Chaosfoundry by Zeffon

i. Ghost Ship

People are cruel. Or the universe, for that matter. Whether it was bad luck, cruelty, or the universe was simply drunk was debatable, but one thing was certain: Something was keen on setting the hopes of humanity high, and then taking the same group for a spin. In the oldest of days, a ship was created by unknown forces called the Ghost Ship. This ship would later be harnessed and tamed by the wild and great Archer Revenge, who would cruise the world, and do all sorts of things that adept and professional adventurers could only dream of. The original purpose of the Ghost Ship however, was to escort the Bride of Ryan to Unkardia. Ryan was a great ruler and many adored his admirable looks, which apparently bestowed him with good luck as well. It may have been because of this winning streak that Ryan was destined to lose. When it was announced that Ryan was searching the lands of Unkardia for a bride, a mysterious ship with no crew aboard brought a young woman named Yvonne to the shores near Castle Ineje, what would later be named Castle Norfell. The two fell instantly in love and were married within a week. It seemed too good to be true. Meanwhile, the Ghost Ship disappeared.

~

The Ghost Ship would live on in legend as the ship of Archer Revenge, also renamed as the Archer Revenge. Archer however, was both the first and the last man with the ability to commandeer such a finicky vessel. After Archer’s murder at the hands of the people of Cathrop, the Archer Revenge disappeared yet again. Some say that it still haunts the water around Anne and takes out any vessel who dares venture towards Archer’s grave. Because of the inter dimensional properties of the Archer Revenge, the ship was still able to attack a small vessel holding Tereban and Reve, despite Reve being “behind the mirror”.

ii. Take No Prisoners

Ryan was a great two handed swordsman. Him and his bastard sword were seen throughout all the land as the best combination of skill, wit, and proficiency that the land had ever seen. Some viewed this with envy, however. One day, a man named Aed came and challenged Ryan to a duel. Aed had been training for years and years, and was finally ready to meet Ryan at an appropriate climax in order to further his training and become the best in the land. However, when Ryan won anyway, Aed threw a dagger in Ryan’s direction, nearly hitting and potentially killing him. With that, Ryan beat Aed within an inch of his life in his own fit of rage. Aed lived the rest of his life in recluse, along with his horse. Thus, the legend of the rider of Inejeheim was born. According to the villagers in Inejeheim, a raider supposed to be the tormented husk that was Aed rode through the blighted night of every 27th day of the 7th month, following 13 years after he had been defeated. On the fourth year, Ryan was waiting for him. A shadow rode up on a black horse when the sun disappeared on the horizon, and before Ryan could do anything, several houses were ablaze, the ghost shooting fire magic in various directions. Upon seeing Ryan however, the horse reared and fled with its rider, with Ryan in hot pursuit. Eventually, Ryan caught up as the horse had stopped in the Autumn Grove. The ghost removed its cloudy veil of shadow, revealing its true form as the recluse Aed. One sword fight later, Aed again found himself at Ryan’s knees, this time at his ever-dwindling mercy. Aed then took the dagger he had thrown at Ryan 17 years earlier and stabbed himself in the gut. According to legend, the dagger had been tainted with Aed’s treachery, and, upon touching him, turned him to stone. Aed didn’t leave Ryan without cursing him first, however. And this is where the tale of the Instinct comes in.

~

According to Unkardian lore, the soul of Aed was unable to rest after his second humiliating defeat at Ryan’s hands. And thus, after Ryan had left the grove, he fused his soul with the soul of his horse. His horse haunted the grove around Rasoe ever since. Supposedly immortal, the horse stalks the forest, searching for the children of Ryan’s ever-thinning bloodline, turning them against the population of Unkardia. After receiving Aed’s soul, the horse became able to use some techniques that wouldn’t have normally been possible. One of those things was the ability to talk. However, this is strange to consider. After Aed was nearly beaten to death in Ryan’s fit of rage, he received injuries to his throat that kept him from speaking ever again.

iii. Ambush and Tragic Serenades

In Unkardian lore, the Decaying Angel is supposedly the hideous winged corpse of the late Queen Mathilda, tormented by the loss of her children following the attack on Castle Norfell from the three Arc-Demai. However, if one considers the possibility that one of the three Arc-Demai is the Decaying Angel of Rasoe, then Mathilda can hardly be the culprit behind the curse of the Rasoe Bell Tower. In fact, it is told that the Decaying Angel came way before her time.

