The Roar of a Distant Storm

FadingSunset, "Thunder over the howling wind" 2022.

*The Roar of a Distant Storm (TROADS)* is the fifth official album released by Billy Hill & The Optimists, appearing between *Fiberglass and Flowers* and *Solar Eclipse on a March Evening*. The Roar of a Distant Storm is a standalone release, however unlike standalone releases before it, TROADS is tied to *A Trip Through the Wormhole* in a similar way to the albums of the Barriers Trilogy. It uses a more classical style rather than the droning ambience, and shorter songs rather than the 10 minute tracks that are present throughout the previous release, utilising both old piano records, as well as newer pieces played for the album, some of which being original.

## Background

*"Great and vast, over the sea a storm was raging."* - *Album Description*

The Roar of a Distant Storm is a 28-track album which aims to tell a single, completely linear story, unlike in the Barriers Albums. The album is based off of a more classical form of ambient music, generally consisting of piano records which have been manipulated in a certain way. Twenty of the songs on the full version of the album consist of manipulated piano recordings, some more heavily edited than others.

Most of the songs that use old records loop quite often, these loops tending to be rather short. In the progression of the album, there are occasionally songs that can stand out from the ones before and after it, for example where harsher tracks come seemingly out of nowhere. The most harsh track on the album gets a sort of foreshadowing track before it, although the jump in sound from the deeper low notes to piercing static is quite jarring.

Out of the eight songs that were recorded for this album, five are completely original. 11 and 27 are very minimally changed from their source material, and although 17 is only loosely based on an existing song, a good portion of the leading melody is based off something existing, specifically the song of the same name that appeared on Greatest Hits Collection, being one of six songs on said album to share the same sample. Similarly to Fiberglass and Flowers, the story explanation may go into gory detail bout the events the album is based on. If you do not want to read descriptive explanations of graphic and distressing events, you may want to turn back.

## Overview and Story

The story of TROADS follows the story of Gemenii Anzhani in Chapter 7, specifically Gemenii M, the only of the three main Gemeniis to be featured on a Barriers album, hence why he gets his own album which goes into more detail about the specific events him and other versions of himself had faced. The album can be viewed as being split up into 3 parts, going off of the day they take place, and that is how the album will be segmented in this overview.

### Day One

Total Runtime: 23:40

Day One is the shortest of the three parts of the album, partially because there is the least substance in this part of the story. Day One lasts from track 1 to track 8, detailing the events of the day Gemenii decided to investigate his favourite band, a band who had built a restaurant / play place seemingly in an act to re-brand their image. The place was originally meant for teens, but it became popular among people of all ages for the food and entertainment.

There were many places for people to hang out inside the massive StarWorld, including pools, games rooms, play places, and even a bar for the parents, among other things. Gemenii grew up homeless, having been abandoned by his father at a young age. He always heard people talk about the place and he enjoyed the band's music quite a lot, but in dreams he heard rumors, seemingly calling him to StarWorld, track 2 highlighting the oddity of hearing rumors about a place he thought was run by great people.

It was a breezy and bright evening when Gemenii entered the building for the first time. Full of confidence, he snuck around and spied on the band members and Claire Alfora discussing different things. Although he couldn't hear everything, what he could make out was distressing to him. When the meeting was adjourned, he ran out into the hall to hide. He managed to hide himself pretty well until he was found by Chester. Luckily for him, Chester wasn't as evil as the rest of them, most of which being corrupted.

Gemenii expressed his desire to get to the bottom of the mysteries of StarWorld, and although Chester warned him that they weren't things he'd want to see, Gemenii stated that he wouldn't back down and that he was up for any challenge. In order for Chester to show him though, Gemenii had to activate a few switches throughout the building, hidden away in various surveillance rooms, being chased by the other band mates and Claire as he did, however Maverick and Claire were reluctant.

Eventually, he had just barely made it into the second level of the basement, the place where awful secrets were held. When they got to the second basement, they entered through the machine bay, where all of their tech stuff was held, including robotic versions they had built of themselves, meant to make their processes easier to carry out. In the middle of the basement, there is a fence that cuts it in half, the machine bay on one side, and the other side. Although Gemenii asked what was up ahead, Chester didn't want to say it. When Gemenii found out, Chester broke down. he blamed himself for everything that had happened, although he never willingly took part in the actions.

Their task was to build an angel, and the cost for that angel was souls. 180 souls were required, and they were at 179, one of the reasons why Chester was so reluctant to let Gemenii explore the place, as he knew very well that they would likely hunt them. After their discovery, they were nearly out of time, and Chester had to send Gemenii out of the building before opening, because then he wouldn't be able to get out, alive or dead.

### Day Two

Total Runtime: 21:52

Day two is in between one and three in substance, occupying tracks 9 to 17. Day two contains the most original recordings of any of the other days, containing exactly as much as the other two parts combined. Day two starts with the first return to the building at night, the same time as the first day, this time full of confidence and readiness, however he was still scared out of his mind, and he dreaded what was deeper.

They didn't waste too much time unlocking the doors to get back down to the basement, however there was higher security, the others knowing of Gemenii being able to access the other side of the second basement. In his journey to set off the switches, he was pretty on edge, paying attention to every tiny sound that he heard. When he finally got down to the back end of the second basement, it turned out they had to dig.

Deeper and deeper into the dirt floor they dug, breaking into the hidden third basement, the place where they kept everything that could incriminate them, including the mass of souls and energy that would eventually make up a fully formed angel. Seeing all of this, Gemenii was pretty scared, however Chester was able to calm him down. Chester took all of the papers and put them in his pocket dimension on Gemenii's suggestion, accepting the very real possibility that he could die and all of their progress could be lost, however Chester seemed to be much more safe.

