31 Fantasy Short Stories That Will Get You to Magical Worlds

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

In the heart of the Emerald Kingdom, a young apprentice named Alina toiled tirelessly under the tutelage of the renowned sorcerer, Eldrin. Her days were filled with the study of ancient tomes and the practice of intricate spells.

One fateful day, while Eldrin was away on a quest, a mischievous imp found its way into the sorcerer’s chambers. Alina, determined to prove her worth, decided to cast a powerful spell to banish the imp. However, her incantations went awry, and the imp multiplied into a horde of impish creatures wreaking havoc throughout the kingdom.

Alina soon realized the gravity of her mistake and embarked on a perilous journey to undo the chaos she had unintentionally unleashed.

The Last Dragon Rider

In the kingdom of Amalthea, where dragons once soared majestically through the skies, only a single dragon remained – the ancient and wise Pyralis. Ella, a young and spirited girl, stumbled upon Pyralis’ lair while exploring the forbidden mountain ranges.

To her astonishment, the dragon chose her as the last dragon rider, bestowing upon her the power to unite the warring realms of Amalthea. Together, they embarked on an epic journey, facing treacherous foes and overcoming daunting challenges.

Ella’s bond with Pyralis grew stronger with each obstacle they overcame, and their quest ignited hope for a world where dragons and humans could once again coexist in harmony.

The Forgotten Realm

Deep within the Whispering Woods, a hidden realm lay forgotten, its existence known only to the woodland creatures that called it home. This enchanted place, untouched by the passage of time, was ruled by the benevolent Fae Queen, Ariella.

One day, a young boy named Liam stumbled upon this mystical realm while wandering lost in the forest. Ariella, recognizing the purity of Liam’s heart, welcomed him and revealed the wonders of her domain.

As Liam learned the ways of the Fae, he discovered his own latent magical abilities, becoming a bridge between the human world and the Forgotten Realm. However, a dark force threatened to destroy this sanctuary, and Liam found himself at the center of an ancient prophecy, tasked with protecting the realm and its inhabitants.

The Clockwork City

In the heart of a vast desert, a remarkable city stood, its towering spires and intricate gears whirring in perfect synchronicity. This was the Clockwork City, a marvel of engineering and magic, where time itself was bent to the will of its inhabitants.

Amelia, a young clockmaker’s apprentice, discovered a hidden chamber beneath the city, containing a powerful artifact – a pocket watch that could manipulate the flow of time. Unwittingly, she unleashed a temporal distortion that threatened to unravel the very fabric of the city.

Amelia, aided by a motley crew of unlikely allies, including a quirky inventor and a talking automaton, embarked on a race against time to restore balance and prevent the Clockwork City from spiraling into a paradoxical oblivion.

The Stargazer’s Prophecy

In the kingdom of Celestia, where the night sky was revered and studied with reverence, a young stargazer named Zara made a startling discovery. While mapping the constellations, she uncovered an ancient prophecy foretelling the arrival of a celestial event that would reshape the realm.

Zara’s findings were met with skepticism by the ruling council, but her unwavering determination led her to seek out the reclusive Star Elders, guardians of celestial knowledge. Together, they embarked on a perilous journey through treacherous landscapes and mythical realms, deciphering the prophecy’s cryptic clues.

As they unraveled its mysteries, they realized that the fate of Celestia hinged on their ability to interpret the stars’ messages and harness the cosmic power that lay dormant within the realm.

The Enchanted Toymaker

In a quaint village nestled among rolling hills, an eccentric toymaker named Geppetto crafted the most extraordinary playthings, infusing them with a touch of magic. His creations were coveted by children far and wide, for they possessed the ability to come to life when the clock struck midnight.

One night, a mischievous fairy stumbled into Geppetto’s workshop and accidentally cast a powerful spell, causing all of the toys to become sentient and escape into the village. Chaos ensued as the living toys ran amok, and Geppetto found himself in a race against time to undo the fairy’s enchantment before the villagers discovered the true nature of his creations.

With the help of his most beloved creation, a wooden puppet named Pinocchio, Geppetto embarked on a whimsical adventure to restore order and protect the magic that brought his toys to life.

The Elemental Forge

In the heart of a volcanic mountain range, an ancient forge burned with the power of the four elements – fire, earth, air, and water. This was the Elemental Forge, a sacred place where skilled blacksmiths crafted legendary weapons and armor imbued with elemental abilities.

