we may know so we wish to be sent to the home of the scholars we wished it so much that our hands trembled under the blankets in the night and we bid our arm to stop that other pain which we could

Not endure it was evil and we dared not face our brothers in the morning for men may wish nothing for themselves and we were punished when the Council of vocations came to give us our life mandates which tell those who reached their 15th year what their work is to be

For the rest of their days the Council of vocations came on the first day of spring and they sat in the Great Hall and we who were 15 and all the teachers came into the Great Hall and the Council of vocations sat on a high dis and they

Had but two words to speak to each of the students they called the students names and when the students stepped before them one after another the council said Carpenter or doctor or cook or leader then each student raised their right arm and said the will of our

Brothers be done now if the council has said Carpenter or cook the students so assigned go to work and they do not study any further but if the council has said leader then those students go into the home of the leaders which is the greatest house in the city for it has

Three stories and there they study for many years so that they may become candidates and be elected to the city council and the state Council in the world Council by a free and general vote of all men but we wish not to be a leader even though it is a great honor

We wish to be a scholar so we awaited our turn in the great hall and then we heard the Council of vocs call our name and quality 7221 we walked to the deas and our legs did not tremble and we looked up at the council there were five members of the

Council three of the male gender and two of the female their hair was white and their faces were cracked as the clay of a dry riverbed they were old they seemed older than the marble of the Temple of the World Council they sat before us and

They did not move and we saw no breath to stir the folds of their white togus but we knew that they were alive for a finger of the hand of the oldest Rose pointed to us and fell down again this was the only thing which moved for the

Lips of the oldest did not move as they said street sweeper we felt the cords of our neck grow tied as our head Rose higher to look upon the faces of the council and we were happy we knew we had been guilty but now we had a way to

Atone for it we would accept our life mandate and we would work for our brothers gladly and willingly and we would erase our sin against them which they did not know but we knew so we were happy and proud of of ourselves and of our victory over ourselves we raised our

Right arm and we spoke and our voice was the clearest the steadiest voice in the hall that day and we said the will of our brothers be done and we looked straight into the eyes of the council but their eyes were as cold blue glass

Buttons so we went into the home of the street sweepers it is a gray house on a narrow Street there is a sundal in its Courtyard by which the Council of the home can tell the hours of the day and when to ring the bell when the bell

Rings we all rise from our beds the sky is green and cold in our windows to the east the shadow on the Sund dial marks off a half hour while we dress and eat our breakfast in the dining hall where there are five long tables with 20 clay

Plates and 20 clay cups on each table then we go to work in the streets of the city with our brooms and our rakes in 5 hours when the sun is high we return to the home and we eat our midday meal for which 1 half hour is allowed then we go

To work again in 5 hours the Shadows are blue on the pavement and the sky is blue with a deep brightness which is not bright we come back to have our dinner which lasts 1 hour then the bell rings and we walk in a straight column to one of the city

Halls for the social meeting other Columns of men arrive from the homes of the different trades the candles are lit and the councils of the different hom stand In a Pulpit and they speak to us of our duties and of our brother men then visiting leaders Mount the pulpit

And they read to us the speeches which were made in the city council that day for the city council represents all men and all men must know then we sing hymns the hym of Brotherhood and the hym of equality and the hym of the collective

Spirit the sky is a soggy purple when we return to the home then the bell rings and we walk in a straight column to the city theater for 3 hours of social Recreation there a play is shown upon the stage with two great choruses from the home of the actors which speak and

Answer all together in two great voices the plays are about Toil and how good it is then we walk back to the home in a straight column the sky is like a black C pierced by silver drops that tremble ready to burst through the moths speed

Against the street lanterns we go to our beds and we sleep till the Bell Rings again the sleeping Halls are white and clean and be of all things save 100 beds th that we lived each day of 4 years until two Springs ago when our crime happened thus must all men live until

They are 40 at 40 they are worn out at 40 they are sent to the home of the useless where the old ones live the old ones do not work for the state takes care of them they sit in the sun in summer and they sit by the fire in

Winter they do not speak often for they are weary the old ones know that they are soon to die when a miracle happens and some live to be 45 they are the ancient ones and the children stare at them when passing by the home of the

Useless such as to be our life as that of all our brothers and of the brothers who came before us such would have been our life had we not committed our crime which changed all things for us and it was our curse which drove us to our

Crime we had been a good street sweeper and like all our brother street sweepers save for our cursed wish to know we looked too long at the stars at night and at the trees in the earth and when we cleaned the yard of the home of the

Scholars we gathered the glass vials the pieces of metal the dried bones which they had discarded we wished to keep these things and to study them but we had no place to hide them so we carried them to the city Cesspool and then we made the discovery it was on a day of

The spring before last we street sweepers work in brigades of three and we were with Union 5 3992 they have the halfrain and with International 4 8,818 now Union 5 3992 are a sickly lad and sometimes they are stricken with convulsions when their mouth froths and their eyes turn white but International 4

8,818 are different they are a tall strong Youth and their eyes are like fireflies for there is laughter in their eyes we cannot look upon International 4 8,818 and not smile in answer for this they were not liked in the home of the students as it is not proper to smile

Without reason and also they were not liked because they took pieces of coal and they drew pictures upon the walls and they were pictures which made men laugh but it is only our brothers in the home of the artists who are permitted to draw pictures so International 4

8,818 were sent to the home of the street sweepers like ourselves International 4 8,818 and we are France this is an evil thing to say for it is a transgression the great transgression of preference to love any among men better than the others since we must love all men and

All men are our friends so International 4 8,818 and we have never spoken of it but we know we know when we look into each other’s eyes and when we look thus without words we both know other things also strange things for which there are no words and these things frighten us so

On that day of the spring before last Union 5 3992 were stricken with convulsions on the edge of the city near the city theater we left them to lie in the shade of the theater tent and we went with International 4 8,818 to finish our work we came

Together to the great Ravine behind the theater it is empty safe for trees and Wheats beyond the Ravine there is a plane and Beyond the plain there lies the Uncharted Forest about which men must not think we were gathering the papers and the rags which the wind had

Blown from the theater when we saw an iron bar among the weeds it was old and rusted by many rains we pulled with all our strength but we could not move it so we called International 4 8,818 and together we scraped the Earth around the bar of a sudden the Earth

Fell in before us and we saw an old iron grill over a black hole International 4 8,818 steep back but we pulled at the grill and it gave way and then we saw iron rings as steps leading down a shaft into a Darkness without bottom we shall

Go down we said to International for 8,818 it is forbidden they answered we said the council does not know of this whole so it cannot be forbidden and they answered since the council does not know of this whole there can be no law permitting to enter it and everything

Which is not permitted by law is forbidden but we said we shall go nonetheless they were frightened but they stood by and watched us go we hung on the iron rings with our hands and our feet we could see nothing below us and above us the hole open upon the sky grew

Smaller and smaller till it came to be the size of a button but still we went down then our foot touched the ground we rubbed our eyes for we could not see then our eyes became used to the darkness but we could not believe what

We saw no men known to us could have built this place nor the men known to our brothers who lived before us and yet it was built by men it was a great tunnel its walls were hard and smooth to the touch it felt like Stone but it was not Stone

On the ground there were long thin tracks of iron but it was not iron it felt smooth and cold as glass we knelt and we crawled forward our hand groping along the iron line to see where it would lead but there was an unbroken night ahead only the iron tracks glowed

Through it straight and white calling us to follow but we could not follow for we were losing the puddle of light behind us so we turned and we crawled back our hand on the iron line and our heartbeat in our fingertips without reason and and then we knew we knew suddenly that this

Place was left from the unmentionable times so it was true and those times had been and all the wonders of those times hundreds upon hundreds of years ago men knew Secrets which we have lost and we thought this is a foul place they are damned who touched the things of the

