Delirium -nikraria- -

And if you see a woman made of mirrors walking backward on the water—

If you come to Nikraria, do not look for the catacombs. Do not ask for the map. When the white fog rolls in, do not breathe.

“You have the Delirium,” he said.

She is not hunting you.

And then, in the hollow silence, something new grows. Delirium -Nikraria-

That was Day One of Delirium. By Day Three, the walls of Nikraria began to breathe. Not metaphorically. I pressed my palm to the plaster, and I felt a slow, wet inhalation. The city, I realized, was a single organism. The canals were its veins. The bell towers were its teeth. The people? We were just fleas dancing on a hot skillet.

The true delirium arrived at midnight, riding the fourth chime of the Drowned Bell. And if you see a woman made of

The first thing you lose is the clock. Not your watch—that still ticks, a tiny brass heart against your wrist. No, you lose the sense of it. The difference between a minute and an hour dissolves like a sugar cube in hot tea.