Mezzanine Stairs

Let’s resume, then, where I left off, amidst the questionable scrawlings of the early 2000s, proceeding hopefully towards more pertinent revelations.

I should note that Vorona’s King Oskar and Prince Martin came into existence at this time, having rather similar roles as they do in World’s End, though they had the names of Oromar and Marovyr at the time (and rest assured, I’ll later elaborate on why I chose to dump names like that).

Marovyr opposed the increasingly foul counsel of Arochyr (now possessed by the demon Phorex) incessantly, while Oromar, eager to revive the old glories of Boronach, listens to this corrupted minister and deems his counsel wise, to the extent that he ousts and exiles Arochyr’s opponent, recalcitrant spymaster Tevoran.

Still with us, folks? Let me at this time insert a quote from an old file I’m poring over right now, if for nothing else to give you the idea of the aesthetic flavor of what I was writing at this time:

“The most pressing matter at the time for Phorex was the Legend of the Paladin. As we know well, this states that in the hour of apocalypse, a Hero will appear to smite the evil and restore the world. It would seem that he was aware of the existence, but not of the location of Aizu Iyu-Setoran, though he was still but a boy.“

Okay, it’s not me at my most pretentious. I’ll save that for later, too. Regardless, doesn’t Arochyr/Phorex sound familiar, as well, maybe? Yep, Phorex evolved into the guy we now know as Duriken at some point.

Now, before I go too much further, let me just say that I was at the very least self-aware enough to know how thoroughly enmeshed with generic fantasy tropes my writing was at this point. I still persisted with my work, feeling as if I could bring some kind of original take to the table.

To elaborate on my earlier story summary: brothers Aizu and Theyn have been captured by slavers in Phorex’s employ, and are now imprisoned somewhere near the destroyed village of Setora. Realizing the disaster that might befall if “chosen one” Aizu falls into the hands of Phorex, a friggin’ dragon – apparently aligned with the will of the Gods no less – shows up and attacks the camp. Then there’s some mercenary dwarf by the name of Yathori Hazorrigun (AKA Khak) who’s also imprisoned there, and amidst the confusion of the attack, he guides the brothers to safety via a dwarf-tunnel to a nearby town, the city of Orrar.

Good lord! Dwarves and dragons, right? Anyway, the brothers wind up in Orrar, a certain city where exiled spymaster Udasai an-Tevoran is trying to rile up resistance to some impending Boronachian onslaught. He notes Aizu and Theyn’s liberal spending of dwarf-treasures and having some kind of prescient hunch, tracks them down. Despite their reticence, Tevoran convinces them of his benevolence and resolves to bring them to Boronach, figuring they’re the target of Phorex, etc., etc.

The story kind of falls apart here. The original idea was that Aizu gathers about him a predictably ragtag group companions and challenges Phorex, who then puts everyone into stasis for 200 years while he consolidates his rule of the Continent (which evolved into the Valelands). The heroes reawaken eventually in a new and corrupted world, and afterwards, Phorex is probably defeated, I assume, but who knows?

A key point of this phase of the story: as I kept going with things, I couldn’t help but cast aside most of the commonplace fantasy elements that had existed in this tale. That meant no more dragons, dwarves, and orcs — I increasingly felt that all that had to take a serious hike.

It’s around this time that I first discovered an ancient version of RPG Maker. I was starting to realize that publishing some kind of novel might never happen — if you’d read what I was writing at the time you’d definitely agree! — and had begun reconsidering what form this rapidly expanding story should properly take. And so, the “video game” aspect of my creative inclinations began to assert itself....