Knowledge (noun)

I finished the book. I finished it weeks ago.

Why have I not been posting? I said I would transcribe the book as I read it, but...I couldn't. I became too enraptured, too enthralled by what I read. It was the story of the Slender Man, the Black Botanist, who knows when to cut the flowers and when to let them grow. It made everything clear, everything simple, everything right.

And then he showed up. My doorbell rang and I reluctantly put the book down and opened the door.

"You know it's a lie," he said. He wore a white mask with a pointed chin. Later, he would tell me this mask was called a Bauta. "The book is a lie, everything in it is a lie."

"What?" I said. "How did you-"

"Who do you think sent it to you?" he said.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Like you, I prefer not to use my real name," he said. "So I go by Mister Grimnir. May I come in?" Before I could answer, he stepped inside and past me, the black bag he was holding brushed my arm.

"If it was a lie, then why did you send it to me?" I asked.

"You have read it all?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Did you believe it? Truly?"

"...yes. It made everything...simple."

"Good," he said. "Simplicity is what we want, what we crave. To find simplicity and know that it is a lie, that is what we need." He paused. "I have watched you. I am not a proxy nor am I a runner - I am in the group you would deem 'other.' But I have seen a potential in you."

"A potential to do what?" I asked.

"To know," he said. "The book is a lie, but there are others. Each book claims to have the origin of the Slender Man, each claims to explain what it is, how it is, why it does what it does. All are lies, but all have an element of the truth in them."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I can find them," he said. "I can show you them. Then you can discern the truth in the lies. And you can create your encyclopedia out of the ones before. A true encyclopedia, a Thin Encyclopedia, as you call it."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because," he said, "knowledge must be shared. I will begin the journey soon. If you wish, you can accompany me. I will find the books and you will find the truth. Do we have an understanding?"

Could I say no to this offer? Could I deny what could be the only chance to understand everything?

No, I couldn't.

"Yes," I said.

"Good," he said and started to walk back to the door. "Pack your things. I shall meet you tomorrow morning."

"I have one question," I said. I lied - I had so many questions - but it was only one that was nagging me right now.

"Yes?"

"What is in your bag?" I asked.

He looked down at the black bag he was carrying and then up at me. "A good question," he said. "Let us just say that it is a font of knowledge. The head of Mimir."

And then he left.

And the next day, I left with him.

Botany (noun)

So I have been reading The Book of Black Flowers with White Petals. It appears to be some sort of treatise on the Slender Man; however, everything is crouched in metaphorical terms and cryptic words. The Slender Man is described as the "the Black Botanist, who observes how the flowers wilt."

He walks among the stalks and seeks the flowers that stand the tallest and then snips them down. Sometimes, will he bend or crook a stalk so that it is lower than the others. Sometimes, will he leave a stalk alone to grow. His will is unknown, his botany strange and unnatural. But only he knows how to grow the black flowers with white petals.

I haven't yet gotten to the part where they explain what the "black flowers with white petals" are. In any case, it is an intriguing book, though I do not know why it was left for me or for what purpose.

Book (noun)

I received a package in the mail today. I know of nobody who knows my address or real name, but the package had both on it.

Inside was a book. It's title was The Book of Black Flowers with White Petals. It listed no author.

I shall try to transcribe some of it as I read it.