Gemenii was about to leave, but he got chased out of the basement by Claire and the band members, being chased around the building, running for his life. There were small moments where he could rest and catch his breath, moments spent in pure loneliness. He wasn't going to let them kill him though, so he kept running. Near the end of the night, everyone seemed to disappear.

Luckily, Gemenii found Chester in one of the main halls in the circular main area of the second floor, these circular main halls being some of the only places Gemenii could go. Chester comforted him and told him that everything would be alright, but it wouldn't. Mila stabbed Chester while the others watched on and laughed, all except for one of them who stared on in awe and shock, that one being Claire. Maverick was nowhere to be found.

Gemenii pulled the knife from his body and took it with him, carrying Chester's body through the building, down into the machine bay where he planned to try and utilise the same ritual circle magic that they had used to heal him, but he didn't know how. Chester got Gemenii outside of the building, much to Gemenii's dismay as he thought Chester had died, and although he was alive, he was quite injured.

### Day 3

Total Runtime: 29:54

Day 3 is the longest day and the day with the most substance, and it is also a very special day as it is where timelines split off. Day one and day two are relatively similar between Gemenii stories, even ones which differ quite a lot from each other due to events outside of the day, they follow the same relative structure. Names can be different, but typically the time, place, and major driving events are constant or pretty similar to one another between realities.

Day three is where everything branches off. Everything up to and including the resurrection are where things begin to branch off. Other stories are explored in barriers, but here we will focus on the first story. As Gemenii came back, he was surprised to see Chester still alive, although hurt. Unfortunately, he got set up by the others (the group sans Maverick and Claire), and they killed him for good, forcing Gemenii to watch and making him kiss his corpse.

Like he did the day prior, he picked up his body, this time being stalked by Maverick, the only one who didn't laugh at or hurt either of them, although he stayed out of sight. Maverick was planning to help Gemenii, but he had been partially corrupted by their influence, and while he was still opposed to them, he was reluctant to help him outright and he eventually went back to the others.

Having done research on ritual circles made of chalk and possible spells he cold use during the day, he was prepared. He laid out Chester's corpse and the robot double that was made to carry out the crimes he didn't want to commit, causing Gemenii to reflect on all of the crimes in his life. Though he acted in bravery and for the greater good, he wasn't completely in the right, although this didn't stop him.

He cast the spell, instantly casing him immense pain, but he had to keep holding onto the pain in order for it to work. The intense pain caused him to scream as loud as possible, and the spell itself flooding the entire building with bright white light, a pillar which reached up into the atmosphere, brightening the sky. The pillar was visible from inside the building, coming out of the vents and from the pillar that burst from where the spell was cast, a true pillar that was working, being visible from all around.

The pillar of light was visible by all in Seamark, including anyone who happened to be walking nearby StarWorld, causing them to investigate. It was also visible by people all around the world, even being visible by Josh Yolipa in the Windswept Valley after he emerged from the underground complex. The spell was cast for one minute and 26 seconds, the exact length of track 20, which represents the pain of the spell being cast.

Once the light subsided, Gemenii was hurt and confused. He knew that he would have to give something in exchange for a soul to be ripped from a corpse and being put into a new vessel. When he managed to cast the spell, he was the first person ever to successfully cast the dead soul transfer spell. Many people in history have tried, and were not successful for different reasons. For being the first in history to do such a thing, he was the first to learn that the cost didn't seem too high.

It took a while for Chester to wake up, and when he did Gemenii broke down. It worked, and he was reunited, finally. Chester still maintained his pocket dimension, and thus their entire struggle was not in vein, although there was still one more thing to do, and that was to try and release all of the souls that were trapped inside Basement 3 before they could be used to create the angel.

Gemenii tried to keep Chester hidden, and he did pretty well, but he didn't think that the others could guess what he had done with the giant pillar of light that pierced the building and flooded through the vents. Gemenii had to go and open more locks, in the process catching the entrance of someone, that someone being Lurio Kiff. Gemenii told him everything that had happened to him, and he pretended to care.

Although this excited Gemenii, he got a bad vibe from him, and this was quite warranted. As Gemenii was nearly complete unlocking everything, having to crawl through the vents, Maverick found him and warned him not to go to Basement 3. He was surprised to see Maverick being good to him, and he asked why. It turned out that Kiff was on official business with them, and his job was to finish their project, to complete the angel.

Gemenii thanked him, and they embraced. Maverick ran out and so did Gemenii, but as he was about to climb into the vent again, but Luna caught him and called the others. Claire was forced to tag along, and so was Maverick. They grabbed Gemenii and took him down into the basement, passing by where Chester was previously hiding, and catching sight of Kiff in the basement seemingly accompanied with someone else.

The group drew a ritual circle and tied him down to the ground. Luna and Easton ripped off his left arm and stabbed him repeatedly, forcing Maverick and Claire to do the same, putting the knife in their hands and guiding it into his body. Although it was painful, he held on. At first, he couldn't believe that it was all real, and he tried to calm himself by singing a song in his head, but it stuttered and stuttered until he couldn't take it anymore.

All he knew was that he had to hold on, and he did, singing a triumphant song in his head convincing him to hold on. He held on no matter how much damage he took, and he held as long as possible, shouting for help and being in distress the whole time, yet holding onto his brave heart. He called out for Chester, but the others said he had abandoned them, but he didn't believe them, and he was right.

The police burst through the doors to the back end of the basement, guns drawn. Unfortunately, Claire was holding the knife at the time they came in the door, and she got shot for it, twice. She was alive and Gemenii seemed to know this, but they left her for dead. The others were arrested for their involvement, and Gemenii was taken to a waiting ambulance, called by Chester. They were reunited as they were taken to the hospital, and that is where the album's story ends.