Fiction · in progress
Aragon
Work in progress. This is a living document — Matthew writes it in his own time, around the games, and a lot of it is still being built. Nothing here is final.
ReadAragon is the world behind Ouraboros, a fantasy series Matthew has been planning and drafting on his own. What exists so far is a structure — fourteen arcs across roughly a hundred and sixty chapters, a cosmology, three kingdoms with reasons to go to war, and a handful of scenes written out in full. Below is a tour of the parts that are furthest along.
01
The shape of it
Four stories that close into a loop — which is where the name comes from.
Ouraboros is the mainline story, but it sits inside a set of four: Ragnarok first, then Ouraboros, then System Awakens, then Singularity — far in the future, after humanity has fled Earth and forgotten that magic was ever real.
The four are written to be readable separately and to line up as one timeline. The last scene of Singularity closes the circle: its protagonist, a clone of the hero Ragna, is drawn to an abandoned house on a green hill and finds a photograph labelled in an old hand — the family from the first story. The loop, a literal ouroboros, is complete.
02
Before the kingdoms
A creation myth built to explain the magic system rather than decorate it.
At the beginning there is one being, which splits into seven titans — Overlord of darkness, Horizon of light, Havoc of destruction, Virus of earth, Vulcan of fire, Thalassa of water, and Ragna of creation. They fight for millennia, and the ryu spilled from that fighting becomes the stars, the planets, and eventually life itself.
The detail that makes the rest of the world work: a slave named Ragna rebels, seals the titans in six places, and founds Aragon. He builds a throne that quietly governs every scrap of ryu in the world, because suppressing seven titans takes the life force of every living thing. Nobody remembers this. It is why the throne is worth a war.
03
Why everyone wants the crown
Three kingdoms want the crown, each for a reason that makes sense from where they are standing. A fourth faction — not a kingdom — wants the war.
- The Dragon Kingdom
- Overpopulated and boxed onto a single island. They want land. Allied with the Futowari clan, who were promised wealth and shared territory.
- The Demon Kingdom
- Banished and written into history as villains without cause. They want their reputation back. Allied with the Argos clan in exchange for citizenship and the lifting of a curse.
- The Human Kingdom
- Outmatched in a world of dragons and demons. They want to be predators again rather than prey. Pacted with the Hunters, for money and privileges.
- The Severus — not a kingdom
- An organisation, working in the shadows, formed by a supposedly extinct mage clan who can read time. They looked into every possible future, saw only endless war, and decided to reset the world instead. They started the crown war to weaken the seals — so they are pulling the strings, not competing for the throne like the three kingdoms are.
04
The villain is the hero, from a world that failed
The strongest idea in the document.
Omen is Ashen — the protagonist — from a parallel reality where he became the villain instead. In his world Ragna never existed, because he was Ragna: he subdued the titans but enslaved them rather than sealing them, and they broke loose and destroyed everything, including his sister.
So he crosses realities looking for a version of himself who still holds the power of creation, because creation is the one thing that can bring her back. He has killed countless other versions of himself to get here. And in his own reading of it he is still the hero — by resetting existence he saves every life otherwise lost to a pointless war.
The turn underneath it is quieter. He can rewrite memory, and what he actually did was edit an entire clan's memories until they believed there was no hope, so they would help him. The war that drives the whole series is a grief he engineered.
From the draft
The Midnight Auction
One of the scenes written out in full. Ashen, hiding his identity, is attending an auction held in the ruins of the old capital when the final lot is brought out.
“Gentlemen,” the auctioneer’s voice echoed through the chamber, smooth and unhurried, “alas, we have arrived at our final offering for tonight.”
The lights dimmed. A low hum rolled through the underground hall as a single spotlight ignited at the center of the floor.
A cage.
Chains hung heavy from its frame, coiled like sleeping serpents. Inside, a man knelt, head lowered, metal restraints biting into his wrists and spine.
“Now we have all seen slaves up here come and go, no big deal, yes?” the auctioneer said. The crowd nodded. “But have you ever had a slave that could wipe out entire legions?”
“One of the most wanted criminals in the history of Aragon. The Crimson Swordsman.”
A murmur rippled outward. Inside the cage, the man lifted his head.
His eyes were calm. Not afraid. Not pleading. Watching.
There is a great deal still to do — chapters to write, arcs still half-confirmed, and a decision or two Matthew is still arguing with himself about in the margins. It moves when the games leave room for it.
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