Each tooth was carved with a different character. Florcus didn't recognize the language.
'Wonderful', he murmured. 'Is that driftwood, bleached by the sun?'

'It is.', said the man. He leaned back in his chair and opened the window behind him. The wind blew out the curtain, rain drove them back and he closed it again.

'I went with Love down to the distant Sea
And there Love said to me
'Close your eyes and taste my sweet salt tears
That glisten, they were shed for ye.'
I opened my eyes and the sky was grey and the sea Black
I was up to my chest in the black sea. The foam was around my chest
My skin screamed with the cold but I could not feel it.
Crabs scuttled up the shore and gulls wheeled overhead
Hundreds of years passed and I saw my feet grow white, mottled and skeletal.
I washed up on the beach and rolled my eyes in their empty sockets.
Small children played with my phalanges and used them for sport.
The sun bleached my bones and they grew pitted and brittle.
On the last day, I felt a warmth I had not felt in years
I compelled myself to turn my head; Love was standing there
His neoclassical profile silhouetted against the flaming sun.
'It is Time', said he and pointed upwards. The skies were streaming out
And Angels filled every corner of the aerial aspect.
I turned back to Love and he beckoned to me. 'You must Ride forth.'
At once I knew what I must do. A pale horse stood, steaming and wild.
My knee bent and creaked. Sand fell to the ground
As I stood up, taller than I had been in life.
The horse quivered and flecks in his grey eyes steeled me
Against what was to come.
The music of the angels above soared and trembled, fell and rose.
I tightened the reins in, the leather strained agains his fury
I ran my brittle hand along the steel blade left for my purpose,
released the reins and let him go.'

A strange glow appeared in his eyes. 'It was foretold that my first stop would be to meet a Mr. Florcus. Would that be you, good sir?'

The Bones

"What fine teeth!" said florcus, "are they actually carved?" The strangers face shifted into a smile, large and revealing the extent of his collection. "My gallery." he said with genuine pride. All three men leaned forward for a closer look.