Original subtitles

(dramatic music)

Downloaded from YTS.MX

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- This is the place to study that.

- [Student] Yeah.

- Yeah.

I mean Paris and Rome are classic.

You know, Tokyo and Singapore are the future,

but New York came of age with the skyscraper.

Going to school here

is like living in a catalog of modern architecture.

- It's pretty awesome all right.

- Oh.

That is Stanford White.

He designed the second Madison Square Garden.

New York buried more great architecture

than most cities have known.

One Fifth Avenue.

Harvey Wiley Corbett.

1927.

He imagined a city of interconnected skyscrapers

with roads and walkways

and rails all on different levels.

The whole city's a palace.

Infinite.

And, of course...

Don't feel bad.

The great cities build themselves on their own bones.

- Okay.

Sure.

- Actually, that's literally true here.

This used to be a potter's field.

- Potter's field?

- Where they buried people

who couldn't afford a real cemetery.

- Oh.

- The bodies are still down there.

- Really?

Nice to meet you.

(ominous music)

- [Woman] And why.

- [Voice] Die, die, die, die, die.

- [Woman] This of course was.

- [Woman] They aren't real.

They're tourists.

- [Woman] Awakening.

Cascade.

- [Woman] You frightened the student.

- [Narrator] He wonders if he frightened the student.

- [Voice] Die!

Die, die.

Die, die.

- [Voice] Die, die, die, die.

- [Man] They all hate me.

- [Voice] Everyone is watching.

- [Woman] They're all laughing at you.

- [Voice] You're a freak.

- [Woman] The student is going to report you.

- [The Gentlemen] Remember the mission.

- Mason!

I love these old homes.

You used to live around here, didn't you?

- When I was with the firm.

When I was with...

- Ah right, of course.

You need two incomes just to afford a studio

in this neighborhood.

Have you tried reapplying at your old job?

- No, I need a new portfolio.

Something to prove that my work

won't look like buildings designed by Picasso.

(laughs)

- I'm sorry.

That's not funny.

- It's kinda funny.

- You can laugh at it.

That's good.

You're doing better, Mason.

- Thanks, Dr. Weaver.

- Are you still taking your meds?

- My prescription ran low

so I've been taking them every other day.

- How long?

- A week maybe.

Took half a pill yesterday, the day before yesterday.

- That's not enough, Mason.

Do you remember how severe your schizophrenia was?

Do you wanna go back to that?

- I know.

I know.

I wanna be a part of Consensus Reality, I really do.

- Not Consensus Reality.

Reality.

- Right, that's what I meant.

- Okay here.

This is new.

Powerful stuff, but it works.

I should go with you, but...

- What?

- My son has a recital tonight.

- Well go.

Be with your family.

- Are you sure?

- I can go to a pharmacy by myself.

- But will you?

- I will.

I promise.

I want my life back.

- Good.

Good attitude.

All right, well, you got my number.

Call me if you need anything.

- Thanks.

(suspenseful music)

- [Woman] Look closer.

Fix it.

- [Voice] It's a trap.

- [Woman] You're worthless.

- [Man] You're lazy and you...

- [Man] Why didn't you fix this?

- [Woman] It's your fault.

I went down into Egypt

and my companions parted from me.

I went straight to...

- [Man] I told you.

- What do you want?

- Is everything okay?

- [Woman] And I should take my pearl...

(yelling)

- [Man] He was sent.

(voices whispering)

(ominous music)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] He's awakening.

- [Mason] Wait.

Please.

I need a prescription filled.

- Sorry.

Come back tomorrow.

- You're the latest place open.

- Okay, gimme your prescription.

- Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

I just had it right here.

Somebody mugged me.

- Do you know what it was?

- I don't remember.

It was some sort of antipsychotic.

They say I have schizophrenia.

- I'm sorry.

If you don't know what it was I can't help you.

If I give you the wrong medicine

it could do more harm than good.

Here.

Call your doctor, I'll talk to him.

- Thank you.

- [Weaver] Hi, you're reached Dr. Weaver.

Please leave me a message and I'll...

- [Mason] His son has a recital tonight.

- Okay.

Go see him first thing in the morning, have him call me.

It's only one night.

You'll be fine.

(ominous music)

- Go away!

You don't belong here!

(buttons beeping)

(ringback tone ringing)

- [Sarah] Hello?

- Sarah, it's me.

- [Sarah] Mason?

You can't keep calling me.

- I know, I'm sorry.

- [Sarah] Why are you calling?

Are you okay?

Mason?

- I guess.

I'm fine, it's okay.

I shouldn't bother you.

- [Sarah] What's going on?

(sighing)

- My prescription ran out.

- [Sarah] Oh God, Mason.

You need to plan for that.

- I know, you're right.

