THREE BROTHERS ⋅ A NEW GOD ⋅ CITY OF SALT ⋅ LAKE OF DREAMS ⋅ SUSPENDED! ⋅ THE TWO STREETS ⋅ ON THE EDGE OF THE MARSHS ⋅ BLACKSUN ⋅ DEMON ⋅ GAZELLE ⋅ THE HARDRIIM ⋅ RIDER ⋅ THE FLYER ⋅ ARABIAN NIGHTS ⋅ THE EMPTY MIRROR ⋅ THE SOLDIER ⋅ THE BICYCLE ⋅ THE CROCODILE ⋅ THE THREE TRAVELERS ⋅ OCEANSONG ⋅ THE FLUTE ⋅ THE TREE ⋅ THE TOWER

Three brothers gathered outside the village each evening for some mint tea on the great hill that overlooked the fields of dates and bristly sedge. During these times they could speak freely, without fear of censure from those who did not understand the brothers’ ways. For they were born on the same night from the same egg from the same mother, and as the twilight melted the boundaries the world had imposed upon their tripled mind, they felt again as one. One evening, in the cloud-herded dusk, the brothers had a vision. Upon the plain in front of them, a white city glowed where no city had lain the moment before. “What veil has been lifted! Do you not see that a vast city of salt has burst forth upon the grazing lands?” said the first brother to his astonished companions. “Indeed I do!” choked out the second. “Its filigreed domes and arabesques are both splendid and heartbreaking! The crystalline white spires shatter the minds of those who dare to wander its radiant alleys in search of the crystals that bedazzle the eyes with brightness impossible! Come, let us depart at once for the city gates.” “No, my dear brothers!” implored the third brother. “Can you not see how the towers crumble, how the bridges decay? Why, the entire city is made of salt and ash! With one touch the whole edifice will crumble to ruins. No man should ever walk those cursed alleyways. It is a city of death!” “Quiet! Quiet! We shall neither go to nor run from the white city,” said the first brother. “And I assure you that as soon as the moon disappears behind those clouds, so too will the City of Salt. For these twin cities of heaven and hell are like ourselves, born of the same egg. And I ask you this: is the salty taste of our tears not the same from joy as it is from sorrow?” As the last of the twilight faded, the three brothers grew indistinct, fading from view until they had vanished entirely. The city, however, did not fade; in fact, as the populace returned to their homes and lit the lanterns within them, the lights of the city soon obscured the starry sky that hung like a dream above the eroded mountains. -home-