#ephemerist

“But then, as she knew too well, the more fondly we imagine something will last forever, the more ephemeral it often proves to be.”

The words of a messenger that came deep in the night.

Hello, I hope somebody is reading.

Nebulous City is bustling as soon as the sun becomes visible in the sky. But for me, the day doesn’t start until afternoon, when I wake up for my duties as a Keeper, followed by evening lectures that run late into the night. The City doesn’t force me to keep up this odd schedule. It’s just that, during the day, the City is too lively, and the sun too blinding that, strangely enough, even my eyes refuse to open.

But once afternoon passes, Nebulous City turns into something else. Steam rises from the ground, mixed together with the stench of rust and something else. If you ask anybody about it, they wouldn’t really know how to explain that – some even pass it off as natural gas. And for me, well, I didn’t really care what or why Nebulous City is the way it is. It’s just that, in the evenings and night, the City looked more like how it should look like.

That night, I laid on bed as usual, and I don’t know how much time had passed or whether I had even fallen asleep, but my eyes opened to a light blaring on my face. I sat up straight and watched as the Terminal in my room turned on and began booting itself up. I was sure I had turned it off. Or did I?

I got up and walked over to it and watched as the Terminal was logged into using my own data. Was it a hack? Or maybe a virus? Whatever it was, it opened up a typing program and words began to flow across the screen.

“Hello, I hope somebody is reading.”

My eyes went wide with recognition. Is this… me? The typing continued before I could think of other possibilities.

“If you are reading this, please go to the 3rd bus stop near K-Station. There is a key ring with two keys in it. One of the keys will open a locker by K-Station. Take whatever is inside it and hold onto it. It may be useful to you in the future.”

Nothing was typed out after that and as suddenly as the screen had turned on, it turned black. The Terminal had been shut down.

I stood staring at the screen, contemplating what just happened for a second. There’s no way that could have been something from within Nebulous City. And the chances of it happening from outside was also quite improbable. The chances of the whole thing being a trap or a setup was likely.

But the way how the message was typed out, the familiarity gnawed at my curiosity. Despite my logic telling me that I shouldn’t, I grabbed my jacket and walked briskly to K-Station that was, fortunately, just five minutes away from my apartment. Looking up, the stars were still shining in a sky that was beginning to tint blue. I realized that it was just before dawn. I’d better hurry before someone spots me. Sure enough, several meters away from the 3rd bus stop, I spotted the metal of the keys glint under the dim street lights. It was on the ground, next to the bench, looking as if someone had dropped it and forgotten about it.

I picked it up, and just as the message had said, one key was from a coin locker, with the number “27” carved into it. But what took me back was the other key. A face like a mask was drawn on the circular bow, and its blade was carved in a peculiar design. I recalled that the instructions said nothing about this key. I wonder what it was for.

Snapping out of my reverie, I walked over to the coin lockers another several meters away and easily found the locker numbered “27”. Inside, there was a thin rectangular shaped object about a third the size of my height, wrapped in old brown-colored parchment paper. Cautiously, I took it out, and for a moment, I wanted to rip off the wrapping right then and there, but I decided that would make too much noise and instead, promptly carried it back to my apartment before letting my curiosity run wild. I messily tore off the wrapping, which had a painted canvas hidden inside it. For a moment, I was disappointed, but as I began to study the colors on the smooth fabric, I began to be drawn into it.

The painting was of a winter night, with evergreen filled mountain sides framing a far away town. But what stood out was not the details of the trees or the town, but the night sky. A crescent moon glowed palely in the corner while small white stars oscillated, almost becoming one with the small drops of snow specked on the painting. I stared at it for a while, and thought, “The world must have seemed beautiful to the person who painted this”. And for some reason, it reminded me of you, Meraki. You were like that too, weren’t you?

In an age when dreams are fake, at least smiles don’t need to be

Hello, I hope somebody is reading.

Whispers in the wind told us of a circus that stopped on the outskirts of Nebulous City. The eldest of the Keepers, Regnant, a favorite of the Bastions, wanted to go see it so he invited me, along with some of the other Keepers to run away for a night just to see it. Surprising, I know. It seems even the best of us has a hidden rebellious streak in them.

The aspect of seeing the circus was exciting in itself but the ride there was, at least for me, just as enjoyable, if not more so. First were the blazing mountains. The fire made symbols on the mountain faces as the smokes rose as an offering to the Ancient Gods. As much as the Bastions loved the technology of the new age, they also loved the antiquity of old times.

Beyond the mountains, we drove past the bay. Where I come from, the scenery never changed. But over here, there are lights in the distance. And the further away you went, the more they turned into the image of galaxies. Not that I have ever seen one myself. But I would hope the image that burned into my eyes then would be something in that likeness.

