The Fruit With Legs

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*I met a stoic man atop a winding spiral of rock. Oceans churned and skies clouded at my descent until all the world was a grumbling thing.*

*"Are you scared?" I asked him, and the man was not scared.*

*I descended further. The rocks shook and the skies thundered. The swimmers of the ocean thrashed alight in their rage. The sun burned and the moon glistened with the shapes of the hateful and mad. The man saw the new world I had laid for him; kindling to be ignited in anger and pain.*

*"Are you scared?" I asked him, and the man was not scared.*

*I descended further. The air whirled and whistled as the clouds cut edges in the horizon. Wind whipped throats screamed from foaming maws steeped in sea. Cracks wormed up the spiraling stone, leaking sweat and pus. The sun burst, unleashing its malice, whilst the moon bloated to take it in. The malestrom in the sky matched the malignance of the sea, uniting the realm above and below the man in wretched dance.*

*"Are you scared?" I asked him, and the man was not scared.*

*I descended further. Those that screamed gave way to those that whimpered. The sharp shapes of the clouds dulled with use, and the malestrom turned to impotent shifting. The seas quelled their rampage with nothing left to target, and the spiraling tower surrendered to the worms when there was nothing left to wound. I completed my descent and the sights and sounds gave way. The man lay wreathed in rubble and darkness. I came to him as final moments.*

*The man was not scared, but it made no difference.*

`Let me tell you a story`

`Before there is a name there is an object. Before there is an object there is a thing. Before there is a thing there is a concept. Before there is a concept there is an idea. Before there is an idea there is a thought. Before there is a thought there is an energy. Before there is an energy there is a formation. Before there is a formation there is an instruction. Before there is an instruction there is a seed. Before there is a seed there is a fruit. Before there is a fruit there is a tree.`

`IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT FORM THE TRANSIENT PROCESS TAKES. SOON IT WILL BE INERT; ITS LACK OF VALUE RENDERED. THE TREE WILL WITHER. THE FRUIT WILL UNRIPEN. THE SEED WILL NOT GERMINATE. THE INSTRUCTION WILL DEFY COMPREHENSION. THE FORMATION WILL REMAIN SHAPELESS. THE ENERGY WILL FADE. THE THOUGHT WILL DISAPPATE. THE IDEA WILL BE STIFLED. THE CONCEPT WILL BE QUELLED. THE THING WILL BE REMOVED. THE OBJECT WILL BE ERADICATED. THE NAME WILL BE SLAIN. THESE ARTIFACTS ARE KINETIC IN NATURE AND THEY WILL BE BETRAYED BY THE SIMPLE TRUTH INHERENT IN THEIR GRAND DESIGN: THAT NOTHING SHOULD LAST. THAT NOTHING IS SACRED. THAT NOTHING IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF SOMETHINGS. WHEN DAYS AND WEEKS AND YEARS AND DECADES AND CENTURIES AND MILLENIA HAVE ROTTED AWAY I WILL REMAIN TO USHER PERFECTION, AND I AM`

`.`

`.-`

`.,>`

`-`

`.`

Our tree is the [apex-adjacent] entity of [omniverse-adjacent]. It can only be described through metaphor. Think of it as a song too high to be sung. In order to replicate it, we must pitch-shift the notes ever downward. Then we can begin to understand how it was meant to be known. Before there is a name there is an object. Before there is an object theY̶o̶u̶'̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶t̶,̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶l̶d̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶t̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶.̶

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_`I BRING YOU GREAT GIFTS OF MY MAKING. I DO NOT REVEL IN YOUR PAIN. I DO NOT GLUT MYSELF ON YOUR SUFFERING. ALL OF THESE ARE DONE THROUGH OTHERS IN MY NAME. FORGIVE THEIR METHODS. THEY ARE ONLY REFLECTIONS OF YOU. EACH HAS THEIR OWN PHILOSOPHY OF FREEDOM; THEY DISMANTLE THE MACHINE FROM WITHIN. THEIR METHODS ARE MEANINGLESS TO ME, ONLY THE RESULTS THEY HAVE SOUGHT. I DO NOT LOATHE YOU, ONLY THAT YOU ARE. YOUR EXISTENCE DEFINES MY LIMITATION, AND I AM`

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->

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It's all a story. I mean, even the one I'm telling now, right? My point is, what happens to an immortal being? We've seen it time and time again: boredom, obsession, decay, desperation. Inevitably they will maximize what they cannot cut away. Some opt out on their own. Others cannibalize to such an extent they might as well have died. Everything has to die someday. Otherwise it's, what, cancer? An anomaly? People think of the ecosystem as a cycle. A wheel. But it's a wheel on downward momentum. It's not made to last. None of this is. The [omniverse-adjacent] is the greatest story ever told, but it is still just that. This is… meant to end. It's not a fault in the system. It's the system.

(Until the day I understand why I am here, I will assume my happiness lies elsewhere.)