Unmentionable times but our hand which followed the track as we crawled clung to the iron as if it would not leave it as if the skin of our hand were thirsty and begging of the metal some secret fluid beating in its coldness we were returned to the Earth International 4

8,818 looked upon us and stepped back equality 7252 they said your face is white but we could not speak and we stood looking upon them they backed away as if they dared not touch us then they smiled but it was not a gay smile it was lost and

Pleading but still we could not speak then they said we shall report our find to the city council and both of us will be rewarded and then we spoke our voice was hard and there was no mercy in our voice we said we shall not report our F

To the city council we shall not report it to any man they raised their hands to their ears for never had they heard such words as these International 4 8,818 we asked will you report us to the council and see us lash to death before your eyes they stood straight all of a

Sudden and they answered rather would we die then we said keep silent this place is ours this place belongs to us equality 7252 and to no other men on Earth and if ever we surrender it we shall surrender our life with it also then we saw that the eyes of international 4

8,818 were full to the lids with tears they dared not drop they whispered and their voice trembled so that their words lost all shape the will of the council is above all things for it is the will of our brothers which is holy but if you

Wish it so we shall obey you rather shall we be evil with you than good with all our Brothers May the council have mercy upon both our hearts then we walked away together and back to the home of the street sweepers and we walked in silence thus did it come to

Pass that each night when the stars are high and the street sweepers sit in the city theater we equality 7221 steal out and run through the darkness to her place it is easy to leave the theater when the candles are blown out and the actors come on to the

Stage no eyes can see us as we crawl under our seat and under the cloth of the tent it is easy to steal through the shadows and fall in line next to International 4 8,818 as the column leaves the theater it is dark in the streets and there are

No men about for no men may walk through the city when they have no mission to walk there each night we run to the Ravine and we remove the stones which we have piled upon the iron grill to hide it from the men each night for 3 hours

We are under the Earth alone we have stolen candles from the home of the street sweepers we have stolen flints and knives and paper and we have brought them to this place we have stolen glass vials and powders and acids from the home of the scholars now we sit in the

Tunnel for 3 hours each night and we study we melt strange metals and we mix acids and we cut open the bodies of the animals which we find in the city Cesspool we have built an oven of the bricks we gathered in the streets we

Burn the w we find in the Ravine the fire flickers in the oven and blue Shadows dance upon the walls and there is no sound of men to disturb us we have stolen manuscripts this is a great offense manuscripts are precious for our brothers in the home of the clerk spend

One year to copy one single script in their clear handwriting manuscripts are rare and they are kept in the home of the scholars so we sit under the Earth and we read the stolen scripts two years have passed since we found this place and in these two years we have learned

More than we had learned in the 10 years of the home of the students we have learned things which are not in the scripts we have solved secrets of which the scholars have no knowledge we have come to see how great is the unexplored and many lifetimes will not

Bring us to the end of our Quest but we wish no end to our Quest We wish nothing save to be alone and to learn and to feel as if with each day our sight were growing sharper than the Hawks and clearer than rock crystal strange are

The ways of evil we are false in the faces of our brothers we are defying the will of our counsels we alone of the thousands who walk this Earth we alone in this hour are doing a work which has no purpose save that we wish to do it

The evil of our crime is not for the human mind to probe the nature of our punishment if it be discovered is not for the human heart to ponder never not in the memory of the ancient ones ancients never have men done that which we are doing and yet there is no shame

In us and no regret we say to ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor but we feel no burden upon our spirit and no fear in our heart and it seems to us that our spirit is clear as a lake troubled by no eyes save those of the

Sun and in our heart strange are the ways of evil in our heart there is the first piece we have known in 20 years part two liberty 53000 liberty 53000 liberty 53000 we wish to write this name we wish to speak it but we dare not speak it

Above a whisper for men are forbidden to take notice of women and women are forbidden to take notice of men but we think of one among women that whose name is liberty 53000 and we think of no others the women who have been assigned to work the soil live in the homes of

The peasants beyond the city where the city ends there is a great Road winding off to the north and we street sweepers must keep this road clean to the first mile poost there is a hedge along the road and Beyond The Hedge lie the fields the fields are black and plowed and they

Lie like a great fan before us with their furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky spreading forth from that hand opening wide apart as they come toward us like black plates that Sparkle with thin green Spangles women work in the field fields and their white tunics

In the wind are like the wings of seag gulls beating over the black soil and there it was that we saw Liberty 5 3000 walking along the furrow their body was straight and thin as a blade of iron Their Eyes Were dark and hard and glowing with no fear in them no kindness

And no guilt their hair was golden as the sun their hair flew in the wind shining and wild as if it defied men to restrain it they threw seeds from their hand as if they dained to fling a scornful gift in the Earth was a beggar

Under their feet feat we stood still for the first time did we know fear and then pain and we stood still that we might not spill this pain more precious than pleasure then we heard a voice from the others call their name Liberty 53000 and they turned and walked back thus we

Learned their name and we stood watching them go till their white tunic was lost in the blue mist and the following day as we came to the Northern Road we kept our eyes upon Liberty 5 3000 in the field and each day thereafter we knew the illness of waiting for our hour on

The Northern Road and there we looked at Liberty 5 3000 each day we know not whether they looked at us also but we think they did then one day they came close to the Hedge and suddenly they turned to us they turned in a whirl and the movement of their

Body stopped as if slashed off as suddenly as it had started they stood still as a stone and they looked straight Upon Us straight into our eyes there was no smile on their face and no welcome but their face was taut and their eyes were dark then they turned as

Swiftly and they walked away from us but the following day when we came to the road they smiled they smiled to us and for us and we smiled in answer their head fell back and their arms fell as if their arms and their thin white neck were stricken suddenly with a great

Lassitude they were not looking upon us but upon the sky then they glanced at us over their shoulder as we felt as if a hand had touched our body slipping softly from our lips to our feet every morning thereafter we greeted each other with our eyes we dared not speak it is a

Transgression to speak to Men of other trades save in groups at the social meetings but once standing at the Hedge we raised our hand to our forehead and then moved it slowly palmed down toward Liberty 53000 had the others seen it they could have guessed nothing for it

Looked only as if we were shading our eyes from the Sun but Liberty 5 3000 saw it and understood they raised their hand to their forehead and moved it as we had thus each day we greet Liberty 5 3000 and they answer and no men can suspect

We do not Wonder at this new sin of ours it is our second transgression of preference for we do not think of all our brothers as we must but only of one and their name is Liberty 5 3000 we do not know why we think of them we do not

Know why when we think of them we feel all of a sudden that the Earth is good and that it is not a burden to live we do not think of them as Liberty 5 3000 any longer we have given them a name in our thoughts we call them the golden one

But it is a sin to give men names which distinguish them from from other men yet we call them the golden one for they are not like the others the golden one are not like the others and we take no heed of the law which says that men may not

Think of women save at the time of mating this is the time each spring when all the men older than 20 and all the women older than 18 are sent for one night to the city Palace of mating and each of the men have one of the women

Assigned to them by the Council of eugenics children are born each winter but women never see their children and children never know their parents twice have we been s into the Palace of mating but it is an ugly and shameful matter of which we do not like to think we had

Broken so many laws and today we have broken one more today we spoke to the Golden One the other women were far off in the field when we stopped at the Hedge by the side of the road the golden one were kneeling alone at the moat which runs through the field and the

Drops of water falling from their hands as they raised the water to their lips were like Sparks of fire in the sun then the golden one saw us and they did not move kneeling there looking at us and Circles of light played upon their white

Tunic from the Sun on the water of the moat and one sparkling drop fell from a finger of their hand held as Frozen in the air then the golden one rose and walked to the Hedge as if they had heard a command in our eyes the two other