Once we arrived at our destination, it was like we stepped back in time. Everything, from the tents to right down to the costumes, felt like they were made using the hands of humans. It really was something. Unfortunately, not many were there to see it. That's to be expected though. Those of us living in Nebulous City would have no need to come all the way out here just to experience what some would call "laughs". But it seems the ringmaster was an eccentric man, who believed in the need to bring the happiness of smiles and the magic of dreams to where they were lacking the most. Strange of him to think he could bring that with a circus.

But once the show began, I realized why he thought that. Because the performance was a story about when dreams were still possible, when erring meant only a detour, and bonds you made with others had something meaningful about them. It really was a story from a long time ago. Regnant was quite amused by it. But I wonder if it meant anything more to him than amusement.

In Nebulous City, you see, there are remnants of the past but its denizens has nothing of the sort. We fell back on the comfort that was given by the Bastions and in exchange, they took something from us that we can't ever know. Even for me, it is just an inkling, a feeling, but I chose to trust it. And like a ghost, it whispers to me, to escape from here..

May Day, May Day. The New Types are here. And we were caught unprepared.

Hello, I hope somebody is reading.

On the spring and fall equinox of every year, the New Types - new denizens of Nebulous City - arrive. Each group has their own unique characteristics that sets them apart from their predecessors, but by the time the newest group arrive, the older group has fully integrated and become a part of Nebulous City. And nobody kept count or remembers how many of these groups of new denizens have arrived in the past. So any group that arrives is just called "New Type".

But how does this all matter to me? Well, once I was brought back after escaping, Nebulous City decided to keep me under surveillance by assigning me to be a Keeper for the Athenaeum - a place where people of all kinds wander in to get lost in pages, always for a purpose, whether they themselves might know them or not. The place that once completely ran on magic was now co-dependent on a computerized system as well, balancing precariously on the line between magic and science since the advent of the Bastions. As a Keeper, it was my job to make sure the system doesn't fall by striking down whoever gets too curious and tries to force their way in. Yeah, curiosity can be a nasty thing sometimes.

Of course, we knew that they were coming, and we made due our preparations. But they arrived earlier than expected. By the time I reached the Athenaeum in the morning, I was already running, armed with a Spirit Blade. If I cut them with it, I can erase the emotion of curiosity within them, without shedding a single drop of blood. Yeah, convenient, isn't it? With the kind of technology the Bastions has access to, pretty much anything is possible. Especially the kind of anything that helps you become a part of the City.

The New Type's arrival came in two waves. The First Wave was tough. Mostly because we were unprepared. Old allies came to join us but most weren't very reliable. Even the Captain decided to go on vacation. Seriously, what timing. Nobody says a word about these things though. As long as the Bastions don't find it a problem, it's not really a problem. The Second Wave was much less intense than the first. And fortunately, there were more reliable allies this time around.

Allies, yes. Anything but friends. Making friends is too dangerous. It's a trap to lure you into the pleasures of Nebulous City. I realized that after my first two years here. But one thing I've come to realize after spending an year with these bunch is that you can't really survive out here in Nebulous City by yourself. And as much as I'm not open to making "friends" out here, they aren't too bad to be around.

You know Meraki, they call it the spring equinox around here because of these white flowers. I wish I could have you see them someday. They bloom at night and light up the whole City, like they're trying to outshine the stars in the night sky. Sometimes, it feels like everything here is trying to outshine the stars.

In Nebulous City. Planning my second escape - this time, for good.

Hello, I hope somebody is reading. I was diving through the Net the other day, and found this program that allows me to reach outside of the watchful eye of Nexus, the Nebulous City network. Using it, I'm able to send these words that are encrypted, but unfortunately, it doesn't allow me to choose where or who I send it to. But right now, it's all I've got to reach you. So I hope you are reading this. Who am I? I can't tell you who I really am, but you can call me Ephemerist. Since to you, that's all I am right now. And maybe all that I ever will be. I am a denizen of Nebulous City. Well, at least I'm supposed to be. I've long since discovered that this place is not what most people here thinks it is. So I tried to escape and run away two years after I was brought here. And I succeeded. But freedom barely lasted a month before they found me and brought me back here again. Apparently, retreating to an island with less than twenty people isn't enough to escape the Bastions of the Nebulous City. But no matter, I'll escape again. A nebula is where stars are born. And such an event is not something mere city can hold down.

Perhaps someday, these records will tell the truth about Nebulous City to the rest of the world. And maybe if you end up here, these records will perhaps help you escape from here, hopefully like I do.

This is as far as I can go for this record.