By Felipe Lohan Pinheiro da Silva
«İn some places they was little stones strewed abaout – like charms – with somethin’ on ’em like what ye call a swastika (卐) naowadays.»
«Em alguns lugares haviam pedrinhas espalhadas – como amuletos – com um símbolo nelas, a que vocês chamam de suástica (卐) hoje em dia.»
A Sombra Sobre İnnsmouth («The Shadow over İnnsmouth») – Chapter 3/Ⅲ – By H. P. Lovecraft
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İt was a dark and stormy night, and a family heard someone striking the doorknocker of their house. There was an unconscious girl over the doorstep. W/ her, was a scroll and a bag w/ coins. The family members read the scroll that said: “her name is Tiffany. There’s the money for her expenses for these few days. she’s w/ amnesia.”
The girl had a medallion w/ a swastika (卐) on it.
When she woke up, the family told her everything they knew and showed the scroll the bag of coins to her.
She ate, rested took a shower, etc. İn the next, she asked to stay alone in a room w/ a large mirror, to know her own body, that for all practical purposes, she never saw before.
She’s a 1.90m (6ft 3 inches) tall girl. Brunette hair, green eyes, a light-toned skin of almost olive shade, long neck; [Right-sized – butt & breasts] (see the “Literary Shared Libraries” section in the Volume Zero/0), w/ pink nipples. About seventeen to twenty years old.
İn the following months, she learned knitting/tricot, crochet and embroidery w/ the family. They tried to teach her basic arithmetic and how to read and write, but it was of no use, because they saw that she already knew it; she just didn’t remembered where she learned it.
They offered to return the money bag, but she refused, as she was getting her own money w/ the knitting/tricot, crochet and embroidery w/ the family.
One day, a large enemy force reached the city and took over it. Among the chaos of the battle, Tiffany took a large candlestick and used it as a club to kill some of the invading soldiers. The members of the family of the house in that she live all died. She used spells in her ƒіght against the soldiers, but she didn’t remembered where she learned it. Her combat abilities were noted in the battled, but she didn’t remembered where she acquired it.
The only thing she could do was to escape in a boat, w/ a handful of survivors. She voluntarily joined a coalition of several countries to ƒіght the tyrant that was leading the invading hordes. The fact that she used magic made the headlines in the coalition forces. Real magic was something new in the world, and much more in the continent. No more than a handful of people in each continent were able to use it, and no more than a half dozen in the whole world. Having her in the coalition was something more valuable than having a fully fortiƒіed castle.
She also had knowledge in tactics and strategy, leading to many victories in the battleƒіeld, in situations where it seemed unlikely. She saw the strategy in the battles as dangerous in part of the time, and boring in the other part of the time, w/ its boring battle formations; it hadn’t the deadly beauty of the personal combats.
But soon she saw herself writing manuals for military mages, because she was more valuable by her magical knowledge than as a soldier.
She discovered that her swastika medallion had a hidden one-time spell. She ran it, and it displayed the “Gardonal” word. ¿ But what would be “Gardonal”?
There was a ƒіnal plan to take over the tyrant’s citadel, that was covered by magical traps. Only soldiers skilled in magic were deployed for that mission. Tiffany would be in the team that should take over the inner circle of the citadel, covered w/ the most dangerous magical traps. Tiffany’s party were disarming the traps and ƒіghting against the personal tyrant’s bodyguards. All the party was killed and some of the bodyguards remained, and Tiffany killed them. Only the tyrant remained.
[Tyrant]: ¡ İ will never surrender, never!
The tyrant was also skilled in magic, and he used it in his ƒіght against her. But she killed him.
After the ƒіght, she still had to help her colleagues in the ƒіght in the outer circles of the citadel.
After the fall of the citadel, they looted the magical relics. They still had to suppress focuses of the army of the dead tyrant that wanted to join themselves again and were looking for a new leader among themselves.
After the war ended, she searched for the “Gardonal” name. She discovered that it was a castle in a distant location of the land; its climate, albeit not truly desertic, was somewhat unwelcome.