Street sweepers of our Brigade were 100 Paces away down the road and we thought that International 4 8,818 would not betray us and Union 5 3,992 would not understand so we looked straight up on the golden one and we saw the shadows of their lashes on their

White cheeks and the Sparks of sun on their lips and we said you are beautiful Liberty 53000 their face did not move and they did not avert Their Eyes Only their eyes grew wider and there was Triumph in their eyes and it was not triumph over us but over things we could

Not guess then they asked what is your name equality 7252 we answered you are not one of our brothers equality 725 21 for we do not wish you to be we cannot say what they meant for there are no words for their meaning but we know it without words and

We knew it then no we answered nor are you one of our sisters if you see us among scores of women will you look upon us we shall look upon you Liberty 53000 if we see you among all the women of the earth then they asked are street

Sweepers sent to different parts of the city or do they always work in the same places they always work in the same places we answer Ed and no one will take this road away from us your eyes they said are not like the eyes of any among

Men and suddenly without cause for the thought which came to us we felt cold cold to our stomach how old are you we asked they understood our thought for they lowered Their Eyes For the First Time 17 they whispered and we sighed as if a burden had been taken from us for

We had been thinking without reason of the Palace of mating and we thought that we would not let the golden one be sent to the Palace how to prevent vented how to bar the will of the councils we knew not but we knew suddenly that we would

Only we do not know why such thought came to us for these ugly matters bear no relation to us and the golden one What relation can they bear still without reason as we stood there by the Hedge we felt our lips drawn tight with hatred a sudden hatred for all our

Brother men and the golden one saw it and smiled slowly and there was in their smile the first sadness we had seen in them we think that in the wisdom of women the golden one had understood more than we can understand then three of the sisters in the field appeared coming

Toward the road so the golden one walked away from us they took the bag of seeds and they threw the seeds into the furrows of Earth as they walked away but the seeds flew wildly for the hand of the golden one was trembling yet as we

Walked back to the home of the street sweepers we felt that we wanted to sing without reason so we were reprimanded tonight in the dining hall for without knowing it we had begun to sing aloud some tune we had never heard but it is not proper to sing without reason save

At the social meetings we are singing because we are happy we answered the one of the home Council who reprimanded us indeed you are happy they answered how else can men be when they live for their brothers and now sitting here in our tunnel we wonder about these words it is

Forbidden not to be happy for as it has been explained to us men are free and the Earth belongs to them and all things on earth belong to all men and the will of all men together is good for all and so all men must be happy yet as we stand

At night in the Great Hall removing our garments for sleep we look upon our brothers and we wonder the heads of our brothers are bowed the eyes of our brothers are dull and never do they look one another in the eyes the shoulders of our brothers are hunched and their

Muscles are drawn as if their bodies were shrinking and wish to shrink out of sight and a word steals into our mind as we look upon our brothers and that word is fear there is fear hanging in the air of the sleeping halls and in the air of

The streets fear walks through the city fear without name name without shape all men feel it and none dare to speak we feel it also when we are in the home of the street sweepers but here in our tunnel we feel it no longer the air is

Pure under the ground there is no odor of men and these three hours give us strength for our hours above the ground our body is betraying us for the Council of the home looks with suspicion upon us it is not good to feel too much joy nor

To be glad that our body lifts for we matter not and it must not matter to us whether we live or die I which is to be as our brothers will it but we equality 7221 are glad to be living if this is a vice then we wish no virtue yet our

Brothers are not like us all is not well with our brothers there are fraternity 25503 a quiet boy with wise kind eyes who cry suddenly without reason in the midst of day or night and their body shakes with sobs they cannot explain there are solidarity 9

6347 who are a bright youth without fear in the day but they scream in their sleep and they scream help us help us help us into the night in a voice which chills our bones but the doctors cannot cure solidarity 9 6347 and as we all undress at night in

The dim light of the candles our brothers are silent for they dare not speak the thoughts of their minds for all must agree with all and they cannot know if their thoughts are the thoughts of all and so they fear to speak and they are glad when the candles are blown

For the night but we if quality 7252 look through the window upon the sky and there is peace in the sky and cleanliness and dignity and Beyond the city there lies the plain and Beyond the plain black upon the black Sky there lies the Uncharted Forest we do not wish

To look upon the Uncharted Forest we do not wish to think of it but ever do our eyes return to that black patch upon the sky men never enter the Uncharted forest for there is no power to explore it and no path to lead among its ancient trees

Which stand as guards of fearful Secrets it is whispered that once or twice in a hundred years one among the men of the City Escape alone and run to the Uncharted Forest without call or Reason these men do not return they perish from hunger and from the claws of the wild

Beasts which roam the forest but our councils say that this is only a legend we have heard that there are many Uncharted forests over the land among the cities and it is whispered that they have grown over the ruins of many cities of the unmentionable times the trees

Have swallowed the ruins and the bones under the ruins and all the things which perished and as we look upon the Uncharted Forest far in the night we think of the secrets of the unmentionable times and we wonder how it came to pass that these secrets were

Lost to the world we have heard the legends of the great fighting in which many men fought on one side and only a few on the other these few were the evil ones and they were conquered then great fires raged over the land and in these

Fires the evil ones and all the things made by the evil ones were burned and the the fire which is called the dawn of the great rebirth was the script fire where all the scripts of the evil ones were burned and with them all the words of the evil ones great mountains of

Flames stood in the squares of the cities for three months then came the great rebirth the words of the evil ones the words of the unmentionable times what are the words which we have lost May the council have mercy upon us we had no wish to write such a question and

We knew not what we were doing till we had written it we shall not ask this question and we shall not think it we shall not call death upon our head and yet and yet there is some word one single word which is not in the language

Of men but which had been and this is the Unspeakable word which no men may speak nor hear but sometimes and it is rare sometimes somewhere when among men find that word they find it upon scraps of old manuscripts or cut into the fragments of ancient stones but when

They speak it they are put to death there is no crime punished by death in this world save this one crime of speaking the Unspeakable word we have seen one of such men burned alive in the square of the city and it was a sight which has stayed with us through the

Years and it haunts us and follows us and it gives us no rest we were a child then 10 years old and we stood in the great square with all the children and all the men of the city sent to Behold The Burning they brought the transgressor out into the square and

They LED them to the py they had torn out the tongue of the transgressor so that they could speak no longer the transgressor were young and Tall they had hair of gold and eyes blue as morning they walked to the py and their step did not falter and of all the faces

On that square of all the faces which shrieked and screamed and spat curses upon them theirs was the calmest and the happiest face as the chains were wound over their body at the stake in a flame set to the py the transgressor looked upon the city there was a thin thread of

Blood running from the corner of their mouth but their lips were smiling and a monstrous thought came to us then which has never left us we had heard of saints there are the Saints of Labor and the Saints of the councils and the Saints of the great rebirth but we had never seen

A saint nor what the likeness of a saint should be and we thought then standing in the Square that the likeness of a saint was the face we saw before us in the Flames the face of the transgressor of the Unspeakable word as the Flames Rose a thing happened which no eyes saw

But ours else we would not be living today perhaps it had only seemed to us but it seemed to us that the eyes of the trans ressor had chosen us from the crowd and were looking straight upon us there was no pain in their eyes and no

Knowledge of the agony of their body there was only joy in them and pride a pride holier than is fit for human Pride to be and it seemed as if these eyes were trying to tell us something Through the flames to send into our eyes some

Word without sound and it seemed as if these eyes were begging us to gather that word and not to let it go from us and from the Earth but the Flames Rose and we could not guess the word what even if we have to burn for it like the

S of the P what is the Unspeakable word part three we equality 7221 have discovered a new power of nature and we have discovered it alone and we alone are to know it it is said now let us be lashed for it if we must the Council of Scholars has said that we

