October 25, 2023 • 50 mins
The Ardent is sealed. The banishing of the Cypher is underway. Censured and unable to participate, Voncid turns to the reclaimers backlog and hears the story of a young man who becomes addicted to obliteration.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to ghost Wax, a foreignTall Tales production. The following story may
contain graphic content. Listener discretion isadvised. Ghost Wax is written and directed
by Robert Knutsen, production and editingby Aaron Schenrock. Our theme song is
(00:22):
by Bo Hoover. This episode featuresRobert Kannutzen as Von sid and Harold,
Aaron Schenrock as Luca, Stephanie Olsenas Pip, h J. Raider as
Olivia, a La Lushka as Amya, Mitchell Brooks as Charlie, Sarah Becasme
as Adelaide, and Mark ar Kushaas Sane. Outro music by Colton Warren.
(00:47):
Episode forty four, Dissent to greatso quiet with the glass up?
(01:10):
I prefer the breeze can't be helped. Don't despair. I will try.
We have reason to be optimistic,after all, though the recent history of
banishings is how many of us arethere left? After Dalton twenty two,
(01:34):
The last Stand of the Last Stand. You said you'd try. Yes,
not to despair, and I shall. Olivia will banish the cipher, the
plague will subside, Brighter days areahead. You'll see very good, very
(01:56):
good. Right the ardent locked downtight, air tight, nothing will enter
up to the vanishing. We werejust discussing how you will perform brilliantly,
and that we have total faith inyou. Don't make that face. We
were fine. I believe you.I do wish you would take the rekindled
(02:19):
Adelaide into the chamber with you,even just as a reservoir. She could
be so helpful. You are luckywe've allowed it to stay in the building.
We have nothing to fear from her. Similar assurances were made of the
last just before the murders. Thatwas truly different. She really is a
(02:45):
nice young woman. They all seemnice, but they are animals. The
second you forget that, you arelocked in a cage with animals. But
yes, very well, all possibleassets must be evaluated. Some of us
(03:05):
still follow protocol. I think you'lllike her. It's time, Emir,
would you accompany me to the upperchamber. I'd be delighted, And Master
Von said yes, I am censured, so I am not allowed into the
upper chamber. I will continue myfunctions and protect the ardent. Good.
(03:31):
I don't imagine this will take overlong. Olivia, fight well, you
will prevail. We had best hope. So that's it. The Ardent is
sealed and the upper chamber is cloisteredabove. Nothing can go in or out.
(03:54):
We are well stocked on snacks.How long could this take? The
longest banishings have taken upwards of sixmonths. Welcome to my world. Yes,
I suppose so, But Charlie,I assure you, once this banishing
concludes, we will work on freeingyou from the confines of the lodge.
(04:15):
If the eyes that pursue you areagents of the Cipher, they will be
greatly diminished. And if they aren't, we'll find out what they are and
how to help you. I justwant to know we have fresh water.
I can resort to cannibalism if Ihave to, but dying of thirst is
one of my greatest fears after thesalt mummies. Oh yes, fresh water
(04:39):
in a reservoir. Additionally, thealchemists have core matter that they can render
into many simple materials we might needon demand. I dare say the Ardent
is now our own little vessel,unmoored from reality, itself, self sufficient
and safe. The safest location maybe anywhere we are unmoored from the cosmos,
(05:01):
and yet they still expect us towork. It's just a few reclaimings
from the backlog. Pip, willyou come with us to the labs.
I know we're all sealed in andall, but I would still feel better
if I had you in sight.Very sweet, but let's call it earshot.
When the bodies start moving and talkingand shit, I just can't Adelaide.
(05:31):
Yes, I'm feeling Wow. Luca, is the ghost wax picking her
up? Yes, I think so. I still can't hear anything she's saying,
but the needle is moving. Good, Adelaide. Your speech should continue
to return to you as your strengthcontinues to grow. Grow already feel so
(06:00):
strong. Oh, yes, youare only just beginning. Amazing. Do
you hear the phantoma responding to hertrying to talk? I do? They
are kindred spirits after all. Ifeel fear, I feel attention all around.
(06:21):
I want to help. How canI help? Unfortunately, I think
it will take some time before theothers are fully willing to make use of
your more wondrous capabilities. You see, Adelaide, Addie, please, yes,
Addie, the other Hamsa and Iin the pursuit of our great work,
(06:46):
well, we are very protective ofour safety. We are by our
nature very hard to harm layers andlayers. It's hard to explain, but
the part of the issue is youare one of the rare things that could
harm us easily if you so chose. They are afraid rekindled have hurt us
(07:13):
in the past. You are aweapon, and for now a weapon is
all they can see. But Iknow that you are more. I have
seen your heart and I will showyou mine by my deeds. The others
will too. We have nothing tofear from each other. We want the
(07:34):
same thing, all of us,I think agreed. Yes, this building
is on moored. We are verysafe, but still with all hands on
deck in the upper chamber, wouldyou stay and watch the apiary, keep
the phantomer company. When we areclosed like this, they tend to get
(07:59):
a little bit lonely. Yes,I like them. They're there. Rest
your voice. We will be backshortly. We are going to reclaim a
young man who died very unnaturally andsee if we can determine why it happened
and what we might do about it. Okay, uh, shall we yes,
(08:24):
walk and talk with me Luca whilewe have a moment here? Yeah,
a gift? What really? Yes, it's nothing extravagant. I suppose
it is rare. Why did waitone year ago we started working together officially.
(08:48):
I can't believe it's only been ayear. It has been eventful.
What what is this? When youwere taken into the order, they took
an object from you, I knowthat it was very difficult, and well,
while this is not them little ifthat gave the object its power,
(09:11):
it is something I made. Inthe likeness of it. It's called a
tumbling staircase, an impossible object likethe one you manifested, just not so
puissant. It's it's beautiful. Thethings you make are beautiful, full of
(09:33):
goodness, purity of intent. Wecannot choose what others do with what we
put into the world. We canbut put them into the world with an
open heart. I am to waxsentimental, quite inspired by you. Thank
(09:54):
you. You are a good friendand a fine young man. I don't
mean to overstep, but I oftenfeel very much like an inverted Geppetto to
your Pinocchio, only in that youare young and proficient with the making of
(10:15):
things, and I am older andwell wish you were a real boy.
Forgive the metaphor, it was muddledI'd have been rather lucky if you'd actually
been my father. Well, Ilook forward to working with you more.
Yeah, me too. So,hey, you too cool working on it?
(10:46):
Are we cool? What do youmean? Just feels I don't know,
I feel weird about everything. No, it's it's gonna be fine,
crazy days. Yeah, speaking ofwhich, do you hear that I've been
feeling like I can Yeah, soundsso bizarre. Ever since they sealed the
(11:11):
building off, something is really different. Something in the walls. Yeah,
come put your ear here. Huhthat's yeah, what is that? Usually
you get like pipe sounds or buzzingfrom electricity ere you know, building noises,
but there's like nothing less than nothing. Weird. Hey you two?
