Shackles of Truth

Here, truth is the biggest lie. There is no night in Auroville. A never-moving sun hangs high in the sky, shining golden light on every inch of the city wall covered with murals. Perfect streets, perfect buildings, perfect citizens. Everyone believes that this is how the world should be. Until a handyman grinding paint drew a shadow facing in the opposite direction. Ed didn't know what that meant. He only knew that every time he added lines that shouldn't exist on the drawing, his shadow would stay in his peripheral vision for a moment longer. He only knew that the wall in the dream was pointing to a city gate he had never been to, a section of old bricks not covered by murals, a person sealed in the wall, and the key that his father left behind before he disappeared. The city called the "Perfect City" is a huge cave. All claims of truth are a lamp used to create shadows. Extraordinary power originates from the six philosophical origins: Idea, Will, Life, Chaos, Nothingness and Logos. When a civilization pushes a certain philosophy to its extreme, the "demon of truth" behind it will come and completely obliterate all dissent and possibility. And someone long ago cast five paradox keys and sealed them in the cracks of their respective theories. Now the seal is loosened and truth is awakening. A handyman who can imitate all things, a girl who even sold her name and left only ashes as a name, a group of people who use question marks as marks and look for cracks in perfection. This is not a story about fighting against alien gods, this is a story about "absolute truth"