Darkon’s Elegy of Madness — Genesis Garden
Genesis Garden — The Fool’s Bargain
Genesis Garden continues the twenty-two-years-ago story. Its main chain follows Pisces Ishtar and passes from Do Dawn’s five requests to Song Rivale’s five; Do Dusk offers the separate repeatable Wheel of Fortune. The Fool opens the sequence, Kintsugi follows The Emperor, and Predestination Paradox follows The Hermit. The map also contains Darkon’s Diary, whose later reflections extend beyond these first events.
A voice tells Darkon that the first King’s kin are often sacrificed and usually the first offered to it, but it has never before enjoyed a King sacrificed in its name. It wonders whether Judgement would find this unjust and imagines the Empress’s reaction, then says such things were not meant for its eyes. Darkon denies being a King: he has never touched the throne, and wants to be left alone.
The voice calls this place its Garden of Genesis and sees Darkon’s anguish as a unique opportunity. Naming itself the Fool, it represents the endless possibilities at a journey’s beginning—possibilities it was forbidden to know. It explains that Alprecha’s chosen ruler, after surviving Judgement and summoning all twenty-two Primordials, could gain the World’s power to reshape reality from the cycle’s starting point. Darkon says the ritual cannot bring Suki back. The Fool concludes that the current ruler botched the ritual: Suki died before being properly sacrificed.
The Fool says love’s devastation is beyond its experience; it understands only longing. It had prepared a deal but will not press it. After a silence, Darkon asks what the deal entails. The Fool says he is near disappearance and may rest by letting his life force enter the summoning cycle. If Drago summons all twenty-two Arcana Primordials, the sacrifices will become energy for reshaping reality. Alternatively, Darkon can defy the cycle with a new body to house his soul, taking it wherever he wishes.
Darkon asks the price and promises to pay. The Fool calls it a price both will pay, then offers its flesh and eyes. Darkon answers, “Eye for an eye…” In return, the Fool wants to witness his story: despair, longing, love, hatred and regret would be preferable to emptiness, and even pain would be welcome. As the beginning of journeys, it has never been entitled to see their fruition or experience the voyage itself.
The Fool says its power now surges through Darkon’s body and asks to experience whether he controls it or is destroyed by it, through the journey’s heights, pitfalls and final end. The images show him carrying Suki, her figure outlined in light, followed by Darkon holding a black-and-red polearm. They do not identify a separate soul-transfer mechanism. Darkon says Aurola and the others are waiting. Addressing Suki, he promises they will go together and that he will not leave her again. One way or another, he says, they will make things right.
Do Dawn calls themself and their counterpart the Arcana’s Envoys. Darkon is standing still yet endlessly falling, lost within a story that runs beside the Arcana’s. The twins intend to guide his journey wherever he takes it—destruction, infinite creation or both.
In the Envoys’ shared account, Darkon seeks justice for the Astravians who harmed Suki, his friends and those who defended them. They call justice a hallowed concept that can rise beyond good and evil. They question his distinction between justice and revenge, calling the two twins or one identity behind different masks, while leaving the choice of presentation to him. They describe the Fool as the cycle’s beginning, not its summit, yet its gift of flesh and eyes makes it present throughout Darkon’s cycle. That unprecedented involvement prevents the Envoys from seeing the future clearly.
The Envoys contrast Lore’s concept of time with Arcana realms that lack it. Darkon’s perception of time and his place within it will change radically. They warn that the Fool’s realm has dangerous, unpredictable fluctuations, though he might regard them as an opportunity.
The Fool — Do Dawn calls the Primordial pure and courageous rather than foolish. Before beginning the new journey, Darkon must gather people who defended him and paid for it; the objective is six bodies recovered. The completion text says their former neighbors killed them. Those blessed by the Empress will crumble into the debris that enriched their lives, leaving memory as the necessary possession for the journey ahead.
The Magician — Do Dawn says soldiers loyal to Drago are searching for survivors and could expose Darkon’s survival. The request calls for seven Astravian emblems from fighting his former guardians. The completion reply compares their defeat to seeds sprouting under the Empress’s crystals. Dawn senses sorrow and a flicker of satisfaction, presenting the violence as the first step toward Darkon’s desired reality.