(11:35):
Uh having a nice wall? Listenquiet, We are listening to the wall.
Yes, the ritual has many bizarresecondary effects. By the way,
if your cell phones get any textualmessages from numbers you don't know, numbers
from people outside the building or fromany deceased relatives, do not respond.
(11:58):
How incredibly haunting. Yes, soyou said unmoored from reality? How literal
is that? If I went tothe front doors and like got them open
somehow would we all be pulled outinto the vacuum of space. No,
I mean, I don't think so. Or would it be like a desert
(12:20):
out there and big sandworms would startchasing us and eat Pip. At least
I get to be Geena Davis inthis reference, what would happen? You'd
likely see the buildings across the street, people passing by, but were you
to exit, you'd be lost elsewhere. We only appear to be where we
(12:41):
currently are, So where are wereally? Nowhere? Ominous? It's the
last peaceful place in the cosmos.Honestly, what a sad thought. Not
all violentles is bad. The crucibleof a star is quite violent. Not
(13:03):
all chaos is undesirable. The fragmentingand spiraling of galaxies is a thing of
great beauty, even if it ismostly madness. So poetic today, Eh,
poetry, Grandpa doesn't really work.Apologies I wax philosophical during a banishing,
(13:24):
especially ones I cannot be part of. Yeah, what bullshit. I
made my bed of coals, nowI lie in it. It's not fair.
The injustice I am concerned with isthe one that befell this young John
Doe in our examination laboratory. Shallwe attend to them. Oh boy,
(13:48):
I can't believe I don't get tosee Olivia twist that tick mister media out
of our reality. Instead, Iget stuck on corpse chat duty. I'll
try not to take it personally thatyou referred to the Chapter of Reclaimers and
their sacred duties as corpse chat.Sorry, all right, let's head down
(14:09):
there. This is Master Reclaimer Owenvon Sid, together with Philippa, James
Seer, Charles Baybridge, Order Initiateand Luca Eso Reclaimer. Shit did we
all just get promotions? They clearedme? Oh wow, that hit harder
(14:31):
than I imagined it would children latermm mmm, Master Reclaimer Owen von Sid
in attendance. The deceased was recoveredby Francis Faraday and Margo and Jeers in
a tenement building in Lancaster, Pennsylvaniaon a lead provided by Miss Philippa.
The subject has not been able tobe identified due to a complete lack of
(14:54):
a face, arms, or othermeans of identification. Oh that reminds me.
I keep forgetting how ubiquitous tattoos are, Luca Charlie, did either of
you note any identifying tattoos on thebody during your initial examination? No,
Nope. Yes, well, mI see why we were given this one.
(15:16):
A reclaiming of some kind would bethe only way to identify this body,
as his DNA was nowhere in thesystem either. This poor fellow has
had all traces of himself erased.As I said, the subject's face and
arms and therefore finger prints are missing. There are no marks, cuts,
or surgical indications of any kind,simply smooth, unbroken absences where it seems
(15:45):
any marring of the flesh has beenerased. Sinuses, mandible material, facial
structures all visible, but those crosssectioned appear undamaged. The face has been
removed back to the line of theears, the left arm up to the
(16:07):
shoulder, the right midway through theforearm. There are no signs of bleeding,
and the report indicated that there wasno blood at the scene, though
it was a transient flophouse of sorts, so said scene was not the most
secure and may have been tampered with. Reclaiming will begin after final preparations.
(16:33):
Philippa, are you sensing anything disgusted? But nothing from the body. It's
like its blank. How are wegoing to do this one? Do you
want to draw out the spirit?Inhabit them. Well, I actually have
an apparatus for situations like this.Get a lot of faceless cases more often
(16:57):
than I'd care to. There werea series of cases where a killer had
come to learn of the Reclaimer order, and, in an attempt to render
the dead unable to speak to us, destroyed their faces. Luckily, my
predecessor was a master medium and anearly adopter of the spirit board get out.
(17:18):
Oh yes, we solved a fairfew grisly ones with a planchette in
hand. That's incredible. I,however, was interested in giving the dead
a more physical final experience, andso I repurposed something U Luca, the
large glossy box there. Oh,this crest looks familiar. Yes, there
(17:45):
aren't many of them left. Butthe chapter of wheels sort of your predecessors,
I suppose the artificers whoa oh wow, holy shit, this porcelain face
once sat upon a meticulously crafted andlifelike automaton of human shape. They became
(18:12):
quite a lot more than a gildedcuriosity, and were gifted flesh. However,
this beautiful face seemed a shame forit not to have a use.
Are you talking about Cooza? Thelibrarian was a puppet person. That's why
you were talking about Pinocchio earlier,because you were carrying a puppet face in
(18:33):
your bag. Huh, Maybe youare right. At any rate, I
will affix the prosthetic to the bodyand they can inform us as to what
transpired. Oh lord, hang inthere, After what you've been through,
I'm sure this won't be that bad. Yeah, just a limbless dead body
with an articulated automaton mask telling ushow it died. No, big please,
(18:56):
don't let me get used to this, Shita. Could you hand me
the suture kit? Lost soul comehome again, return to us and tell
us your tale. Use these borrowedeyes to see and lips to speak.
(19:21):
Oh no, oh no, Iam so sorry, but your life has
ended. Nothing will harm you nowthough, and not ever again. We
wish to help you. Oh no, I I knew this would happen eventually.
(19:48):
Why why I knew I was goingto die? Fuck Mama's right.
Breathe in and breathe out. Iam getting some intense feedback as I apply
pressure to try and calm them.Whatever killed them left quite a mark here.
(20:11):
Let me just make a little adjustmentthere try speaking again. Oh that
that feels much better the magic touch. Can you tell us your name,
Zaine, I'm saying, don't askme my last name. Perhaps your family
(20:37):
would No, I don't want themto know anything. Nothing. Please,
I'm gone. Okay, I'm deadto them already. They don't they don't
need to grieve me again. Okay, very well, But Zay, could
you tell us what happened to yourbody? There seems to be a good
(21:00):
deal of you missing. Yeah.Oh yeah, Wow, my face must
have fallen in or maybe they putit in. Wow, that was the
rush of a lifetime just thinking aboutit. God, it felt so good.
(21:30):
It was almost worth it. Theywho Harold? Or? He said
it was Harold. He showed mewhere the soft spot was, where to
find the hole, how to useit. I want to be mad at
him since it killed me, butI've done everything like meth heroin fuck unnamed
(22:00):
laboratory shit that won't be ruining people'slives on the street for years yet.