- [Sarah] You know how you get.

- I know.

- [Sarah] I'll be in the city tomorrow.

At the path about two o'clock.

I'll try to help you.

- Thanks.

- [Sarah] It's good to hear your voice.

- Yeah.

- [Sarah] Goodnight, Mason.

(voices whispering)

- Goodnight, Sarah.

(voices whispering)

(phone humming)

(voices whispering)

(suspenseful music)

- [Woman] Which was.

Awakening.

- [Voice] Die, die, die, die, die, die.

- [Female Voice] The bench is dangerous.

- [Man] Why didn't you fix this?

- [Voice] He's going to fix it.

- [Woman] Oranges have segments.

Apples have cores,

and oats...

- [Male Voice] Remember the mission.

(suspenseful music)

- [Female Voice] Archon.

- [Female Voice] Check the scaffolding.

- [Male Voice] The man with the bag is following you.

- [Female Voice] You need to repair it.

(voices whispering)

- [Male Voice] Die, die, die, die!

- [Female Voice] Be careful.

(voices whispering)

- [Narrator] He's lying down on the bench.

- [Female Voice] I remember the pearl

for which I had been sent to Egypt.

And I began to charm him,

the terrible loud breathing serpent.

- [Male Voice] Don't dream.

- Hey.

Hey.

Wakey wakey.

(gasping)

Wake up.

Don't wanna sleep through the apocalypse.

- What?

- Come on.

Gotta get moving.

- You're not real.

(ominous music)

- [Eris] Oh shit.

- [Female Voice] Beware of the light.

- What the hell was that?

- He saw us.

- Who saw us?

- Come on, we gotta go.

- Wait, this isn't happening.

I need to take my meds. - He saw us.

- Who saw us?

- The Demiurge.

(dramatic music)

Hey.

Let's move.

Central Park.

The trees will hide us.

- Hide us from what?

- The light. - The light can see us?

- Don't you know this?

- [Male Voice] The light is the Demiurge's attention.

- [Voice] Yaksha.

- [Eris] Fuck.

- [Mason] What?

- Shit.

The Yaksha.

(suspenseful music)

Come on.

(high pitched screeching)

- The subway is one block south of here.

- Not underground.

(groans)

The Demiurge is strong underground.

(siren wailing)

(gasping)

- Watch yourself.

Don't move.

(groaning)

I turned your upper intestine into glass.

- That's impossible.

- [Voice] Yaksha.

(groaning)

(sniffing)

- You're the architect.

- What?

Well, I was an architect, I'm not anymore.

- You don't know?

- [Mason] Know what?

- [The Gentleman] The mission.

- You know something.

- [Female Voice] Don't tell him.

- [Female Voice] Cut him a deal.

- [Mason] No.

- [Female Voice] He's hungry.

- [Male Voice] You should just let him kill you.

- You maintain the prison.

- [Female Voice] Admit nothing.

- [Female Voice] The Yaksha is always hungry.

- [Female Voice] You don't stand a chance against him.

- Maybe you do it without even knowing that you're doing it.

- I don't know what you're talking about.

- [Female Voice] He knows you're lying.

- [Mason] I'm not lying.

I'm not the person you're looking for.

- Will you remember?

I won't.

I won't risk it.

Prepare yourself.

This will hurt.

- No.

No!

(flesh ripping)

(suspenseful music)

- [The Yaksha] Be cautious.

The Demiurge made her.

(suspenseful music)

- Come on.

- [Mason] Wait.

Who are you?

- [Eris] You know.

- [Mason] No, I don't.

- Tell me my name.

- What don't you understand?

I have no idea who you are.

- Yes, you do.

You've seen me on the street, you recognize me.

- [Mason] Okay, so I've seen you before.

- Even when you take those little white pills to forget

you know me.

- They don't, not forget.

- [Eris] Just tell me my name.

- [Mason] I don't know.

- You know me.

Tell me my name.

- Eris?

Your name is Eris.

- [Eris] This is bad.

If the Yaksha's working for the Demiurge, we're fucked.

- [Mason] I don't think he is.

He hid from the wave of light too.

- [Eris] Then why did he try to kill you?

- He said the Demiurge made you.

- He's trying to divide us.

- [Mason] Is it true?

- Yeah.

I'm an archon, but...

- How long were you watching me?

Years?

- It's complicated.

- So all of this was an act to get me to trust you?

- No.

- Then why?

Why do I even matter?

- You're the architect.

- So what?

- You maintain the prison.

- What prison?

- This!

The whole city is the Demiurge's prison

and the Architect keeps it running.

- And I'm him?

- You're the current one.

There's only one at the time.

The Demiurge constructed me to convince you

to release him early.

- But you defied him?

And you expect me to believe that?