The High Priestess — Three friends are on the verge of death after keeping their promise to people who attacked them. Do Dawn says the Fool’s power can revive at most those three souls, tethering them to Primordial mysteries. The objectives name Regulus, Titania and Aurola. The completion reply regrets that their bodies could not be recovered whole, anticipates meeting them on waking and questions whether Darkon’s changed form can still offer the empathy they need.
The Empress, Reversed — More soldiers arrive to erase Darkon and his supporters. Do Dawn urges a return to the Fool’s realm and the permanent silencing of witnesses; seven armor scraps are required. In the reply, Dawn senses that destroying Astravians still sickens him, advises treating them as enemies rather than people under his protection, and urges mourning even as fury eclipses sorrow.
The Emperor — With the loved dead now dust, Darkon wants a grave. Do Dawn describes it as a place for Regulus, Titania and Aurola to remember their loss and lean on, just as they will lean on him. The objectives are a gravestone constructed and a flower placed. The completion text contrasts the respect once offered to a prospective King with his return of laying subjects to rest, then pledges to gather as his Scale and realize his story as Conductor.
Genesis Garden — The Fragments That Survived
Darkon says even the Fool’s power was insufficient. Aurola remembers dying and says she does not deserve to live when Suki is gone. She condemns the citizens she once protected, recalling them desecrating the bodies and tearing Titania and Regulus apart. Regulus jokes that she has never met anyone called Regulus and would shake their hand if she had a spare one.
Titania struggles to speak. Darkon tells him not to force himself and explains that organs are missing, while Regulus was not reassembled quickly enough. She remembers nothing, jokes about her split head being sewn with floss and calls the prospect a craft project. Darkon says her mind shattered because she remained in pieces too long and may never heal. All he can do is fill the bodily gaps in Titania and Regulus with debris.
Aurola asks when Darkon’s voice became so cold. He says he has no right to mourn when they nearly died because of him. The Fool’s power—now his power—is the only reason death did not claim them, and their fates would catch up if it weakened. They are bound to a realm whose time fluctuates unpredictably and will soon be unable to leave unaided.
Before that happens, Darkon wants to recover Song. Aurola remembers the Eridani shapeshifter’s letters from medical school and fears Drago’s rule has put her in danger. Darkon instead stresses how much they need her knowledge; her disguises should protect her. He proposes exploiting time fluctuations. They cannot travel to the past themselves, but his ability to copy missing body parts with debris suggests another possibility. His question remains unfinished.
Song tells Darkon she was studying in the Academy’s library when Drago’s soldiers stormed in. She escaped the fire but says he and Suki did not make it, and apologizes for not helping them. She vows to keep her promise, save Suki and put Drago’s head on a spike, then restrains her emotional outburst in favor of methodical work.
After Darkon and Suki brought her to the capital, Song boarded at its prestigious Academy to study medicine. Signing papers as Song Rivale was a dream: Darkon gave her the name, together with Suki’s surname. Her professors and peers treated her kindly. Disguise alone did not save her; her peers held the soldiers back so she could escape, then burned with the library.
Song says she witnessed Drago’s coronation while disguised as a servant looking for survivors. She calls it a witch hunt masquerading as a celebration. Drago’s first decree threatened to execute one hundred randomly chosen citizens unless Darkon’s last supporters were surrendered. In her account, Astravians betrayed one another before sunset and the fires swallowed their screams.
At the Academy, Song and her professors had researched growing organs, hoping compatible replacements could overcome the limits of healing magic. An entire human could hypothetically be grown if a base were available. Seeing Darkon’s interest, she offers her help.
The Hierophant — Song is neither directly tethered to a Primordial nor trained for combat, but can contribute scholarship. She asks for five rifts to demonstrate how supplies can be acquired without leaving the realm. The reply says she can travel even after Darkon loses that freedom; strategically placed rifts can deliver tools and test subjects until the Fool’s territory can be extended into Lore.
The Lovers, Reversed — Before attempting Darkon’s proposed clone, Song recommends animal trials, since she failed to make a full person at the Academy. Darkon prefers Aurola to rest rather than help. The objectives are eight beast samples and eight creature samples. In the reply, Song and Aurola recognize Observatory creatures among them and worry about the memories of losing Suki. Song offers conversation, then accepts Darkon’s order not to press him.
The Chariot — With Astravian supplies too risky and its technology probably confiscated, Song asks Darkon to return to the Observatory before his new body can no longer traverse Lore. Eight machine parts and one virus sample are required. The completion reply marvels that he carried out an entire turret. Asked about forcing the Empress’s gate open, Darkon evidently reports that Drago destroyed it. Song abandons that easier route and plans organ trials incorporating debris.