But oh wow, nothing was likethis, Charlie. If you would take
down the name Harold or I wonderHarold a herald pardon? Please tell us
(22:26):
what happened to you? Uh,I'll spare you and I the painful backstory.
If it's all the same, theabuse, the acting out, the
first using, the getting kicked outof the house, so many variations from
(22:47):
so many people, but all essentiallythe same. You can just fill in
the blanks. There is no need. This is your story. We would
listen into whatever you wish to say. Yeah, no, we don't,
We don't need to. Okay,Well, I do want to say one
(23:11):
thing about it. I mean thatrecording thing, like if anyone is going
to listen to this ever, Iguess just like, don't take shit your
kids do that, that's that's bad, or or you think is bad.
Don't take it personally. Not everythingyour kid does is some attack on you
(23:36):
or the family name or whatever.My using was because of a whole I
had inside myself, one that gotopened up by a few neighbor boys and
then got made worse and worse overtime, filled in, torn open,
(24:00):
and then made wider and wider bylittle cruelty after little cruelty. But shit
with my parents didn't get really baduntil they caught me using pills and decided
that was me declaring war against thefamily, the house and them personally like
(24:25):
I liked them fine until all thatshit started. Anyways, Like Mom and
Dad, I wasn't trying to hurtyou, Okay, fuck that. I
don't need to do that dance anymore. I bounced around, homed, unhomed,
(24:48):
homed again. And you know,you don't know scary until you've been
out on the street at night andwith with the shadows walking all around,
feeling like you are being followed,and then realize you don't have anywhere to
(25:14):
go, nowhere to hide. That'swhen I started taking lots of uppers.
Gotta stay up all night, watchyour own back, sleep when you can
during the day, but you gottaspend all day trying to score really,
so you wind up not sleeping muchat all. And so you see shit,
(25:38):
That's why so many of my friendswho didn't have anywhere wound up seeming
so haunted. I think, youknow, no sleep, no dreams,
no kind of dreams at all,but surrounded by nightmares. I'd hallucinated before,
(25:59):
never going up or down, butjust from the not sleeping. So
this guy, Harold, I hadseen him around a few places and I
never really knew him, but hewaved me over in this empty building.
A bunch of us were hanging out, and you know we could get into
through the door someone forgot to lock. Anyways, Harold waves me over and
(26:26):
didn't say anything at first, justwaves. He always wears his hoodie up.
You know, he's got a fewof them, always these like loud
patterns all over them. Looks likehe's got graffiti drawn all over him.
And it's kind of cool actually,But he's got a mask on. Said
it's because he's burned, but Idon't know. Guy's a nut whatever.
(26:48):
It's got little x's for eyes anda smile stitched on. I used to
think it was kind of scary,but the pandemic days everyone had a mask,
so by then it wasn't even thatweird. Okay, So he waves
me over and just points. There'sthis spot on the wall, middle of
(27:15):
a concrete wall, super tagged up, lots and lots of spray paint and
shit all over it, but nonames I recognize, or any cruise,
just like pictures and shapes like crazytrippy shit. But there's this spot on
the wall where all the other picturesare kind of pointing towards that spot.
(27:37):
Doesn't have any paint at all justa sign drawn over it that says Heaven.
Only the H and the E wereboth capitalized, so maybe HEV and
I don't know Heaven. Yeah,and it wasn't lying Just looking at it,
(28:00):
I could feel my mind slowing down. Then Harold said this weird fucking
thing. What did he say tome? Come on saying, go ahead,
reach out and touch faith. Yeah? Well, I already wanted to,
(28:22):
wanted to reach out. And whenjust the tippy tip of my finger
touched it, electric liquid relief,this flood of joy rushing up my fingers
and into my blood, like purelove. Part of me wanted to shove
(28:48):
my arm and just right away,the opposite of touching a hot stove.
Right, But a little part ofme self preservation screamed out, and so
oh I pulled back. Nice itwas. It was the nicest. But
(29:08):
then there was numb, like morethan numb. Nothing in the dim,
dirty light of that empty building.I could see where the tip of my
finger wasn't just empty space at theend of my knuckle. Oh god,
(29:32):
she sure felt like it. Sorry, I feel kind of dusty. Oh
my, perhaps I didn't clear themask thoroughly. I'm very sorry. I
I'm sorry. I feel like Ihave something in my eye. You okay,
it's all right, Charlie Van said, Oh, and could could you
(29:56):
look in my eyes? Do yousee anything? M No, I do
not. Okay, that's okay.Maybe you should go rinse them. Yeah,
yeah, okay, I'll be rightback. I'll go with him.
I could use a break. Iunderstand. Poor kid. Mm hmm,
(30:23):
he's a user. Oh you thinkso? Lah, Yeah, definitely,
you're right. He told me he'shad addiction problems before, he had to
take a year off to get itunder control before he went to college.
I see nothing to be ashamed of, certainly, but perhaps this story was
(30:48):
Yeah. I think it was gettingto him realizing how this is gonna end.
Poor boy. M hm, youhad discovered the cost of this mysterious
spot in the wall. Yep.When I came to Harold was gone.
(31:11):
I had lost hours just that tinylittle touch, and I'd sailed away for
hours. I went around looking forhim to ask him what the hell was
going on, but I couldn't findhim. A part of me was pissed,
like thinking he put something on thewall, like some kind of acid.
(31:33):
Maybe part of me hoped he hadmore, but I couldn't find him.
So I went back to the spot, half expecting it to be gone,
you know, but it wasn't.It was there. I started like
(31:53):
messing with it. It was soft, the spot. I tried pushing stuff
into it later, like the concretewas like I don't know, doweye.
Whatever I pushed in there, likea broom handle or a rock gone,
The rock came back, sheared clean. The edge sharp enough that I sliced
(32:16):
a finger on it, like thetip of my index finger just flapped loose
because the edge was so sharp,which is when I got the idea,
the idea to reach in again,just a little, just using this part
(32:37):
of my finger I already had practicallycut off when I thought that, Like
shit, I got so scared.I realized then what was going to happen,
Just like with all the other shit, A little bit, a taste,
(32:58):
a touch, but then it's sogood you hope it never ever ends,
and so you start to compromise moreand more, give it more and
more of yourself, and fuck.This spot in the wall was like a
metaphor made real. Right. Iwalked around the building. I found this
(33:24):
guy I knew who had some paintpens. I went back to the hole
and xed out the word heaven wrotein don't I knew what was going to
happen, left wrote it off,planned to move towns if I had to,
But I mean I was a goner. I'd been bit. I could
(33:51):
practically feel my brain rewiring itself intoa machine that just said get more.
