Hi, I'm feeling restless and decided that the best way to deal with that would be to get some of my writing out in the wild! No idea why. Maybe it'll motivate me to well, continue writing please Spirit of Writing but hey, one can only hope to get lucky.
So here's the prologue of my WIP about the video game In Stars and Time, yes you will most likely only understand, uh, a very small part of what I wrote, but honestly who cares! (please don't care. and ask me if needed!)
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, was nestled a small castle against the hills of a nameless land.
Castle so small and foreign to all that even wanderers ignored its existence before they one day stumbled at the doors anyway like it was always meant to be. The masters made sure of it; while no maps may bear the castle’s name, the threshold always revealed itself for the weary and the needy. Always spurred the newcomers to step forward and meat their destination.
Small castle, for it shrunk under the nocturnal light of expectations. Under the setting sun, its short towers still stood proudly, a last remnant of its past glory, casting deep shadows, blankets just for the castle’s inhabitants. The blooming stars above benevolently joined in the weaving of the nascent night’s dark cloak, basking the people of the castle in the light of their burn. The walls covered in moss never were to stop whoever wished to enter, but simply acted as the castle’s foundations as much as the living’s, protectors and witnesses to the unfolding of the countless stories that circled in the air.
You could hear them laugh, if you ever pricked up your ears. Laugh as the building’s tints grew fuller, heavier. Laugh as hues returned home, after leeching the time they had true ownership onto.
The well lived-in rooms were not grand nor imposing; but warmth made its home into each one of them, fire crackling and casting darkless flashes on the bones of the castle. The palace children’s laughter was as much of a music as the occasional bards’ ballads (always staying and never only for a night or two), or the servants’ lively chatter (often chasing the kids in the spiral staircase, with trembling laughs and eyes flashing too bright). Always joining in the youths’ mischiefs, much to the residents’ amusement.
Outside, the luscious gardens were traversed by a flowing river that each day reflected the sparkling sky, the trees peacefully swinging in the morning breeze with the loveliest chirruping one could ever hear. A lullaby to comfort those who rested under the earth, and those who should be. A melody that carved its name into the smallest heart of the castle. And, mistaken by all for the sole recipient of the fragile sound, a single grave laid on the blessed land, among the fallen leaves, the sketch of a name caressed every night by the distant gaze of the celestial beings and every day by the hand who was meant to be under it. And entre chien et loup¹ by the gaze of someone who existed between the two.
But never by the one with the hand covered in rightful blood.
As such, the unassuming castle was more than a building. It was a palace of time lost and regained, of roses blooming in always fertile soils, of darkness and lives that came and went all the same in the land; it was the palace of a loving monarch who forgot the taste of starless skies.
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a child was locked inside of a tower.
Word is that their name had been the last gift of a bleeding heart
before time swallowed it
Word is that the night they were born marked a new reign
blessed by the stars themselves
in all their holiness
1. literally "between dog and wolf", it is used to describe a specific time of day, just before night, when the light is so dim you can't distinguish a dog from a wolf. However, it's not all about levels of light. It also expresses that limit between the familiar, the comfortable versus the unknown and the dangerous (or between the domestic and the wild). It is an uncertain threshold between hope and fear.