Kara, a young and talented blacksmith’s apprentice, stumbled upon a long-forgotten ritual that could unlock the true potential of the Elemental Forge. However, her ambition led her to unleash a force she could not control, and the elements themselves turned against her.

Kara found herself embroiled in a struggle to restore balance, seeking the guidance of the ancient Forge Masters and forging unlikely alliances with beings of elemental power. Only by mastering the harmony of the elements could she hope to avert a cataclysmic event that threatened to consume the entire realm.

The Hourglass of Eternity

In a realm where time was a fragile construct, a young apprentice named Zara stumbled upon an ancient hourglass with the power to manipulate the very fabric of existence. As she delved deeper into its mysteries, she found herself caught in a web of intrigue, pursued by a relentless order of time guardians determined to protect the natural flow of eternity.

Zara’s quest to unlock the hourglass’s secrets took her on a perilous journey through distorted realities and parallel worlds, where allies and foes were indistinguishable, and the line between past, present, and future blurred. With each twist of the hourglass, she risked unraveling the tapestry of time itself, but the temptation to reshape her own destiny proved too alluring to resist.

The Whispers of the Moonlit Grove

Deep within an ancient forest, a sacred glade known as the Moonlit Grove harbored a dark secret. It was said that on the night of the full moon, the trees themselves would whisper ancient incantations, beckoning those pure of heart to partake in a ritual of untold power.

Eira, a young druid-in-training, heeded the whispers and ventured into the grove, only to find herself ensnared in a web of ancient magic that challenged the very boundaries of her beliefs. As she delved deeper into the grove’s mysteries, she discovered a hidden world where nature’s forces converged, and the line between reality and myth blurred. Eira’s journey would test her resolve and forge an unbreakable bond with the primordial essence that breathed life into the forest itself.

The Dreamwalker’s Curse

In a realm where dreams and reality intertwined, a young man named Elan possessed the rare gift of dreamwalking – the ability to traverse the dreamscape and manipulate the dreams of others. But this power came with a terrible curse: every time Elan entered someone’s dream, a part of his own essence became trapped within their subconscious.

As he struggled to control his gift, he found himself embroiled in a conspiracy that threatened to shatter the delicate balance between the waking world and the realm of dreams. Elan’s journey took him through labyrinthine mindscapes and surreal landscapes, where he encountered beings of pure imagination and faced his own deepest fears. Only by mastering the art of lucid dreaming could he hope to break the curse and unravel the sinister plot that threatened to consume both worlds.

The Starborn Heir

In a celestial realm where stars were born from the very essence of creation, a young woman named Astra discovered her destiny as the long-awaited Starborn Heir. Gifted with the ability to wield the cosmic forces that shaped the universe, Astra found herself at the center of an ancient conflict between the celestial guardians and a malevolent entity that sought to extinguish all light.

Her journey took her through ethereal realms and nebulous galaxies, where she forged alliances with enigmatic celestial beings and uncovered the secrets of her birthright. As the battle for the fate of the cosmos raged, Astra’s resolve was tested, and she had to harness the full potential of her star-forged powers to prevent the unraveling of creation itself.

The Siren’s Lament

In the depths of the Obsidian Sea, a haunting melody echoed through the currents, luring unsuspecting sailors to their doom. This was the song of the Sirens, beings of unparalleled beauty and devastating power.

Calypso, a young mermaid, found herself entranced by the Sirens’ enchanting melodies and followed their call, only to discover a tragic tale of betrayal and cursed existence. As she delved deeper into the Sirens’ lore, she uncovered a path to break their centuries-old curse, but the price of their freedom was higher than she could have imagined.

Calypso’s quest took her through treacherous depths and mythical underwater realms, where she confronted ancient leviathans and forged unlikely alliances with beings of the deep. Her journey would challenge the very essence of her identity and force her to confront the darkest secrets of the Obsidian Sea.

The Clockwork Sorcerer

In a world where magic and technology converged, a young apprentice named Alistair stumbled upon an ancient tome that unlocked the secrets of clockwork sorcery – a forgotten art that harnessed the power of intricate mechanisms and arcane formulae. As he delved deeper into this forbidden knowledge, he found himself hunted by a secret society of technomancers who sought to control this potent magic.