Fuck. Nothing else felt good anymore. Nothing. I don't even really remember
going back, rationalizing all the wayyou cut your finger. It's so dirty
(34:15):
where you've been staying, you'll probablyget an infection. Anyways, might be
a good idea to just lose thatlittle bit. Before I knew what was
happening, I gave it my indexfinger up to my knuckle. So stupid.
(34:39):
I'm so sorry. God damn it, I'm so fucking sorry. I'm
sorry to myself, God damn it, say please forgive me. Fuck fuck.
But it was so so good.It felt like falling into infinity,
(35:06):
fucking ambrosia. My soul was singing, you just you can't know what you
do to get that feeling back.I do, I understand, Yeah,
(35:29):
you do, don't you. YouYou've got the look of someone who had
heaven lost it can't find the wayback, don't you. Oh, well,
shit, I think. Once I'dlost my whole left hand, I
(35:53):
started giving it more to like fightthe feeling of horror and shame at having
already given it so much, Icouldn't stop. This wasn't like a normal
fix. It wasn't I would stuffmy sleeve into my pocket, trying to
(36:13):
make it look like I still hadhad an arm. I don't know who
I was trying to fool. Idon't know who would have even noticed or
cared if they did. I don'tknow. Shame is a fucked up funny
(36:35):
thing. I got all the wayup to my shoulder one night, and
the euphoria got so intense I almostpassed out and fell forward my face like
almost grazed it. That was awake up call. I realized how easy,
(36:57):
how fucking easy, it would befall asleep and fall in. I
was so scared, get me awayabout a week. I might have stayed
(37:23):
away forever. But Harold showed backup new neon pink mask, shining out
under his hood at me in thedark. You know it misses you,
it told me. He said thatto me, and his breath. There
(37:49):
was something in it a smell.I didn't realize I had missed some kind
of incense, and I realized thatthe spot smelled like incense. And fuck,
I don't even know what happened,but I was back there again.
(38:14):
This time was different. Before allof me had focused in so hard on
it, on the fix, butnow I felt like it was watching me,
like it had been waiting for me. I just grazed it and lightning
(38:39):
white hot everywhere, and I slipped. I knew it was going to happen.
I'd scolded and screamed at myself allweek about it. Do you want
to fucking die? But then itjust happened. My legs gave out,
(39:08):
I fell. I fell into it. This big bang of pleasure went straight
to my brain through the face thatdisintegrated into the hole in the wall.
(39:30):
Part of me is still there,a forever moment, my last moment.
Oh, God's saying, I amso sorry. But wait, there's there's
(39:51):
something else I can My ears wereleft. I hear something. It's Harold.
He's talking. He's over me,Yes, concentrate. What is he
saying? Yeah, it's weird.It almost seems like he's talking to the
(40:15):
whole dong to worry. He says, don't worry. I just need him
to stay alive long enough to finishthe big nasty on his back. What
does that mean, the big nastyon my back? Oh? Yeah,
(40:40):
yeah, then I felt like Imean, they didn't even really register because
of the bliss rolling through me.But I think he rolled me over.
I think he burned something into myback, like a shape, A shape,
(41:00):
a big sharp star. I Ithought, Luca. Didn't you say
there were no markings, you didn'tsee any during the initial exam. No,
I didn't see any. I don'tthink I did. Perhaps it was
(41:20):
hidden somehow or healed. Here.Help me turn him over and we will
see what we can find. Yes, a scisun is inscribed. What is
this form? Oh god, oldLuca. Oh shit, oh oh wow,
(41:49):
Charlie, deep breaths. Are youokay? Put your head under the
faucet here? Oh shit? Ohfuck? Oh okay, Charlie, let's
get you to medical. Okay,come here, okay, hey, Pip,
(42:15):
yeah, what is it? Wouldyou look into my eyes? Okay?
Sure? Let me Oh oh noah, hey hey just sit down.
No oh, here you go sitdown. You're going into shock.
(42:37):
I Okay, keep breathing. Idon't know what you did exactly why.
This is what they want. Theyshowed you the truth, so now your
eyes belong to them. Fuck you, this is your fault. It's your
(42:58):
fault. I have to do this. You think I want this? Fuck
you. You broke their heart,Pip, you have to pay for it.
Okay, okay, okay, holyshit, this is really happening.
Fuck okay the shock. Lean intoit and let that happen. It'll be
(43:22):
easier. Okay, one down,once to go. Don't take a lass.
Look around, don't you okay?Please? Oh God, please please
(43:49):
wake up. I'm so sorry.Oh my boy, God right, I
can't. I can't hold on,Oh Charley, thank the God's stay back,
please please. The car's fire isstill burning. Can you see him,
(44:15):
guy, he's here beneath me,but flash my eyes? Is he
okay? You shielded him? Itried to here. Can you reach him?
Don't let the fire touch you here. Give him to me. I'll
take care of him. Oh,they're gentle. He's unconscious, a great
(44:42):
deal of force, but he's okay. The fire didn't touch him. No,
he's unconscious, but he's okay.I can't believe it. Good,
yes, yes, good, good, Charlie. I need you to listen
closely. I'm very badly hurt.I think I think I can hold on,
(45:07):
but I need you to get mesomething from my quarters. Charlie,
Charlie, Charlie, can you hearme? Why didn't you save me?
I, Charlie, why didn't yousave me? No? Oh, no,
(45:30):
oh no, Charlie, why didn'tyou save me? Why? I
try? I wanted to. Ithought you thought we could outpace the documents
in your heart. I did notrealize how deep it and rooted. I
(45:50):
am sorry. I failed you.I am about to bet your head and
with the broken piece of this stone. And you are apologizing to me because
you are my friend, even ifI am not yours. Please Charley,
(46:14):
listen, I will die, Ipromise. I am ready. Whatever has
forced your hand, you have one. I accept it. The last necromancer
felt that will be how it is. But please, Charlie, you cannot
(46:35):
black Fish. I can barely holdon to him. I have nothing left.
If you strike at me now,I will consume him on instinct,
without wanting to. It will bea reflex. And oh no, please,
Charley, please, he is thebest of us. Do not condemn
(47:00):
him to oblivion because of my failings. Just give me time time to let
him go gently, Please don't.Please, Just give me a few moments
(47:22):
to let asam my other half,to let him go. Really exactly how
long? Maybe I don't I don'tknow, to detach him, let him
go adrift. Maybe five seven minutes, that is all. Oh, thank
(47:43):
you, Charlie, thank you.That's too long. They'll be coming,
Charlie. Wait if you kill me, If you do this, all that
I have bound will be loosed.This place will fill with horrid, dangerous
things in. You won't survive iteither. I died almost a year ago.
(48:07):
My soul died the night before youcame for me. When my wall
split open and it looked through.It stripped me bare, showed me the
dangling marionette corpses you things have madeof us, showed me what happened to
the real world. I've only gotone way out now. Please know you
(48:32):
are my friend. I trust.Need a few more. Please not like
this. You've had enough time already. As am I I am sorry.
