"It may be so. It's rather mystical. But go on--who is Thire?"

"Length and breadth together without depth give flatness. Life and
love without feeling produce shallow, superficial natures. Feeling
is the need of men to stretch out toward their creator."

"You mean prayer and worship?"

"I mean intimacy with Thire. This feeling is not to be found in
either the first or second world, therefore it is a third world.
Just as depth is the line between object and subject, feeling is the
line between Thire and man."

"But what is Thire himself?"

"Thire is the afterworld."

"I still don't understand," said Maskull. "Do you believe in three
separate gods, or are these merely three ways of regarding one God?"

"There are three gods, for they are mutually antagonistic. Yet they
are somehow united."

Maskull reflected a while. "How have you arrived at these
conclusions?"

"None other are possible in Threal, Maskull."

"Why in Threal--what is there peculiar here?"