Does Penthesilea exist or not?
Note
Approaching Penthesilea you expect to see its walls; instead you walk for hours without knowing whether you are already inside or still outside: dusty sheds, fields, factories, shops, vacant lots. Ask where the city is, and they point further on. Perhaps Penthesilea is only the outskirts of itself, and its centre is everywhere and nowhere.
In the scene the ground keeps coming toward you: sheds, fences, lone walls, a water tower, a shop, an empty lot, scattered everywhere with the same density, always renewed. On the horizon, in the haze, a vast city, towers upon towers, that never comes closer.
Touch the horizon or the road to quicken your pace: the shape grows a little clearer, as if you had almost arrived, and meanwhile draws away. Touch a shed: a lamp comes on inside, and for a moment it is as much the centre as anywhere else.
Quotations are brief excerpts for the purpose of commentary. The full text is available in published editions. The Cities of Ottavia, Valdrada & the soundtrack are inspired by "Monument Valley" from ustwo games.