~

In the wake of the legend of the Rider of Inejeheim, a new curse began to afflict the blighted swordsman. He had enormous pain in his back, and soon he was on the floor, crying out to the heavens. Doctors were perplexed. It seemed as though something was trying to grow out of his back, judging by the two knobs that had appeared between his shoulder blades. It was later that night that the servants assigned to clean Ryan’s room found that he was missing. The window was open, and a ghastly smell filled the air about his bedchamber. Rushing to the window, the servants looked down at the rocks below, thinking Ryan had committed suicide by jumping. Fortunately, there was no sign of his battered corpse on the sharp rocks. In fact, Ryan was still alive. But just barely so. When the sun had departed the skies above Rasoe, a flying zombie (the Decaying Angel) landed on the bell tower and began to ring the bell. The Bell of Amma was considered the holy treasure of the town, as it had been inherited by from the Temple of the Sun, which had had it crafted in a faraway land by a people known as the Uaa. Before the relic had been destroyed, a woman clad in chain mail dispatched the evil beast and began to leave the town without saying a word. Before she was gone, she mentioned her name, and then departed forever. The Decaying Angel lost its right hand in the battle against the female swordsman, and was swiftly burned where it had landed. According to legend, the sun did not rise until every part of the Decaying Angel had been consumed by the flames. It was then that Ryan was found in his bedroom, covered in blood and missing his right hand. No one knew about these unusual circumstances initially, but Ryan knew that someone was out to destroy everything he had worked for: a ghost of someone else, long since dead.

iv. Remnants of Seasons

The ghost that had guided the man into Castle Dränsilane is surprised to find that they have been followed.

”What are you doing here?!”

The man turned around. A woman stood in the doorway of the chamber, carrying a two-handed sword with only her right hand. She was tall, skinny, and very beautiful.

”I’ve come to dispatch you, Emeroch. Did your brother tell you that it would be an easy job to con Gaine here into reproducing that so-called “time loop”?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, you. Gaine has arrived here on his own accord, preparing to become one of many great rulers to come.”

”Ha. Your obvious cowardice works against your confidence.”

Gaine looked nervously in both directions. If there was going to be a fight here, he didn’t want to be part of it.

”Gaine…”

Gaine turned to look at the ghost of Emeroch Isga.

”You poor young man. If you can trust me, I can grant you courage, your kingdom, and the ability to speak again. You’ve been mute since birth, but no longer…”

”Stop it!” yelled the woman. “You’re not fooling anyone!”

Unfortunately for Gaine, the promises that the ghost of Isga gave to him were too tempting to pass up. With that, Gaine took Emeroch’s hand, fusing his body and soul with Emeroch’s soul, creating a new being that took on the name Kerragan Cathrop, seemingly out of some sort of divine inspiration, but would later be revealed to have been in the plans of the Isgas all along. A fight ensued, and the woman, not used to wielding the two-handed bastard sword, was left in a pool of her own blood by the time the fight had finished. Kerragan left the scene and encountered two other men. One man seemed familiar to Kerragan’s former self, and instead of killing the pair, Kerragan fled. The pair of men rushed down to the bottom of the castle after navigating the treacherous maze of staircases and hallways, but upon reaching the room with the body of their leader, she was dead.

”Miss Lyeon!” said Stephane was great difficulty.

The other man looked at the corpse with tears welling in his eyes. They had lost her once. Then a mysterious man came and saved the other man from both his injuries and his illness, while informing them that Miss Lyeon was still alive. He gave them passage to Anne on his boat, narrowly dodging salvos fired by a ghost ship, and then they made it to the chamber at the bottom of Castle Dränsilane, only to find that their leader had bled out. This was a sad day indeed. Rest in peace, dear Reve Terra Lyeon…

~

Aed’s Curse, present in his dagger, his horse, and pretty much the entire island of Unkardia affected everyone who lived there for years to come, even after the Sharhodeon Territories came seeking to annex the stricken land as one of their own territories. Later, a group of men representing the Sharhodeon Territories would travel to Rasoe and would fall 513 times. The leader would sometimes survive, but the men lost that day would turn the Sharhodeon Territories against their colony, and soon they would cut off any further communications. Despite having successfully chased the invaders away, the Curse of Aed, which became better known by another name, knew no bounds. There were still Sharhodeon soldiers stranded in Ocsania. Then, the Curse began to develop a mind of its own, becoming a strange unknown beast. It was the night after the Unknown Beast’s completion that Ocsania simply disappeared and became suspended in Limbo. Yet, the Unknown Beast was not satisfied. It craved for the destruction of mankind itself. After destroying Ocsania, the Unknown Beast managed to find the Village of the Uaa, the residents being some of the first humans to collaborate on the face of the Earth. A few of the Uaa knew this was coming too. After helping the Travelers from Far Away create the Bell of Amma (and partially create the curse as well), the holiness of the first bell caused a second one to form out of the spare darkness that the Bell of Amma left over. This bell was named the Bell of Noor, and was in fact the bell that was given to Unkardia and the leader of the small, but proud Temple of the Sun instead of the supposed “holy bell” that they had received. The Uaa were told by their prophets that they themselves should be the ones to deal with the Bell of Noor, since it was their creation, and not the fault of an innocent people. The Uaa who peddled the bell off to the Unkardians did not listen, however. They lacked the foresight to see how that could come back and bite them. Luckily, by giving away the Bell of Noor, they still had the Bell of Amma. Sadly, they did not use it during their battle, since they had grown so headstrong, so prideful, that they believed the deities that they themselves had created would save them from the death the surely awaited them. However, there was still a part of the Unknown Beast that was light. The small part of Aed that had felt remorse for his actions was still present in the monster. This light part was drawn to the Bell of Amma, hidden away in the Uaa Ruins. With that, the Unknown Beast split in two, its infernal blood falling to the ground like rain. The smaller light part of the Unknown Beast fused with the Bell of Amma. The larger dark part fused with the Bell of Noor, still hanging in the Rasoe Bell Tower. Thus, when the two parts, or the two bells are brought close together, legend says that the Unknown Beast will be reborn.