Suck my beautiful high and m
Welcome to ghost Wax, a foreignTall Tales production. The following story may
contain graphic content. Listener discretion isadvised. Ghost Wax is written and directed
by Robert Knutsen, production and editingby Aaron Schenrock. Our theme song is
(00:22):
by Bo Hoover. This episode featuresRobert Kannutzen as Von sid and Harold,
Aaron Schenrock as Luca, Stephanie Olsenas Pip, h J. Raider as
Olivia, a La Lushka as Amya, Mitchell Brooks as Charlie, Sarah Becasme
as Adelaide, and Mark ar Kushaas Sane. Outro music by Colton Warren.
(00:47):
Episode forty four, Dissent to greatso quiet with the glass up?
(01:10):
I prefer the breeze can't be helped. Don't despair. I will try.
We have reason to be optimistic,after all, though the recent history of
banishings is how many of us arethere left? After Dalton twenty two,
(01:34):
The last Stand of the Last Stand. You said you'd try. Yes,
not to despair, and I shall. Olivia will banish the cipher, the
plague will subside, Brighter days areahead. You'll see very good, very
(01:56):
good. Right the ardent locked downtight, air tight, nothing will enter
up to the vanishing. We werejust discussing how you will perform brilliantly,
and that we have total faith inyou. Don't make that face. We
were fine. I believe you.I do wish you would take the rekindled
(02:19):
Adelaide into the chamber with you,even just as a reservoir. She could
be so helpful. You are luckywe've allowed it to stay in the building.
We have nothing to fear from her. Similar assurances were made of the
last just before the murders. Thatwas truly different. She really is a
(02:45):
nice young woman. They all seemnice, but they are animals. The
second you forget that, you arelocked in a cage with animals. But
yes, very well, all possibleassets must be evaluated. Some of us
(03:05):
still follow protocol. I think you'lllike her. It's time, Emir,
would you accompany me to the upperchamber. I'd be delighted, And Master
Von said yes, I am censured, so I am not allowed into the
upper chamber. I will continue myfunctions and protect the ardent. Good.
(03:31):
I don't imagine this will take overlong. Olivia, fight well, you
will prevail. We had best hope. So that's it. The Ardent is
sealed and the upper chamber is cloisteredabove. Nothing can go in or out.
(03:54):
We are well stocked on snacks.How long could this take? The
longest banishings have taken upwards of sixmonths. Welcome to my world. Yes,
I suppose so, But Charlie,I assure you, once this banishing
concludes, we will work on freeingyou from the confines of the lodge.
(04:15):
If the eyes that pursue you areagents of the Cipher, they will be
greatly diminished. And if they aren't, we'll find out what they are and
how to help you. I justwant to know we have fresh water.
I can resort to cannibalism if Ihave to, but dying of thirst is
one of my greatest fears after thesalt mummies. Oh yes, fresh water
(04:39):
in a reservoir. Additionally, thealchemists have core matter that they can render
into many simple materials we might needon demand. I dare say the Ardent
is now our own little vessel,unmoored from reality, itself, self sufficient
and safe. The safest location maybe anywhere we are unmoored from the cosmos,
(05:01):
and yet they still expect us towork. It's just a few reclaimings
from the backlog. Pip, willyou come with us to the labs.
I know we're all sealed in andall, but I would still feel better
if I had you in sight.Very sweet, but let's call it earshot.
When the bodies start moving and talkingand shit, I just can't Adelaide.
(05:31):
Yes, I'm feeling Wow. Luca, is the ghost wax picking her
up? Yes, I think so. I still can't hear anything she's saying,
but the needle is moving. Good, Adelaide. Your speech should continue
to return to you as your strengthcontinues to grow. Grow already feel so
(06:00):
strong. Oh, yes, youare only just beginning. Amazing. Do
you hear the phantoma responding to hertrying to talk? I do? They
are kindred spirits after all. Ifeel fear, I feel attention all around.
(06:21):
I want to help. How canI help? Unfortunately, I think
it will take some time before theothers are fully willing to make use of
your more wondrous capabilities. You see, Adelaide, Addie, please, yes,
Addie, the other Hamsa and Iin the pursuit of our great work,
(06:46):
well, we are very protective ofour safety. We are by our
nature very hard to harm layers andlayers. It's hard to explain, but
the part of the issue is youare one of the rare things that could
harm us easily if you so chose. They are afraid rekindled have hurt us
(07:13):
in the past. You are aweapon, and for now a weapon is
all they can see. But Iknow that you are more. I have
seen your heart and I will showyou mine by my deeds. The others
will too. We have nothing tofear from each other. We want the
(07:34):
same thing, all of us,I think agreed. Yes, this building
is on moored. We are verysafe, but still with all hands on
deck in the upper chamber, wouldyou stay and watch the apiary, keep
the phantomer company. When we areclosed like this, they tend to get
(07:59):
a little bit lonely. Yes,I like them. They're there. Rest
your voice. We will be backshortly. We are going to reclaim a
young man who died very unnaturally andsee if we can determine why it happened
and what we might do about it. Okay, uh, shall we yes,
(08:24):
walk and talk with me Luca whilewe have a moment here? Yeah,
a gift? What really? Yes, it's nothing extravagant. I suppose
it is rare. Why did waitone year ago we started working together officially.
(08:48):
I can't believe it's only been ayear. It has been eventful.
What what is this? When youwere taken into the order, they took
an object from you, I knowthat it was very difficult, and well,
while this is not them little ifthat gave the object its power,
(09:11):
it is something I made. Inthe likeness of it. It's called a
tumbling staircase, an impossible object likethe one you manifested, just not so
puissant. It's it's beautiful. Thethings you make are beautiful, full of
(09:33):
goodness, purity of intent. Wecannot choose what others do with what we
put into the world. We canbut put them into the world with an
open heart. I am to waxsentimental, quite inspired by you. Thank
(09:54):
you. You are a good friendand a fine young man. I don't
mean to overstep, but I oftenfeel very much like an inverted Geppetto to
your Pinocchio, only in that youare young and proficient with the making of
(10:15):
things, and I am older andwell wish you were a real boy.
Forgive the metaphor, it was muddledI'd have been rather lucky if you'd actually
been my father. Well, Ilook forward to working with you more.
Yeah, me too. So,hey, you too cool working on it?
(10:46):
Are we cool? What do youmean? Just feels I don't know,
I feel weird about everything. No, it's it's gonna be fine,
crazy days. Yeah, speaking ofwhich, do you hear that I've been
feeling like I can Yeah, soundsso bizarre. Ever since they sealed the
(11:11):
building off, something is really different. Something in the walls. Yeah,
come put your ear here. Huhthat's yeah, what is that? Usually
you get like pipe sounds or buzzingfrom electricity ere you know, building noises,
but there's like nothing less than nothing. Weird. Hey you two?
