"Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem,” or “Visit the interior of the earth, and purifying, you will find the hidden stone."

VITRIOL

The death of Thos causes the planet of Progkp to explode. However, the portion of the planet Sine, the Spirit Usher, the Thosians and the inhabitants of Obsidian City are in stays in tact and begins its own orbit around the star Progkp orbited.

Post-synergetic, Atmospheric Explosion

Upon seeing Thos asleep on a bed of rock in the Cave of Stone, the Thosians sing the prayer, "Long Thought Lost," to her. Though Sine expresses some doubt about waking Thos and whether gods truly care for those who worship them, he demands Thos to wake from sleep and take the group out of the Down Below World to the surface above, thereby changing what they've been and who they are. Thos awakens. She asks the group if she can put a spell on them, which would make them subservient to her. She explains that only by relinquishing their free will can she bring them to the surface of the planet. If they act as one, with her having complete control over their souls, the journey to the surface will be successful. Unsettled by Thos' desire to cast a spell on the group, Sine determines he must kill Thos. He believes Thos' intentions may be pure, but he cannot stand to see the Thosians become her mindless drones. He knows killing her may be suicidal, but he tells the others to step aside as he confronts her. He looks deep inside his soul, opens his mind's eye and deals her an immense psychic blow.

Thos Unearthed

Sine and company enter the Cave of Stone where Thos resides. Sine has been reborn once already, as Forest Boy on Hobbitozz when he sacrificed the Druid of the Wood to release the Druid's soul and take it into himself, becoming Sine. And now he can become the “thrice-born” if he survives the challenge of Thos. 

Introit

Now free, the life forms pass shapelessly and turbulently into the crevices and cracks of the cavern walls.

Turbulent Blobs

After passing through Obsidian City and through the passageway on the other side of the city, Sine and company notice glowing lights in the cave ahead. The lights are coming from large pieces of amber containing mysterious life forms that seem mostly shapeless and shadow-like with large eyes. The Thosians tell Sine that he must breathe onto the amber to free these life forms, making sure not to look them in the eyes. Once freed, the Thosians believe the life forms will be appreciative and provide Sine with powers that will help him awaken Thos. So with eyes closed Sine approaches the large pieces of amber and breathes on them. The amber stones begin to crack and splinter, and the ancient life forms, who have resided inside their amber prisons for eons, break free. These life forms communicate with Sine and the Thosians telepathically, reading their brains, and making them feel what it is like to transcend joy and pain and to be perfectly sane. It is in this lucid state of mind that Sine will be able to find and awaken Thos.

Preserved in Amber

After awaking and regaining their senses, the group exits the cave passage they're in and enters an enormous cavern comprised entirely of obsidian. The inhabitants of this Obsidian City are amazed strangers have traveled such a long way to their city. They know there can only be one reason they have come: to awaken Thos. Predicting oblivion, they tell the group there are some life forms preserved in amber living out this way, thinking if the group confronts the life forms they will be petrified by them, thus preventing oblivion. The Obsidian City denizens direct Sine, the Spirit Usher and the Thosians "down this way" to a passage on the other side of the city. ("Obsidian City" artwork by Doug Welch)

Down Below World

Obsidian City

Ja'vere is the sister of Ja'roque and was present at the Ceremony of Fire.

Ja'vere's Theme

The group of Thosians introduce Sine and the Spirit Usher to Ja'roque, a mystic/shaman covered in soil, ash and muck, who is able to teleport people via a ritualistic ceremony around a fire fueled by coal, with gems, obsidian and crystals thrown in. This is the “Ceremony of Fire,” in which the participants dance, chant and sing in a circle around the fire, encouraging Ja'roque to approach the fire and breathe in its smoke and then exhale it into the cavern thereby transforming the smoke into a mind altering magical concoction and inebriant. When the group awakens, they wonder where they are and whether they've been transported deeper into the planet, closer to the planet's core where the Thosians believe their god resides. The last thing Sine, the Spirit Usher and the Thosians recall is Ja'roque and his sister Ja'vere telling them, "Do what you will do," and "will what you do do." 

Ja'roque

Sine and the Spirit Usher follow the Thosians through the caves, caverns and passageways of the Down Below World. They hear strange sounds and chanting and come upon a man and a woman applying a concoction of soil, ash and muck to their naked bodies. There are others there as well, helping the two spread the mixture on their bodies. 

Searching for Thos

The Thosians relay to Sine the legend of how they came to live in the Down Below World and how they came to believe that there is an ancient god named Thos who lives in the planet's core but has been forgotten for so long by the rest of the Down Belowers that she now lays dormant. They believe that if they can awaken Thos, she will lead them out of the Down Below World and onto the surface of Progkp where they will be able to see the sky and breathe the light air, to live as the their ancient ancestors once lived. They think Sine can help them find Thos and encourage him to come with them in search of her. But for Sine to be successful, they tell him, he must believe in Thos the way they do, as a tangible deity, as the planet itself.

Deep(er) Below

Sine and the Spirit Usher have arrived in an alternate, subterranean world, as the narrator sings. The Spirit Usher points out to Sine that chants and calls can be heard coming from somewhere in the caverns, caves or passageways. They discover some dwellers of this “Down Below World” (aka the “Down Belowers”) in the midst of a ceremony singing a song of praise to a god they call Thos, encouraging each other to surrender their souls to her. These Down Belowers are members of the Cult of Thos and refer to themselves as “Thosians.” ("It's an Alternate World" artwork by Daniela Yew)

It's an Alternate World

After Sine is initiated as Aleph Adept by the Alien Elven Souls in the Temple of the Avian Aliens (this took place at the end of The Planet of Progkp), a sonic boom strikes the temple and a really deep groove opens up in the earth splitting the temple in half. Sine and the Spirit Usher fall down the crevasse through the planet's layers to an alternate world. (Artwork "A Really Deep Groove (Aleph to Bet)" by Anselm Yew)

A Really Deep Groove (Aleph to Bet)

Here are a few songs from the REPTIEL's upcoming album "Hobbitozz ... A Land That Never Was," a psychedelic fantasy rock epic that tells the story of Forest Boy who must bury his father and begin a journey through a sylvan landscape and confront the cause of its demise in order to save his wooded world. The album has been mixed and mastered, but we are not sure yet when it will be released.

Hobbitozz ... The Land That Never Was

The Spirit Usher warns Sine about Shadow People who inhabit the dark matter of space, and whose existence defies understanding, contemplation of which could destroy one's mind.

The Planet of Progkp

Shadow People

REPTIEL was formed in 2009 by members of seminal San Francisco bands The Cubby Creatures, Thee More Shallows and The Druggles. The REPTIELians claim to practice “ritual musick” in order to summon their stories and sounds, and only rarely do they perform live due to the various members’ agoraphobia, superstitiousness, and severe anxiety.

REPTIEL

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