On Anguish

Anguish, a consuming grief that robs one of the ability to reason, exists in Faerie, but not in the same manner as it is found on Earth. In Faerie, anguish is translucent. Light passes through it but not without distortion and loss, resulting in a dim, warped image of the original sensation. Tears are holy in Faerie. If tears are captured in crystal vials and mixed with perfumes, they grant cosmic foreknowledge when imbibed. Cosmic foreknowledge is a source of anguish and nothing more, thus the drinking of such a potion constitutes the act of creating a living, self-perpetuating organism of anguish, which extends grasping pseudopods in all directions like a gigantic, seeping amoeba and absorbs through a process known among scientists as phagocytosis the misery of bystanders, innocent and otherwise. If one stands too close to an amoeba of anguish, however, one risks being suffocated by the amorphous, blanketing mass. Therefore, it is only those who are unable to escape suffering through any lesser means that travel to Faerie, seek out such a beast and hope to have their misery taken from them without sacrificing their life. Should this endeavor indeed end in annihilation, as is typically the case, there is no weeping, for in Faerie one more readily recognizes the reduction of misery as the obverse of joy.