The main character, Pelnophe (or Pell, for short), is the lens through which we see the story unfold. Throughout the story, Pell gets these weird lapses, which seem like hallucinations at first, but eventually she realises they’re memories that she doesn’t remember. Pell starts getting the memories when she starts fixing the tower (one large machine to restrain a godly force, in tower shape), which is protected by two beings, Moseus and Heartwood. Moseus and Heartwood look very similar because Moseus is actually the embodiment of apocolypse, and his real name is ruin. Heartwood is Pell’s lover, but Pell forgot about him after Moseus took Pell’s memories away. Anyway, Pell must work on this tower because her town needs scrap metal, and Moseus manipulates Pell into working on the tower’s machine again.
Madness has a feel to it. Smooth, subtle. Like the oil nestled in those hinges, but thinner. It doesn’t leave a noticable mark. No grease stains. When it first starts dripping, it feels wrong, the way I imagine a knife through the gut might feel. But I can see how one could become used to it. Even comfortable. Oiled up and slick and satiated, forgetting there was ever anything else.
The quotation reflects Pell’s first time realising the tower and its ancient machines are intruding into her mind. The ‘madness’ she describes parallels the memories she begins to remember without recognising them, showing how the influence of the tower and Moseus slowly infiltrates her thoughts with memories. The imagery of “oil in the hinges” really shows how subtle and comfortable this change can feel, even though it is dangerous. This quote foreshadows how Pell’s identity, memories, and choices will be reshaped as she is manipulated into working on the tower’s machine again.