Some of the brave have replied to my proposal with their own tales of love. A love's value cannot be assessed by an outside observer, but a good love story has the power to transport the reader. You have ten days to vote for the author whose of tale of love moved you the most.

Nice little puzzle you got there.

Check your email,

Word has reached me that you satisfied the would-be poet. Yet more proof that they do not have the heart of a true artist. No...their heart must be something else altogether.

Persephone

True poetry does not die; it continues to speak to us--to our soul, if you believe in that word. A friend of mine came across this piece recently. It can not be called poetry in the classic sense: its demand for an answer is too real.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is something for you, but you must be able to open it. If you know your Job well, the magic will do the trick.

A
My spirit is broken,
my days are cut short,
the grave awaits me.

B
You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.

C
My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.

D
turn night into day;
in the face of the darkness light is near.

E
if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,'
and to the worm, ‘My mother' or ‘My sister,'

F
Will it go down to the gates of death?
Will we descend together into the dust?"

When you are done, send me your answer. The correct one will take a gift.
[email protected]

Now that it is mine, I want this program to have a good shell. Remember, you have until midnight of next Monday, the 20th, to submit your design to liaison Toluca. Do not fail me like the others.

Why do I trouble myself so for a fool who would throw his life away? I will have to watch him much more closely.

I may have underestimated him. There was something in his manner... Perhaps he is not so stupid after all. He could be even more useful--and more dangerous--than I thought.

The Unlimit pig is ours. Soon his body will give up its secrets. And my husband now owes me a considerable favor.

[The Cartographer heard that I published his puzzle, and asked me to put this up for him. I am impressed that some of you decoded his riddles. As I thought, he is an interesting man.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

So, Jack. We finally close the lid on this little puzzle of mine. And about time, too, since Flood managed to soil it with his incompetence. Despite that, several of you "Red Pills" managed to eventually get to the correct location. So kudos to those that did that, Jack. You earned it. Ok then Jack, with no more beating around digitized bushes, I give you the winners.

Winners:
Vector-Hostile:
IcedOut and the gang. @ 12:15 9/6/2006.
ManatikLuniak @ 15:45 9/6/2006
Chimaere @ 19:04 9/8/2006
Yotogi @ 14:18 9/10/2006

Recursion:
Illyria1 @ 13:14 9/8/2006
Conrac @ 6:11 9/9/2006

Syntax:
No one.

I just have to give some mention of the "Red Pills" that decided to be different in their own little ways. Neux certainly proved he'd make a good Map maker, if he wanted to swap the fighting life for a desk job. Ask him about Moons and churches one day. He can tell you some interesting stuff, Jack. Chimaere also gave me an interesting map of Atlantis. Man, I didn't have the heart to tell 'em that it's a fake created by a couple of bored Nightmares who were skiving from their other duties. And last, but not least, ShadowReapr. One of the few that saw past the numbers for what they were.

Now, Jack, I like to pit these instances against one another, so here's my own little leaderboard of props:

1st: Vector Hostile - 4 points.
2nd: Recursion - 2 points.
3rd: Syntax - 0 points.

You know what, Jack. I'm gonna keep this little leader board going for a while. Just my bit of fun!

I'll let Persephone handle prizes if that's what she wants to do. I know I got some junk I stole off of Binary Boy the last time we hit up the clubs. I tell you Jack, that guy just can't handle alcohol.

So I guess all that's left to deal with, Jack, is telling those clueless "Red Pills" the secrets of my puzzle. You see, Jack, I split this little one up into several parts. The first, ran a little like this:

Roses are red, Violets are blue... Blue? Shouldn't they be violet? Well, that's of no concern to you. Your concern, primarily, should be on the colors red and blue. Take a hint jack, mix 'em up and hitch a magic carpet ride to parts you may know.

Got a lot of you confused with that one didn't I, Jack. Well, I gave you primary colors of red and blue and told you to make purple in my own roundabout way. Magic carpets was just my funny way of telling you to find transport. Hmm. Purple. Transport. Purple subways anyone? Yeah, I know. Blame that on Binary Boy. He thought it'd be a laugh Jack. I did try to slip another hint in for you though in the map of mine. The purple triangle, the same shape and color as the route of the purple subway track. As I'm so fond of saying, Jack, details are everything.

The second part of the puzzle had you filling in that map. What was it someone called it? A crossword with no clues. I call it a Skeleton map. But names are not important here!

All journeys must start somewhere; your second starts at the triangle. Let the man on the moon be your guide. Once you have reached the end of your trip, you'll have the keys to unlock the doorway to your final destination.

Again, I just know there were some of you scratching your noggin on this. People actually started looking for another triangle-shaped monument, but they were jumping the gun. I merely asked you to start at the triangle on the map and fill in the names of vendors you'd find in International. Of course, I didn't say that in plain instructions. Where's the fun in being told exactly what to do, Jack?

Thankfully, some "Red Pills" did follow these instructions and filled out the grid with no trouble. The end result was 11 letters in 11 blue boxes. An anagram that befuddled and annoyed several. Jack, you should have seen the fan mail I got for that one!

The magic letters, the key to this whole puzzle were: ATNAHGNUNIC

The kicker here though, Jack, was that this anagram was for two more names. Huang and Tin Can. A couple of collectors who like to reward "Red Pills" for killing gangs. They were your keys for the final small task:

A word of warning, Jack - even a simply route from A to B can turn into a monumental voyage.

Take one of those guys as A, I don't care which. The other is B. A simple route would be a straight line between the two. And what do you know, Jack? There's a monument right in the middle of that line. Wutai Sculpture. Your final destination.

To all the "Red Pills" that tried, good for you! You'll hear from me again sometime, when I'm feeling like testing your grey matter some more, Jack.

Men--always hungering to grasp the pretty object dangled before them. Both the Unlimit pig and my husband will find that it is not so simple as that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roses are red, Violets are blue... Blue? Shouldn't they be violet? Well, that's of no concern to you. Your concern, primarily, should be on the colors red and blue. Take a hint, Jack, mix 'em up and hitch a magic carpet ride to parts you may know. Take a look at this little map, one of my masterpieces I crafted just for you:

All journeys must start somewhere; your second starts at the triangle. Let the man on the moon be your guide. Once you have reached the end of your trip, you'll have the keys to unlock the doorway to your final destination. A word of warning, Jack: even a simple route from A to B can turn into a monumental voyage.

Tell me, "Red Pills," where you wind up. As always, just for you, first past the finishing line wins a little something...

Salera

The recording of culture is history;
but our history is more than that.
Not simple dates or statistics,
the full horror and gore still attracts.

It's the history of now, the history of now.
A strange contradiction that makes sense somehow.
It's the history of now, a mystery and shroud.
The past and the future: best fiction allowed.