| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: dreamed of before, and forming a basis for your legends.
As
a mining engineer, I have some knowledge of geology, and can tell
you that these blocks are so ancient they frighten me. They are
mostly sandstone and granite, though one is almost certainly made
of a queer sort of cement or concrete.
They bear evidence of
water action, as if this part of the world had been submerged
and come up again after long ages - all since those blocks were
made and used. It is a matter of hundreds of thousands of years
- or heaven knows how much more. I don't like to think about it.
 Shadow out of Time |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: "You came east in clothing suitable for California," I said,
"and, like all young girls nowadays, I don't suppose you wear
flannels." But she was not listening.
"Miss Innes," she said, "has my stepbrother Arnold gone away?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, startled. But Louise was literal.
"He didn't come back that night," she said, "and it was so
important that I should see him."
"I believe he has gone away," I replied uncertainly. "Isn't it
something that we could attend to instead?"
But she shook her head. "I must do it myself," she said dully.
"My mother must have rented Sunnyside without telling my
 The Circular Staircase |