(11:35):
Uh having a nice wall? Listenquiet, We are listening to the wall.
Yes, the ritual has many bizarresecondary effects. By the way,
if your cell phones get any textualmessages from numbers you don't know, numbers
from people outside the building or fromany deceased relatives, do not respond.
(11:58):
How incredibly haunting. Yes, soyou said unmoored from reality? How literal
is that? If I went tothe front doors and like got them open
somehow would we all be pulled outinto the vacuum of space. No,
I mean, I don't think so. Or would it be like a desert
(12:20):
out there and big sandworms would startchasing us and eat Pip. At least
I get to be Geena Davis inthis reference, what would happen? You'd
likely see the buildings across the street, people passing by, but were you
to exit, you'd be lost elsewhere. We only appear to be where we
(12:41):
currently are, So where are wereally? Nowhere? Ominous? It's the
last peaceful place in the cosmos.Honestly, what a sad thought. Not
all violentles is bad. The crucibleof a star is quite violent. Not
(13:03):
all chaos is undesirable. The fragmentingand spiraling of galaxies is a thing of
great beauty, even if it ismostly madness. So poetic today, Eh,
poetry, Grandpa doesn't really work.Apologies I wax philosophical during a banishing,
(13:24):
especially ones I cannot be part of. Yeah, what bullshit. I
made my bed of coals, nowI lie in it. It's not fair.
The injustice I am concerned with isthe one that befell this young John
Doe in our examination laboratory. Shallwe attend to them. Oh boy,
(13:48):
I can't believe I don't get tosee Olivia twist that tick mister media out
of our reality. Instead, Iget stuck on corpse chat duty. I'll
try not to take it personally thatyou referred to the Chapter of Reclaimers and
their sacred duties as corpse chat.Sorry, all right, let's head down
(14:09):
there. This is Master Reclaimer Owenvon Sid, together with Philippa, James
Seer, Charles Baybridge, Order Initiateand Luca Eso Reclaimer. Shit did we
all just get promotions? They clearedme? Oh wow, that hit harder
(14:31):
than I imagined it would children latermm mmm, Master Reclaimer Owen von Sid
in attendance. The deceased was recoveredby Francis Faraday and Margo and Jeers in
a tenement building in Lancaster, Pennsylvaniaon a lead provided by Miss Philippa.
The subject has not been able tobe identified due to a complete lack of
(14:54):
a face, arms, or othermeans of identification. Oh that reminds me.
I keep forgetting how ubiquitous tattoos are, Luca Charlie, did either of
you note any identifying tattoos on thebody during your initial examination? No,
Nope. Yes, well, mI see why we were given this one.
(15:16):
A reclaiming of some kind would bethe only way to identify this body,
as his DNA was nowhere in thesystem either. This poor fellow has
had all traces of himself erased.As I said, the subject's face and
arms and therefore finger prints are missing. There are no marks, cuts,
or surgical indications of any kind,simply smooth, unbroken absences where it seems
(15:45):
any marring of the flesh has beenerased. Sinuses, mandible material, facial
structures all visible, but those crosssectioned appear undamaged. The face has been
removed back to the line of theears, the left arm up to the
(16:07):
shoulder, the right midway through theforearm. There are no signs of bleeding,
and the report indicated that there wasno blood at the scene, though
it was a transient flophouse of sorts, so said scene was not the most
secure and may have been tampered with. Reclaiming will begin after final preparations.
(16:33):
Philippa, are you sensing anything disgusted? But nothing from the body. It's
like its blank. How are wegoing to do this one? Do you
want to draw out the spirit?Inhabit them. Well, I actually have
an apparatus for situations like this.Get a lot of faceless cases more often
(16:57):
than I'd care to. There werea series of cases where a killer had
come to learn of the Reclaimer order, and, in an attempt to render
the dead unable to speak to us, destroyed their faces. Luckily, my
predecessor was a master medium and anearly adopter of the spirit board get out.
(17:18):
Oh yes, we solved a fairfew grisly ones with a planchette in
hand. That's incredible. I,however, was interested in giving the dead
a more physical final experience, andso I repurposed something U Luca, the
large glossy box there. Oh,this crest looks familiar. Yes, there
(17:45):
aren't many of them left. Butthe chapter of wheels sort of your predecessors,
I suppose the artificers whoa oh wow, holy shit, this porcelain face
once sat upon a meticulously crafted andlifelike automaton of human shape. They became
(18:12):
quite a lot more than a gildedcuriosity, and were gifted flesh. However,
this beautiful face seemed a shame forit not to have a use.
Are you talking about Cooza? Thelibrarian was a puppet person. That's why
you were talking about Pinocchio earlier,because you were carrying a puppet face in
(18:33):
your bag. Huh, Maybe youare right. At any rate, I
will affix the prosthetic to the bodyand they can inform us as to what
transpired. Oh lord, hang inthere, After what you've been through,
I'm sure this won't be that bad. Yeah, just a limbless dead body
with an articulated automaton mask telling ushow it died. No, big please,
(18:56):
don't let me get used to this, Shita. Could you hand me
the suture kit? Lost soul comehome again, return to us and tell
us your tale. Use these borrowedeyes to see and lips to speak.
(19:21):
Oh no, oh no, Iam so sorry, but your life has
ended. Nothing will harm you nowthough, and not ever again. We
wish to help you. Oh no, I I knew this would happen eventually.
(19:48):
Why why I knew I was goingto die? Fuck Mama's right.
Breathe in and breathe out. Iam getting some intense feedback as I apply
pressure to try and calm them.Whatever killed them left quite a mark here.
(20:11):
Let me just make a little adjustmentthere try speaking again. Oh that
that feels much better the magic touch. Can you tell us your name,
Zaine, I'm saying, don't askme my last name. Perhaps your family
(20:37):
would No, I don't want themto know anything. Nothing. Please,
I'm gone. Okay, I'm deadto them already. They don't they don't
need to grieve me again. Okay, very well, But Zay, could
you tell us what happened to yourbody? There seems to be a good
(21:00):
deal of you missing. Yeah.Oh yeah, Wow, my face must
have fallen in or maybe they putit in. Wow, that was the
rush of a lifetime just thinking aboutit. God, it felt so good.
(21:30):
It was almost worth it. Theywho Harold? Or? He said
it was Harold. He showed mewhere the soft spot was, where to
find the hole, how to useit. I want to be mad at
him since it killed me, butI've done everything like meth heroin fuck unnamed
(22:00):
laboratory shit that won't be ruining people'slives on the street for years yet.
But oh wow, nothing was likethis, Charlie. If you would take
down the name Harold or I wonderHarold a herald pardon? Please tell us
(22:26):
what happened to you? Uh,I'll spare you and I the painful backstory.
