Speaker 1: Longevity by Teres windsor a morality tale. Nineteen sixty style
Speaker 1: legend had it that many thousands of years ago, right
Speaker 1: after the Great Horror, the whole continent of the West
Speaker 1: had slowly sunk beneath the West water, and that once
Speaker 1: every century it arose during a full moon. Still, Captain
Speaker 1: Heinrich clung to the hope that the legend would not
Speaker 1: be borne out by truth. Perhaps the West Continent still existed.
Speaker 1: Perhaps dare he hope with civilization? The crew of the
Speaker 1: Semelunas thought him quite mad. After all, hadn't the East
Speaker 1: and South continents been completely annihilated from the great sky fires?
Speaker 1: And wasn't it said that they had suffered from a
Speaker 1: fraction of what the West continent had endured. The Semilunas
Speaker 1: anchored at the mouth of a great river, the months
Speaker 1: of fear and doubt were at end. Here, at last
Speaker 1: was the West Continent. A small party of scouts was
Speaker 1: sent ashore, with many cautions to be alert for luminescent areas,
Speaker 1: which meant certain death for those who remained too long
Speaker 1: in its vicinity. Armed with bow and arrow, the party
Speaker 1: made its way slowly up the great river. Nowhere was
Speaker 1: to be seen, the color green, only dull browns and grays,
Speaker 1: and no sign of life save for an occasional patch
Speaker 1: of lichen on a rock. After several days of rowing,
Speaker 1: the food and water supply was almost half depleted, and
Speaker 1: still no evidence of either past or present habitation. It
Speaker 1: was time to turn back to travel all the weary
Speaker 1: months across the west Water, the journey all in vain.
Speaker 1: What a small reward for such an arduous trip, just
Speaker 1: proof of the existence of a barren land mass, ugly
Speaker 1: and useless. On the second day of the return to
Speaker 1: the Semlunas, the scouting party decided to stop and investigate
Speaker 1: a huge opening in the Rocky Mine mountain side. How
Speaker 1: suspiciously regular and even it looked, particularly in comparison to
Speaker 1: the rest of the countryside, which was jagged and chaotic.
Speaker 1: They entered the cave apprehensively, torches of flare and weapons
Speaker 1: in hand, but all was darkness and quiet. Still, the
Speaker 1: regularity of the cave walls led them on. Some creature,
Speaker 1: man or otherwise must have planned and built this, But
Speaker 1: to what end? Now the cave divided into three forks.
Speaker 1: The torches gave only a hint of the immensity of
Speaker 1: the chambers that lay at the end of each. They
Speaker 1: selected the center chamber, approaching cautiously, breath caught in awe
Speaker 1: and excitement. The torches reflected on a dull, black surface
Speaker 1: which was divided into many, many little squares. The sameness
Speaker 1: of them stretched for uncountable yards in all directions. What
Speaker 1: were these ungodly looking edifices? The black surface was cold
Speaker 1: and smooth to the touch, and quite regular, except for
Speaker 1: a strange little hole at the bottom of each square,
Speaker 1: in a curious row of pictures along the top. They
Speaker 1: would copy these strange pictures. Perhaps back home there would
Speaker 1: be a scholar who would understand the meaning behind these
Speaker 1: last remains of the people of the West Continent. The
Speaker 1: leader took out his slate and painstakingly copied Safe Guard
Speaker 1: Your Valuables at Allegheny Mountain Vaults, box number four five four,
Speaker 1: four three, five, six, seven eight two. End of Longevity
Speaker 1: by Terse Windsor