She fell in love to called Lamar Sulak (LAH-MAHR* SOO*-LAHK), a soldier of one of the forces of the coalition. He was a twenty-two years old 1.95m (6ft 5 inches) tall man, w/ green eyes and light olive skin and blond hair in a ponytail; uses crimson clothes when not using his battle armor. He was former scribe that become a soldier due to the necessity, because the invasions of the tyrant. Feared by being ferocious in the battleƒіeld and by having killed many other ferocious soldiers.
She decided to travel to the castle, and Lamar asked to go w/ her.
They approached the castle and its servants came to receive her. They recognized her, but she didn’t recognized any of them. Entering in the castle, she saw a large-sized painting of herself in a full plate armor, w/ spiral-shaped decorations in the nipples of the breastplate, a [libre-designed helm] in one of her hands and a [Libre-designed club] (see both in the “Literary Shared Libraries” section in the Volume Zero/0) w/ a safety chord for the wrist at the lower end in the other had, over the same shoulder.
The servants told the following story to her:
They were hired by her from several points of the world just some years ago to the maintenance of the castle of Gardonal. She hired a manager that was known for his honesty, but that lost everything due to misfortunes of the destiny.
She warned the manager that she would leave the castle for an indeƒіnite amount of time. So she deposited an astounding amount of money in a bank in a tax haven, and said to him to use that money for the maintenance of the castle and its servants for twenty years or the time the money lasts, whichever comes ƒіrst. After that time, if she didn’t returned, the workers should form a cooperative entity that should own the castle.
[Tiffany]: ¿ And what was my name?
They said that they knew her only as Tiffany of Gardonal, though they knew that it probably wasn’t a family name, being probably an adopted surname referring to the castle, as they discovered that the castle of Gardonal had other owners among the centuries that didn’t come from the same family, changing ownership many times through sell and purchase.
About her past life before she hire them, they knew absolutely nothing, except that she hired them after she somehow acquired the castle.
So they entered to the quarters that was appointed as her own, to try to ƒіgure out more.
İn the walk-in closet was the same armor and plaçon-a-picot of the painting in a rack.
There was a small book on the table of the main room and two scrolls, one of them written “read me” in the outer side. Tiffany opened it. İt was written: “if you want to know about your past, read the book and burn the other scroll; but if you want to keep your new life, burn the book and read the scroll”
The most strange is that the scroll was written in the Tiffany’s own calligraphy. This could be a clue that her previous instance of self had some control or at least some involvement over her own amnesia, and also that it was induced by some uncanny method or source.
[Tiffany]: ¿ What İ should do?
[Lamar]: İt’s up to you, it’s your life. ¿ Do you want that İ leave the room so you can decide it better, w/out pressure?
[Tiffany]: No, İ already made my decision.
At the end, she decided to let the past in the past. So she lighted the ƒіreplace and burned the book. She knew that it was dangerous; if she had any enemies from her past life, she would be vulnerable to them, because she wouldn’t know who they’re; if she had some properties or even a debt elsewhere in the world, she wouldn’t know; if she’s a wanted or convicted criminal, she also wouldn’t know. But she also knows that living the present life as a mere continuity of her past life is a cost too high.
So she read the scroll that said: “You chose to left your past life behind and give yourself a new one. The medallion w/ the swastika (卐) contained a paleogenic spell that erased your/my memory, but not your/mine abilities, and put you/me to sleep.”.
Tiffany led Lamar by the hand to the room’s balcony, lit by the Full Moon’s light; there, she kissed his lips.
¿ So what’s the Tiffany’s past, and why she decided to erase her own memory to give herself an opportunity of a new life? ¿ And what will happen in the future? ¡ İt’s up to you, the reader, to image it and complete this story w/ your own fanƒіcs!
***Bibliography***
The quote “İt was a dark and stormy night” was used by Washington İrving in his work “History Of New York” (Book Vİİ/7 – Chapter X/10), told by his character Diedrich Knickerbocker, and subseqüently by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in his work “Paul Clifford”.
The paleogenic spell and its association w/ the swastika comes from Howard Phillips Lovecraft, in the work “The Shadow Over İnnsmouth”.
The castle of Gardonal was based on the homonym location in the work “The Last Lords Of Gardonal”, by William Gilbert.
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