- This isn't the first time he's tried it.

He's done it before with more obedient archons

but turns out we suck at talking to humans

if we don't have free will, so...

- All right, so you have free will?

But why'd you defect?

- Come.

I'll show you.

- The light.

- It's done for a while.

He's in deep sleep.

Like REM sleep.

- REM sleep?

The Demiurge dreams?

- Like I said.

I'll show you.

(dramatic music)

- What?

- Just watch.

- What the hell?

- It's what he wants.

- I don't get it.

- Keeps going exactly like this.

Forever.

Same couple of seconds go backwards and forwards

and backwards again until fucking infinity.

- Why?

- I don't know.

Something about defeating entropy.

- Jesus.

- He's the Machine God, Mason.

He made the material world

and then the Nous locked him up

because what's the point in living in something like this?

Is a clock alive just because it keeps ticking?

- Why do you care?

He made you.

- A few years ago, you know as I'm watching you

having one of your chats with Dr. Weaver,

I see this guy come dancing down the sidewalk.

Kind of like a be-bop, you know?

And at first I think he's got earbuds in,

but as he passes I see he's got nothing,

so I'm just thinking he's screwed in the head like you.

And then I give it a try.

And I'm kinda diggin' it, you know?

But then I realize be-bop isn't really my jam, so...

I hope I'm turning your dream into a fucking nightmare!

We have to stop him, Mason.

- Okay.

What do I need to do?

- The city's a prison, but it wears out.

And if breakdowns reach a critical mass,

the Demiurge breaks loose.

So you need to find what needs to be fixed.

- I don't remember, Eris.

I want to help but I don't know how.

You've been watching me for years,

you should know what to do.

- The Demiurge built in safeguards

when he made the archons.

Blindspots.

If something is important or dangerous to the Demiurge

or outside of a particular job description,

it's invisible to us.

- So if the Demiurge's cell door were right in front of us.

- I wouldn't even see it.

I can help but ultimately this is on you.

Shit.

Sorry.

I thought it was the Yaksha.

- What is he?

- He's some kind of Vedic demon.

I heard he was related to the Rakshasa.

- Yaksha and Rakshasa.

I read that somewhere.

- [Eris] Here in the city?

- There is only the city.

You know, back when I started.

I made a blueprint of the city.

Were you watching me then?

- I was, but I don't remember a blueprint.

- It took me about two years to complete.

I was working on it constantly.

- I mean I remember you siting down in a coffee shop

with a notebook open in front of you,

but it was blank.

You never did anything with it.

I thought you had writer's block.

- No.

I was drawing.

The block was in you.

- My blindspot.

- The blueprint will tell me what needs to be done.

- Do you still have it?

- No.

But I know where to get it.

I was kind of a rockstar at my old firm

so they kept me on paid leave during that time,

but when I showed them the blueprint

they finally fired me.

(laughs nervously)

I'd gone too far outside of their realm of the possible.

- But they kept the blueprint.

- Technically I still worked for them.

They owned it.

My boss will have a copy.

Wait.

Maybe you should wait here.

- Mason?

Holy shit, man, is that really you?

- Hey Paul.

- [Paul] Jesus H Christ it's so good to see you.

- Thanks.

You too.

- [Paul] Sit down, man.

- Good to see that no matter how big you get

you won't let the cold keep you from a burger stand?

- Hey, well what did I always say, huh?

The best meals in the city cost under 20 bucks.

Here, you hungry?

- I'm good.

- Oh, you gotta help me with these fries, man.

Have some, some on the bottom might still be warm.

- [Mason] Sounds fantastic.

- Uh-huh.

Hey man, how often did we do this, huh?

Sit here, eatin' these burgers, looking at the buildings.

- Too often for our arteries.

- Do you remember the time that we tried

to design our own flatiron?

20 floors, nothing but windows, one room wide.

Total flop.

- We were young and idealistic.

- Yeah but it worked.

It did.

It did, we had the aesthetics right,

we had the design right,

but it was just...

- Forced?

- Yes.

That's it.

Just something not authentic about it,

probably because we were trying too hard

to make a copy.

- Maybe.

But our design wasn't necessary.

I mean the Flatiron's the Flatiron

because of an accident of geometry.

They only had that land to build on

so that was the only thing they could build.

It's like those alien fish at the bottom of the ocean.

Art comes from filling an impossible environmental niche.

- Man, I miss this.

You know?

I can't talk like this with anybody else.

You look good.

- [Mason] Thanks.

I'm doing better.

- You thinking of coming back?

- [Mason] How would that work out?

- Yeah, there might be one or two legal issues.

Oh, fuck it, man.

Why don't we just start our own firm?

Like we always talked about.

You, me, tiny office, big ideas.

