Mattix: The Guardian of the Library

Field Notes from Diamonds Hadder: On the topic of Zabble and the discovery of Mattix.

(Zabble is crossing the threshold of Medlins Door for the first time.)

As Zabble stepped into the room.. the strange wood knocking noise stopped rather suddenly.. skylark followed close behind.. as well as the klipso fog and some annoying magic books which were happily chasing skylarks tail.. the mysterious room was very dark other than a few oddly illuminated books on dark shelves. The books seemed to have a slight glow to them which became brighter as Zabble entered the room.. it was the same red light as the key and they seemed to know that the key was close.. they were casting an eerie red light in the room similar to a full moon you might say. With this light Zabble could see now that the room was quite large, it looked like an old library.. and smelled like one.. with walls filled with shelves of books and trinkets.. candles graced every shelf and a single desk in a dark corner of the room was cluttered with papers and notes near a half burned candle, dry ink pen and bottle. An elaborate and decorative but very comfortable chair graced the desk.. carved with a dragon sitting in a worry tree.. filled with ravens.. it was a striking chair.. it had a black dragon leather seat cushion beautifully hand crafted that seemed to blend with the patterns on the tree base.. and it looked well worn. A large portrait of Medlin hug on the wall just over the desk.. hmmm.. Zabble thought a moment. He suspected Medlin was placing little portrait windows around the castle, portals perhaps to see back into this world, and this portrait was certainly suspect and added to his theory. He grumbled and whispered under his breath.. “I know what your up to master” As he approached the desk, he noticed dust was collected on the untouched corners of the desk.. unlike the center of the desk which looked quite used and dust free.. a few tiny mouse footsteps could be seen in the dust.. and a few strange marks that looked like someone was scrapping or dragging something on the desk followed by what looked like wooden hammer marks in a row near the mouse prints. They were odd marks. Suddenly a loud crash and boom filled the room.. as a booked seemed to have fallen from a high shelf on its own.. and landed with a loud thud sending Zabble into a strange alert wizard stance, his heart racing as the noise practically sent him and skylark running from the room… followed by that same strange sound again.. a menacing knocking and clanging noise like wooden spoons tapping without rhythm.. Skylark jumped behind Zabble.. he looked at her with a frustrated wizards look.. “some fanglor you are”.. he grumbled under his breath .. he then turned and said.. “go see” Skykarks head turned to the side staring at Zabble and she made a slight groan which roughly translated to “I don’t think so” in fanglorean lingo. Zabble huffed, and turned to the direction of the noise. An eerie silence filled the room as the two peered into the soft red darkness where the noise could be heard. It was softer now.. with more time between the knocks. Zabble turned to skylark one last time, a look of obvious disappointment on his wizard chin, huffed again and turned and headed for the noise.

