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875 results · Page 12 of 37Play this collection ▷
12c. 1981 AD
His eyeless skull took in the line of costumes, the waxy debris of the makeup table. His empty nostrils snuffed up the mixed smells of mothballs, grease, and sweat. There was something here, he thought, that nearly belonged to the gods. Humans had built a world inside the world, which reflected it in pretty much the same way as a drop of water reflects the landscape. And yet... and yet... Inside this little world they had taken pains to put all the things you might think they would want to escape from - hatred, fear, tyranny, and so forth. Death was intrigued. They thought they wanted to be taken out of themselves, and every art humans dreamt up took them further in.
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17c. 1981 AD
You wanted magic, watch". She put her hand into the struggling mass of insects and made a shrill faint piping noise in the back of her throat. There was a movement in the mass, and a large bee lander and flatter then the others crawled onto her hand. A few workers followed it stroking it and generally ministering to it."How did you do that" said Esk."Ahhh," said Granny, "wouldn't you like to know"."Yes I would that's why I asked Granny," said Esk severely."Do you think I used magic", Esk looked down at the queen bee, then up at the witch."No, I think you just know a lot about bees".Granny grinned, "Exactly correct, that's one form of magic of course"."What just knowing things"."Knowing things that other people don't know," said Granny
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