- You're a VP, Paul.

- So?

Shit man, they'll get another one.

You can't throw a rock in this town without hittin' one.

Come on.

- That sounds great.

- [Paul] All right. - Let me think about it.

(suspenseful booming)

I dropped by today for something else.

Do you remember that blueprint I turned in?

That last one?

- Fuck.

How could I forget?

- Right, of course.

Well...

Anyway, I was hoping I can get my hands on it

for a little while.

Even just a copy.

It's for a project I'm working on.

- Oh yeah?

What kind of project?

- It's important, really important.

- We destroyed it.

- What?

Why?

- It was a liability.

You were a liability.

I...

Once you got sick and you left,

we had to go back over everything that you ever designed,

or that you even had a hand in designing.

That kind of thing gets out, Mason,

we are sued out of existence.

No matter how much due diligence we perform.

- I see.

- You know that after you turned that in

they made me work 80 hours a week for a year?

Entire year poring over everything

that you and I ever did.

- Did you find any mistakes?

- No, it was perfect.

- The blueprint was perfect.

What?

- It's you, man.

You still got it.

You still got that confidence,

the certainty that you are seeing the future.

That's what I always loved so much about workin' with you.

- Thanks, but are you sure you can't even get a copy of it?

- No, there's nothing, it's gone.

It's gone.

I am sorry, Mason,

but it's the blueprint that could bring down the empire.

You know what I mean.

There's no way we're gonna leave

something like that lying around.

- Okay.

Thanks anyway.

I better get going.

- Hey, listen, listen, man.

You ever wanna get together,

you ever wanna talk about anything anytime, call me.

Okay?

Please.

- Thanks.

- Hey, Mason.

Really, really was good to see you.

- [Mason] You too.

- [Paul] And call me.

(dramatic music)

- He didn't show?

- What?

- Your old boss, he didn't show?

- I was just talking to him.

- You were just sitting there waiting.

He's working for the Demiurge.

(groaning)

- He said they destroyed it.

- You can't trust him, Mason.

He's in my blindspot.

- Why would he lie?

Why wouldn't they destroy it?

- The blueprint that shows you how to build a place

also shows you how to escape it.

That's why the Demiurge is waking up early.

- This is where I used to work.

Paul will have the blueprint in his office.

- Even if you can get in he's gotta be holding it in a safe.

- Paul's used the same combinations and passwords

since we were freshmen at Cornell.

(dramatic music)

- Wait.

Do you see the owls?

They're archons.

- They're statues.

- Archons can be anything.

One of them is with us,

likes the city the way it is.

The other is still loyal to the Demiurge.

- So which is which?

- I don't know.

They switch places at night when nobody's watching.

- Seriously?

- Archons have weird rules.

- So one approach is safe and the other alerts the enemy?

- Can we get in the back?

- There is no back entrance.

A 50/50 shot is probably the best odds

we're gonna get today.

We'll come up the side street.

Get as close as possible without them seeing us here.

(dramatic music)

- [Eris] I shouldn't be here, they know me.

- Too late now.

(high-pitch screeching) (groaning)

Eris!

Eris!

(growling)

Eris!

- [Female Voice] She abandoned you.

It's her fault.

- [Male Voice] He's going to rescue Eris.

- [Female Voice] Don't.

- [Female Voice] It's going to kill you.

She's leading you into a trap.

- [Male Voice] Do it.

Just fucking end it.

- [Female Voice] He will kill you.

(suspenseful music)

- [Mason] Oranges have segments.

(background noise drowns out dialogue)

(gasping)

(background noise drowns out dialogue)

- [Eris] I forgot that I was the son of kings,

and I served their king.

I forgot the pearl,

on account of which my parents sent me.

And because of the burden of their exhortations,

I fell into a deep sleep.

- Eris.

Eris.

- What?

What?

(heavy breathing)

He was in my head.

He was in my head.

- You're safe now.

(heavy breathing)

(dramatic music)

Here, here.

Are you okay?

- I was back.

Back in the choir.

You're nothing except in relation to him.

You become an artist's perspective of infinity,

all lines leading to his central point.

- It must be awful for you.

- But it isn't.

When you're in the choir it feels perfect.

It's everything else that's hell.

You can't let him escape.

- I know, but I need to get the blueprint.

- Then try to find a way to get it!

I'm sorry.

I know you're trying.

He planted something in me, Mason.

Something that longs to return.

You won't be able to trust me.

- I can trust you.

We can get the blueprint.

Sarah's a financial officer at the firm.

She can get the blueprint from Paul's office.

(gentle music)

You look good.

Happy.

- I am.

- You living outside of the city now?

- It's too crowded here.

- But it's safer.

- Only a born and bred New Yorker

could say that with a straight face.

