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I have scoured the valleys and the hills. I have been to the very gates of Lichstorm. I am old, so that your aged men would appear newborn infants beside me, but I am as far from Threal as when I was a green youth, dwelling among a throng of fellow phaens." "Then, if my luck is good, yours is very bad.... But when you have found Faceny, what do you gain?" Leehallfae looked at him in silence.
The bare, undulating wolds sloped straight down toward it; the water glittered in the distance; and on the horizon he was just able to make out Swaylone's Island. Looking north, the land continued sloping upward as far as he could see. Over the crest that is to say, some miles away a line of black, fantastic-shaped rocks of quite another character showed themselves; this was probably Threal.
Who are you, where do you come from, and what are you doing here?" "My name is Maskull. My home is on the other side of the universe. As for what I am doing here I accompanied Leehallfae, that phaen, from Matterplay." "But a man doesn't accompany a phaen out of friendship. What do you want in Threal?" "Then this is Threal?" "Yes." Maskull remained silent.
Crystalman has had eternity to practice his cunning in, so it's no wonder if a man can't see straight, even with the best intentions. What have you decided to do?" "The drumming seems to be moving away. Will you follow it, Maskull?" "Yes." "But where will it take us?" "Perhaps out of Threal altogether." "It sounds to me more real than reality," said Corpang. "Tell me, who is Surtur?"
"What three worlds what do you mean?" "There are three worlds," said Corpang composedly. "The first is Faceny's, the second is Amfuse's, the third is Thire's. From him Threal gets it name." "But this is mere nomenclature. In what sense are there three worlds?" Corpang passed his hand over his forehead. "All this we can discuss as we go along. It's a torment to me to be standing still."
"Something of the sort was told me by Earthrid, the musician, who came from Threal." "I don't know him. What else did he tell you?" "He went on to apply it to music. Continue, and pardon the interruption." "These three states of perception are the three worlds. Existence is Faceny's world, relation is Amfuse's world, feeling is Thire's world."
"Your luck is fast weakening, but it may still be strong enough to serve me. Together we will search for Threal." "Search for Threal why, is it so hard to find?" "I have told you that my whole life has been spent in the quest." "You said Faceny, Leehallfae." The phaen gazed at him with queer, ancient eyes, and smiled again.
"This stream, Maskull, like every other life stream in Matterplay, has its source in Faceny. But as all these streams issue out from Threal, it is in Threal that we must look for Faceny." "But what's to prevent your finding Threal? Surely it's a well-known country?" "It lies underground. Its communications with the upper world are few, and where they are, no one that I have ever spoken to knows.
In Threal, where I was born and brought up, we learn the mystery of the Three in nature. This world, which lies extended before us, has three directions. Length is the line which shuts off what is, from what is not. Breadth is the surface which shows us in what manner one thing of what-is, lives with another thing. Depth is the path which leads from what-is, to our own body.
"I still don't understand," said Maskull. "Do you believe in three separate gods, or are these merely three ways of regarding one God?" "There are three gods, for they are mutually antagonistic. Yet they are somehow united." Maskull reflected a while. "How have you arrived at these conclusions?" "None other are possible in Threal, Maskull." "Why in Threal what is there peculiar here?"
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