v. Elements of a Curious Demeanor

It was only when the older man and Stephane brought the corpse of Reve to the surface that they realized something: there was still a chance the Reve was still alive somewhere. She had gone “behind the mirror”, a phrase used by the people of the Large Continent to describe going to another dimension. Though she had been in the other dimension and returned, it was possible Stephane suggested, because the glass had suddenly shattered, that her adventure in the other dimension was on “pause”, meaning if they could by chance find another Rift with the same dimension in it, they would be able to find another instance of their leader. It wouldn’t be easy though. The thought of trying to look at every reflective surface in a hope that it would spawn a Rift by chance (and the right one for that matter) seemed impossible. Clearly some work would need to be done. Or so it seemed. Just as the weight of the task began falling on their shoulders, the same man appeared. The one that had cured the older man.

”Hello, Lloyd,” said the man.

”Hello, Tereban,” said Lloyd with some eagerness. “I never got to thank you properly for healing me…”

”The pleasure is all mine. I dedicated the rest of my life to the purpose, you know.”

”Excuse me, sir,” said Stephane, stepping in, “Is there a way you can revive Miss Lyeon? She…”

”Is dead?”

”Yes.”

”Unfortunately, I cannot revive someone who has already passed away…”

”Oh.” Stephane seemed crushed. Reve was like a mother figure to the boy.

”However,” continued Tereban, “There is someone who can…”

Stephane began to tear up again.

”Out of curiosity, why is it so important…? Despite the fact that someone died, why do you need to revive Miss Lyeon?”

”There’s been a change of plans in the Terra Operative, Tereban,” Lloyd said with some amount of urgency. “The Terra Operative has been dedicated to…”

”…keeping the peace, I know,” finished Tereban. “I’ve explored the world for a while. I get the general idea surrounding your group.”

”Mr. Tereban, have you heard of a man named Félix Oarr?”

”Yes, he’s governor No. 8 of Lavu.”

”And his experiments…?”

“Unfortunately.”

Lloyd bit his lip. Tereban didn’t seem to be getting the idea, and he didn’t want to mention what he was about to say, in case Creator was watching. Creator of course, was the leader of the curious civilization that was on the continent of Exeräise. That person could listen in on whatever he pleased with the help of the Magot Tower. The grim and disgusting mass of limbs haphazardly assembled into an altar gave Creator the power to see all and know all. But it wasn’t necessarily the tower itself. The Terra Operative had always thought that the tower was used to appease something below the surface, something that could give Creator the information he wanted. Still, he had to be open with Tereban if he wanted his help.

”Have… Have you ever heard of Derek Unmattias?”

The wind abruptly changed direction. Tereban looked very solemn, then began to walk away, beckoning that the others follow him.

vi. Chaosfoundry

”They know. That slimy civilization and their cronies, they know. It’s best we revive him.”

~

In the time of Ryan, his wife Yvonne began to act suspiciously. She seemed to be drawn to Ryan’s bastard sword like a moth towards light. Every evening around the time the sun would disappear on the horizon, she could be seen observing the sword in its case and pedestal. Ryan rarely used the sword now, due to the sudden loss and disappearance of his right hand. But he couldn’t help but notice Yvonne’s odd behavior. One night, after he couldn’t stand it any longer, Ryan went to his wife and demanded to know what she was doing. Yvonne looked in Ryan’s direction, but looked like she was dreaming. When Ryan put his hand on her left shoulder, Yvonne seemed to come out of her trance. She said that she was experiencing a vision, being trapped in a forest near her home. She could hear men calling out, as they were being swallowed by the vines on the forest floor. She would always reach out to help them, but when she touched the vines ensnaring the men, she would lack the ability to cut them free. Then the entire scene would change to that of a foundry, and she would be placed on a platform dumping giant metal faces into a giant boiling pot of liquid metal. She never talked about it with Ryan again, except once. That time, she said that she had the same visions, but at the same time, the sword would be calling out to her…

vii. Dark Comet

”Return me, return me,” it would say. The bastard sword would constantly chant that message whenever Yvonne came to see it.

Note - Ghost Ship, Take No Prisoners, and Ambush and Tragic Serenades are reprises of previous songs.

Tracklist

1.	Ghost Ship	22:41

2.	Take No Prisoners	11:47

3.	Ambush and Tragic Serenades	10:20

4.	Remnants of Seasons	10:30

5.	Elements of a Curious Demeanor	16:24

6.	Chaosfoundry	6:58

7.	Dark Comet	1:08

Credits

released October 22, 2011

Everything - Creighton Jenkins

License

CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.