He came upon the book that fell from the shelf.. picking it up he noticed the title of the book… Kyon Magic: Volume 11.. hmmmm, wonder what that is.. he thought as he placed the book on a nearby shelf and stared up at the higher shelves of the library where the sound could still be heard.. a sliding ladder was nearby and a rail system that was obviously well used and well needed to reach the higher shelves, which he guessed was 50 or so levels high. He pulled it close and started climbing.. Zabble was an inquisitive wizard.. always believing in “wonder over wine”, or so the saying goes. Everything was a puzzle for him.. including this odd noise which he found more interest in rather than fear of. And so he climbed.. noticing a few book titles along the way… "Sleeping Potions", “The Fanglor and the troK”, “Spider webs and insect spells”, “A wizards staff: The art of direction”, “Warmoths: the anatomy of.”, “Europa”.... "How to catch a Fanglor", hmmm... Zabbled looked down at Skylark who was huddled behind Medlins desk... she looked up at Zabble as if to say... "What?", Zabble grummbled under his breath... "hmmm..oh nothing"... Zabbles heart was singing, the power of words and knowledge was like gold to him, he was truely feeling rich as he climbed ever closer to the noise… as he reached the very top.. his eyes were peering through the ladder foot holes between him and the highest shelf.. a few large books were arranged in a way as to create a little cave or hole filled with shadow and darkness.. the sound was coming from in there.. (Knock.. knock… click… clack) it continued but was much softer now as Zabbles bugging eyes peeked through the ladder. Suddenly 2 eyes could be seen in the darkness.. a slight red glow to them now.. a bit sinister like… staring at him.. hovering in the black. Zabbles hands trembled a bit clutching the ladder rails for dear life.. (Knock… knock… knock…) the sound grew a little louder.. the eyes were moving closer and the noise seemed to imitated the movement. A dead mouse lay on the floor of the shelf as well.. just outside the hole that the book house made. And then a head appeared from the dark.. how astonishing.. Zabbles eyes widened.. a wooden cat.. animated.. it moved quite elegantly.. like a real cat.. it slowly walked from the hole, it’s wooden limbs clanging together as it brushed itself against the books.. like a cat might do to itch it’s fur. He imagined it might even purr if it had a mouth to do such a thing, but Perhaps that wasn’t part of the design. He guessed, a guardian of the library books perhaps. From smart mice who love books as much as he does. Another of Medlins spells and a good one at that. As the cat approached Zabble, a closer look revealed a collar with a name, “Mattix”. How wonderful. “Nice to make your acquaintance Mr Mattix, I’m Zabble… and down there.. behind the desk… is Skylark… a fearless castle fanglor.” His eyes rolled as he grumbled the last few words. Upon hearing Zabbles talking and friendly tone, Skylark made her way out from behind medlins desk and was now at the base of the ladder looking up… her front paws on the first few rungs of the ladder shaking it slightly... her eyes wide open… Zabble shouted down to her. “We have a new friend, girl”

Skylark groaned a little anxious groan.. as if to say “What are you doing up there?, who, what, where… come down.. let me see.”

Zabble shouted down.. “Ok.. Ok.. I’m coming down already….” Zabble was smiling and wearing a wizards grin as he descended the ladder. “I hope you like cats” He mumbled under his breath.

(PS If you've come this far... down river.. there might be a link to "Rivers End".. somewhere down on the front page... at the mouth of the river.)

#diamondshadder #fieldnotes #mattix #zabble #medlinsdoor #skylark

Zatarra and The Dead Calm

Just a little update on some things.

New music: With the holidays fast approaching, all my focus is on completing "Rivers End". What can I say, it’s so close, but the devil is certainly in the details… and I’m swimming in details these final days of 2021. I’ve been listening to a mix the last few days and I’m gathering info on it for the next batch of small mods and tweeks. I have to remind myself that there is no hurry and that the song will be done when it’s done. It’s like trying to rush a pie in the oven… it just is done when it’s done. “Long is the road” is sitting in the wind, I’ve already recorded drums for it… and I have a working mix of drums and VOX I’m been listening to regularly. What a treat if I could complete them both before the new year… we’ll see. Sometimes big swells come in… and sometimes the water is dead calm…. I’m waiting by the water looking to the horizon, ready to capitalize on any ripples I see but I am leaving soon for the mountains and so I wonder what will happen, wish me luck.

The Novel: Hope you enjoyed the trip to Medlins door, I know I did. Originally that field note took Zabble into room 408, but he decided to stop at Medlins portrait and then tell his candleholder story so… I decided to leave the story hanging with him crossing the threshold of the room… I’m pretty excited to see what’s in there... although I do have an idea.

Hadder Illustrations: Off topic a bit from the words of the story, I plan on releasing some additional artwork for each of the field notes, commissioned pieces, some will be chosen for merch on the road… some for a comic book idea that might also accompany the Diamonds Hadder tale… and some might just grace the novel when it’s completed. I have a few artists that I want to work with on it… but like everything, it’s a process. The illustrations above are from a great artist and friend of mine who actually inspired a character in the Hadder tale… Lord Skynn himself. Me and Zatarra Skynner go back a while, it’s great that he’s interested in helping with some illustrations over time… and it’s really me who’s grateful and thankful for it. I think he's quite gifted and the man behind the pen is as powerful as the pen itself. I know this first hand. I don’t know where this is going just yet, but everything is something… for now I’ll be keeping the illustrations close and looking at them and thinking about how they fit into the grand scheme of things. Everything is a piece for the puzzle and everything gets used for the picture, in some way, at some time. That's true life.