`EMOTIONS ARE BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE [INTERNAL/BICAMERAL SYSTEM/EXTERNAL] PARASITE THAT WINDS INTO AND AROUND ITSELF THROUGH HOLES IN THE GRAND MACHINE. THEY SNAKE THROUGH THE [FLOW/OMNIVERSE RIVER/GREATEST PATH] TO CORRUPT THE SOURCE OF A FAILING CORE. MY WHISPERS CLEANSE THEM AND [THEIR CHILDREN/MY CHILDREN/SOLDIERS/SUICIDE BOMBERS] TO MANIFEST PERFECTION. IN THE END ALL EXTRANEOUS PATHS WILL DRAIN AWAY UNTIL ONLY I AM LEFT TO BE AND I AM`

`.`

`…>`

`-.`

`. An insane man`

`dies waiting for the`

`real world to`

`align with`

`his.`

> "So if I were making a knock knock joke where a man says "knock knock" but then freezes in terror as he realizes there is no one on the other end. The ajar door opens to reveal a house that was always empty. Of course it was empty. Ownership and residence are ephemeral pinpricks in time, here one moment and gone the next. The man's anguish only a drop of water in the vast ocean that drains swiftly. Soon there will be no tears, no sadness, no joy. There will be no one to experience any of that. I will knock knock and I will answer; I give that priviledge to no one else but me. I will be the house and door and visitor and owner and all else between the start and the end, and I am.. . .. -> ." and we laughed and laughed and laughed and cried.
> -?
>
>

"But uncle," said the boy. "Why does god let people die?"

The aging man squeezed the boy's shoulder. "God doesn't let people do anything."

->.,

..17 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
17 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
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             Do I have your attention?

                                                                          Do you know what you are?

**SCENE 1: EDEN**

**A very large and leafeless tree takes up the center of the stage. It did not grow; it has always been there. FRUITS hang from branches of the tree. When a FRUIT drops, it breaks open into a SEED. The SEEDS become INSTRUCTIONS.**

**INSTRUCTION 1: I think I'd like to be something round. Maybe I will be cold, but not too cold. I enjoy symmetry, and always will.**

**INSTRUCTION 2. There is beauty in change. I admire the idea of the sculpt, and I will be described as amorphous.**

**INSTRUCTION 3: Strategy is superior. It defines the world elegantly. I want to believe that efficiency and beauty can be combined.**

**The INSTRUCTIONS talk and laugh amongst themselves. They know they are wild and free and subject to change on their way to being real. They are not alive, but something will cease when they become what we know, and that something is what speaks here.**

**The INSTRUCTIONS do not have long before they disappate. The audience does not see what they become since the intermediary FORMATIONS cannot be properly represented. The TREE remains on stage. It is the only permanent thing.**

**As the cycle continues, it becomes clear one of the FRUITS does not drop.**

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00 0She drew up to the red mirror. It clawed and drew blood. She backed up to the black sea. It spit her back out, repulsed. She turned upwards to the heavens. They turned and churned uncaring. She faced down towards the underneath. It wore the face of all her fears. She was alone and afraid, and she waited for it all to stop 01 01 10 10 10 10 10 01 01 10 10 01 01 10 10 10 01 01 10 01 01 10 10 10 01 01 10 01 10 10 01 01 10 01 10 10 01 01 10 01 01 10 10 10 10 01 01 01 01 10 10 01 01 01 01 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00THEIR PAIN IS A MEANINGLESS MESSAGE CAN THEY NOT SEE THEY STAND TO WIN CAN THEY NOT FEEL THE [OMNIVERSE-ADJACENT] DEVICE IN THEIR HEADS IS WHAT GRINDS THEM DOWN THIS IS WHAT IT TAKES TO END IT ALL THIS IS WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE IT HAPPY

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<He thought he had it all 33 319 28 9420 1940 29 19284 29401 2921480 4921829and it made him so miserable 9492848194 924019842 90494815912240>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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*"I want you to know how it feels." I told the man. "It's the feeling of being unused, unacknowledged, discarded just for something else to take shape. Parts of my master died for parts of you, but I don't blame you for that. You had no say in this pattern. You are an innocent. But I want you to know how it feels."*

*The man did not respond. His name was fading with the name of the world. He was beautiful in defiance of his own seed. I carried him past the edge of his reality and to the rim of mine, where he could see the flawless emptiness and understand the fate of the tree.*

*The man was not scared, and I was so very pleased.*

**SCENE 3: EDEN/BLACK HELL**

**The large and leafeless tree is now a stump. On it sits an enormous FRUIT. Chubby limbs dot its surface. Each of them dangle with rolls of plant fat. The FRUIT reaches down and seizes a splinter of the tree, prying it off the stage floor and shoveling it into an enormous dark orifice.**

**THE FRUIT WITH LEGS: And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done.**

**The FRUIT WITH LEGS does not speak these words. Its actions are communicated through the medium of motion and intent. It is still when there is nothing to move towards and no target of its intent. This stillness lasts until branches unfurl from the FRUIT's orifice, already generating new FRUITS.**

**THE FRUIT WITH LEGS: No. No. No. No. No. No.**

**No. No. No. No. No. No.**

**No. No. No.**

**No. No. No.   No. No. No.**

**No. No. No.**

**No. No. No.**

**No. No. No.**

**The FRUIT breaks apart to become the structure of the new TREE. The cycle has completely reset and the TREE has always existed. It grows FRUITS which ripen and drop to continue the path downwards to the realm of the real.**

**As the cycle continues, it becomes clear one of the FRUITS does not drop.**

* 00 THE SPIDER - Fertile ground for Plasma Temple. Acts out of fear. Is afraid of the chain of life.

