MEMORY: 15

For those loyal readers who have interest in such things (all six of you) episode 15 of my ongoing online serial MEMORY is now live at No Fear of the Future. If you'll remember from last week's installment, Flavius and Parric have set out to pay a visit to the Tricentennial Emperor, the jolly fellow who killed Flavius not so long ago and set all these various wheels in motion.

The Palace of Un-pic Ja’ab floated before Flavius and Parric, the honey-soaked rays of the late afternoon sun glittering across the many-faceted towers in a prismatic spray. Pale yellow lights flickered from a thousand windows as well as the promenades that ran weblike among the towers. Great loops and whorls of no discernable purpose decorated the skyline and reached far beyond the balconies and retaining walls, casting surreal shadows over the valley a thousand feet below.

Beneath the palace, running the length of the perimeter was a colossal Ketza’qua. The yellow-bronze specimen was old and reeked of power. The trusses and cables holding it in place groaned and cackled every time the serpentine body flexed, but showed no signs of breaking.

Suffice to say, things don't go as smoothly as our intrepid duo may have hoped.

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