Aries

July 6th, 2026
Arrival under the sign of the dagger.
Age of Apotheosis

Greetings from the start of all stories. I will seal this message in a bottle and bury it nearby.

We came with excitement and curiosity. Aries, god of war. Why did the first satellite take his shape? Or did the ancients who first spied this place have conflict on their minds? Qochasiva was a general, once. Illuminati was an empire, first. Power takes many forms, perhaps its first form was a mad fist swung between angry apes? Did the strain of thinking about how to hit harder bring them to intelligence?

Fragment: Farlandiay, carried the title through the diaspora.

Grand Chancellor? Holder of the keys? King maker? Stable presence? Quiet confidante? Or did he merely have the skill to stay the same when all else is ever changing?

Seal: I must be used in shadow, for shown openly I become hated.

If the seal is a riddle, the answer is power.

The Monolith speaks from the center of the world and asks:
What cannot be hidden from the Eye?

Everything. The Eye sees all.

When in Aries, do as the Ariesians do. We made our camp a circle on a rise and laid guns and sharp knives nearby for quick grabbing. There will be no fire, tonight. We'll need our night vision for spying. Even with the blaze of day, there doesn't seem to be a soul around. The land is terraced rock over wasted earth. Nothing grows, and the water is dark and tastes faintly of copper. It runs in rivulets through parched depressions. It would be dangerous to camp here in the rain. I suspect those riverbeds only seem shallow when dry.

I cut my toe on a rock while digging the hole for this message. The rock had peculiar color, so I unearthed it. Washed with blood and water, it revealed itself to be a star-steel blade, nearly eight inches long. I fixed it to the top of my walking stick for comfort and protection. My own Spear, first gift from the Gods, on Qochasivas Way.

Axiom