Ghost Chime
When a person dies, their soul eventually wanders to Meliheal the world tree, and through the judgement of Saint Nora, the soul is granted access to the wellspring of souls and the afterlife. If a soul is judged to be unworthy, they are shut out of this afterlife, and are forced to wander the lands of Vreathe forever as a spiteful wandering spirit. Normally the souls of these spirits fade away after a few thousand years, and they become nothing. This is not the case for every spirit.
Some especially powerful spirits pull the ambient Aether out of their surrounding environment. They grow more powerful and spiteful until they are able to affect living things. Spirits start by making a person feel uncomfortable, but that can quickly descend into draining a person's energy, possessing them, and taking parts of their soul for themselves.
Destroying these powerful spirits can be rather difficult, so the The Church of Saint Nora developed an instrument to attract spirits. The instrument is made of a large number of hollow rings of three specific metals: Gold, Silver, and Brass. These are all excellent conductors of magic. The gem in the center is a plain Sapphire, charged with Aether.
When the insrument is shaken and the rings start banging against each other, it creates a sound that is said to be terrible, but the constant contact between the metals causes ambient magic to gather. This creates a large cage that entraps nearby spirits.
When the Gem starts to glow, it signifies that a spirit was captured and trapped inside the Gem, the brightness showing the power level of the spirit captured. There is no limit to the number of spirits that can be trapped. Here the harmful spirits will stay, unable to interact with the world, until the soul breaks down and the spirit is no more... unless the gem is somehow broken.
Story
"Oh hey, Look what I found!" Raini exclaimed, "It's...something...". Raini held an instrument in the air. It was a strange object, with over a dozen hollow rings, alternating between copper and silver in color, all attached to a central golden ring, also hollow. In the center of the gold ring was a warped cross with a large blue crystal in the center. Attached to the gold ring was a dark wooden handle with a white painted end.
"Any idea what it is?" Rani asked.
"No idea," Myles responded. "It looks like just another piece of junk the Vernadors kept stashed away for no reason."
"I don't know.. some of these items have been pretty powerful. I wonder if I..." Raini started to shake the object, causing the rings to movein random directions and hit against eachother. The cacophony of clanging metal immediately made Myles shut his eyes and grit his teeth.
"I guess that thing's purpose is annoying the hell out of whoever hears it!" Myles said through his teeth.
"It's not that bad!" Raini shook it a few more times, then noticed the gem in the center started to glow. She shook it a few more times until Myles grabbed it and threw it across the room. The gem shattered, giving off a bright blue light before there was nothing.
Raini glared at Myles, "You have no idea what that thing does, and you just broke it!"
"Ah, I'm sure it'll be fine!" Myles shrugged his shoulders.
Outside the Castle, Saya was sitting on the steps in he courtyard. She was annoyed that she and her friends were still at the Chateau Des Vagabonds. It's been a week and they were still there. Saya has had to sleep in her old bed, and walk the halls of her parent's old vacation home. This Vernador estate constantly reminded her of who she was and she hated it.
Saya often went to the castle's courtyard to stare into the countryside. She preferred looking into the hills instead of the many things inside that reminded her days as a prince of Verdina. Saya felt calm and at peace out here, but in the last few minutes, something was breaking that peace.
Saya felt a little uneasy at first, but then she started to feel terror. Something evil was near her, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Her eyes darted around the courtyard until a moving shadow caught her attention. It dipped in and out from behind several ruined stones. As it got closer, Saya put her hand on her sword, ready to draw it to defeat whatever evil thing it was. the creature then jumped out, causing Saya to flinch, then she realized she had no reason to be scared.
The creature was rather small, and brown in color. It had a short, stubby tail and sharp ears. The creature sat infront of Saya and stared at her for a few seconds before meowing. Saya stared back for a few seconds before she realized it was just a cat.
"Oh," Saya took a deep breath and smiled. She was worried for no reason. She reached out her hand and patted the cat on its head. The cat started purring.
"What brings you way out here, cat? There's no town for miles, and until we got here, there's no one to feed you!" Saya ran her hand along the cat's back. the cat let out another meow, then layed down and turned on its back. Saya started scratching the cat's belly and the cat continued to purr.
"I would keep you, and Chryssa would be all for it too, but... we travel way too much. Raini would complain about you, and Myles would try to eat you. No offense kitty, but... you'll have to find a different human."
Saya then got that dreaded feeling again and pulled her hand away from the cat. She looked around the castle courtyard and could not tell where the source of this feeling was coming from. She got this feeling all the time when she was younger. Her father would say that as Vernadors with the blood of Saint Nora, they could sense spirits.
The feeling comes and goes all the time, but usually it's just a small tingling sensation, just, awareness that a spirit is near. This instance to Saya was very different. It felt like one of the most evil things she has ever sense before. She started involuntarily shaking again. Tears even welled up in her eyes. She was afraid.
Not being able to tell the source of the evil just made it worse for her. Saya stood up and drew her sword. She looked around the castle courtyard again, unable to find anything. That's when it hit her. She turned around and looked at the cat again.
The cat stared at Saya with it's glowing eyes, and it grinned at her, baring its crooked teeth. It lifted one of its paws which almost looked like a hand now, and pointed at Saya. The Cat then stood on its hind legs. The Cat's shadow started to dance around itself as it lifted off the ground, showing the true form of the spirit.
It was a wraith, an ancient, spiteful being, recently freed from its prison. the first thing it wanted to do was kill the Vernador responsible for doing this to it, but that Vernador was long dead for over a thousand years. This girl in front of it was also a Vernador, and she would do nicely instead!
Cool article, I don't see the description then story format often on here, and I like it. There a few sentences that are a little awkwardly phrased, but overall the form is great, and I'm putting your world on my reading list.
Requiem
The Land of Sorrows
Welcome to Requiem, the Land of Sorrows, where humanity scrounges amidst the ruins of their former civilization, locked in a relentless battle against celestial and dark forces across the six Forsaken Worlds.
Thanks! I very rarely write any kind of story at all. This is one of a few short pieces I've written in years. I'm a the point in my worldbuilding where I need to start writing the story or it's never going to happen, so I'm practicing with a bunch of random smaller bits before I write the main thing. There will be some form of short prose in at least half of my articles moving forward. Usually I get nervous about my janky story writing and I private it all and don't touch it again for a year (I've done that every year since I've joined World Anvil), but this time I'm going to (mostly) leave it up and tell the brain goblins to go away! Maybe it'll encourage me to write more and actually improve instead of giving up for months at a time!