Alistair’s quest took him through steam-powered cities and maze-like factories, where he encountered sentient automatons and forged unlikely alliances with renegade inventors. With each clockwork spell he cast, he risked unraveling the delicate balance between magic and machine, but the temptation to unlock the full potential of this lost art proved too great to resist.

Alistair’s journey would ultimately lead him to confront the very nature of progress and the boundaries between the natural and the artificial.

The Faerie’s Gift

Deep in the Whispering Woods, where ancient oaks twisted towards the sky, a young woodcutter’s daughter named Birch stumbled upon an injured faerie. The faerie’s delicate wings were tattered, and she was too weak to fly. Birch gently gathered the faerie into a bed of moss, tending to her wounds.

When the faerie awoke, she was amazed by the kindness of the human child. As a gesture of gratitude, she revealed her true form – a radiant queen of the fae folk. “For your compassion, I shall grant you a gift,” the queen proclaimed. She waved her hand, and a glittering tree sprouted beside Birch, its branches laden with precious gemstones.

From that day on, Birch’s family never wanted for anything. And Birch realized that the greatest magic was the kindness she had shown to a friend in need.

The Draconic Prophecy

On the night of the crimson moon, a young dragon was born in the scorching depths of the Obsidia Mountains – a once-in-an-age event foretold by ancient prophecy. Sages and soothsayers gathered from all corners of the realm to witness the birth of the draconic prince who would unite all dragon clans and usher in a new era of peace.

As the hatchling’s cry pierced the obsidian spires, tremors shook the mountain range, and the very sky seemed to shatter like glass. Through the rupture, an ominous entity emerged – Talnruk, the Eternal Usurper, bane of the draconic race. He sought to snuff out the light of prophecy before it could shine.

What unfolded was a celestial battle which shook the foundations of the world itself. Tooth and claw clashed with eternal darkness as the fate of dragonkind hung in the balance. When the dust settled, the prophecy had been preserved, but at what cost?

The Exiled Thaumaturge

Among the splintered isles of the Astral Sea drifted Aneira, a self-exiled thaumaturge – one of the last practitioners of the lost arcane arts. She had forsaken the arrogant councils of her homeland, whose greed for power had brought them to the brink of unraveling the fabric of reality itself.

Aneira’s endless journey across the chronicled and uncharted planes of existence was one of humility and atonement. She sought enlightenment through the study of primordial forces and unseen realms, that she might use her arcane skills to heal old wounds rather than tear new ones.

On the perpetual horizon of her voyages glimmered the faintest beacon of light – the Invisible Citadel, an eldritch sanctuary spoken of in fable. There, the great cosmological riddles clouding her path might finally become clear. But first, she would need to best the ineffable guardians who safeguarded that последнее знание.

Into the Syxxhan Spyre

Karras gripped his flickering laser-pike tightly as he led his battered squad of resolutes down the curved inner wall of the Syxxhan Spyre. This impossibly tall, ribbed cone of obsidian speared the sooty sky above the fallen arcology of Nav’Kymra on the harsh world of Ixion-9.

Their mission was to breach the fortified peak and deactivate the alien syxxhan war-cult’s henioverter – a baleful psy-engine siphoning the tainted lifeforce of a billion conquered souls to power their dark crusade. Beyond the Spyre’s interlocking hexaploid defense turrets, the rescuing armada’s drop-ships awaited extraction with the Exoneration-class dreadnaught’s purging lance on standby.

But first, Karras and his elite vanguard had to fight their way through haunted biodesiac tunnels where gibbering spector-things skittered in the shadows. The shifting alien geometries would drive even veteran resolutes to the brink of cata-shock. Yet worse multi-dimensional horrors surely dwelled at the Spyre’s rectilinear apex.

The Dusk Serpent’s Rise

On the desolate world of Xrax, amidst the blistered dunes of the Scorrid Valley, something ancient and terrible had been disturbed from its slumber by the warlike Zorn Conglomerate’s excavations. A sinuous wake of destruction ripped through their mining-camp – a horrific glimpse of scaled nightmare coils glimpsed flashing past gun-turrets and razed hab-decks.

The primal beast that tore free from the basalt peaks had only been rumored to exist within the Xraxian ancients’ faerie-tales – a salahim, or “dusk serpent” of continental proportions. Its slumbering, nigh-immortal form had been mistaken for an inert rock-ridge slowly buried by the world’s roiling silicon sands for untold aeons.