Strength — Despite successful early trials, Song hesitates to operate on Titania or Regulus without human tests. Astravians normally become dust at death, and Aurola is uneasy about using the traitors. Song instead asks for seven undead human parts. In the reply, she admits live experimentation would not trouble her, believing she would have been dissected without Darkon’s rescue. For Aurola’s sake, she will concentrate on growing organs to ease Titania and Regulus’s pain.
The Hermit — Song reports compatible organs for Ti and Re and prepares to clone Darkon. A larger tank and an Observatory-like gate require a powerful generator; the objective is a power source from beneath Astravia, with a warning that dismantling it may provoke hostility. The reply calls the delayed result imperfect: the clone resembles Darkon without being identical, but its memory transfer should work. Song prepares to send it on its mission and drops a question about his feelings toward it.
Genesis Garden — The Predestination Paradox
Aurola asks whether it worked. Song says the clone was grown and sent through the gate to stop Suki from going to Astravia, but the tracking data is bad. Although devastated and frustrated, Song refuses to spend energy displaying those emotions. The clone went to the future rather than the past and lost all its memories. It met Laken; at that point the gate malfunctioned and tracking stopped. A second attempt would be risky with so many unknowns, yet Song insists they keep trying to save Suki.
Darkon tells her not to bother. He interprets the failure as the Universe preventing changes to the past because Suki’s death is vital to its stability. Song asks how he knows. Darkon recalls Suki’s account of a Seraphic Paladin with his face and name, whose superior was Laken, and her strangely advanced equipment. Aurola asks whether that could have been the clone.
Darkon says he is certain: the clone eventually found its own way backward in time and will meet Suki. He calls their situation a predestination paradox in which fate has already directed her to Astravia. His reconstruction connects the memoryless clone to Suki’s earlier account, but the scene does not directly show its untracked journey. Faced with time and space as obstacles, Darkon declares that he will tear reality apart himself.
Darkon turns to the Observatory’s virus and the substance involved in the crew’s change. Refining his new idea requires test subjects. Song agrees; when Aurola asks what kind, Darkon specifies humans, preferably Astravian. He urges her to keep her fury, arguing that every Astravian who supported him and Suki is dead and only the wicked or cowardly remain. Gaining the World’s power, he says, will let them make things right. Aurola gives a subdued agreement.
Do Dawn says the story cycles back to the present; Do Dusk says Darkon’s story now intertwines with the listener’s. A date card marks this return twenty-two years later. The cached scene account then describes a figure seemingly jumping out of a red portal, without assigning it an identity. The earlier memories and the impending encounter are thus distinct narrative phases.
In the later Do Dusk entry, the Envoy calls inevitability an invincible opponent. Darkon’s attempt to prevent Suki from entering Astravia, Dusk says, was itself what led her to meet him. Dusk urges him to treasure their time together and warns that time will remain his greatest challenge as he tries to remake the world.
Song’s later entry calls the clone project a failure that arguably worsened their position. With morale low, she advocates work over idleness: they need more test subjects before the others lose their ability to traverse Lore, after which they must rely on rifts to bring subjects into reach.
Wheel of Fortune — In a separate repeatable task, Do Dusk warns that Lore will increasingly reject Darkon’s Fool-made body. Soon only young So will be able to travel between realms unless they gain other allies. The objectives are seven beast subjects, seven humanoid subjects and seven replacement parts. The reply urges leaving the past behind without ceasing to treasure it. Dusk offers a customary wish of good fortune while saying the twins do not believe in chance: present work brings either a bright tomorrow or grave consequences.
Genesis Garden — Darkon’s Diary: Seeds and a Falling Star
The map-linked diary records later research and additions to the Scale, rather than placing every entry at the beginning of the twenty-two-years-ago episode. Its Virus, Falling Star, The Actress and the Bard, and Karma topics preserve Darkon’s changing explanations, memories and plans. His own description of the realm makes elapsed time uncertain.
Darkon says the Observatory pathogen changes infected hosts and impairs their minds. He and So theorized that the Ancient Creatures weaponized it, while those creatures were themselves affected by the Arcana’s unique bodily substance. He initially describes this substance lodging in a brain and producing a lifeform like an Ancient Creature. Later dissections lead him to revise that description: the host is overtaken, becoming nutrients and an outer shell for a new lifeform. He calls it a parasite rather than a symbiont and names the substances Seeds.
