Celer

Gems V

DRM4172

September 5, 2025

Digital

It was shortly a half-hour before dawn when we entered the passageways. Covering a space of about 32,000 meters, the walls were solid marble, and stood at least 12 meters high, set along the outside walls, and then as thin “hallways” all leading toward the final chamber. These hallways, because of the placement adjacent to the mountainsides, seemed to channel the wind from the north, giving nearly every sound inside the walls a thick echo, and this sound – mixed with the sand and stone shuffling, created a thin overlaying sound, somewhat reminiscent of rustling leaves.

As the sun rose, we had reached the entrance of the chamber, an open door adorned with incised devotional plaques carved from copper, all representing the cardinal points on a compass. The chamber itself seemed as if to be strutted with miniature ziggurats piled on top of each other, forming a point at the center of the room. I had assumed this was a temple, but as I moved into the room with my group, their flashlights slowly turning off as the sun rose, we began to notice something new.

The sound of the place continued. The echoes of footsteps, or tools through the passageways came into the chamber as well. Yet, from the open ceiling, over the far wall opposite the pinnacle, we could hear the sound of our two generators churning. Slow, repetitive revolutions, soft machinic whispers, and mixing with the sound from behind. It was then I realized that at that time, instead of the sound of generators, we would instead be hearing the sound of choral voices, and they would therefore be mixing with whatever sounds would also come from the passageways – which were actually not passageways at all, but different stages on the climb to the pinnacle. As we climbed, the sounds became louder, and finally reaching the top of the pinnacle – where there was no space for more than one man, was a clear view of the sun directly ahead.

What purpose this sequence of things are, I cannot say. Yet, I’ve been unable to stop thinking that it all has some connection with my own experience, and the loss of my sight from that very moment upon witnessing the sun. 

credits

releases September 5, 2025

Produced by Will Long
Mastered by Lawrence English at Negative Space