# the last man --- #### By: Scary Nelley --- >[!grid|col-3] >>[!note|blank] >><span class="info">Location</span> >>_<span class="info"><font color="#81799">[[Classics]]</font></span>_ > >>[!note|blank] >><span class="info">Date</span> >>_<span class="info"><font color="#81799">14/12/2025</font></span>_ > >>[!note|blank] >><span class="info">Session</span> >>_<span class="info"><font color="#81799">[[Session 29]]</font></span>_ >[!noted] ><center>Lionel Verney witnesses humanity being wiped out by a deadly, inexplicable disease. One by one, the people around him are killed. Society collapses, economies crumble, and the class system implodes, until Lionel becomes the last man on Lavitra.</center> --- > [!clue|no-title paper-d] > --- ><div class="typewriter1"><p align="justify">She said, “I am come to save you, Verney.”</p></div> > ><div class="typewriter1"><p align="justify">“And yourself also,” I cried: “dearest friend, can we indeed be saved?”</p></div> > ><div class="typewriter1"><p align="justify">“Not a word,” she replied, “follow me!”</p></div> > ><div class="typewriter1"><p align="justify">I obeyed instantly. We threaded with light steps many corridors, ascended several flights of stairs, and passed through long galleries; at the end of one she unlocked a low portal; a rush of wind extinguished our lamp; but, in lieu of it, we had the blessed moon-beams and the open face of heaven. Then first Juliet spoke: — “You are safe,” she said, “God bless you! — farewell!”</p></div> > ><div class="typewriter1"><p align="justify">I seized her reluctant hand — “Dear friend,” I cried, “misguided victim, do you not intend to escape with me? Have you not risked all in facilitating my flight? and do you think, that I will permit you to return, and suffer alone the effects of that miscreant’s rage? Never!”</p></div> > ><div class="typewriter1"><p align="justify">“Do not fear for me,” replied the lovely girl mournfully, “and do not imagine that without the consent of our chief you could be without these walls. It is he that has saved you; he assigned to me the part of leading you hither, because I am best acquainted with your motives for coming here, and can best appreciate his mercy in permitting you to depart.”</p></div> > ><div class="typewriter1"><p align="justify">“And are you,” I cried, “the dupe of this man? He dreads me alive as an enemy, and dead he fears my avengers. By favouring this clan- destine escape he preserves a show of consistency to his followers; but mercy is far from his heart. Do you forget his artifices, his cruelty, and fraud? As I am free, so are you. Come, Juliet, the mother of our lost Idris will welcome you, the noble Adrian will rejoice to receive you; you will find peace and love, and better hopes than fanaticism can afford. Come, and fear not; long before day we shall be at Pacé; close the door on this abode of crime — come, sweet Juliet, from hypocrisy and guilt to the society of the affectionate and good.”</p></div> > ><div class="typewriter1"><p align="justify">I spoke hurriedly, but with fervour: and while with gentle violence I drew her from the portal, some thought, some recollection of past scenes of youth and happiness, made her listen and yield to me; suddenly she broke away with a piercing shriek: — “My child, my child! he has my child; my darling girl is my hostage.”</p></div> > ><div class="typewriter1"><p align="justify">She darted from me into the passage; the gate closed between us — she was left in the fangs of this man of crime, a prisoner, still to inhale the pestilential atmosphere which adhered to his demoniac nature; the unimpeded breeze played on my cheek, the moon shone graciously upon me, my path was free. Glad to have escaped, yet melancholy in my very joy, I retrod my steps to Pacé.</p></div> > >--- > ><div class="typewriter1">469</div> &nbsp; --- >[!cite|transcript]- Transcript >She said, “I am come to save you, Verney.” > >“And yourself also,” I cried: “dearest friend, can we indeed be saved?” > >“Not a word,” she replied, “follow me!” > >I obeyed instantly. We threaded with light steps many corridors, ascended several flights of stairs, and passed through long galleries; at the end of one she unlocked a low portal; a rush of wind extinguished our lamp; but, in lieu of it, we had the blessed moon-beams and the open face of heaven. Then first Juliet spoke: — “You are safe,” she said, “God bless you! — farewell!” > >I seized her reluctant hand — “Dear friend,” I cried, “misguided victim, do you not intend to escape with me? Have you not risked all in facilitating my flight? and do you think, that I will permit you to return, and suffer alone the effects of that miscreant’s rage? Never!” > >“Do not fear for me,” replied the lovely girl mournfully, “and do not imagine that without the consent of our chief you could be without these walls. It is he that has saved you; he assigned to me the part of leading you hither, because I am best acquainted with your motives for coming here, and can best appreciate his mercy in permitting you to depart.” > >“And are you,” I cried, “the dupe of this man? He dreads me alive as an enemy, and dead he fears my avengers. By favouring this clan- destine escape he preserves a show of consistency to his followers; but mercy is far from his heart. Do you forget his artifices, his cruelty, and fraud? As I am free, so are you. Come, Juliet, the mother of our lost Idris will welcome you, the noble Adrian will rejoice to receive you; you will find peace and love, and better hopes than fanaticism can afford. Come, and fear not; long before day we shall be at Pacé; close the door on this abode of crime — come, sweet Juliet, from hypocrisy and guilt to the society of the affectionate and good.” > >I spoke hurriedly, but with fervour: and while with gentle violence I drew her from the portal, some thought, some recollection of past scenes of youth and happiness, made her listen and yield to me; suddenly she broke away with a piercing shriek: — “My child, my child! he has my child; my darling girl is my hostage.” > >She darted from me into the passage; the gate closed between us — she was left in the fangs of this man of crime, a prisoner, still to inhale the pestilential atmosphere which adhered to his demoniac nature; the unimpeded breeze played on my cheek, the moon shone graciously upon me, my path was free. Glad to have escaped, yet melancholy in my very joy, I retrod my steps to Pacé.