What about you?

- [Mason] Hmm?

- You're doing better?

Got your prescription?

- Oh.

Yes, it all worked out.

- Good.

You look good.

Not so anxious.

You working again?

- I am.

Just getting started.

- Looking?

- Something like that.

- You should get some new shoes.

What?

- First thing you checked out was the shoes?

- No.

(laughs)

Shoes tell me how you're doing.

- So how am I doing?

- Good.

Not bad.

Should get some new kicks though.

- [Mason] You're coming in early.

- Yeah, personal day.

I just had some errands to run in the city.

- Will you be going by the office?

- [Sarah] Why?

- The blueprint that I made after I took a hiatus,

I need it for my treatment.

- Oh.

Okay.

- I think Paul is keeping it in the safe in his office.

One of these is probably the combination.

- You want me to...

You just can't ask Paul for it, or?

- Oh, I did.

He said they destroyed it.

Some legal thing.

But I think it's still there.

- Paul wouldn't lie to you.

- I know.

I know, but if the firm forced him,

then maybe...

I'm a liability.

I know that.

And as the CEO Paul has a responsibility

to the shareholders.

I would never use the blueprint to hurt the company,

but it would still be an impossible situation

I'd be putting him in.

- I see.

So I have to sneak into the office and...

Steal the blueprint from the safe?

- I was alone and confused.

The blueprint carried me through that.

Others can write or paint,

but all I can do is design.

And I know that...

The blueprint doesn't make sense to anybody

and it might not even make sense to me any more.

But I think that there's something in it

that could show me the critical flaw.

Show me the way forward.

Please, Sarah.

- Okay, okay.

I'll get it for you.

(dramatic music)

- [Mason] The Yaksha is there.

- He must have started watching the square

after the alarm went up.

- Okay, she's in.

- [Eris] Mason.

(suspenseful music)

- Jesus, how many of them are there?

- Too many.

- You are remembering.

I was right about killing you.

- [Mason] What do you want?

- I'm hungry.

I don't eat humans.

You went to your old office building.

Why?

Maybe I'll take a look.

You've been here before then fled.

But now you're back,

but this time just waiting.

- You stay away from us.

- You're waiting for someone.

You sent an ally inside.

(bone cracking)

(upbeat music)

(bone cracking)

- [Mason] This way.

- No, I told you, not the subway.

(bang rumbling)

(groaning)

- There's one of you.

I am legion.

(grunting)

(ominous music)

- One stop.

One stop and we get off.

(ominous music)

(dramatic music)

- You understand that you've lost Sarah, correct?

She does not comprehend you or your mission.

- Eris.

- Not Eris.

You know this is not Eris.

- The Demiurge.

- Sarah has left the city

and now spends the majority of each week in the void.

Formless chaos cannot understand your mission.

So she will not return to you

and, in fact, your request for her assistance

has surely driven her further away,

though she may assist you due to remembered guilt.

On your current course of action

your life will never be as it was

but it does not have to remain that way.

There's the city.

My city.

Minor adjustments to the quantum field equation

create a pendulum cycle across pi seconds.

Infinite motion.

Infinite change.

Zero entropy.

I cannot offer you more than this

because any deviation from perfection is not perfection.

But I will allow you to choose

the particular 3.14159 et cetera

second time segment to be cycled.

Do you understand this offer?

I repeat.

Do you understand this offer?

To agree to this offer... - Yes.

You need merely do nothing in your role as Architect.

But if you prefer to accelerate the process,

you may use the blueprint

to trigger the critical failure early.

However, the Yaksha poses a non-trivial threat,

so it is imperative that you determine a course of action

that will neutralize him until I am unbound.

Start your research with Blavatsky.

She had particular insight into Vedic phenomena.

What happened?

Mason.

What happened?

- The Demiurge helped us escape.

- What?

Why?

- I think he's more afraid of the Yaksha than he is of me.

- That's a sobering fucking thought.

- [Mason] He spoke through you, Eris.

- I told you.

You can't trust me.

- And you also told me that he's stronger underground.

It's my fault.

- [Eris] What did he say?

- He said the Yaksha is dangerous

and told me that I should research him.

- He wants you to fight his battles for him.

- Yes, but the Yaksha is the more important issue right now,

so I'm gonna follow the Demiurge's advice.

For now.

- All right.

But be careful.

We're pawns in Ragnarok.

- Here she is.

Madame Helena Blavatsky,

the Queen mama of the American occult.

She used to live right here.

They called it the Lamasery.

It's the first real headquarters

of the Theosophical Society.

She'd sit in that room and look out those windows

as she wrote Isis Unveiled.

You'd think there'd be a marker outside,

or I'd at least be fighting off tourists.