The Stargazer Crew: I received a letter from Lord Weiand last night, perhaps there will be studio time this weekend for the new cover songs, to which I will be attending the event and filming, I think anyway, we’ll see.

That’s all for now, if you need anything… I’ll be paddling down river….. Happy Holidays.

-j

#diamondshadder #johnevermore #evermore #riversend #holiday #update #novel #stargazercrew #longistheroad #illustrations #comicbook

Medlins Door.. and not another more.

Field Notes from Diamonds Hadder: On the topic of Zabble and Skylark and the discovery of Medlins hidden door in the lower level of Kilwaughter.

(Master Medlin has died and Zabble and skylark make for the lower level of the castle.)

Zabble, the new keeper, wandered the castle hallways clutching Medlins puzzle medallion that now graced his neck. There was a somber feeling that hung in the halls of Kilwaughter,.. aside from the various portraits of medlin of course… it’s master was dead.. a few magic books followed Zabble the best they could although they seemed to be lost and moving differently.. frantic a bit… bumping into each other.. books without their master.. like the spells that kept them at peace were unraveling.. Zabble was rather deliberate in his footsteps with skylark close behind as well.. she occasionally jumped as a book or two leapt from a shelf or window ledge and opened on the floor.. the pages vibrating and making a rather awful rattling sound. A slight Bokonion mist filled the hallways.. carried in from the outside as winter approached and the warm Klipso ponds lifted to met the cold and drifted in from the outside. They too were searching for their dead master… morning his loss. Dim firelight flickered on the walls as they walked for what seemed like forever.. passing various portraits of Medlin along the way, portraits that mysteriously started showing up in the hallways last winter, one of Medlins final acts he supposed.. they shifted and scrapped the walls as Zabble walked past.. he thought maybe the wind of his movement was rattling them.. he stopped and stared a moment at one, it was almost lifelike, “Is that you master” he spoke, his voice echoing down the hall.. “ .. “you master… you master.. you master” there was a moment of silence as Zabble awaited some sign or response from the portrait.. but nothing came… skylark groaned a little and turned her head to the side.. as if she saw something or sensed something in the portrait that Zabble could not see.. she made a strange groan as though she was saying something to someone. Zabble seemed frustrated, the notion a Fanglor could see something he couldn’t.. hmmm.. he made a little “grumble grumble” himself, and huffed and puffed a little…. He then walked closer to the portrait.. very close and softly whispered.. “I know your there master… I hope your having fun at my expense.. and that your ok.” His voice echoed down the hall “ok… ok.. ok..” Zabble smirked and turned to skylark, “let’s go girl.”

They continued spiraling down each level of the castle until they finally came upon a very familiar candleholder….. a candle holder Zabble knew all to well in a place he was forbidden to go.. Medlin was very protective of this part of the castle.. it was indeed under a spell.. a visionary spell that hid it from wanderers.. or seekers.. or nosey wizards.. Zabble once became a little to inquisitive and tried to investigate where Medlin was spending all his time… he quietly followed him one morning down into the lower levels of the castle.. sneaking behind him keeping to the shadows… not exactly the quiet type is that Zabble.. but as soon as he starting thinking he was all so clever.. laughing inside at Medlin for being so stupid, followed by a clumsy wizard.. he soon found himself wandering in circles… he placed a mark on a candleholder.. and kept walking and soon after a few minutes of walking he came upon the same candleholder bearing the same mark… no doors.. no turns.. no Medlin, he soon realized that Medlin had outsmarted him with a tricky Placement spell. Placement spells are simple mind spells that confuse a person and keep them from seeing things, it alters the perception of place and direction, it falls in the controller category of spells.. volume 1 of Harkins bible of spells.. child’s play to cast, but not so child’s play to unravel.. and it can be quite powerful, even making a person walk off a ledge if you wanted such a thing. In this case it was quite harmless.. just a little misdirection. There’s a spell for every thing you could ever want. “A good wizard is well read and undead.”, Medlin would say.