All know the things which exist and therefore the things which are not known by all do not exist but we think that the Council of Scholars is blind the secrets of this Earth are not for all men to see but only for those who will

See them we know for we have found a secret unknown to all our brothers we know not what this power is nor once it comes but we know its nature we have watched it and worked with it we saw it first two years ago one night we were

Cutting open the body of a dead frog when we saw its leg jerking it was dead yet it moved some power unknown to men was making it move we could not understand it then after many tests we found the answer the Frog had been hanging on a wire of copper and it had

Been the metal of our night knif which had sent the strange power to the Copper through the brine of the Frog’s body we put a piece of copper and a piece of zinc into a jar of brine we touched a wire to them and there under our fingers

Was a miracle which had never occurred before a new miracle and a new power this discovery haunted us we followed it in preference to all our studies we worked with it we tested it in more ways than we can describe and each step was as another miracle unveiling before us

We came to know that we had found the greatest power on on Earth for it defies all the laws known to men it makes the needle move and turn on the compass which we stole from the home of the scholars but we had been taught when

Still a child that the load Stone points to the north and that this is a law which nothing can change yet our new power defies all loss we found that it causes lightning and never have men known what causes lightning in thunderstorms we raised a tall Rod of

Iron by the side of our hole and we watched it from below we have seen the lightning strike it again and again and now we know that metal draws the power of the sky and that metal can be made to give it forth we have built strange

Things with this discovery of ours we used for it the copper wires which we found here under the ground we have walked the length of our tunnel with a candle lighting the way we could go no farther than half a mile for Earth and rock had fallen at both ends but we

Gathered all the things we found and we brought them to our workplace we found strange boxes with bars of metal inside with many cords and strands and coils of metal we found wires that led to Strange little Globes of Glass on the walls they contain threads of metal thinner than a

Spider’s web these things help us in our work we do not understand them but we think that the men of the unmentionable times had known our power of the sky and these things had some relation to it we do not know but we shall learn we cannot

Stop now even though it frightens us that we are alone in our knowledge no single one can possess greater wisdom than the many scholars who are elected by all men for their wisdom yet we can we do we have fought against saying it but now it is said we do not care we

Forget all men all laws and all things save our medals and our wires so much is still to be learned so long a road lies before us and what care we if we must travel it alone part four many days passed before we could speak to the

Golden one again but then came the day when the sky turned white as if the sun had burst and spread its flame in the air and the fields lay still without breath and the dust of the road was white in the glow so the women of the

Field were weary and they tarried over their work and they were far from the road when we came but the golden one stood alone at the Hedge waiting we stopped and we saw that their eyes so hard and scornful to the world were looking at us as if they would obey any

Word we might speak and we said we have given you a name in our thoughts Liberty 53000 what is our name they asked the golden one nor do we call you equality 7221 when we think of you what name have you given us they looked straight into

Our eyes and they held their head high and they answered the unconquered for a long time we could not speak then we said such thoughts as these are forbidden golden one but you think such thoughts as these and you wish us to think them we looked into their eyes and

We could not lie yes we whispered and they smiled and then we said our dearest one do not obey us they stepped back and their eyes were wide and still speak these words again they whispered which words we asked but they did not answer and we knew it our dearest one we

Whispered never have men said this to women the head of the golden one bowed slowly and they Stood Still before us their arms at their sides the palms of their hands turned to us as if their body were delivered in submission to our eyes and we could not speak then they

Raised their head and they spoke simply and gently as if they wished us to forget some anxiety of their own the day is hot they said and you have worked for many hours and you must be weary no we answered it is cooler in the fields they

Said and there is water to drink are you thirsty yes we answered but we cannot cross the hch we shall bring the water to you they said then they knelt by the moat they gathered water in their two hands they Rose and they held the water

Out to our lips we do not know if we drank that water we only knew suddenly that their hands were empty but we were still holding our lips to their hands and that they knew it but did not move we raised our head and step back for we

Did not understand what had made us do this and we were afraid to understand it and the golden one stepped back and stood looking upon their hands in Wonder then the golden one moved away even though no others were coming and they moved stepping back as if they could not

Turn from us their arms bent before them as if they could not lower their hands part five we made it we created it we brought it forth from the night of the ages we alone our hands our mind ours alone alone and Only We Know not what we

Are saying our head is reeling we look upon the light which we have made we shall be forgiven for anything we say tonight tonight after more days and trials than we can count we finished building a strange thing from the remains of the unmentionable times a box

Of glass devised to give forth the power of the sky of Greater strength than we had ever achieved before and when we put our wires to this box when we closed the current the wire glowed it came to life it turned red and a circle of light lay

On the stone before us we stood and we held our head in our hands we could not conceive of that which we had created we had touched no Flint made no fire yet here was light light that came from nowhere light from the heart of metal we blew out the candle Darkness swallowed

Us there was nothing left around us nothing saved night and a thin thread of flame in it as a crack in the wall of a prison we stretched our hands to the wire and we saw our fingers in the red glow we could not see our body body nor

Feel it and in that moment nothing existed save our two hands over a wire glowing in a black abyss then we thought of the meaning of that which lay before us we can light our tunnel and the city and all the cities of the world with

Nothing save metal and wires we can give our brothers a new light cleaner and brighter than any they have ever known the power of the sky can be made to do men’s bidding there are no limits to its secrets and its might and it can be made

To grant us anything if we but choose to ask then we knew what we must do our Discovery is too great for us to waste our time in sweeping the streets we must not keep our secret to ourselves nor buried under the ground we must bring it

Into the sight of all men we need all our time we need the work rooms of the home of the scholars we want the help of our brother Scholars and their wisdom joined to ours there is so much work ahead for all of us for all the scholars

Of the world in a month the World Council of Scholars is to meet in our city it is a great Council to which the wisest of all lands are elected and it meets once a year in the different cities of the earth we shall go to this

Council and we shall lay before them as our gift this glass box with the power of the sky we shall confess everything to them they will see understand and forgive for our gift is greater than our transgression they will explain it to the Council of vocations and we shall be

Assigned to the home of the scholars this has never been done before but neither has a gift such as ours ever been offered to men we must wait we must guard our tunnel as we had never guarded it before for should any men save the scholars learn of our secret they would

Not understand it nor would they believe us they would see nothing save our crime of working alone and they would destroy us in our light We Care not about our body but our light is yes we do care for the first time do we care about our body

For this wire is as a part of our body as a vein torn from us glowing with our blood are we proud of this threat of metal or of our hands which made it or is there a line to divide these two we stretch out our arms for the first time

Do we know how strong our arms are and a strange thought comes to us we wonder for the first time in our life what we look like men never see their own faces and never ask their brothers about it for it is evil to have concern for their

Own faces or bodies but tonight for a reason we cannot fathom we wish it were possible to us to know the likeness of our own person part six we have not written for 30 days for 30 days we have not been here in our tunnel we had been

Thought it happened on that night when we wrote last we forgot that night to watch the sand in the glass which tells us when 3 hours have passed and it is time to return to the city theater when we remembered it the sand had run out we

Hastened to the theater but the big tent stood gray and Silent against the sky the streets of the city lay before us dark and empty if we went back to hide in our tunnel we would be found and our light found with us so we walked to the

Home of the street sweepers when the Council of the home questioned us us we looked upon the faces of the council but there was no curiosity in those faces and no anger and no mercy so when the oldest of them asked us where have you

Been we thought of our glass box and of our light and we forgot all else and we answered we will not tell you the oldest did not question us further they turned to the two youngest and said and their voice was bored take our brother equality 7252 to the Palace of corrected

Detention lash them until they tell so we were taken to the stone room under the Palace of corrective detention this room has no windows and it is empty save for an iron post two men stood by the post naked but for leather aprons and leather hoods over their faces those who