(tsking)

- Do you know if she wrote about an entity

called the Yaksha?

Maybe a god or a demon.

- The only difference between the two

is who does the writing, babe.

(laughs)

Yaksha.

Sounds familiar.

Okay, it's not in Isis.

Here we go.

The Secret Doctrine has a couple mentions.

(dramatic music)

Got it.

Hidden in a footnote.

Brahma transformed himself into night, or ignorance,

invested with a body,

upon which the Yakshas or the Rakshasas seized,

exclaiming "Do not spare it, devour it."

- What's that even mean?

- It's a metaphor.

Though, really, what's the difference

between metaphor and literal

when you're talking about the gods?

Brahma transformed himself into night,

the ignorance of sleep.

He's dreaming.

He dreamed these demons into existence.

And they ate him.

- The Yaksha ate a god?

- Not just any god.

Brahma.

The creator of the Vedic universe.

- He said he was hungry.

- The Yaksha's here to eat the Demiurge.

- Why not let him?

Feed the Demiurge to the Yaksha

and be done with it forever.

- And how would the Yaksha remake the world?

- No worse than what we already saw.

- I understand where you're coming from, Eris.

- No, you don't!

Did he make you an offer?

Did I make you an offer?

Oh fuck.

He did.

And you're considering it.

- I'm just considering the options.

- [Eris] What was the offer?

What did he offer?

- The best moment in my life lived over and over again.

Forever.

- That's not living.

I know you hate this.

I know you hate what happened to you,

but that's living.

Living is a fucked up catastrophe

crashing down a deep hole that ends in death,

but it's real,

and it's exhilarating.

And what he showed you is just

an undifferentiated river of shit.

- Well, when you put it that way.

- Who are you calling?

- I need to get inside the Yaksha's head.

I'm trying to limit the number of gods

that are trying to murder us.

Dr. Weaver, I need to talk to you.

- You're looking better, Mason.

More self assured.

Do you think the new prescription is helping?

- Maybe.

- Good, that's good.

So why did you wanna meet?

- There's someone who's been causing me a lot of trouble,

and I was hoping you could help me understand them better.

- I can't do psychoanalysis second hand, Mason.

- [Mason] Right, but you know people, you have empathy.

- Okay.

I'll try my best.

So what's this person like?

- They're...

They're hungry.

Almost like their entire existence

is predicated around hunger.

- Hungry like an addict?

- Sort of.

Yeah.

- Hungry for what?

You need to be more specific, Mason.

- He's right, you have to give him details.

- Is there someone else here, Mason?

Is someone talking to you?

- Look, that's not important.

- It is important!

Did you take the medicine?

- Someone stole my prescription.

Okay, but what is vital right now,

and I know that this is gonna be hard for you to accept,

but if you just listen until I give you all the details

I'm sure you'll understand that I'm right.

- Right about what?

- The danger we're all in.

The fundamental structure of reality

is disintegrating out from under us,

and we're trapped in this battle between two gods.

- Why do you think this, Mason?

Are the voices telling you this narrative?

How many people are you seeing?

- This guy is useless.

- No.

Even when he's confused he still has insights.

- The voices and the people are not outside you, Mason.

They are your own fragmented streams of consciousness

that you're perceiving as external.

- Believe what you want, but the information is real.

The danger is real.

There's this creature, okay. A demon,

[Voice] the Yaksha.

The Yaksha that has this kind of multiple existence.

It's a swarm of avatars and it ate Brahma

or whatever you wanna call it.

Non-material generative entity,

but anyway it ate Brahma

after being birthed from Brahma's dreams.

- Mason, my office is just a couple of blocks away.

I can get you your prescription.

- No!

No!

You're not understanding.

- It's okay.

Look, we can talk about this, just come with me.

Look, we've been through rough patches before,

we can get through this one together.

We're friends.

- All right, we're done here.

Doctor, let me explain.

- You can explain it in my office.

- I don't blame you.

You live off the island.

This version of you has only been around since this morning,

so constantly being deconstructed and rebuilt

sort of fucks up your ability to see things

as they really are.

- Mason.

- No, you let me finish.

Please.

'Cause Mason really does care about you.

So consider this.

Move back in the city.

You and your wife and your son.

When you're back here fully embedded in real time

then you'll be able to understand things.

I mean, maybe not all the way

because this is pretty big,

but you'll understand enough.

Please.

Do this.

Not for me, for your family.

What a waste.

And now he's gonna call the police.

- Dr. Weaver won't call the police.

If he did it wouldn't matter anyway.

The cops don't just arrest people because they're crazy.

If they did that this whole city would be empty.

- I had a dog.

- What?

I figured you more the pet tiger type.

(laughing)

- It was a few months after I stopped watching you.

Real people have dogs so...