With baleful orange photoclasts lighting the obsidian cavernways leading to its abyssal lair, the furious serpent unspool from its violated sanctum, trailing an empire-fell shadow of segmented lithic plating and armored serpent fangs. Unstoppable as a force of nature, it crushed and swallowed the Zorn’s smelted husks whole before slithering beyond the horizon’s blazing apocalyptic dusk on a vengeful path of annhilation.

The Paradox Masque

Midnight chimes heralded the arrival of the fabled Paradox Masque – a decadent revelry transcending linear time and spational dimensions. From every gilded portal and shadowed waygate across the infinite realms streamed a riot of exquisite masks, fantastical garbs, and bizarre anatomies. Utterly alien beings milled together in the radiant ballrooms of the Vermilion Grand Teratome, unified by the common thread of escapism.

At the Masque’s epicenter spun the divergent dancers of the Hazlethron Quadrille – a tesseract of blurred colors and fragmented forms hovering outside the conventional laws of physics. Those daring enough to lock eyes with the kaleidoscope cortege risked being drawn into its chronomantic spiral, lost to the Outside forever.

Only the most supremely willful celebrants could resist succumbing to the Masque’s unravelling causality loops and tendency towards anarchic transformations. Those seeking escape often found themselves trapped forevermore within the surreal wonders and perverse nightmares of this extradimensional phantasmagoria.

The Last Dragonrider

In the realm of Azveron, where dragons once soared majestically, a lone figure sat atop a cliff, gazing at the vast skyline. Keira, the last dragonrider, held the ancient bond with the winged beasts, a legacy passed down through generations. As the world grew colder, the dragons vanished, their fires extinguished by a creeping darkness.

Keira’s companion, Sarash, an emerald-scaled dragon, lay mortally wounded, her eyes dimming with each ragged breath. “You must find the last dragon egg, Keira,” Sarash whispered. “Our kind’s survival depends on it.”

With a heavy heart, Keira embarked on a perilous journey, guided by an ancient map etched onto Sarash’s scales. She traversed treacherous mountains, battled foul creatures, and braved the scorching deserts, all in the hopes of preserving the dragons’ legacy.

At last, she stumbled upon a hidden valley, where a single egg pulsed with life. As Keira gently cradled the egg, a flicker of hope ignited within her. The flames of the dragons would burn once more, and she would be the one to reignite them.

The Faerie Bargain

In the heart of the Evergreen Forest, where moonlight danced among the ancient trees, a young woman named Elara found herself hopelessly lost. Her pleas for guidance went unanswered until a soft glow caught her eye, revealing a breathtakingly beautiful faerie.

“I can show you the way out of these woods,” the faerie offered, her voice like a melodious whisper. “But a bargain must be struck.”

Desperate, Elara agreed, sealing the deal with a drop of her blood on the faerie’s outstretched palm.

True to her word, the faerie led Elara through the twisting paths, but as they neared the forest’s edge, the faerie’s form began to shift, her beauty transforming into something dark and twisted.

“You have yet to pay the price, foolish girl,” the faerie hissed, her eyes glowing with malice. “Your firstborn child shall be mine.”

Elara’s heart sank, realizing the grave mistake she had made. But in that moment, a glimmer of hope flickered within her – a chance to outwit the cunning faerie and break the bargain’s curse.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

In the bustling city of Arcavia, where magic intertwined with everyday life, a young man named Zane found himself at the doorstep of the renowned sorcerer, Alastair. Desperate to unlock the secrets of the arcane arts, Zane pleaded to become Alastair’s apprentice.

Alastair, his eyes twinkling with amusement, agreed, but with a warning: “Magic is a double-edged sword, and its mastery comes at a price.”

Under Alastair’s tutelage, Zane delved into ancient tomes, deciphering runes and incantations. With each spell he cast, his power grew, but so did his arrogance.

One fateful night, Zane stumbled upon a forbidden ritual, promising unimaginable might. Ignoring Alastair’s cautions, he performed the rite, unleashing a force he could not control.

As the city trembled and reality warped around him, Zane realized the folly of his hubris. Only by embracing humility and heeding Alastair’s wisdom could he hope to undo the calamity he had wrought.

