They found the second body in an abandoned art gallery, shut down years ago after a fire gutted half the roof. Rain had soaked through the beams for weeks, and mold clung to the cracked canvases like decay in a museum of the forgotten. But this… this was unforgettable.

The gallery’s central atrium had been cleared of debris. In its center stood a perfect circle, seven meters wide, etched into the concrete with surgical precision. A rust-colored square overlapped it, burned into the ground with what appeared to be industrial acid. At the center, suspended by tension wires, was the body.

A woman this time. Late thirties. Naked, shaved, bleached.

Her limbs were contorted to mimic Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, arms extended both horizontally and diagonally, legs split open in a near-impossible V. The killer had dislocated her shoulders and hips, lengthened tendons, sliced and re-stitched muscles like a grotesque puppeteer aiming for anatomical symmetry.

A single bolt impaled her through the navel, anchoring her to a rotating disc. As the body turned slowly in place, motorized, like a piece of kinetic art, her blood left spiraling patterns on the floor. Her head lolled backward, mouth stitched into a serene grin.

On the gallery wall, painted in black tar:

“Divine Proportion Must Be Restored.”

-P.

Detective Appleby stared in silence, breath shallow. This wasn’t just murder. This was theology masquerading as geometry. A sermon of sinew and steel. The killer had studied anatomy. Art history. Likely mathematics. He was evolving from simple mutilation to ritualized presentation. From Procrustes to Vitruvius.

“This isn’t just about conformity anymore,” Appleby muttered, mostly to herself. “It’s about transcendence.”

Behind her, the forensics team snapped photos. But none of them could capture the way the corpse rotated under the skylight, casting shadows that looked, for a split second, like angelic wings. Angels, perhaps. Or diagrams of realms beneath.

Part I – https://atlanteancurrent.wordpress.com/2025/05/22/man-is-the-measure-of-all-things-i/