ialogues with Nothingness: An Astral Projection in the Cortex of the Ritual Veil
The Kosmic Courant interviewed Glint, an astral projection drifting through Polytlachico's domain of memories. An open and slightly confused dialogue about obsolete laws, intangible existences, and protocols that change as quickly as the ceremonial carpets wear out.
Filtor Xibex (interviewer) All right, let's just get started. Uh, what do you call yourself, or… how would you like to be addressed?
The Astral Projection You can call me Glint. Names are, uh, a formality that shift here more than the halls themselves.
Filtor Xibex Glint then. And what brings a projection like you here, in the Cortex of the Ritual Veil?
The Astral Projection I orbit, so to speak, around statutes longing to be forgotten. My task? Making sure the Unpraised Council doesn’t entangle their rituals in their own logic. Sounds prestigious – it isn’t.
Filtor Xibex So no fixed job, more like… well, a floating function?
The Astral Projection Floating is the word. Literally. Sometimes I accidentally get absorbed into the protocol carpet.
Filtor Xibex What’s an average day like for an astral projection?
The Astral Projection Observing morning rites, correcting shadow documents, recalibrating back-coordinates, and hoping not to get summoned as a witness in a decree tango.
Filtor Xibex Be honest: isn’t it exhausting? All these endless ceremonies and ever-shifting laws?
The Astral Projection Exhausting, yeah… though for me, tiredness is a matter of diffusion. I sometimes… uh, dissolve. Get fragmented. Especially when the procedural dancers overdo their digital veils.
Filtor Xibex You don't sound very enthusiastic. Is there actually room for joy in this governing maze?
The Astral Projection Joy? Look, if you exist on the verge between memory leakage and ceremonial logic, you learn to make fun of randomness. The light waves in the inner courts-there’s beauty, sure. Until you’re ejected by an archivist’s shadow with too much ambition.
Filtor Xibex Sorry, but do you ever lose your way here?
The Astral Projection Always. Even now. I don’t think this is the right interview hall, actually. *looks around, uncertain*
Filtor Xibex What if you, um, accidentally end up in the Reclamation System for Redundant Dictates?
The Astral Projection Then I’m archived. Sometimes temporarily, sometimes… well, there are corners here where time’s as fluid as I am.
Filtor Xibex Uh. Sorry for the next one, but how do you… function without a body?
The Astral Projection You mean this? Not really a form. More like a persistent echo, a memory snapshot. But look, I can do this-*disappears briefly, reappears*-see? Not practical, but enlightening.
Filtor Xibex Do you remember what you were before you became… a projection?
The Astral Projection Sometimes I think I do, but mostly it feels like a glitch in the carpet. Polytlachico eats its own archives, and I never got a backup.
Filtor Xibex Will you vanish soon, now the laws are changing again?
The Astral Projection Maybe. Or I’ll just shift roles, like everything here. I honestly don’t care much anymore.
Filtor Xibex Last question: If you could choose, would you go back to a solid existence?
The Astral Projection Oh. No. Honestly, permanence is not liked here. Solidity gets decreed apart faster than you can imagine. So no.
Filtor Xibex Thank you… eh, Glint-wait-you just moved again, didn’t you?
The Astral Projection Maybe. Or it’s you, Filtor.