They are the Dreams and the Madness; they march through the palace in file; row upon row, column upon column they march by in review; and their flag is the Blood & the Sheet, and their names are Devour & Entropy. Thus did my body wear down; thus did its self-destruct mechanism get moving with its proteins and hormones of destruction. I turned gray and then white; the tiny animals that patrolled my blood all stood up in common declaration, and said, "Wherefore did thou leadst us, and whither do we now plummet?" And I knew the ugly & disgusting truth, the truth that I was not One, nor had I ever been; but I was made up of tiny animals wriggling about in concerted motion & purpose, doing things according to the urges within them. And they all gathered in the Great Hall, and invaded the palace and tore down the throne. They were the weavers of dreams & the monsters found in children's fears; and they quivered & quaked their bodies hither and thither, such that I could stand it no more. And so I pulled my sheet over my face, closed mine eyes; and my tongue went purple then black; thus did I die before I died, thus did I enter death while alive. There was a diamond, a priceless jewel embedded in the flesh of my brain; it had never been alive, nor was it ever part of me; but now each and every human being, each and every warrior, priest, king & prince the world over sought out that jewel that lay buried in my brain. I ran from door to door within the labyrinth corridors of my dead father's home; and his home was endless, its hallways and rooms without limit; and thus did I flee the kings & princes that sought to reach their hands into the flesh of my brain, and pluck from my gray, slimy self their prize. And the Dream Master stood near me in the palace, his tunic hanging perfect & clean & orderly upon his frame, his thongs without a strap loose nor a thread of leather hanging; he stood before the legions that passed by in review, all of them the dreams of nations, each one a sacred dream that comes but once every human century. And he looked down upon me as I cowered in a corner trembling, and said, "Come now, thou art not merely a worm & insect--stand up, and give the command to thy poltergeist, and claim what is thine of these treasures I have handed thee." But I would not turn my face to look at him; but my face was a mere half-face like a crescent moon; and he took me by the throat, and the visions poured forth from his black eyes & flowing robes; and I could not stand one second more of being what I was--a mesh of interwoven hooves, horns & tails. Thus did I see what was to be my cup & cross, and I knew at last that I had crossed thresholds and broken barriers that lead one to the only hell that is utter & complete. This was the realm of truth I had stumbled into; this was the sip of the Living Substance, all of it only so much madness & illumination.