Chthon

Prolog:

N!

Nova Factorial

Stellar explosion so vast and swift that light falls centuries behind.

This is our setting: the nova of life.

It springs from the microcosm to the planet

In eons;

From the planet to the universe

In centuries;

And its duration is the inverse function of its magnitude.

§

Section, symbolic

Date of the emergence of man: propulsion to the stars.

All that had gone before is ancient.

Number the new years: Section 1, Section 100, and on;

Communicate through sophisticate Galactic

Though colloquial convenience lingers.

Modify man’s genes for space

But hide the strange divergences. Make myths of those…

5

Family of Five

Fifth-ranked of the founding Families of Hvee

Who settled the garden world in §79,

Seeking their transcendental paradise.

But Five is decimated by the chill of §305.

Two lines remain, the eldest:

Aurelius (§348–402), betrothed to a daughter of Ten;

Benjamin (§352–460), celibate;

And the hopes of this highborn Family devolve on the child of Aurelius:

Aton (§374–400)

Aton, agonist;

Aton, protagonist;

Contending for the knowledge of the nature of evil;

Condemned for that contention.

Aton—while your body dies in prison, your emotion lives beyond;

Yet both are one: your death reflects your life.

Every episode you suffer here parallels your other existence,

Now

And in the past

And in the time to come.

Aton, Aton—child of the sun—

Come, come to our nether world:

We have need of the damned.