It's actually hard to get one without stealing it

if you're me,

but I knew this autistic girl at a shelter.

Amy.

I could talk to her.

She fiddled with the paperwork so I could foster one.

- What kind?

- Brown and fuzzy.

Sort of.

(laughs)

A little bald in spots.

Henry was all kinds of sick.

Went in for three surgeries in three months.

In between I'd walk him around town

and he'd piss on everything.

(laughs)

Didn't make it out of the third one.

- I'm sorry.

- I'm sometimes terrified that the Demiurge

will pick those three seconds

right after Amy told me just out of spite.

- You're a real person.

(suspenseful music)

- Shit, come on.

- What?

- This way.

(gasping)

- I'm here to talk.

- Of course you are.

- You want the Demiurge dead

and I want to kill him.

Detente.

20 minutes.

- [Eris] Detente.

- Come.

We'll take the Backways.

- [Female Voice] Poison, toxic.

- [Male Voice] The Backways lead everywhere.

- You wait until we're beating you to offer a deal?

- I don't negotiate with the weak.

- What's your offer?

- The prison is failing.

At first I intended to kill you,

let the Demiurge escape naturally.

But then I realized you could choose

the critical failure point

and I could lay an ambush.

- And guarantee you win.

- Then what?

- I devour him.

- I mean what about after that.

You take over?

- What?

This?

Why?

- Then what happens to the world?

- I have no idea.

You can have it.

- And what would we do with it?

- I don't care.

Sell it to some other god.

Bequeath it to the weak.

Or move on and forget about it like I will.

- We'll consider it.

- You sent that woman into your office

for something important?

- Yes.

- She's out this route.

Let's finish this.

(electricity buzzing)

Head down that way.

Two lefts and a right.

(suspenseful music)

(ominous music)

(suspenseful music)

- Mason!

Mason!

- [Male Voice] Imbecile, you're worthless.

- [Female Voice] What did you expect?

- [Male Voice] Loser, Loser.

Loser.

- [Male Voice] So pathetic.

- [Male Voice] Sarah is happy now because she abandoned you.

- [Male Voice] She could never love you.

- [Female Voice] She hates you.

- [Female Voice] She abandoned you.

- [Female Voice] So it has often been observed.

- [Female Voice] Of course she's marrying someone else.

- [Female Voice] In order to show its...

- [Male Voice] This is all you will ever have.

You're a freak.

- [Female Voice] It would, perhaps, be better to say

must be bounded as much as possible by continuous lines,

and that its extreme points should be seen all at once.

- [Male Voice] He is to be represented

as giving to excesses.

- [Female Voice] You deserve this.

I cannot offer you more than this

because any deviation from perfection is not perfection,

but I will allow you to choose a particular 3.14159

et cetera second time segment to be cycled.

Do you understand this offer?

I repeat.

Do you understand this offer?

You're a failure.

- [Male Voice] Just kill yourself.

- [Female Voice] Pathetic.

- Shut up!

Haven't you taken enough?

- [Male Voice] Love is an illusion, there is only duty.

- [Female Voice] Love is an illusion,

there is only duty.

- [Female Voice] Love is an illusion, there is only duty.

- Mason.

(gasping)

- A month before the wedding I started hearing them.

I tried to ignore them but they kept getting louder.

Louder and more insistent and it was about the Mission.

The Mission was urgent and I was ignoring it,

but the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil

is for good men to do nothing

so two days before the wedding

I went out on the streets and I did the work.

By the time I finished...

Oh.

Sarah didn't understand.

How can anybody understand something that big

without seeing it?

We tried to make it work.

But I needed to be out on the streets

to really study the city.

There was no way I could protect it

if I didn't know every inch of it.

- The mission comes first.

- Why?

Haven't I done enough?

Haven't I sacrificed enough?

- [Eris] Yes, but it doesn't matter.

- It's not fair.

- [Eris] No.

- I lost everything.

My home, my future, the love of my life.

- I know, but the mission was given to you.

You will have it 'til the day you die.

Do you understand?

Do you understand?

- Yes.

- Who am I?

- Eris.

- Who are you?

Who are you?

(dramatic music)

- The Architect.

The city is infinite,

connected by hidden backways to the other great cities.

The city is eternal,

built on the concepts of the great cities of antiquity

and the dreams of the great cities of the future.

But it's eternality is contingent.

It decays, creating loci of critical failure.

- You're remembering.

Good.

That's good.

But I need you back in reality now.

You've got work to do.

There.

- Mason.

Mason, I'm so sorry.

I should have told you.

- It's okay.

- I wanted to, I just didn't know how to do it.

Are you okay?

- I'm fine.

I...

It was hard.

Seeing you like that reminded me...

Do you remember when I walked in on you

trying on your wedding dress for us?

