A Tale of Crescendo ~ Chapters 1 & 2: The Arrival; The Nethermore

Bill Kurzenberger
December 21, 2025
12:00 am

A Tale of Crescendo ~ Chapters 1 & 2: The Arrival; The Nethermore

In the undiscovered world of Crescendo, a seafaring tribe is cast away unto mystical lands both baneful and wondrous. Facing primal forces of nature and severed by an indominitable river, the two tribes’ fates are determined by the willingness to communicate. The introduction of music into their world becomes magical as celestial bodies and spirit animals guide their captivating ventures into uncharted lands. Through seasons of nature and nurture, lust and vengeance, harmony and discord, their lives are irrevocably transformed as Crescendo’s inhabitants discover the ability to sing.

A Tale of Crescendo was written by Psychedelic Scene’s secondary editor Bill Kurzenberger within December 2025, during his interim role as the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief entering the new position of Editor-at-Large. Inspired largely by historical and current events combined with musical fiction ala Cloud Atlas, Kurzenberger inadvertently created and designed the melodious land of Crescendo and its characters in a matter of weeks, developing and authoring the new world’s origin story and first book in the process.

Though a fantastical land Crescendo is a mirror for our own world at times, with communication as its connective motif along with underlying Aquarian themes of harmonious synergism. Peppered with allusions to The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and Golden Age psychedelia, the novella’s genesis bears resemblance to literary works such as William Golding’s Lord Of The Flies and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

An untold tale aided by its author’s editorial tenure at Psychedelic Scene, the magazine’s readers will be the first to discover this strange new world along with its inhabitants. In five-part installments over the next five weeks, A Tale of Crescendo will be unveiled in the form of Psychedelic Scene Books‘ first fictional novella.

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 to Aedan – 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.

Oldest depiction of a stern-mounted steering ruddered ship - Egypt circa 1420BCE

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 Pine Tree Branches by Laura Iverson - used with permission

CHAPTER TWO

The Nethermore

At the base of the broadest redwood to the east, Dilian discovers a natural crack in the semi-hollowed wood which can only accommodate a few of his tribe, preferring instead to dwell under the nearest arbor. The other east-enders settle under the fruit-bearing trees between it and the big cypress towards the river, paying no mind to the rain-showers that feed the woods. Establishing appropriate home bases where they can retrieve fresh water and either fish, garden or hunt for food depending on choice, the segregated tribes begin to explore the previously uninhabited and undiscovered country.

In expeditions on both sides the Crescendants follow the Shendoa River north, as it is too wide and its current too strong to swim across. Out of respect for their elders lost at sea, both tribes have forbidden shipbuilding. Behind them lies the sea and the river mouth at Minuet Point, where the twin tree stumps are now accompanied by constructed rock totems to gratefully honor their dead and the vessel that brought them here.

With Aedan’s tribe facing cliffs and caverns beyond them, and the east side tribe wary of the canyons beyond their new tree-town neither group can safely explore much further inland. As new flowers bloom under the moon taking their name, both tribes strain for sounds of the distant river while unaware of each other’s progress over time.

After days of foot travel curving back towards the Shendoa upriver, the two bands of wayfarers reach peninsulas within sight of either side and their tribes just inland. For the first time, the two groups are able to visually communicate. While the raging river is too loud to hear across, they create a system of hand and arm motions to signal each other at the point on clear days. They come to call this discovered signaling span Lepe Point, then congregate there to mark the changing of seasons and compare their primitive calendars which are not quite in sync with the other.

Nearing summer both tribes mark their territory around their newfound shelters, roughly a kilometer inland from the signaling peninsulas. Staking his tribe’s claim to lands on the west end of the river, Arch Aedan declares their home within the rock cavern to be named Wescenda. In the neighboring village in the wood, the east-siders naturally begin to construct platforms in climbable trees. Agreeing by consensus not to disturb the live arbors whose leaves whisper in the wind, they mindfully build along the tree trunks using stilts and branches that have recently fallen to the ground.

On the solstice, the two chiefs Aedan and Dilian meet at the established point of contact for the first time since their tribes’ arrival here. By way of visual signals, they acknowledge each others’ claim as Arch with the river betwixt. They each agree to send three of their most skilled pathfinders further north along the great river in the hopes of reaching a connecting point between their lands of We’scend and E’scend. Wearing a glove over his injured hand, Dilian quickly retreats from the riverbed in fear of the waters which took his family.

