selected utterances of the oracle, Serpent's first daughter.

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—beetles crawl across the face of a dead man. his treasure is in his mouth.

—a knife cutting through silver waters. birds take flight. in the far istance, a prayer is being answered: no mercy is coming.

—a many-coloured star of uncountable points rises in the north. something is coming again.

—dogs with the mandibles of insects trotting through grassland.

—a hundred metal suns hanging above a plain of white salt.

—a man with the head of a deer sits alone in a room. there is a globe on the table.

—herald of the deep strides hip deep in sea water, flanked by gulls, parallel to the shore.

—a car proceeds along a wintry road. snowflakes are caught in headlights. at the side of the road, a hitchhiker.

—a great coiled serpent bleeding from many wounds, crowned with terrible fire, weeping.