Empty
Huge crystalline cylinders emerge from the water
The future
Where do they come from the King gushes these talking fish
Show me at once
We see the writer buried under a collapsing mountain of scribbled-over
papers
While ink blurts from an overturned bottle
Speech is silver the King mutters
Silence is
They discover a fabulous ancient city
Black lake
Flag of smoke
Where we turned to look
Skulls, bats, stars, spirals, lightning bolts
Words spoken in anger
Flowers for sarcasm
The sequence continued to work in references to the brevity of life
Garlands of flowers
Stars signaling physical impact
They discover a fabulous ancient city
Under the water
None of the inhabitants
'Be reasonable . . .'
Increasingly faint trace of inked
Flowers delicate
After that
Cat catch
The decree
Eradicate