LOVE'S SECRET DOMAIN
Art and written research by Hotaru Thodt
.
| After several years of silence, Pyramid-Gallery
received a parcel from research agent "Ryan" containing an old
bloodstained photograph and a
hand-printed letter. Analysis of the hand writing style, along
with the fact that there was no return address,
would indicate that this is the same Ryan who had years earlier sent a
parcel containing information pertaining to The
Odyne Configuration. His letter reads as follows: |
I really wish I had more information in regards to the photo since my research has turned up nothing. Maybe you recognize it? My son brought the photo over a week or so ago and told me that he found it stuffed between a couple of old occult books while antique hunting with my granddaughter. He also handed me some notes he had taken while he was at said antique store since after he found the photo, he decided to inquire with the shopkeeper, who in—turn told him a story which may interest you. Since his hand writing is a mess, I’ve taken the liberty of deciphering said notes: |
The shopkeeper told my son that sometime during the autumn of 1992, the previous shopkeeper Mr. McCurdy had an accidental run-in with a young man, approximately eighteen years of age. The boy was carrying the actual box depicted in the photo, which he referred to as "Love’s Secret Domain". Mr. Mcurdy, being a collector of both LeMarchand’s and Acerbus’ work, not only recognized the box as a LeMarchand Configuration, but he recognized it as a box previously recorded in "LeMarchand’s Dreams", a tome which lists the early creations made by LeMarchand in Paris, 1749. He offered to buy the box from the boy, at which the boy outright refused, holding the box tightly to his chest as if his life depended on it. Mr. McCurdy’s offer inflated well into the four digits, and yet the boy still refused before finally running away with box in hand. After this incident, Mr. McCurdy obsessed for weeks with little to no sleep. He tried in vain to recover information on the boy, as well as information on Love’s Secret Domain, but his efforts turned up nothing. Six weeks later, Mr. McCurdy vanished without a trace, leaving only this old photograph of the box in question lying in a pool of blood. |