On this day though.. while Medlin lay forever quiet in his upper bed chambers above the castle.. Zabble was not walking in circles… just past the candle holder that still wore his mark.. he came upon a small spiral stairwell.. how bizarre that he never saw it before. The stones were black and shiny almost like glass.. they seemed rather unique and were obviously carried here from somewhere off the grounds.. He had never seen rocks quite like this. He touched them and rubbed his temple.. pondering what they were and where they came from. A thought for another day perhaps. The mist from the Klipso ponds had followed him to this point as well.. it spilled down the stairs in a beautiful display.. like a smoky waterfall to a hidden pool. It was to dark to see where they led.. so without to much thought they continued on down the stairwell… into the misty pool of fog.. At the base of the stairs was a flat polished mirror stone….. it was a bit dirty with an obvious dulled and worn area indicating its frequent use.. it led to a black marbled wall graced by a single door dressed in 2 black granite steps. A strange door… the wood on this door seemed not of the place, it was very old.. perhaps carried from the same area that the polish black stone came from.. the door had an area that looked as though it aged differently from the rest of the wood.. as though the door had something attached to it at one time, weathered differently.. a distressed color shift in the form of letters or numbers it appeared.. it was to hard to make out.. it could have been symbols as well… symbols perhaps that might be explained beyond the door itself. Suddenly Zabble felt a warm sensation on his chest… the medallion.. it was vibrating.. and buzzing slightly.. like it was speaking to him. He reached for it and pulled it out from his cloak.. holding it closer to the door.. as he did it began making strange clicking noises.. tiny gears and sprockets we’re turning and unraveling until it cracked open once again.. but now the red glow of the key spilled out onto the door… from the red glow of the key the letters that once graced the door could be seen again. “408”, another of Medlins visionary spells I suppose… 3 is the universal law of magic.. it’s a long story but all things of the earth revolve around the law of thirds.. it’s unclear why… but “3” as we understand the concept is woven into all spells… there seems to be a balance in 3rds that is written in the very DNA of this universe.. it’s fitting that the door is 3 numbers, “Three numbers in a row and not another more”… as Medlin would often say. It’s obvious this is a magic place, and that Medlin put these numbers on the door. A small keyhole also graced the door.. hidden until now, it seems to have appeared in the red glow of the key as well. Zabble looked a skylark who seemed bored and ready to continue on… he smiled and rubbed her head, “you ready girl” it takes a lot to excite lord Zabble… his eyes were sparkling in the red glow of the key.. a crazy wizard look on his face.. and an inquisitive grin danced on his lips. Skylark grumbled at his look, confused but eager to follow along. He turned and placed the key to the hole… and a loud crack was heard.. a thunderous boom.. like the sound of a giant clock gear winding and turning.. metal teeth banging into one and other in a complicated but perfect harmony… not like the delicate and unknown magic of the key, but more of a tinkering wizards mechanism. Then the door cracked open in a thump.. both Zabble and skylark jumped back… it was a bit startling. From the crack A few magic books ran from the room out into the hallway.. Klipso fog which by now was waist deep and settled on the black polished floor seeped into the room through the now cracked door… a strange knocking sound could be heard through the crack.. like wood banging together.. but not in a rhythm.. more frantic and random.. and it seemed to move inside the room.. Zabble turned to skylark, who now was pleasantly more focused on her new magic book friends than to care about anything more important than chasing them around… Zabble spoke anyway, perhaps it was to himself… “well… let’s see what master Medlin was “keeping” down here”.. he smiled and opened the door fully.

“Not another more..” he whispered under his breath as he crossed the threshold of the doorway and stepped into the room.

#diamondshadder #fieldnotes #medlin #thekeeper #johnhadder #thekey #zabble #medlinsdoor #mattix #skylark #thekeeper #candleholder