Originally published 12/25/2018.

After the collapse of society, surviving people from Garenburg find refuge in stories. Tales of the past are saved and passed down across generations, eventually spreading across the island and becoming well known. Stories also spread from Darklore surprisingly. It is unknown how this was possible as the only creatures that have communicated with humans have been the that of great power, such as the Senses. Some of the stories date back even farther than the Lunacy, while others were made up to try and spread morals.

____________________________________________

The Crimson House

There were once three siblings that lived atop a mountain range. The family studied magic and were all powerful sorcerers. One day, while the eldest was taking a hike, he came across an injured stranger. The man was a traveler who was lost and unconscious. The eldest took the man into the family home so that he could recover.

Once the traveler had recovered from his wounds, he became interested in the practice that the family had done. Spells and magic became a topic of questions from the family. The eldest thought it would be fun to have a pupil and be friends with somebody new, so he started to teach lessons to the man. Over time, the two became great friends.

After learning a large amount of magical skills and abilities from the eldest, the friend started to have an urge to learn about spells of great power. The eldest told him about some spells such as travelling through worlds, but he explained that nobody could perform the spells unless they have a great source of power. The friend nodded, but he thought of a way of obtaining such strength. 

After returning home from his regular strolls, the eldest came back late to his home. Upon opening the door, he collapsed to the ground. There was blood splattered across the walls. His siblings were brutally slaughtered, and his friend was standing amongst them. The friend had killed everybody to gain power. He used the family to learn what he needed and was already strong and had planned their deaths from the start. Using all the strength he could, the eldest sibling tried to kill the traitor and the traveler disappeared in a flash. The house was left empty with the just the eldest standing alone.

____________________________________________

Thicker Than Blood

In a small family, a young woman oversaw the water supply. She had to travel to a nearby farm to purchase clean water and return to her family so that everybody could safely stay hydrated. She was responsible for the survival of everybody.

One morning, when she set out to head to the farm, she came across a trader. He sold a large supply of water, and for a much cheaper price than what she got at the regular farm. The woman quickly purchased water from him instead of going about her usual route.

The woman quickly returned home and shared the news of the deal she had. When she returned, she took a nap to regain some energy. Upon awakening, she had found that her family drank the water. They started to cough and sweat, and their skin was warm. The water had been laced with poison.

With the family ill and their condition getting worse, the woman searched for a cure or more information on the poison. There was nothing that matched this inside the books she had. She eventually found the merchant who sold her the water, and he offered to sell a cure for a price. Infuriated, she knocked him unconscious and took the cure along with all his money. She returned home but had been too late. Her family had perished in the time it took for her to get there. With overwhelming guilt of her mistake, she drank the remaining water and destroyed the cure. She passed away soon after.

____________________________________________

The Crimson Book

There was once a sorcerer who lost everything he loved, including his magical capabilities. A tragic incident had resulted in this, and he wanted to change the past. As a result, he decided to try and find a way to change everything. He wanted to find a way to rewrite history.

The man decided to research and try and figure out a way to succeed in changing the past. He found a book that described the other worlds, and took interest in a specific one, being about Minutrize; a place that allows time travel.

Despite knowing the necessary skills to travel to worlds, he didn’t have the power to. The man decided that if he were to kill to obtain magical powers, the murder would be undone by him changing time. He didn’t count his actions as a merciless killing because of this and slaughtered as many people as he needed. The only thing that disturbed him was that he felt like he was slowly turning into what caused the tragedy he wanted to undo.

The man finally obtained enough strength and was able to travel to worlds. He just needed to focus energy to go to the one he wanted. He gathered his spell books and everything he needed to complete his plan. He prepared to perform the spell… but he couldn’t focus. His mind kept going to the faces of those he killed and what he had done. His memories kept showing the faces of his family and somebody he used to know who betrayed him. He couldn’t think straight, and instead of traveling to a world, his spell books combined with his spell and he created a brand-new world. Everything was made from the words of his memories, books, and his thoughts. He collapsed in his empty land and wept to himself.

____________________________________________

The Crimson World

A man had accidentally created a world when he had attempted to prevent a tragedy. The man meant to travel to Minutrize so that he could reverse time, but instead he had made a land from his thoughts, memories, and mind. It was made up of words and sentences, and he was the only living being in the land.

All the powers he had previously possessed had been transferred to the creation of the world, but the strength was dispersed into multiple segments of the world. Some parts of his strength became living beings, with their own personalities derived of his own memories and past. They resembled people and creatures, but were made up of script and symbols, just like the land he had created.

The man decided to focus his remaining life to trying to find a way to escape his world. If he could get his powers back, he could fix everything. He could save them. He could stop that monster. Everything would be fine. And he finally decided to repeat his past. He slaughtered the people he created to gain strength. He didn’t care that these were made up of parts of himself. He didn’t stop. He wouldn’t stop.

The man would finally have enough power. He didn’t have enough to go to Minutrize, but he could go home and gain strength there. Everything would be perfect. Soon, everything and everyone would be here again. Nothing can stop this. They’ll live again! Everything will be perfect. It will work! Nothing will stop this! Nothing at all!