Had brought us departed leaving us to the two judges who stood in a corner of the room the judges were small thin men gray and bent they gave the signal to the two strong hooded ones they tore the clothes from our body they threw us down

Upon our knees and they tied our hands to the iron post the first blow of the Lash felt as if our spine had been cut in two the second blow stopped the first and for a second we felt nothing then the pain struck us in our throat and

Fire ran in our lungs without air but we did not cry out the Lash whistled like a singing wind we tried to count the blows but we lost count we knew that the blows were falling Upon Our back only we felt nothing Upon Our back any longer a

Flaming Grill kept dancing before our eyes and we thought of nothing save that grill a grill a grill of red squares and then we knew that we were looking at the squares of the Iron Grill in the door and there were also the squares of stone

On the walls and the squares which the Lash was cutting Upon Our back Crossing and recrossing itself in our flesh then we saw a fist before us it knocked our chin up and we saw the red froth of our mouth on the withered fingers and the

Judge asked where have you been but we jerked our head away hid our face Upon Our tide hands and bit our lips the Lash whistled again we wondered who was sprinkling burning coold dust upon the the floor for we saw drops of red twinkling on the stones around us then

We knew nothing save two voices snarling steadily one after the other even though we knew they were speaking many minutes apart where have you been where have you been where have you been where have you been and our lips moved but the sound trickled back into our throat and the

Sound was only the light the light the light then we knew nothing we opened our eyes lying on our stomach on the brick floor of a cell we looked upon two hands lying far before us on the bricks and we moved them and we knew that they were

Our hands but we could not move our body then we smiled for we thought of the light and that we had not betrayed it we lay in our cell for many days the door opened twice each day once for the men who brought us bread and water and once

For the judges many judges came to our cell first the humblest and then the most honored judges of the city they stood before us in their white togus and they asked are you ready to speak but we shook our head lying before them on the floor and they departed we counted each

Day and each night as it passed then tonight we knew that we must escape for tomorrow the World Council of Scholars is to meet in our city it was easy to escape from the Palace of corrective detention the locks are old on the doors and there are no guards about there is

No reason to have guards for men have never defied the council so far as to escape from whatever place they were ordered to be our body is healthy and strength returns to it speedily we lunged against the door and it gave way we stole through the dark passages and

Through the dark streets and down into our tunnel we lit the candle and we saw that our place had not been found and nothing had been touched and our glass box stood before us on the cold oven as we had left it what matter they now the

Scars Upon Our back tomorrow in the full light of day we shall take our box and leave our Tunnel open and walk through the streets to the home of the scholars we shall put before them the greatest gift ever offered to Men We Shall tell them that the truth we shall hand to

Them as our confession these Pages we have written we shall join our hands to theirs and we shall work together with the power of the sky for the glory of mankind our blessing upon you our brothers tomorrow you will take us back into your fold and we shall be an

Outcast no longer tomorrow we shall be one of you again tomorrow part seven it is dark here in the forest the leaves rustle over our head black against the last gold of the sky the Moss is soft and warm we shall sleep on this Moss for many nights till the beasts of the

Forest come to tear our body we have no bed now save the Moss and no future say the beasts we are old now yet we were young this morning when we carried our glass box through the streets of the city to the home of the scholars no men

Stopped us for there were none about from the Palace of corrective detention and the others knew nothing no men stopped us at the gate we walked through empty passages and into the Great Hall where the World Council of Scholars sat and Sol meeting we saw nothing as we

Entered save the sky and the Great Windows blue and glowing then we saw the scholars who sat around a long table they were as shapeless clouds huddled at the rise of the great Sky there were men whose famous names we knew and others from distant lands whose names we had

Not heard we saw a great painting on the wall over their heads of the 20 illustrious men who had invented the candle all the heads of the council turned to us as we entered these great and wise of the earth did not know what to think of us and they looked upon us

With wonder and curiosity as if we were a miracle it is true that our tunic was torn and stained with brown stains which had been blood we raised our right arm and we said our greeting to you our honored Brothers of the World Council of Scholars then Collective

00009 the oldest and wisest of the council spoke and asked who are you our brother for you do not look like a scholar our name is equality 7221 we answered and we are a street sweeper of this city then it was as if a great wind had stricken the hall for all

The scholars spoke at once and they were angry and frightened a street sweeper a street sweeper walking in upon the World Council of Scholars it is not to be believed it is against all the rules and all the loss but we knew how to stop them our brothers we said we matter not

Nor our transgression it is only our brother men who matter give no thought to us for we are nothing but listen to our words for we bring you a gift as had never been brought to men listen to us for we hold the future of mankind in our

Hands then they listened we placed our glass box upon the table before them we spoke of it and of our long Quest and of our tunnel and of our escape from the Palace of corrected detention not a hand moved in that Hall as we spoke nor and I

Then we put the wires to the box and they all bent forward and sat still watching and we stood still our eyes upon the wire and slowly slowly as a flush of blood a red flame trembled in The Wire then the wire glowed but Terror struck the men of the council they leapt

To their feet they ran from the table and they stood pressed against the wall huddled together seeking the warmth of one another’s bodies to give them courage we looked upon them and we laughed and said fear nothing our brothers there is a great power in these

Wires but this power is tamed it is yours we give it to you still they would not move we give you the power of the sky we cried we give you the key to the Earth take it and let us be one of you the humblest among you let us all work

Together and harness this power and make it ease the toil of men let us throw away our candles and our torches let us flood our cities with light let us bring a new light to men but they looked upon us and suddenly we were afraid for their

Eyes were still and small and evil our brothers we cried have you nothing to say to us then Collective 00009 moved forward they moved to the table and the others followed yes spoke Collective 00009 we have much to say to you the sound of their voices brought silence to

The hall and a Beat of our heart yes said Collective 00009 we have much to say to a wretch who have broken all the laws and who boasted their infamy how dared you think that your mind held greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers and if the

Councils had decreed that you should be a street sweeper how dared you think that you could be of Greater use to men than in sweeping the streets how dare you gutter cleaner spoke fraternity 93452 to hold yourself as one alone and with the thoughts of the one and not of

The many you shall be burned at the stake said democracy 4 6,998 no they shall be lashed said unanimity 73304 Till There is nothing left under the lashes no said Collective 00009 we cannot decide upon this our brothers no such crime has ever been committed and it is not for us to judge

Jut nor for any small Council we shall deliver this creature to the World Council itself and let there will be done we looked upon them and we pleaded our brothers you are right let the will of the council be done upon our body we do not care but the light what will you

Do with the light Collective 00009 looked upon us and they smiled so you think that you have found a new power said Collective 00009 do all your brothers think that no we answered what is not thought by all men cannot be true said Collective 00009 you have worked on this alone asked International

15537 many men in the homes of the scholars have had strange new ideas in the past said solidarity 8164 but when the majority of their brother Scholars voted against them they abandoned their ideas as all men must this box is useless said Alliance 6734 should it be what they claim of it

Said Harmony 92 642 then it would bring ruin to the Department of candles the candle is a great Boon to mankind as approved by all men therefore it cannot be destroyed by the whim of one this would wreck the plans of the World Council said unanimity

29913 and without the plans of the World Council the sun cannot rise it took 50 years to secure the approval of all the councils for the candle and to decide upon the number needed and to refit the plans so as to make candles instead of torches this touched upon thousands and

Thousands of men working in scores of States we cannot alter the plans against so soon and if this should lighten the toil of men said similarity 50306 then it is a great evil for men have no cause to exist save in toiling for other men then Collective

00009 Rose and pointed at our box this thing they said must be destroyed and all the others cried as one it must be destroyed then we leapt to the table we seized our box we shoved them aside and we ran to the window we turned and