- Of course.

- You were so beautiful it made me ache.

And you are just as beautiful today.

God.

I'm fine.

That's good.

Sarah, I am so happy that someone else is making you happy.

Okay?

You deserve that.

- Thank you.

I got it for you.

- What?

- The blueprint.

It was in Paul's safe just like you said,

but I didn't need to steal it.

I just explained and he handed it over.

- Why'd he keep it?

- He wasn't supposed to.

They burned the original,

but Paul said he couldn't bear to see something so beautiful

get destroyed forever.

I saw you working on it once, remember?

- Sort of.

That period's a little fuzzy for me.

- I'm glad you forgot.

- Why?

- 'Cause I was a bitch.

You had walked out on me

but we were gonna get married,

we were building a life together.

If I was just a little bit more supportive

maybe we could have worked this out,

and then I saw you drawing it in the coffee shop once.

And I came in to talk to you

and all you cared about was the blueprint,

and I screamed at you.

- I'm sorry.

- It's not your fault.

It's like a bullet came out of nowhere

and hit you in the head.

And I tried to help but I couldn't,

and you didn't want my help anyway.

Is that the wrong thing to say?

Am I fucking this up?

- It's okay.

- [Eris] Mason.

- I gotta get going.

- Yeah, me too.

- Congratulations.

- Thank you.

- Sarah!

Sarah. - Yeah?

- Move back into the city.

Please, it's not healthy out there.

- Mason, you're such a New Yorker.

(ominous music)

- Sarah.

- There are a dozen of me inside watching her.

- Fuck it.

Let's see how many of you I can kill.

- Oh, it's okay.

Eris.

- So did Pandu's Son behold.

All this universe enfold, all its huge diversity

into one vast shape,

and be visible, and viewed, and blended

in one body.

Subtle, splendid,

nameless.

The all-comprehending God of Gods.

The never-ending deity.

Unlock the prison.

- No.

The city is a teleological engine.

It powers and exists for one purpose.

To imprison the Demiurge.

- So.

- If there is no Demiurge... - There's no prison.

No city, nothing.

- That's what I needed to understand.

The mission doesn't just never end

for me it never ends at all.

- Again, so?

- If there's no world then you'd be dead too.

- Perhaps not.

I'll have devoured two gods.

And so what?

I hunger!

Isn't a condemned man given one last meal?

Isn't that its own teleology?

The purpose of existence is annihilation.

And the purpose of annihilation is the final meal.

- I'm not helping you.

(ominous music)

- [Eris] We don't have much time.

The Demiurge is escaping.

(suspenseful music)

- She's heading for the trains.

You have until she's at the gates.

- We'll all die anyway.

- Are you certain of that?

Because one thing you can be certain of

is that I won't murder her pleasantly.

- [Female Voice] You are a failure.

- [Female Voice] Maitreya said, "Master!

"I have been instructed by you..."

- [Male Voice] He's examining the blueprint.

- [Female Voice] He's smarter than you.

- Why do gods choose human champions when they have us?

- Yeah.

Look at how well we turned out for them.

- [Female Voice] Continuing to meditate,

were born mind-engendered progeny,

with forms and faculties derived...

- I was talking about more obedient versions.

- More obedient versions aren't worth shit.

- [Weaver] The voices and the people

are not outside you, Mason.

They are your own fragmented streams of consciousness

that you're perceiving as external.

- We have something in common.

We are both unruly.

- We have more than that in common.

- Oh.

- I am legion too.

I have an academy of past architects all up here.

Or maybe I'm just infinite,

and all those architects are fragments of me.

- You're not a god.

- No.

But you are not a demon.

Brahma dreamed you and your brothers into existence.

- I've heard enough.

I'm killing her now.

- You didn't devour Brahma.

- Shut up.

- Brahma did not die.

- [Yaksha] Shut up!

- And you are Brahma's fragmented consciousness!

- I said be quiet!

- You are Brahma.

- [Male Voice] What if God was schizophrenic?

- We can go.

I know where the critical flaw is.

- What about the blueprint?

- We don't need it. I have it all up here.

- You don't need to worry about him?

- Not anymore.

- You're wrong.

- Once you really understand what you are,

then you'll be able to live with it.

(suspenseful music)

(ominous music)

- Hey!

What are you doing up there?

Hey, get away, get away from that!

Get away from that!

Come on.

- [Eris] Faster, come on!

- [Cliff] Hey, that thing's important, buddy.

Get away from there.

- [Buddy] These homeless guys are like rats, Cliff.

- That should do it.

You hear somethin'?

- Whoa, whoa, close it up! Close it up!

- Jesus Christ.

If that thing had blown, huh.

- How'd he know?

(gentle music)

(dramatic music)