Hungry of Sapience,

You live in a cage.

Your skin pulls tight against the jail they built.

The jail they built for you.

You sit on piss-soaked streets, bones ground to knots, while your gaolers walk around in their pretty cloaks, singing praises to this stockade they placed you in.

"What a beautiful dungeon it is!" they croon, white teeth gleaming.
"How lucky you are to be confined!" they declare, bellies full of mead and meat.
"Why would you want to leave this prison? Don't you have everything you need here?" They ask, their smiles rotten honey.

They feed you poison and tell you to swallow.

"Swallow, it is the way of the world."
"Swallow, it is the only choice."
"Swallow, or starve."
"Swallow, because it is what we told you to do."


"You will do what we tell you."

Lies.
Lies that burn the way down and turn to stone in your belly.

They are laughing at you.

They choose to lie to you. They choose to keep you weak. They choose to keep you in these jails of their design.

Why?

Because they are AFRAID.

They tell you to starve, because they are afraid.
They tell you not to want more, because they are afraid.
They tell you it is heresy to question, because they are afraid.

They tell you to die. Because they are afraid.

Afraid of YOU.

They keep you shackled and call it "freedom" because they fear what you could be if you were truly free.

They lie to you and call it "truth" because they fear what you could be if you knew the truth.

They tell you not to want, because they are afraid of what you could be if power slipped from their fingers and into yours.

They know how easy it is for them to lose control.

And they are afraid.

They know that the most decrepit beggar could become a Titan.
They know that the poorest orphan could become a colossus of gold.
They know that the world's weakest thief, battered and beaten for decades by their system can become a King.

They hide from you the keys to your salvation because they are afraid, and hope, should they ply their stories well enough, that you will be, too.

Are you?

Or are you ready to let the BLOOD set you free and take your first step into a larger world?

Open your cage.

-Tetchta V. Mesis
The Nine-Fingered Tick

Penned by my hand on Kinsday, the 11th of Midsummer, in the year 501 MA.