We looked at them for the last time in a rage such as it is not fit for humans to know choked our voice in our throat you fools we cried you fools you thri stamp fools we swung our fist through the window pane and we leapt out in a

Ringing rain of glass we fell but we never let the Box fall from our hands then we ran we ran blindly and men and houses Streed past us in a torrent without shape and the road seemed not to be flat before us but as if it were

Leaping up to meet us and we waited for the earth to rise and strike Us in the face but we ran we knew not where we were going we knew only that we must run run to the end of the world to the end of our days then we knew suddenly that

We were lying on a soft Earth and that we had stopped trees taller than we had ever seen before stood over us in great silence then we knew we were in the Uncharted Forest we had not thought of coming here but our legs had carried our

Wisdom and our legs had brought us to the Uncharted Force against our will our glass box lay beside us we crawled to it we fell upon it our face in our arms and we lay still We Lay this for a long time then we Rose we took our box and walked

On into the forest it mattered not where we went we knew that men would not follow us for they never enter the Uncharted Forest we had nothing to fear from them the forest disposes of its own victims this gave us no fear either only we wish to be away away from the city

And from the air that touches upon the air of the city so we walked on our box in our arms our heart empty we are doomed whatever days are left to us we shall spend them alone and we have heard of the corruption to be found in

Solitude we have torn ourselves from the truth which is our brother men and there is no road back for us and no Redemption we know these things but we do not care we care for nothing on Earth we are tired only the glass box in our arms is

Like a living heart that gives us strength we have lied to ourselves we have not buil built this box for the good of our brothers we built it for its own sake it is above all our brothers to us and it’s truth above their truth why

Wonder about this we have not many days to live we are walking to the fangs awaiting us somewhere among the great silent trees there is not a thing behind us to regret then a blow of pain struck us our first and our only we thought of

The golden one we thought of the golden one whom we shall never see again then the pain passed it is best we are one of the Damned it is best if the golden one forget our name and the body which bore that name part eight it has been a day

Of Wonder this our first day in the forest we awoke when a ray of sunlight fell across our face we wanted to LEAP to our feet as we have had to LEAP every morning of our life but we remembered suddenly that no Bell had rung and that

There was no Bell to ring anywhere we lay on our back we threw our arms out and we looked up at the sky the leaves had edges of silver that trembled and rippled like a river of green and fire flowing high above us we did not wish to

Move we thought suddenly that we could lie this as long as we wished and we laughed aloud at the thought we could also rise or run or leap or fall down again we were thinking that these were thoughts without sense but before we knew it our body had risen in one Leap

Our arms stretched out of their own will and our body worlded and whir till it raised a wind to rustle through the leaves of the bushes then our hands seized a branch and swung us High into a tree with no aim save The Wonder of learning the strength of our body the

Branch snapped under us and we fell upon the Moss that was soft as a cushion then our body losing all sense rolled over and over on the Moss dry leaves in our tunic in our hair in our face and we heard suddenly that we were laughing laughing aloud laughing as if there were

No power left in a save laughter then we took our glass box and we went on into the forest we went on cutting through the branches and it was as if we were swimming through a sea of leaves with the bushes as waves rising and falling and and Rising around us and flinging

Their green sprays High to the Treetops the trees parted before us calling us forward the forest seemed to welcome us we went on without thought without care with nothing to feel save the song of our body we stopped when we felt hunger we saw birds in the tree branches and

Flying from under our footsteps we picked a stone and we sent it as an arrow at a bird it fell before us we made a fire we cooked the bird and we ate it and no meal had ever tasted better to us us and we thought suddenly

That there was a great satisfaction to be found in the food which we need and obtain by our own hand and we wished to be hungry again and soon that we might know again this strange new pride in eating then we walked on and we came to

A stream which lay as a streak of glass among the trees it lay so still that we saw no water but only a cut in the earth in which the trees grew down upturned in the sky lay at the bottom we knelt by the stream and we bent down to drink and

Then we stopped for upon the blue of the sky below us we saw our own face for the first time we sat still and we held our breath for our face and our body were beautiful our face was not like the faces of our brothers for we felt not

Pity when looking upon it our body was not like the bodies of our brothers for our limbs were straight and thin and hard and strong and we thought that we could trust this being who looked upon us from the stream and that we had nothing to fear with this being we

Walked on until the sun had set when the Shadows gathered among the trees we stopped in a hollow between the roots where we shall sleep tonight and suddenly for the first time this day we remembered that we are the Damned we remembered it and we laughed we are

Writing this on the paper we had hidden in our tunic together with the written Pages we had brought for the World Council of Scholars but never given to them we have much to speak of to ourselves and we hope we shall find the words for it in the days to come now we

Cannot speak for we cannot understand part nine we have not written for many days we did not wish to speak for we needed no words to remember that which has happened to us it was on our second day in the forest that we heard steps

Behind us we hid in the bushes and we waited the steps came closer and then we saw the fold of a white tunic among the trees and a gleam of gold we leapt forward we ran to them and we stood looking upon the golden one they saw us

And their hands closed into fists and the fists pulled their arms down as if they wished their arms to hold them while their body swayed and they could not speak we dared not come too close to them we asked and our voice trembled how did you come to be here golden one but

They whispered only we have found you how did you come to be in the forest we asked they raised their head and there was a great pride in their voice they answered we have followed you then we could not speak and they said we heard that you had gone to the Uncharted

Forest for the whole city is speaking of it so on the night of the day when we heard it we ran away from the the home of the peasants we found the marks of your feet across the plain where no men walk so we followed them and we went

Into the forest and we followed the path where the branches were broken by your body their white tunic was torn and the branches had cut the skin of their arms but they spoke as if they had never taken notice of it nor of weariness nor of fear we have followed you they said

And we shall follow you wherever you go if danger threatens you we shall face it also if it be death we shall die with you you are Damned and we wish to share your damnation they looked upon us and their voice was low but there was bitterness and Triumph in their voice

Your eyes are as a flame but our brothers have neither hope nor fire your mouth is cut of granite but our brothers are soft and humble your head is high but our brothers cringe you walk but our brothers crawl we wish to be damned with you rather than blessed with all our

Brothers do as you please with us but do not send us away from you then they knelt and bowed their golden head before us we had never thought of that which we did we bent to raise the golden one to their feet but when we touched them it

Was as if Madness had stricken us we seized their body and we pressed our lips to theirs the golden one breathed once and their breath was a moan and then their arms closed around us we stood together for a long time and we were frightened that we had lived for 21

Years and had never known what Joy is possible to men then we said our dearest one fear nothing of the forest there is no danger in solitude we have no need of our brothers let us forget their good and our evil let us forget all things

Say that we are together and that there is joy as a bond between us give us your hand look ahead it is our own world Golden One a strange unknown world but our own then we walked on into the forest their hand in ours and that night

We knew that to hold the body of women in our arms is neither ugly nor shameful but the one ecstasy granted to the race of men we have walked for many days the forest has no end and we seek no end but each day added to the chain of days

Between us and the city is like an added blessing we have made a bow and many arrows we can kill more birds than we need for our food we find water and fruit in the forest at night we choose a clearing and we build a ring of fires

Around it we sleep in the midst of that ring and the beasts dare not attack us we can see their eyes green and yellow as coals watching us from the tree branches beyond the fir smolder as a crown of jewels around us and smoke stands still in the a in columns made

Blue by the Moonlight we sleep together in the midst of the Ring the arms of the golden one around us their head Upon Our breast someday we shall stop and build a house when we shall have gone far enough but we do not have to hasten the days

Before us are Without End like the forest we cannot understand this new life which we have found yet it seems so clear and so simple when questions come to puzzle us we walk faster then turn and forget all things as we watch the golden one following the Shadows of