The Dwarven Forge

Deep beneath the Ironstone Mountains, the dwarven city of Khazad-nar echoed with the rhythmic clanging of hammers on anvils. Here, in the heart of the forge, a young dwarf named Gryda toiled, her muscles straining with each mighty swing.

Gryda’s dream was to craft a blade worthy of legend, a weapon that would etch her name in the annals of dwarven history. But the secret to forging such a blade eluded her, no matter how many hours she labored or how many techniques she mastered.

One night, as she tended to the dying embers of her forge, a strange figure emerged from the shadows – a wizened dwarf with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“I can teach ye the ancient secrets,” he rasped, holding up a tarnished tome. “But be warned, lass, the price for such knowledge is steep.”

Gryda did not hesitate, for the chance to realize her dream was worth any cost. Little did she know that the path ahead would test her resolve, her skill, and her very soul.

The Fae Revenant

In the twilight realm of the fae, where dreams and nightmares intertwined, a young woman named Ayla found herself trapped, her soul bound to the whims of the capricious fae lords.

Ayla’s only hope lay in seeking out the legendary Fae Revenant, a powerful entity said to possess the ability to sever the bonds that tethered mortals to the fae realm.

Her journey led her through treacherous landscapes, where reality shifted with every step, and illusions proved deadlier than any blade. Ayla navigated twisted labyrinths, outwitted cunning tricksters, and braved the wrath of jealous fae nobles.

At last, she stood before the Fae Revenant, a being of pure energy and ancient power. With a single touch, the Revenant shattered the chains that bound Ayla’s soul, but the price was high – a piece of her memories, forever lost to the ether.

As Ayla emerged from the fae realm, she gazed upon the world with new eyes, forever changed by her harrowing ordeal, yet free to forge her own destiny once more.

The Elemental Pact

In the land of Azura, where the elements held sway, a young mage named Kai sought to harness their raw power. But the path to true mastery was shrouded in mystery, and Kai found himself at a crossroads.

It was then that he stumbled upon an ancient tome, detailing a forbidden ritual – the Elemental Pact. By binding his soul to the primal forces of nature, Kai could wield unimaginable power, but at a cost he could scarcely fathom.

Driven by ambition, Kai performed the ritual, calling forth the elemental spirits of fire, water, earth, and air. In a blinding flash, their essences merged with his own, granting him mastery over the very fabric of reality.

But with this newfound power came a heavy burden. The elemental spirits whispered in his mind, their voices growing louder with each passing day, threatening to consume his very being.

Kai realized that to truly master the elements, he must first master himself, lest he become a mere vessel for their unbound fury.

The Starlight Mirror

In the celestial realm of Astrapor, where galaxies danced and stars were born, a young celestial named Astra stumbled upon an ancient artifact – the Starlight Mirror.

Legends spoke of the mirror’s power to reveal one’s true destiny, but none had dared to gaze into its depths, for the price of such knowledge was said to be higher than any soul could bear.

Astra, driven by an insatiable curiosity, could not resist the mirror’s allure. With a trembling hand, she reached out and touched its shimmering surface.

In an instant, a kaleidoscope of visions assaulted her mind, showing her a future of unimaginable glory and unspeakable sacrifice. She witnessed the birth and death of entire galaxies, the rise and fall of cosmic empires, and the eternal dance of creation and destruction.

As the visions faded, Astra found herself forever changed, her mind expanded to cosmic proportions. She understood the true nature of her destiny – to be the guardian of the celestial realms, to maintain the delicate balance between light and darkness, life and entropy.

With a heavy heart, she embraced her fate, knowing that the price she paid was but a small sacrifice for the greater good of the universe.

The Chronomancer’s Hourglass

In the eternal city of Andurrun, where towering opal spires defied the laws of gravity, a prodigious chronomancer named Ezriah held the incredible power to manipulate the very strands of time. With an enchanted hourglass pendant as her conduit, she could turn back the clock, foresee future events, or bring the past and present into simultaneous alignment.

Ezriah’s gifts were meant to be used prudently to untangle errant timelines and preserve the delicate cosmological balance. But when she recklessly rewound time to prevent a loved one’s tragic death, her hourglass shattered, trapping Ezriah in an ever-tightening loop of causal paradoxes and splintered realities.