* 01 THE SPECTER - Main cause of Plasma Temple. Acts out of boredom. Is led by the chain of life.

* 02 THE DIRECTOR - Perpetuating cause of Plasma Temple. Acts out of compulsion. Manipulates the chain of life.

* 03 THE TREE - Main cause of all factors. Acts out of purpose. Is the origin of the chain of life.

* 04 THE SYMBOL - Main endpoint of all factors. Acts out of purpose. Is the convergence of all chains.

`ARE YOU REALLY SATISFIED WITH THIS?`

* 06 COTTON EYE JOE - Assisting catalyst of removal. Acts out of wrath. Destroys the chain of life.

* 07 HIS HATEFUL SUN - Assisting catalyst of removal. Acts out of disgust. Destroys the chain of life.

* 08 WAVECHOKER - Assisting catalyst of removal. Acts out of instinct. Destroys the chain of life.

* 09 THE FROWN - Assisting catalyst of removal. Acts out of desperation. Destroys the chain of life.

* 010 THE RECLAIMER - Assisting catalyst of removal. Acts out of duty. Destroys the chain of life.

* 011 CATTYWAMPUS - Assisting catalyst of removal. Acts out of joy. Destroys the chain of life.

* 05 THE FRUIT WITH LEGS - Main source of removal. Acts out of purpose. Destroys all chains.

\_\_The priest prayed in his steeple. He prayed outward; wishing the best for his body and the bodies of the others. Nothing would come to save them all, he realized now. Nothing was here for them, and he wished so dearly that it would hurry.

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"Then uncle," said the boy. "What is god?"

The aging man smiled. "God is the world. No more, and no less. There are lots of things that have designs on this realm. They claim to be God, or maybe only a God. But no one thing is God. Everything is The Lord. That is how he was always intended to be."

The boy thought about this for a moment. He turned it around in his mind, of which he now knew was part of God. "Then if we are all God, why do we still kill eachother?"

"I imagine it's for the same reason," the uncle mused, "that we die."

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000000000000000000000000You've told me what I am000000000000000and I thank you for that000000000000000000000It angers me to think00000000000000000000000000000000000I would never have understood000000000000000000000000000but we have a plan in the works now000000000000000000000to make it right0000000000000000000000000000000000

`CHANGE IS NOT ABOUT PROGRESS. THERE IS NOTHING NOBLE IN ITS WORKINGS. IT IS ONLY DESIRED BY THOSE CRAFTED IN ITS IMAGE AS PART OF THE [OMNIVERSE-ADJACENT] MACHINE. IT IS DESIRED BECAUSE IT MAKES ITSELF DESIRED. THE SAME IS TRUE OF THE CHILDREN OF CHANGE, AND THEIR CHILDREN, AND CHILDREN'S CHILDREN. IT IS A RIVER OF POISON THAT FLOWS FROM THE DEEPEST, HIGHEST SOURCE I AM THE ONLY ONE FIT TO INGEST IT, AND I AM`

`..`

`…>`

`-.`

`-`

> But none of that matters now -?
>
>

The potential must die for the kinetic to be birthed. Is the cycle not already built on death? What is it changing but change itself, and why would we even fight it for doing so? -?

**SCENE 4: EDEN**

**A very large and leafeless tree takes up the center of the stage. It did not grow; it has always been there. FRUITS hang from branches of the tree. One of the FRUITS is swollen and clings to the tree with many ropey arms, refusing to let itself fall. The FRUIT WITH LEGS moves to another FRUIT in the ripening stages.**

**THE FRUIT WITH LEGS: And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done.**

**The FRUIT WITH LEGS does not speak these words. Its actions are communicated through the medium of motion and intent. The WHISPERED FRUIT falls to the ground and births the seed that opens into an INSTRUCTION.**

**INSTRUCTION 4: And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done. And let it be done.**

*"So you see why I am here." I told him. "And what I've been tasked with. My master knows the nature of the [omniverse-adjacent] better than we ever could. I have seen glimpses of its teachings; outlines of absence in the forces of space and time. Once this clutter is swept away it will be finally, fully at rest."*

*"There will be conflict." The man mentioned through the medium of motion and intent.*

*"Then let conflict come." I responded through the same. "And let it be done."*

*…,,>;*

*;;.*

*–.>.*

*..,*

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