Men of various nations had had an identical dream. They saw a woman running at night through an unknown city; she was seen from behind, with long hair, and she was naked.
Note
Men from different countries dreamed the same dream: a woman running at night through an unknown city, seen from behind, her hair loose. Each pursued her, and each lost her. They never found that city; they found one another instead, and decided to build it. Each laid out the streets after the course of his own chase, and where he had lost her he arranged the walls so that she could not escape again.
No woman appears here: to show her would be to illustrate a dream, not to inhabit one. What remains of it is a single light, running alone through the alleys, trailing a wake that thins like hair loosed in the dark. The maze is not hostile to her by accident: every turn in it is the turn of a failed pursuit, every dead end a trap drawn by someone who has already lost her once.
Touch a street, and a new wall rises exactly where the light has just passed: the gesture of someone still dreaming, still trying to seal off the escape. She doubles back, finds another opening; and if she finds none, she goes out, to reappear elsewhere, as forgetful now as Zobeide’s own people. Behind her, a few still follow: they will always arrive a moment too late.
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.