EPISODE 3: “Rot Beneath Ivory”
Key: “Clean walls don’t mean clean hearts.”
Quote (Hagakure):
“Even if one’s head were to be suddenly cut off, he should still be able to perform one more action with certainty.”
Meethus’s Note:
“There will come a time when I am struck down — by blade, or whisper, or doctrine.
I accept that.
But I will not go quietly.
When the time comes, I will speak one last truth —
Loud enough to echo through the halls that silenced me.”
:: TRANSCRIPT ::
🎙️ Voice Behind the Blade
Episode 3: “Rot Beneath Ivory”
Runtime: ~28 minutes
Speaker: General Meethus
Theme: Corruption disguised as clarity. The dangerous comfort of structure. Decay under doctrine.
🧱 EPISODE STRUCTURE
🔑 INTRO KEY + DIRECTIVE (0:00 – 2:00)
(Low creaking wood, the sound of fire crackling far away. The slow sound of metal gauntlets adjusting.)
“Directive 27. Sigil. Hollow.”
“Clean walls don’t mean clean hearts.”
(pause)
“General Meethus, Third Circle. Ivory Order.
This recording is not authorized, transcribed, or stored within the official archive.
If you’re hearing it… you’ve already looked behind the curtain.
Let me show you what’s rotting there.”
📜 QUOTE SEGMENT (2:00 – 4:00)
“Even if one’s head were to be suddenly cut off, he should still be able to perform one more action with certainty.”
— The Hagakure(slower)
“The Order loves this quote. They paint it on banners. Engrave it into walls.But they never talk about what that final action should be.
A final strike? A last confession? A surrender?”
“Most never decide. So they just… fall.”
✍️ MONOLOGUE / JOURNAL ENTRY (4:00 – 16:00)
“I walked the lower halls this morning. The ones beneath Spire Nine.
Dust on the seal. Cracks in the doctrine stone.
Someone tried to scratch a name off the ledger wall. And someone else — I assume a scribe — tried to scratch it back in.”(pause)
“We pretend that time doesn’t touch the Order. That structure protects us from decay.
But the truth is, it just delays it.I’ve seen men die with medals still pinned to their chest. Not one of them smiled when they passed.”
“We hide the rot with ritual. We shine the floors so no one looks up. We recite the creed louder every year to drown out the questions.”
(long pause)
“But I remember the questions.”“And now I’m starting to remember the answers, too.”
🕯️ SILENCE BREAK (16:00 – 17:00)
(No music. Just the soft crumble of stone dust, the faint sound of a page being turned.)
🔁 THE ECHO – PAST CONVERSATION (17:00 – 25:00)
(Tone lowers, more personal. Less like a general. More like a man remembering a betrayal.)
“There was a boy who came through my ranks — fifteen, again.
Second one in my career. Sharp eyes. Quiet. Too quiet.He rose fast. Too fast.
And then I saw the reports — fabricated tests, edited transcripts. His evaluations weren’t written by instructors. They were dictated by archivists.”(pause)
“He was placed. Not earned.”
“I filed a complaint. It never made it past the flamewarden.
That was three years ago. He now sits in the First Spire — issuing orders he didn’t train to understand.”
(heavier tone)
“That’s the rot. It doesn’t smell. It smiles. It signs scrolls. It repeats the oath perfectly — because it never understood it.”
“And now, it governs us.”
📘 DIRECTIVE WRAP-UP (25:00 – 27:00)
“If you cannot trust the foundation, no tower is worth building.”
“Ritual cannot replace reality. Titles cannot replace truth.”
“We name things Ivory because it sounds eternal. But even ivory cracks under pressure.
And I am no longer interested in polishing over fractures.”
🎙️ OUTRO SIGNATURE (27:00 – 28:00)
(Almost a whisper now. Tired. But resolute.)
*“This directive was never official.
If you heard it… it was meant for you.”*
(Silence. Then a slow, distant rumble — like something collapsing far away.)