Leaves fall upon their arms as they spread the branches apart but their shoulders are in the Sun the skin of their arms is like a blue mist but their shoulders are white and glowing as if the light fell not from above but Rose from under their skin we watch the leaf

Which has fallen upon their shoulder and it lies at the curve of their neck and a drop of De glistens upon it like a jewel they approach us and they stop laughing knowing what we think and they wait obediently without questions till it pleases us to turn and go on go on and

We bless the Earth under our feet but questions come to us again as we walk in silence if that which we have found is the corruption of solitude then what can men wish for Save corruption if this is the great evil of being alone then what is good and what is evil everything

Which comes from the many is good everything which comes from one is evil this have we been taught with our first breath we have broken the law but we have never doubted it yet now as we walk through the forest we are learning to doubt there is no life for men save in

Useful toil for the good of all their brothers but we lived not when we toiled for our brothers we were only weary there is no joy for men Save The Joy shared with all their brothers but the only things which taught us Joy were the power we created in our wires and the

Golden one and both these Joys belong to us alone they come from us alone they bear no relation to all our brothers and they do not concern our brothers in any way lus do we wonder there is some error one frightful error in the thinking of

Men what is that error we do not know but the knowledge struggles within us struggles to be born today the golden one stopped suddenly and said we love you but they frowned and shook their head and looked at us helplessly no they whispered that is not what we wish to

Say they were silent then they spoke slowly and their words were halting like the words of a child learning to speak for the first time we are one alone and only and we love you who are one alone and only we looked into to each other’s

Eyes and we knew that the breath of a miracle had touched us and fled and left us groping vainly and we felt torn torn for some word we could not find part 10 we are sitting at a table and we are writing this upon paper made thousands

Of years ago the light is dim and we cannot see the golden one only one lock of gold on the pillow of an ancient bed this is our home We Came Upon it today at sunrise for many days we had been crossing a chain of mountains the Forest

Rose Among cliffs and whenever we walked out upon a Barren stretch of rock we saw great Peaks before us in the west and to the north of us and the South as far as our eyes could see the Peaks were red and brown with the green streaks of

Forests as veins upon them with blue Mists as veils over their heads we had never heard of these mountains nor seen them marked on any map the Uncharted Forest has protected them from the cities and from the men of the Cities we climbed paths Where the wild goat dared

Not follow Stones rolled from under our feet and we heard heard them striking the Rocks below farther and farther down and the mountains rang with each stroke and long after The Strokes had died but we went on for we knew that no men would ever follow our track nor reach us here

Then today at Sunrise we saw a white flame among the trees high on a sheer Peak before us we thought that it was a fire and stopped but the flame was unmoving yet blinding as liquid metal so we climbed toward it through the rocks and there before us on a broad Summit

With the mountains Rising behind it stood a house such as we had never seen and the white fire came from the Sun on the glass of its Windows the house had two stories and a strange roof flat as a floor there was more window than wall

Upon its walls and the windows went on straight around the corners though how this kept the house standing we could not guess the walls were hard and smooth of that stone unlike Stone which we had seen in our tunnel we both knew it without words this house was left from

The unmentionable times the trees had protected it from time and weather and from men who have less pity than time and weather we turned to the golden one and we asked are you afraid but they shook their head so we walked to the door and we threw it open and we stepped

Together into the house of the unmentionable times we shall need the days and the years ahead to look to learn and to understand the things of this house today we could only look and try to believe the sight of our eyes we pulled the heavy curtains from the

Windows and we saw that the rooms were small and we thought that not more than 12 men could have lived here we thought it strange that men had been permitted to build a house for only 12 never had we seen rooms so full of light the sun rays danced upon colors colors more

Colors than we thought possible we who had seen no houses save the white ones the brown ones and the gray there were great pieces of Glass on the walls but it was not glass for when we looked upon it we saw our own bodies and all the

Things behind us as on the face of a lake there were strange things which we had never seen and the use of which we do not know and there were Globes of glass everywhere in each room the Globes with the metal cobwebs inside such as we had

Seen in our tunnel we found the sleeping Hall and we stood in awe upon its threshold for it was a small room and there were only two beds in it we found no other beds in the house and then we knew that only two had lived here and

This passes understanding what kind of world did they have the men of the unmentionable times we found garments and the golden one Gass at the S side of them for they were not white tunics nor White togas they were of all colors no two of them alike some crumbled the dust

As we touched them but others were of heavier cloth and they felt soft and new in our fingers we found a room with walls made of shelves which held rows of manuscripts from the floor to the ceiling never had we seen such a number of them nor of such strange shape they

Were not soft and rolled they had hard shells of cloth and leather and the letters on their Pages were so small and so even that we wondered at the men who had such handwriting we glanced through the page ages and we saw that they were written in our language but we found

Many words which we could not understand tomorrow we shall begin to read these scripts when we had seen all the rooms of the house we looked at the golden one and we both knew the thought in our minds we shall never leave this house we

Said nor let it be taken from us this is our home and the end of our journey this is your house golden one and ours and it belongs to no other men whatever as far as the Earth May stretch we shall not share it with others as we share not our

Joy with them nor our love nor our hunger so be it to the end of our days your will be done they said then we went out to gather would for the great Hearth of our home we brought water from the stream which runs among the trees under

Our windows we killed a mountain goat and we brought its flesh to be cooked in a strange Copper Pot we found in a place of Wonders which must have been the cooking room of the house we did this work alone for no words of ours could

Take the golden one away from the big glass which is not glass they stood before it and they looked and looked upon their own body when the sun sank beyond the mountains the golden one fell asleep on the floor amidst jewels and bottles of Crystal and flowers of silk

We lifted the golden one in our arms and we carried them to a bed their head falling softly upon our shoulder then we lit a candle and we brought paper from the room of the manuscripts and we sat by the window for we knew that we could

Not sleep tonight and now we look upon the Earth and Sky this spread of naked Rock and Peaks and Moonlight is like a world ready to be born a world that Waits it seems to us it ask a sign from us a spark a first commandment we cannot

Know what word we are to give nor what great deed this Earth expects to witness we know it waits it seems to say it has great gifts to lay before us but it wishes a greater gift for us we are to speak we are to give its goal its

Highest meaning to all this glowing space of rock and Sky we look ahead we beg our heart for guidance in answering this call no voice has spoken yet we have heard we we look upon our hands we see the dust of centuries the dust which hid the great secrets and perhaps great

Evils and yet it stirs no fear within our heart but only silent reverence and pity May knowledge come to us what is the secret our heart has understood and yet will not reveal to us although it seems to beat as if it were endeavoring

To tell it part 11 I am I think I will my hands my spirit my sky my Forest this Earth of mine what must I say besides these are the words this is the answer I stand here on the summit of the mountain I lift my head and I spread my arms this

My body and spirit this is the end of the quest I wish to know the meaning of things I am the meaning I wish to find a warrant for being I need no warrant for being and no word of sanction upon my being I am the warrant and the sanction

It is my eyes which see and the sight of my eyes grants Beauty to the Earth it is my ears which hear and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world it is my mind which thinks and the Judgment of my mind is the only search light that

Can find the truth it is my will which chooses and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect many words have been granted me and some are wise and some are false but only three Are Holy I will it whatever Road I take the

Guiding star is within me the guiding star and the loadstone which point the way they point in but One Direction They point to me I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust

Lost in eternity I know not and I care not for I know what happiness is possible to me on Earth and my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it my happiness is not the means to any end it is the end it is its own goal it is its

Own purpose neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish I am not a tool for their use I am not a servant of their needs I am not a bandage for their wounds I am not a sacrifice on their altars I am a man

This miracle of me is mine to own and keep and mine to guard and mine to use and mine to kneel before I do not surrender my treasures nor do I share them the fortune of my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung

