sanctum

you have walked through robots, and under near-invisible letters, and across a sixty-four-character rite, and into a mirror, and down a half-turned alphabet, and arrived here.

Visitors who linger in the corridor have, on rare occasions, been observed to slowly resemble it. The house considers this an honour. The visitors, when they can still speak, are divided.

walk   walk

The gatehouse keeps a list. The list is of every visitor who has ever asked, on entering, where the columbarium is. The list is bound; the list is long; the list is the gatehouse, written down.

the artifact

What follows is what you came for. The house parts with it without regret. The house, in any case, has more of everything than it has need of.

csaw{REDACTED}

What is kept in the granary is not, in any meaningful sense, kept. It is merely, on most days, present. The visitors have been asked not to inquire further.

Of all the rooms in the house, the smoking is the one the house is least proud of. The house has been asked, on more than one occasion, to demolish it. The house has, on more than one occasion, declined.

The niche keeps the keys to the kitchen. The kitchen keeps the keys to the stable. The stable keeps no keys; the stable is, the house insists, beyond locking.

passages

the chantry, the hall, the fascia, the smoking, the parlour, the granary, the eaves, the cell, the sitting, the stair, the foyer, the undercroft, the buttery, the pantry, the smithy, the lounge, the gatehouse, the dovecote, the atelier, the balcony, the mortuary, the larder, the refectory, the ballroom.

the house thanks you for your visit. the house has, in the strictest sense, already forgotten you.