So placed Seeds in subjects under different conditions, and most subjects died immediately. Darkon says survival required gradual small amounts like those in Astravia’s debris-enriched food, yet this did not produce a Creature. The Black Box had suggested a nearly instantaneous process, but humanoid trials contradicted that expectation. According to Darkon, the virus let a host withstand a Seed long enough to sprout; together they yielded full Creature growth. Timing remained erratic, with some changes taking seconds and other subjects crawling through the Garden for ages, distressing La.
The Do twins, Darkon writes, explained the discrepancy by the Arcana realms’ lack of Time. He attributes Lore’s uniform seconds, hours, days and weeks to the Eternal Dragon of Time. Arcana envoys told him the Dragon chose its own death; he adds that it had perfected transformation and taken mortal guise to escape its responsibilities. These are the diary’s reported explanation and judgment of the Dragon, not separately demonstrated facts about its motives.
Darkon remembers watching a predicted summer comet from his mother’s lap. His father said its birthplace could never be known; the recollection links comets vanishing before reaching the ground to the belief that only the Grand Star’s progeny should converse with her. That memory now makes him bitter. Hearing of another comet, he opened a rift to catch it before disintegration and found a vast, powerful child within ice and rock. With So away from the realm, Re wrestled with the child and goaded her into punching craters in the Garden. After she collapsed in exhaustion, Re covered her with a blanket that would wrap around Ti four times but was scarcely a scarf to her.
The comet creature lingered, snorting at Re’s films, and gradually shrank. Darkon says she carved her own body with her claws until she had a short form and human face. Re stopped Fa from removing her last horn; she retained the power of her original form. Her new size suited sitting in Re’s lap for movie nights. Darkon calls her lazy and grouchy but sweethearted, willing to endure much for the Scale, especially Re.
Genesis Garden — Darkon’s Diary: The Scale and the Dragon
Darkon writes that the Garden now has music where once it was silent. By the time of this recollection, they were fully accustomed to the Fool’s realm and he could not say how much time had passed. So maintained identities to investigate Astravia, collect subjects and follow the Dragon. Building those lives took years; a shallow disguise could fail within weeks. Several identities were compromised, and So nearly died.
So returned with a wounded Moth, Mi Calistege, on her back. Both were badly hurt, but she insisted on treating Mi herself; Darkon notes that she alone had medical education. He says she rescued Mi from poachers hunting them, elves, faeries and other races foreign to Astravia. Without her intervention, Mi would have been sold in pieces after confinement in a cage too small for a dog. Darkon thinks So recognized herself in Mi and is glad she risked their progress for the rescue. Suki, he says, would have been proud.
After healing, Mi found a guitar among objects that fell through the rifts. Their music comforts the Scale, though nightmares and chronic pain persist and So’s medicine only eases the latter. Mi fears leaving the Garden without So or Fa. Darkon connects Suki’s dream of people living freely as themselves to his insistence that Lore would crush So, Fa and Mi without his protection. He calls the world beyond repair and concludes that it must be remade.
Under Karma, Darkon embraces Suki’s eye-for-an-eye principle and rejects the existence of automatic karmic justice. So’s trials, aided by Re and Ti, consistently produce Creatures capable of a Swan Song at death. He plans to extend the experiments into Astravian villages. The remaining problem is when a Seed completely overtakes its host, since neither the realm nor its Creatures possess Lore’s concept of time.
Darkon therefore wants the Eternal Dragon of Time in the Arcana realms, expecting its arrival to make time flow naturally and Seed growth predictable. So watches the Dragon while La predicts its decisions. La’s comparison of the Dragon to Suki nearly provokes an argument: Darkon insists Suki would use such power to secure justice, even preventing criminals from being born. That imagined use of Suki’s power is his counterfactual, not an accomplished change to history.
Darkon suspects the Dragon and Alprecha disregard mortal suffering, yet wonders whether the Dragon hesitates because it does not understand its power’s potential. After hearing So and La’s accounts of its battles with Chaos, he plans an amiable approach to decide whether it should become an ally or face his personal judgment. La then reports the Do twins missing. Darkon cannot tell whether they left because guidance is no longer needed or because they foresaw his actions’ consequences. He resolves not to falter for the Scale, Suki’s dream and Lore, promising a morning sun over a new world.