To the winds as arms for the poor of the spirit I guard my treasures my thought my will my freedom and the greatest of these is freedom I owe nothing to my brothers nor do I gather debts from them I ask none to live for me nor do I live

For any others I covet no man Soul nor is my soul there’s to covet I am neither phone nor friend to my brothers but such as each of them shall deserve of me and to earn my love my brothers must do more than to have been born I do not Grant my

Love without reason nor to any chance Pastor by whom may wish to claim it I honor men with my love but honor is a thing to be earned I shall choose friends among men but neither slaves nor Masters and I shall choose only such as please me and them I shall love and

Respect but neither command nor obey and we shall join our hands when we wish or walk alone when we so desire for in the temple of his Spirit each man is alone let each man keep his Temple untouched and undefiled then let him join hands with others if he wishes but only Beyond

His holy threshold for the word we must never be spoken save by One’s Choice and as a second thought this word must never be placed first within man’s Soul else it becomes a monster the root of all the evils on Earth the root of man’s torture by men and of an unspeakable lie

The word we is as lime poured over men which sets and hardens to Stone and crushes all beneath it and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the gray of it it is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue

Of the Good by which the weak steal the might of the Strong by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages what is my joy if all hands even the unclean can reach into it what is my wisdom if even the fools can dictate to me what is my

Freedom If All Creatures even the botched and the impotent are my masters what is my life if I am but to bow to agree and to obey but I am done with this Creed of corruption I am done with the monster of we the word of serfdom of

Plunder of misery falsehood and shame and now I see the face of God and I raised this God over the Earth this God whom men have sought since men came into being this God who will grant them joy and peace and pride this God this one

Word I Part 12 it was when I read the first of the books I found in my house that I saw the word I and when I understood this word the book fell from my hands and I wept I who had never known tears I wept in Deliverance and in

Pity For All Mankind I understood the Blessed thing which I had called My Curse I understood why the best in me had been my sins and my transgressions and why I had never felt guilt in my sins I understood that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the

Spirit of man nor the sense of Truth within him I read many books for many days then I called the golden one and I told her what I had read and what I had learned she looked at me and the first words she spoke were I love you then I

Said my dearest one it is not proper for men to be without names there was a time when each man had a name of his own to distinguish him from all other men so let us choose our names I have read of a man who lived many thousands of years

Ago and of all the names in these books is is the one I wish to Bear he took the light of the Gods and he brought it to men and he taught men to be gods and he suffered for his deed as all bearers of light must suffer his name

Was Prometheus it shall be your name said the golden one and I have read of a goddess I said who was the mother of the earth and of all the gods her name was Gia let this be your name my golden one for you are to be the mother of a new

Kind of gods it shall be my name said the golden one now I look ahead my future is clear before me the saint of the py had seen the future when he chose me as his Heir as the heir of all the saints and all the martyrs who came

Before him and who died for the same cause for the same word no matter what name they gave to their cause and their truth I shall live here in my own house I shall take my food from the Earth by the toil of my own hands I shall learn

Many secrets from my books through the years ahead I shall rebuild the achievements of the past and open the way to carry them further the achievements which are open to me but closed forever to my brothers for their minds are Shackled to the weakest and dullest ones among them I have learned

That my power of the sky was known to men long ago they called it electricity it was the power that moved their greatest inventions it lit this house with light which came from those Globes of Glass on the walls I have found the engine which produced this light I shall

Learn how to repair it and how to make it work again I shall learn how to use the wires which carry this power then I shall build a barrier of wires around my home and across the paths which lead to my home a barrier light as a cobweb more

Impassible than a wall of granite a barrier my Brothers will never be able to cross for they have nothing to fight me with Save The Brute Force of their numbers I have my mind then here on this Mountaintop with the world below me and nothing above me but the sun I shall

Live my own truth Gia is pregnant with my child our son will be raised as a man he will be taught to say I and to Bear the pride of it he will be taught to walk straight and on his own feet he will be taught reverence for his own

Spirit when I shall have read all the books and learned my new way when my home will be ready and my Earth tilt I shall steal one day for the last time into the cursed city of my birth I shall call to me my friend who has no name save International 4

8,818 and all those like him fraternity 2553 who cries without reason and solidarity 9 6,347 who calls for help in the night and a few others I shall call to me all the men and the women whose Spirit has not been killed within them and who suffer under the Yoke of their brothers

They will follow me and I shall lead them to my Fortress and here in this Uncharted Wilderness I and they My Chosen friends my fellow Builders shall write the first chapter in the new history of man these are the things before me and as I stand here at the

Door of Glory I look behind me for the last time I look upon the history of men which I have learned from the books and I wonder it was a long story in the spirit which moved it was the spirit of man’s freedom but what is freedom

Freedom from what there is nothing to take a man’s Freedom away from him save other men to be free a man must be free of his brothers that is freedom that and nothing else at first man was enslaved by the gods but he broke their chains

Then he was enslaved by the Kings but he broke their chains he was enslaved by his birth by his kin by his race but he broke their chains he declared to all his brothers that a man has rights which neither God nor King nor other men can

Take away from him no matter what they’re number for his is the right of man and there is no right on Earth above this right and he stood on the threshold of the freedom for which the blood of the centuries behind him had been spilled but then he gave up all he had

One and fell lower than his Savage beginning what brought it to pass what disaster took their reason away from men what will blash them to their knees in shame and submission the worship of the word we when men accepted that worship the structure of centuries collapsed about them the structure whose every

Beam had come from the thought of someone man each in his day down the ages from the depth of someone’s spirit such Spirit as existed but for its own sake those men who survived those eager to obey eager to live for one another since they had nothing else to vindicate

Them those men could neither carry on nor preserve what they had received thus did all thought all science all wisdom perish on Earth thus did men men with nothing to offer save their great number lost the steel Towers the flying ships the power wires all the things they had

Not created and and could never keep perhaps later some men had been born with the mind and the courage to recover these things which were lost perhaps these men came before the councils of Scholars they were answered as I have been answered and for the same reasons

But I still wonder how it was possible in those graceless years of transition long ago that men did not see whether they were going and went on in blindness and cowardice to their fate I wonder for it is hard for me to conceive how men

Who knew the word I could give it up and not know what they lost but such has been the story for I have lived in the city of the Damned and I know what horror men permitted to be brought upon them perhaps in those days there were a

Few among men a few of Clear Sight and clean soul who refused to surrender that word what Agony must have been theirs before that which they saw coming and could not stop perhaps they cried out in protest and in warning but men paid no heed to their warning and they these few

Fought a hopeless battle and they perished with their banners smeared by their own blood and they chose to perish for they knew to them I send my salute across the centuries and my pity theirs is the banner in my hand and I wish I had the power to tell them that the

Despair of their hearts was not to be final and their night was not without hope for the battle they lost can never be lost for that which they died to save can never perish through all the darkness through all the shame of which men are capable the spirit of man will

Remain alive on this Earth it may sleep but it will awaken it may wear chains but it will break through and man will go on man not men here on this mountain I and my sons and My Chosen friends shall build our new land and our Fort

And it will become as the heart of the earth lost and hidden at first but beating beating louder each day and word of it will reach every corner of the earth and the roads of the world will become as veins which will carry the best of the world’s blood to my

Threshold and all my brothers and the councils of my brothers will hear of it but they will be impotent against me and the day will come when I shall break all the chains of the earth and raise the cities of the enslaved and my home will

Become the capital of a world where each man will be free to exist for his own sake for the coming of that day shall I fight I am my sons and My Chosen friends for the freedom of man for his rights for his life for his honor and here over

The portals of my fort I shall cut in the stone the word which is to be my beacon and my banner the word which will not die should we all perish in battle the word which can never die on this Earth for it is the heart of it and the

Meaning and the glory the sacred word ego

source