If it's all the same, theabuse, the acting out, the
first using, the getting kicked outof the house, so many variations from
(22:47):
so many people, but all essentiallythe same. You can just fill in
the blanks. There is no need. This is your story. We would
listen into whatever you wish to say. Yeah, no, we don't,
We don't need to. Okay,Well, I do want to say one
(23:11):
thing about it. I mean thatrecording thing, like if anyone is going
to listen to this ever, Iguess just like, don't take shit your
kids do that, that's that's bad, or or you think is bad.
Don't take it personally. Not everythingyour kid does is some attack on you
(23:36):
or the family name or whatever.My using was because of a whole I
had inside myself, one that gotopened up by a few neighbor boys and
then got made worse and worse overtime, filled in, torn open,
(24:00):
and then made wider and wider bylittle cruelty after little cruelty. But shit
with my parents didn't get really baduntil they caught me using pills and decided
that was me declaring war against thefamily, the house and them personally like
(24:25):
I liked them fine until all thatshit started. Anyways, Like Mom and
Dad, I wasn't trying to hurtyou, Okay, fuck that. I
don't need to do that dance anymore. I bounced around, homed, unhomed,
(24:48):
homed again. And you know,you don't know scary until you've been
out on the street at night andwith with the shadows walking all around,
feeling like you are being followed,and then realize you don't have anywhere to
(25:14):
go, nowhere to hide. That'swhen I started taking lots of uppers.
Gotta stay up all night, watchyour own back, sleep when you can
during the day, but you gottaspend all day trying to score really,
so you wind up not sleeping muchat all. And so you see shit,
(25:38):
That's why so many of my friendswho didn't have anywhere wound up seeming
so haunted. I think, youknow, no sleep, no dreams,
no kind of dreams at all,but surrounded by nightmares. I'd hallucinated before,
(25:59):
never going up or down, butjust from the not sleeping. So
this guy, Harold, I hadseen him around a few places and I
never really knew him, but hewaved me over in this empty building.
A bunch of us were hanging out, and you know we could get into
through the door someone forgot to lock. Anyways, Harold waves me over and
(26:26):
didn't say anything at first, justwaves. He always wears his hoodie up.
You know, he's got a fewof them, always these like loud
patterns all over them. Looks likehe's got graffiti drawn all over him.
And it's kind of cool actually,But he's got a mask on. Said
it's because he's burned, but Idon't know. Guy's a nut whatever.
(26:48):
It's got little x's for eyes anda smile stitched on. I used to
think it was kind of scary,but the pandemic days everyone had a mask,
so by then it wasn't even thatweird. Okay, So he waves
me over and just points. There'sthis spot on the wall, middle of
(27:15):
a concrete wall, super tagged up, lots and lots of spray paint and
shit all over it, but nonames I recognize, or any cruise,
just like pictures and shapes like crazytrippy shit. But there's this spot on
the wall where all the other picturesare kind of pointing towards that spot.
(27:37):
Doesn't have any paint at all justa sign drawn over it that says Heaven.
Only the H and the E wereboth capitalized, so maybe HEV and
I don't know Heaven. Yeah,and it wasn't lying Just looking at it,
(28:00):
I could feel my mind slowing down. Then Harold said this weird fucking
thing. What did he say tome? Come on saying, go ahead,
reach out and touch faith. Yeah? Well, I already wanted to,
(28:22):
wanted to reach out. And whenjust the tippy tip of my finger
touched it, electric liquid relief,this flood of joy rushing up my fingers
and into my blood, like purelove. Part of me wanted to shove
(28:48):
my arm and just right away,the opposite of touching a hot stove.
Right, But a little part ofme self preservation screamed out, and so
oh I pulled back. Nice itwas. It was the nicest. But
(29:08):
then there was numb, like morethan numb. Nothing in the dim,
dirty light of that empty building.I could see where the tip of my
finger wasn't just empty space at theend of my knuckle. Oh god,
(29:32):
she sure felt like it. Sorry, I feel kind of dusty. Oh
my, perhaps I didn't clear themask thoroughly. I'm very sorry. I
I'm sorry. I feel like Ihave something in my eye. You okay,
it's all right, Charlie Van said, Oh, and could could you
(29:56):
look in my eyes? Do yousee anything? M No, I do
not. Okay, that's okay.Maybe you should go rinse them. Yeah,
yeah, okay, I'll be rightback. I'll go with him.
I could use a break. Iunderstand. Poor kid. Mm hmm,
(30:23):
he's a user. Oh you thinkso? Lah, Yeah, definitely,
you're right. He told me he'shad addiction problems before, he had to
take a year off to get itunder control before he went to college.
I see nothing to be ashamed of, certainly, but perhaps this story was
(30:48):
Yeah. I think it was gettingto him realizing how this is gonna end.
Poor boy. M hm, youhad discovered the cost of this mysterious
spot in the wall. Yep.When I came to Harold was gone.
(31:11):
I had lost hours just that tinylittle touch, and I'd sailed away for
hours. I went around looking forhim to ask him what the hell was
going on, but I couldn't findhim. A part of me was pissed,
like thinking he put something on thewall, like some kind of acid.
(31:33):
Maybe part of me hoped he hadmore, but I couldn't find him.
So I went back to the spot, half expecting it to be gone,
you know, but it wasn't.It was there. I started like
(31:53):
messing with it. It was soft, the spot. I tried pushing stuff
into it later, like the concretewas like I don't know, doweye.
Whatever I pushed in there, likea broom handle or a rock gone,
The rock came back, sheared clean. The edge sharp enough that I sliced
(32:16):
a finger on it, like thetip of my index finger just flapped loose
because the edge was so sharp,which is when I got the idea,
the idea to reach in again,just a little, just using this part
(32:37):
of my finger I already had practicallycut off when I thought that, Like
shit, I got so scared.I realized then what was going to happen,
Just like with all the other shit, A little bit, a taste,
(32:58):
a touch, but then it's sogood you hope it never ever ends,
and so you start to compromise moreand more, give it more and
more of yourself, and fuck.This spot in the wall was like a
metaphor made real. Right. Iwalked around the building. I found this
(33:24):
guy I knew who had some paintpens. I went back to the hole
and xed out the word heaven wrotein don't I knew what was going to
happen, left wrote it off,planned to move towns if I had to,
But I mean I was a goner. I'd been bit. I could
(33:51):
practically feel my brain rewiring itself intoa machine that just said get more.
Fuck. Nothing else felt good anymore. Nothing. I don't even really remember
going back, rationalizing all the wayyou cut your finger. It's so dirty
(34:15):
where you've been staying, you'll probablyget an infection. Anyways, might be
a good idea to just lose thatlittle bit. Before I knew what was
happening, I gave it my indexfinger up to my knuckle. So stupid.