Entering their second wintertime on Crescendo, the first newborns are joyfully welcomed to this new world. The twins – a boy and a girl – were born within the colossal redwood in the treetown now named Escenda to the tribe’s medicine woman Mila, who was without spouse.

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Year Three

After a year of hiking up the banks of the Shendoa River, fishing and camping along the way, the pathfinders on either side have reached an impasse. There is no junction to cross the river, and north of them lie a formidable mountain range which they come to call the Nethermores. They ascend deliberately into the mountains on both sides, making new paths as they go. As the trios slowly climb in altitude, they encounter snow which none from either tribe have ever seen before.

While the eastern trio attempts to cross a treacherous pass between the mountains, one of the tribesmen loses his footing and starts sliding downward. Another in their group quickly reaches to grab his arm and also slips on the icy hill. Losing their grips, they both slide downward and tumble off into a large precipice. The sole survivor of the three Sho-lin rushes to their aid and he too soon slides on the slippery ice, gripping a pine which saves him from certain death. Devastated, alone and unable to retrieve his two companions nor venture further into the mountains, he begins the long trip south towards home.

On the other side of the Shendoa River which runs from the northern peaks, the westerners cautiously ascend the Nethermore Mountains while making a switch-back path, as the eldest leads their path. On the way up they hear distant howls and notice animal prints in the snow, far larger than their own and the caribou they hunted for food along the way.

Halfway through the mountain pass, the pathfinders come upon a waterfall and arctic lake which feed the Shendoa River as well as their water satchels. Above the waterfall they cross the stream by way of the mountain spring which is its source at Crescendo’s northernmost point. Just on the other side of the warm stream lies a snowy cavern in the mountainside, beyond which they can glimpse E’scend in the distance on the other side.

As the Wescendant trio lights their torches to illuminate the cave before entering it a towering, ferocious creature clambers from the cavernous crepuscule. Resembling a large polar bear, the beast swipes at one of the tribesmen amputating his leg. While his brother rushes to his aid, the tribeswoman lunges at it with the torch, burning its brawny paw.

Roaring, the baerre clamps and drags the fatally injured pathfinder into the cave. As his companions start into it to retrieve him, they hear a deafening roar not of one beast, but of several in unison.

As the surviving tribesman and tribeswoman grudgingly retreat, they find no alternative route into E’scend as the arctic lake is too deep and wide to swim across, with impassable slopes on all other sides. Defeated, they begin their long return journey to Wescenda.

Year Four

The two western pathfinders and solo eastern tracker trudge towards familiar ground. Along the way to Wescenda, the duo Q’isann and Lyla elope and consummate their relationship while huddling together for warmth under the wolf moon. On the other side, the surviving Sho-lin descends from the mountain pass and later encounters a recent rockslide blocking his return to Escenda. Alone and desperate without his fallen friends, Sho-lin makes his way down an untraveled animal path through the wood following a snow-covered hare and a butterfly, eventually locating his tribe after momentarily losing track of time.

Returning to their home villages after nearly two years, the pathfinders share with their tribes the results of their treks and their companions’ demises in the treacherous mountains. While the easterner Sho-lin cannot recall part of his trip, he delivers his account to Arch Dilian and the tribe’s healer Mila, along with a leafy herb he had found in a natural garden.

Within Wescenda village, Q’isann relays the news of his brother’s demise to Arch Aedan who has expanded his family’s designated area within the cavern. Though glad to see the pair of pathfinders returned safely, Ivera mostly blames her mate for sending their tribesman to his grisly doom. At the same time there is cause for celebration as the eloped pathfinders have returned with their newborn infant Q’yn, born in the wilderness during their year-long journey home. On both sides of the river, Arches Aedan and Dilian decree that no one from their tribes shall enter the Nethermore Mountains again.

Around the same time, a separate duo of trackers ventured along the beach of the Sythirin Sea on a scenic enterprise east along the shoreline. The following season the pair were found lain in a jungle next to a stout, burly tribesman with olive skin, all deceased. Their search party assumed their two kin and the unidentified tribesman from the west had encountered and slain the other.

As the would-be rescuers’ returned to Escenda and reported the disturbing news, Dilian, Mila and wise Sho-lin dissuaded the tribe from attacking the Wescendants to avenge their assassinated kin. Inevitably there was no conclusive explanation or resolution to the issue, as the eastern tribe and its leaders could not come to consensus on how to proceed.