Page 69 of Aïdes the Unseen
ThenSkotos + philosophy.
Finally, justSkotos.
That was when it got strange.
An old symposium video popped up of him giving a keynote address. The label said it was on “Transliminal Identity Structures.” I hit play andlistened. Most of the lecture went right over my head. He covered everything in complex terms from digital soul-mirroring to the ethics of mapping grief patterns across social networks.
There was a lot more in between that I just couldn’t follow. I stopped trying and just listened to his voice. It was… kind, measured, and warm. He clearly understood everything he said, but he was patiently offering it to everyone else so we could catch up.
One comment below the video caught my eye as it ended.
“If Thanatek ever cracks true continuity, we won’t need gods to find the afterlife anymore. We’ll build it ourselves.”
I stared at the screen and re-read that comment over and over. I wasn’t sure if the commenter was trolling, making a joke, or deadly serious and leaving a prophecy.
I minimized the browser and set the laptop aside. The puppy stirred from his doze to lift his head and stare at me.
“I’m being weird, aren’t I?” I asked.
He yawned. It wasn’t really an answer.
I picked the laptop back up again. I almost hit play on the video to listen to his voice once more, but I closed that and opened a new search window. I thought about searching Kassian Harpe again, but something stopped me.
Maybe it was the lack of footprint for him and way too many other spots for his bizarre doppelgangers. Maybe it was how theplants hadn’t trusted him. They might not have been certain about Graven, but there wasn’t automatic distrust.
Or maybe I was just losing my mind. I typed in: “Thanatek + biofield irregularities.”
I didn’t expect much. Only one link pinged back. It was a cached version of a research page long since scrubbed from their public site.
It was a white paper. Co-authored by M. Andrelis.
Mara.
My chest went tight again.
“Preliminary Notes on Shadow-Tethered Entities in Post-Thanatic Liminal Zones."
I skimmed the language; like the keynote a lot of it went right over my head. It might have been written in English, but it wasn’t with any familiar terms until one footnote leapt out at me.
“…non-digital presences with anomalous canine forms have been observed near subjects with energy fragmentation thresholds approaching myth-recognition levels. Further study required. Subject Code: B-9. Bloom.”
My name.
A cold wave crashed through my body. I pushed the laptop away like it was part of the problem.
My name, in a research note. Tagged like an experiment.
The puppy abandoned his bed to cross the room and settle next to me. His dark eyes were wide, and watchful.
“I didn’t ask for this,” I whispered to him. Somewhere deep in the greenhouse annex of my mind, the vines twisted tighter. The air shimmered. Something inside of me uncoiled. It wasn’t fear. It was a hell of a lot more uncomfortable than that.
It was recognition.
The morning camelike it always did. Only today it was gray, damp, and as reluctant as I felt.
I hadn’t slept. Not really. Still, my body went through the motions: shower, tea, food. The puppy watched me the whole time I was half-spiraling. I tried to leave him at home but he was having none of it, darting out the door as soon as I opened it. Convinced, I put him in the basket so he could ride with me again.
The air outside was wet with that almost-rain. The streets shimmered with the kiss of oil that rose to the wet surfaces but hadn’t quite washed away yet. I pedaled as hard as I could, thinking that maybe the speed could burn off the thoughts that clung to me.
