#or cornering ppl on discord to ramble at idk idk idk let's just try it ))

[discordantrhapsody]

A Lesson in Modern History: the Other Side

Lecture 1

Ten years and eight months ago, Oz Vessalius was thrown into the Abyss.

This is where every Story begins. The day of this young man's coming-of-age coronation, when the hands on that ancient clock moved, setting fate into motion. And yet, this Story unfolding before us now appears to start somewhere far removed from the events of that evening.

I know this Story well, I've read it dozens of times. The setting changes, the time period differs. The Ending varies, just as much. And yet, I can't predict how this current Story will go.

All that I can do is use this journal to recall the details of the Story I'm most familiar with, (comparing them with the current version as necessary). I do this not for myself, but for the sake of you, the Reader. Call it History, call it Reference, call it Context.

Just make sure you pay attention, and ask questions if you have them.

On the day of his 15th (18th) birthday, Oz and his valet Gilbert were exploring the grounds of one of the Vessalius family's properties when they came across a hidden grave. Though the name had been worn from the headstone, a pocket watch in perfect condition dangled from the stone cross. When wound, the watch played a delicate music box tune, the melody of which would awaken someone else's memories within Oz.

With the start of his ceremony growing closes, Oz saved that watch to ask about later, only for the event to be interrupted by a group of rogue individuals wearing the red robes of the Baskerville cult. The words they spoke as he was cast into Abyss would haunt him:

Your very sin is your existence.

When Oz awakened in the Abyss, he found himself attacked by gruesome monsters called Chains, only to be saved by a peculiar stranger. Though she appeared as a human girl, she had all the strength of a powerful Chain. She called herself Alice. The other Chains called her the Bloody Black Rabbit.

She convinced Oz that by forming a Contract, they could escape together. And so they did.

But when he returned to the real world, it wasn't quite the one he knew. 10 years had passed in the blink of an eye. His childhood best friend was all grown up now, working for an organization called Pandora that researched and investigated matters of the Abyss. And unless Oz agreed to work with them, he would be arrested as an Illegal Contractor and Alice killed as a Chain.

Luckily, his motivations happened to align with Pandora's, and so Xerxes Break suggested that they could use each other.

Alice wanted to find her memories. The voice of the great hero Jack Vessalius inside his own soul was telling Oz to help her, to chase those memories at all costs.

And so, this is where the Story begins.