No matter how many times the cycle reset, Ezriah could never escape the montage of fractured moments bleeding together – flickering visions of her childhood, flashes of her lover’s demise, and the crushing realization that time itself had become her prison. Only by confronting her pride and learning to let go could she find release from the hourglass’s infinite maze.

Blood-Tipped Quills

Within the hushed halls of the Celestial Academe, a sect of cloistered scribes toiled endlessly to record the fundamental energies and laws underpinning all of creation into illuminated codices of staggering power. Chief among these was Garik, a young savant who had realized an ability few others possessed – to inscribe reality itself by inking runic utterances with quills bestowed by the architects of the universe.

While his brothers and sisters of the quill focused on transcription, Garik’s talents allowed him to edit, rewrite, and ultimately will new realms into existence through intricate calligraphic designs. But a shadowy cabal lurked within the Academe’s halls, the Entheonic Binders, who wished to exploit Garik’s script-mastery to unleash their own grand design – to unravel and rebind the very cords of existence to their own unpredictable designs.

Soon, Garik found himself forced to wield his blood-tipped quills as weapons against his former brethren as a war between competing cosmogonies erupted across worlds, dimensions, and even the pages of reality itself.

The Dreamshard

On the whimsical isle of Reverie, while most children dreamt static dreams which dissipated with the dawn’s first light, some gifted “lucids” could weave their unconscious reveries into solid form as glittering crystalline shards called dreamshards. These ephemeral treasures rained down in gossamer veins from Reverie’s star-flecked skies each morning to be harvested by the island folk.

Young Aislyn was an apprentice dreamshard harvester whose lifelong reveries had never blossomed beyond the pale, iridescent norm. Until one fateful night when a deep obsidian dreamshard, glimmering with impossible geometries, descended from the fractured cosmos. Upon touching the shard, Aislyn became enslaved to visions of worlds beyond her imaginings, eldritch realityscapes of cosmic alienity leaking into her waking mind like an inkblot staining the pristine shores of conscious reality.

As the shard’s tendrils wormed deeper into her psyche, Aislyn found her grasp on this plane of existence slipping away. Darker forces had cast their shadow into her once-innocent dreams, and she would need to wake up or be consumed fully by the nightmare at reality’s edge.

Shadebloom

Deep within the twilit weavers of the Penumbra Woods, tucked between the gnarls of ancient bryoaks and chaoscapped fungal rings, lies a circle of peculiar flowers – the shadebloom, elusive blossoms which bear the intermingled essences of light and dark incarnate. Only those of pure intent and uncorrupted soul may find their petals unfurling from the shadowed mossbeds to drink in the soft stars’ ethereal glow.

When the kindhearted but hapless woodcutter’s son Pete stumbled into their haunted glade, he found his miserable existence reversed as the shadebloom’s lunar pollens awoke an astonishing metamorphosis. Pete’s spiritual rebirth, however, came at a perilous cost as he was swept into an ancient faerie conflict between the kal’aire (children of starlight) and ub’nar (those who crave oblivion).

With newfound magic coursing through his awakened being, Pete became both the wildseed savior and lynchpin which could sway the balance of this primordial celestial war. But first, he would need to discern his true path amidst the shadebloom’s twining, contradictory whispers.

Incarnadine Fugue

Across the rust-layered cymbries of dead world Old Terminus slithered the living brass godstrikers of the Panharmonic Fraternity, eternal guardians of the primal sonic algorithms which resonate across all cosmic dimensions. From their sanctorum facilities orbiting the chromaspheric infinity torus, the maestro-cleristics maintained vigil over creation’s harmonic continuum and its polyphonic emanations, seeking any dissonant strain which could corrupt and unravel reality’s grand symphonic score.

But even they could not predict the coming of the “incarnadine fugue” – a discordant crimson counterpoint which began destabilizing the thalamic anchor cadences binding their home cymbry together. As colossal brass campaniles toppled like dominoes while compressive algorithms unwound, the maestro-cleristics scrambled to improvise extrademensional solutions to quarantine the spreading chromatose.

From far-rung rhymespores across the fractal ampliverses, they would need to recruit and recombine fresh harmonic alignments to resonate and synchronize the ultimate celestial renaissance – a living vibration loud enough to drown out the growing abysmal strains of the Incarnadine Fugue before all of creation succumbed to oblivion’s abyssal drone.