Sunday Special #03 - The Age of Silence: Death

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If you haven't already, check out Part 1 and Part 2!

On the Age of Silence

The Age of Silence refers to the novel's title, which I oft abbreviate to TAoS. If you've checked the Patreon page, you'll have gotten an idea of what the story's about, namely:

The Age of Silence follows a young Syrilae girl known as Aneskia in her quest to right a terrible wrong that has befallen her home. On her way she will meet unlikely friends and lethal enemies, while her very existence unravels with seemingly every step she takes. 

With madness closing in and threats revealing themselves to her new-gained senses, will Aneskia find a way to mend what has been broken? Will she rise beyond herself and find the strength to oppose the growing darkness? And who, among all foreign faces she will meet, will side with her when the time comes to make the hard decisions? 

The plot in itself I shorten to this: it's a story about Love, Sacrifice, and Death. These words hold a lot more meaning than readily apparent. Today, I will be discussing my favourite aspect: Death.

* * *

TAoS and Death

It feels as though Death has always been with me. Ever since I first was introduced as a child to the tarot and its 13th arcana, Death has been a part of my life. I developed a fascination for Death as an entity - a fascination that peaked when I created Aeyuu's own Reaper.

But nothing shaped my fascination quite like my early depression. In fact, I daresay that without it, I would neither be the person I am today, nor would I have Aeyuu. That depression, and that one moment where I contemplated what it would be like to die, set the gears in motion for further evolution of my fascination. My favourite horror movies are ghost stories - powerful stories such as the original Ringu or Ju-On the Grudge, psychological movies like the Sixth Sense... Terrifying stories like Paranormal Activity Tokyo. Or wondered about Death's own personality, as so well interpreted in Meet Joe Black.

In truth, I have always wondered what lies just beyond reach. And on Aeyuu, all deaths intertwine - be they physical or mental, living or dead. There are many ways to die and even more than one Death.

Death, black and absolute; Death, insidious and grey.

And it is a death in her village that will lead main protagonist Aneskia to embark on an impossible quest: to try and find a way to return life to that which is not quite dead, but no longer alive. A state of being she will only learn to understand, all too well, the more she faces the grey Death and the truth of its existence.

At her side will stand Nalyn, an Elshir man who lived his entire life by death and never found the courage to die; Kristofa, who never quite recovered from Aneskia's mother untimely end; even a black Death might choose to take a stand and help Aneskia along. But in the end she will still have to decide: is the life of one worth the death of thousands more? 

Perhaps the choice will be made for her by Devon, whose long experience fighting the grey Death has left him bitter and vengeful; and what of the dead themselves, who aspire for but one outcome?

Beyond death as we understand it, there is death as the 13th arcana teaches us: transformation. The end of one aspect, so another may take its place. Choices to be made, paths taken or perhaps ignored; in a world where darkness gains a little more weight with every passing day, even Death itself will have to transform and adapt, or be wiped from existence. 

Choose to be more than you are; or follow your course and spiral towards destruction.

With Love in her heart and Sacrifice guiding her feet, Aneskia will face Death without and within until her own life but hang by a thread. Will she submit, or wield?

And will the prophesized Age of Silence come to pass?

* * *

And that is the final part of TAoS' thematic tryptich :) next week Sunday, I'll delve into Aneskia's race, the Syrilae, and the connection between Syrilae, Ansai, and Aberviohn. It'll all make sense then, I promise ;)

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