AU idea: Cursed Armor Fareeha, who used to be a castle guard. During a seige the castleâs defenses fell and the guards were all cut down. The duke who lived there instructed Fareeha to protect him, as one of the last standing, and having sworn to do just that, she does. Ultimately, she also falls, as do the duke and all of tennants of the castle. In her last moments, Fareeha manages to get in one very good hit on the aggressorsâ captain. As he bleeds out he curses her to remain forever trapped in the armor she so righteously adorns. Being that he was apparently a sorcerer, the curse sticks, and Fareeha remains trapped in her armor, even as her body decays and her bones turn to dust.
As the years pass she spends her time wandering the halls, cleaning, and reading, and sparring against trees, and making company of the strays who call the castle home alongside her.
Below the castle, the village moves on without the duke, and after a couple of generations, nothing remains of him but the stories concerning the haunted castle on the hilltop.
These are the stories the witch, Angela, begins to hear when she moves to the village under the guise of a traveling doctor. She puts little stock in them (in all her years she has learned that most accounts of the abnormal are just tales - no substance) going about her days and weeks and years, until eventually the village discovers what she is, and despite all she has done for them, they turn on her.
They run her out of town and into the wilds. Threatening her and cursing her existence. Angela is used to this, and it is sad, sure, but it is also life. She is contemplating where she would like to move onto next as she makes her way up towards the castle for the evening.
Itâs as sheâs getting closer, she begins to notice, and is a bit disturbed by, the sheer number of familiar spirits staring at her from out of trees, from holes in the ground, from the sky above her. They seem benevolent and largely disinterested, though theyâre there just the same - watching.
And when Angela is greeted at the gates of the ominous, decrepit castle by a suit of armor, held aloft by an iridescent spirit, it all suddenly becomes clear.
âHelloâŠâ says the armor - female and with an accent, and confused. âYou shouldnât be hereâŠâ
theartofmadeline
gracieabrams
amandla
gummygunk
stormborns
