A TALE OF CRESCENDO
∞
CHAPTER ONE
The Arrival
Year One
Eons ago as humankind evolved on the earth, a seafaring tribe of sixty men, women and children sailed the southern sea in search of a new homeland. Catching sight of an unknown landmass, the tribe’s chief and captain steered the wooden ship towards its southern shore near the mouth of a mighty river.
Arriving in this uncertain world amid blustery climate, the iron and timber hull of The Minuet runs into underwater rock formations and sinks where the river meets the sea. The crew swims to the shorelines; of the sixty souls onboard, only forty are known to have survived. The captain, Arch R’Nesto, went down with the ship and drowned along with twenty of the tribe, including their elders and an infant who were unable to swim to land nearby.
Half of the survivors swim to the western shore, while the others paddle to the east. Tending to the injured, they mourn their kin who drowned in the shipwreck. From the banks of the river, they call and wave to each other but are unable to clearly see or hear across. Lost to the sea are all of their elders, along with all historic writings and first-hand knowledge of their previous home. After searching along the shores, the newborn child and its mother have not been rescued. On either side of the point where the river enters the sea lie twin trees in slow natural decay, along with rocks of various sizes and a single cardinal on a branch above.
While mourning at the river mouth, tribespeople spot a few belongings washed ashore from ship. After helping a sodden child who had swallowed water, the tribe’s medicine woman comes across the galley kit containing basic fire-making tools, cutlery, herbs and spices along with the captain’s log. On the western shore, R’Nesto’s son Aedan locates his father’s small cache of iron daggers between a pair of seaside rocks.
The castaways are now separated by a wide, impassable river which they come to call the Shendoa River. Depending on which shore they had swum to, the branched tribe soon forms new social hierarchies with kin on their side. Dwelling within isolated caves and shrubs near shore the newcomers have only their apparel, their natural surroundings, fishing and hunting tools to ensure the remnant tribe survives this untamed land and its changing environment.
Tentative to travel at night, their first year is spent well beyond view of the river or the southern sea just a day’s pace from their inception point. Separately settling on both sides while natural inhabitants distantly observe them under a divided sky, their tribe is now split into two with new leadership.
West of the river the title of Arch is handed down toAedan – only child of departed R’Nesto and Arila – who soon takes Ivera as his bride-to-be. The neighboring tribe to the east nominates Arch Dilian, whose twin sister was lost to the sea with The Minuet along with their parents, the captain’s advisors. Mourning his deceased family garbed in black and wearing a cloth fashioned over one hand, Dilian speaks fewer words than his fellow tribe and is often the first to depart the gathered circle after sunset. As the seasons pass, their healer softly guides them with the assistance of a sagacious tracker, and Dilian is seen less and less.
Atop a tall tree upriver, a native avian murmurs along to the sound of the flowing waters below.
World’s oldest depiction of a stern-mounted steering rudded boat circa 1420 BCE, Thetan Tomb 69 Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Year Two
Beginning life anew in this world absent the tribe’s fallen fore-bearers, its occupants have experienced one full rotation of the earth around the solar globe which illuminates their lands. Following an inclement winter; tempestuous springtime; dry, torrid summer; and autumn of mild discontent; they can now approximate the seasons to come. From its most southernmost point, the land’s newest occupants are guided and enchanted by the lunar and solar spheres which pursue each other from one side of the sky to the other.
During the sailors’ voyage, the brightly-lit orbs had sporadically chased each other in a cosmic dance through hazy days and starry nights while R’Nesto’s course varied accordingly. Now as they collect shards of wood and rock to roughly scratch upon, the two tribes approximate the cycles of the lunar and solar spheres to mark the end of their first year here.
As they celebrated the winter solstice along with her husband’s annual day of birth, Ivera had drawn a vertical line on a small rock using another. After she drew nine more lines in as many days Aedan announces to the tribe that they had survived their first earth cycle, with no deaths within the tribe since their vessel had arrived and sank one year ago. Utilizing a larger sheet of rock slate on one side of the river and flat balsam wood on the other, the two tribes begin counting the days and nights anew in the forms of vertical lines scrawled onto their first calendars.
Unable to communicate with those on the other side of the river and shunning the waters, the two tribes soon flee their arrival point where the Shendoa River empties into the sea. Before setting their sights inland, they express gratuity for their elders and their sunken vessel. Remaining at Minuet Point as the twin trees have withered during winter are multicolored pebbles surrounding one tall stump, and a lit branch atop the other left by a solitary easterner.
Seasons change while the segregated tribes begin exploring the previously uninhabited and undiscovered country, finding shelter as the river advances amid a cold rain. The eastern tribe huddles under the first suitable tree while preparing fish over a small campfire and quizzing Dilian on how they should proceed. Meanwhile, Arch Aedan leads his tribe towards an isolated cave along their journey north by northwest. His budding hunters pursue critters for the tribe under the wolf moon, before preparing the carcasses over a flint-fed flame. Presenting their trophies to Aedan, he divides the meal among the tribe providing first for his kin with a second portion for Ivera.
As the warming weather provides, the two tribes venture further northwest and northeast respectively. Picking tropical fruits and fishing in a small tributary on one side and hunting for small creatures with rocks and their daggers on the other, sufficient food is provided for both tribes. Given the circumstances they form new traditions varying from their past principles, naturally and necessarily with the changing seasons and environment. Nearing an array of limestone caves to the north and slippery slopes to their west, a huntress locates a rock bluff shelter which Aedan deems suited for the west side tribe to congregate from the developing rainstorm.
East of the river fresh fruit and wood-fired fish are provided for the tribe within the forest, as their plucky pickers and fishermen & women avoid small reptiles near their feet. Locating bountiful woods with foothills leading to a patch of mountains beyond, they settle between its two largest trees. A hushed raven observes them from atop a cypress overseeing the river, but does not answer when they call.
Raven In Tree Branches by Laura Iverson
CHAPTER TWO ~ The Nethermore
Musical accompaniment for context
Ambient Instrumental Score: “Tabula Rasa” ~ Parts 2 & 3 of 7
“Crescendo Chapter 1 Score” (01:56)
Containing segments of ” Tabula Rasa”
Part III : Chixulub
Part II (a) : Cambrian (1st movement)
“Tabula Rasa” ~ A musical representation of the past, present and future of life on planet Earth
Composed & Recorded 2010 © William Kurzenberger
Released on the album Solitary Road
Created and written by Bill Kurzenberger, December 2025 ~ All Rights Reserved