(34:39):
I'm so sorry. God damn it, I'm so fucking sorry. I'm
sorry to myself, God damn it, say please forgive me. Fuck fuck.
But it was so so good.It felt like falling into infinity,
(35:06):
fucking ambrosia. My soul was singing, you just you can't know what you
do to get that feeling back.I do, I understand, Yeah,
(35:29):
you do, don't you. YouYou've got the look of someone who had
heaven lost it can't find the wayback, don't you. Oh, well,
shit, I think. Once I'dlost my whole left hand, I
(35:53):
started giving it more to like fightthe feeling of horror and shame at having
already given it so much, Icouldn't stop. This wasn't like a normal
fix. It wasn't I would stuffmy sleeve into my pocket, trying to
(36:13):
make it look like I still hadhad an arm. I don't know who
I was trying to fool. Idon't know who would have even noticed or
cared if they did. I don'tknow. Shame is a fucked up funny
(36:35):
thing. I got all the wayup to my shoulder one night, and
the euphoria got so intense I almostpassed out and fell forward my face like
almost grazed it. That was awake up call. I realized how easy,
(36:57):
how fucking easy, it would befall asleep and fall in. I
was so scared, get me awayabout a week. I might have stayed
(37:23):
away forever. But Harold showed backup new neon pink mask, shining out
under his hood at me in thedark. You know it misses you,
it told me. He said thatto me, and his breath. There
(37:49):
was something in it a smell.I didn't realize I had missed some kind
of incense, and I realized thatthe spot smelled like incense. And fuck,
I don't even know what happened,but I was back there again.
(38:14):
This time was different. Before allof me had focused in so hard on
it, on the fix, butnow I felt like it was watching me,
like it had been waiting for me. I just grazed it and lightning
(38:39):
white hot everywhere, and I slipped. I knew it was going to happen.
I'd scolded and screamed at myself allweek about it. Do you want
to fucking die? But then itjust happened. My legs gave out,
(39:08):
I fell. I fell into it. This big bang of pleasure went straight
to my brain through the face thatdisintegrated into the hole in the wall.
(39:30):
Part of me is still there,a forever moment, my last moment.
Oh, God's saying, I amso sorry. But wait, there's there's
(39:51):
something else I can My ears wereleft. I hear something. It's Harold.
He's talking. He's over me,Yes, concentrate. What is he
saying? Yeah, it's weird.It almost seems like he's talking to the
(40:15):
whole dong to worry. He says, don't worry. I just need him
to stay alive long enough to finishthe big nasty on his back. What
does that mean, the big nastyon my back? Oh? Yeah,
(40:40):
yeah, then I felt like Imean, they didn't even really register because
of the bliss rolling through me.But I think he rolled me over.
I think he burned something into myback, like a shape, A shape,
(41:00):
a big sharp star. I Ithought, Luca. Didn't you say
there were no markings, you didn'tsee any during the initial exam. No,
I didn't see any. I don'tthink I did. Perhaps it was
(41:20):
hidden somehow or healed. Here.Help me turn him over and we will
see what we can find. Yes, a scisun is inscribed. What is
this form? Oh god, oldLuca. Oh shit, oh oh wow,
(41:49):
Charlie, deep breaths. Are youokay? Put your head under the
faucet here? Oh shit? Ohfuck? Oh okay, Charlie, let's
get you to medical. Okay,come here, okay, hey, Pip,
(42:15):
yeah, what is it? Wouldyou look into my eyes? Okay?
Sure? Let me Oh oh noah, hey hey just sit down.
No oh, here you go sitdown. You're going into shock.
(42:37):
I Okay, keep breathing. Idon't know what you did exactly why.
This is what they want. Theyshowed you the truth, so now your
eyes belong to them. Fuck you, this is your fault. It's your
(42:58):
fault. I have to do this. You think I want this? Fuck
you. You broke their heart,Pip, you have to pay for it.
Okay, okay, okay, holyshit, this is really happening.
Fuck okay the shock. Lean intoit and let that happen. It'll be
(43:22):
easier. Okay, one down,once to go. Don't take a lass.
Look around, don't you okay?Please? Oh God, please please
(43:49):
wake up. I'm so sorry.Oh my boy, God right, I
can't. I can't hold on,Oh Charley, thank the God's stay back,
please please. The car's fire isstill burning. Can you see him,
(44:15):
guy, he's here beneath me,but flash my eyes? Is he
okay? You shielded him? Itried to here. Can you reach him?
Don't let the fire touch you here. Give him to me. I'll
take care of him. Oh,they're gentle. He's unconscious, a great
(44:42):
deal of force, but he's okay. The fire didn't touch him. No,
he's unconscious, but he's okay.I can't believe it. Good,
yes, yes, good, good, Charlie. I need you to listen
closely. I'm very badly hurt.I think I think I can hold on,
(45:07):
but I need you to get mesomething from my quarters. Charlie,
Charlie, Charlie, can you hearme? Why didn't you save me?
I, Charlie, why didn't yousave me? No? Oh, no,
(45:30):
oh no, Charlie, why didn'tyou save me? Why? I
try? I wanted to. Ithought you thought we could outpace the documents
in your heart. I did notrealize how deep it and rooted. I
(45:50):
am sorry. I failed you.I am about to bet your head and
with the broken piece of this stone. And you are apologizing to me because
you are my friend, even ifI am not yours. Please Charley,
(46:14):
listen, I will die, Ipromise. I am ready. Whatever has
forced your hand, you have one. I accept it. The last necromancer
felt that will be how it is. But please, Charlie, you cannot
(46:35):
black Fish. I can barely holdon to him. I have nothing left.
If you strike at me now,I will consume him on instinct,
without wanting to. It will bea reflex. And oh no, please,
Charley, please, he is thebest of us. Do not condemn
(47:00):
him to oblivion because of my failings. Just give me time time to let
him go gently, Please don't.Please, Just give me a few moments
(47:22):
to let asam my other half,to let him go. Really exactly how
long? Maybe I don't I don'tknow, to detach him, let him
go adrift. Maybe five seven minutes, that is all. Oh, thank
(47:43):
you, Charlie, thank you.That's too long. They'll be coming,
Charlie. Wait if you kill me, If you do this, all that
I have bound will be loosed.This place will fill with horrid, dangerous
things in. You won't survive iteither. I died almost a year ago.
(48:07):
My soul died the night before youcame for me. When my wall
split open and it looked through.It stripped me bare, showed me the
dangling marionette corpses you things have madeof us, showed me what happened to
the real world. I've only gotone way out now. Please know you
(48:32):
are my friend. I trust.Need a few more. Please not like
this. You've had enough time already. As am I I am sorry.
Suck my beautiful high and m
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