The Fall

The Underwood castle has years of folklore behind it. People believed that the castle was home to families of mermaids or a town of miniature trolls. Children often claimed to see a mermaid or merman swim in the water under the entrance gate, or a troll ringing the large bronze bells from the tower or singing in the garden, but these occurrences aren't the focus of this tale. The only thing behind the castle walls of importance for the purposes of this story are the Royal Underwood family, composed of Tristan and Marvous and their eight children; Marvous Jr, Herald, Everly, Josephine, Allurius, Jacqueline, Loch and Whyte, ranging from ages seven to twenty-one years old, all magickal and looking for adventure and excitement in their lives.

The siblings were all friendly with each other, generally splitting into their separate pairs; Marvous Jr and Herald, Everly and Josephine, Allurius and Jacqueline and Loch and Whyte. A peaceful and respectable family, often taking part in domestic tasks and befriending the people of their nation by shopping at the nearby fair and attending electrifying plays at the Glory amphitheatre. We begin as Everly reaches the age of sixteen, one year before they are required to read their page in the Black Book and claim their Charm.

On that sunny afternoon, three years before the Fall, Everly’s younger sister, Josephine, wrote in her diary that it was a quiet day; her room was silent as she lay on her bed reading her new book, ‘A Rune Readers Guide to Glory’s Gemstones and Crystals’ as two of her brothers yelled at each other from opposite ends of the corridor on the other side of her bedroom door. Turning to a new chapter, the door separating her from her siblings' chaos slammed against her bedroom wall. Everly, her older sibling, stood in the doorway, their chest heaving from running.

“Jo. I messed up.” Were the only words Everly could find to explain the situation. Rightfully confused, Josephine pushed a piece of paper into her book and sat up to rest against her bed.

Josephine gestured for her sibling to move further into the room.

“You’re going to have to go further into detail about your situation.” Josephine sighed gently. Everly moved to close the door again, this time being conscious of the noise. Everly revealed a silver sword, a metre long with a clean and well-sharpened blade. It moved swiftly and looked as though it were ceremonial. Josephine focused on the blue words that read vertically painted on the flat centre of the blade; she could not understand what they said but she wanted to know desperately. As Everly moved it from around their clothes she watched as the sun continuously glinted off the edges of the undamaged blade. Josephine felt anxiety vibrate through her body from her feet to her ears, she chose flight and dashed to the far corner of her room. She knew her sibling would not hurt her, yet years of anti-weapon education won over kinship.

Children of Glory had never seen weapons of destruction in their lifetime, most of them being destroyed following the War of All Affairs hundreds of years prior. A war beginning and ending due to the unnecessary deaths of two innocent Spirits. To ensure another war did not ensue, weapons of all kinds were destroyed; from knives to pitch forks, swords to flamethrowers, weapons of all sorts were gathered and put into a fire, ablaze and removed from the hands of dangerous people.The King’s motto: “Destroy the cause of the pain to prevent further suffering.”

Josephine did not move, instead, she rose her hand and gestured towards the object,

“Everly, where did you get that?” her voice shook as her body tightened with fear. Everly could see that Josephine was afraid, having never seen a weapon in real life; in order to ease the tension, they put the sword on the ground and stepped over it to get closer to Josephine’s shaking body.

Everly’s voice began at a thundering volume “The book gave it to me,” then, remembering the nearby siblings, Everly lowered their tone; “I don’t want it Jo. I’m not ready!” The one sided dispute turned to an angry hiss through their teeth, Everly’s throat becoming raspy as they forgot to swallow. “The book was just in my room,” Everly paused breathlessly, “and I opened it and this sword came out.” They took a sharp breath in, “but then...” Everly stopped, unable to form a coherent sentence. Everly gave up on approaching Josephine and instead sat on the bed.

Josephine moved to sit beside Everly, her focus remaining on the sword. She reached across her lap to hold Everly reassuringly,

“It’s going to be okay. We can-” Everly cut her off before she could finish, “It’s not, Jo! The book was in my room. And of all things my Charm is a…”, frightened someone might be listening on the other side of the door, Everly dropped their voice to a mere whisper, “...it’s a sword of all things.” Josephine flinched slightly at the mention of the sword.

Josephine looked at the sword properly, the silver blade clean and primed for attack. Her focus gradually moved from unsheathed blade to the brightly coloured crystals and gemstones acquired in the hilt; Red Beryl, Taaffeite, Alexandrite, Benitoite wound around the hilt in a filigree while Musgravite and Fire Opal lined the edges down to the pommel. Again the blue words across the centre of the blade shone down from the shoulder of the sword to its point.

“It must be worth twenty-thousand tluns.” The awe in Josephine’s voice overpowered the timidity she felt around the weapon. Josephine moved her gaze from the gemstones up to Everly,

“Keep this from mother and father. Don’t let anyone know.” She smiled and Everly decided to nod weakly. They slowly rose from the bed and looked down at the sword that rested on the ground, the item glowing in the light from the open window. The silver taunting Everly as if begging them to lift the item and explore its powers, instead they grabbed the gem encrusted handle and tried to hide it in their clothes once more.

“Jo…” Everly whispered and turned to face their sister again. Josephine lifted her head from the empty spot where the sword was and looked at Everly. She could not help but feel horrible for them, unexpectedly being given a charm that they are not ready for, even one so threateningly beautiful. Sorrow fell from Josephine’s eyes as tears and numbed her finger tips, no longer able to control her emotions. She wiped her hands over her face to try to remain a pillar of positivity for her older sibling. Everly rested their hand on Josephine's shoulder, their voice now steady, “Thank you”.

Everly turned back around and unlocked the door, quickly leaving the room towards her own. Whyte and Loch ran past her with large feathers in their hands, playing as children should, ignorant to the trouble that was about to occur in the kingdom at the hands of their own sibling.

A castle is not a living thing, it does not breathe as it does not have lungs, it does not beat as it has no heart, but this castle did. Magick used to coarse through its walkways like blood and crawl up the walls, possessing its every aspect. It now stands in ruins. Dead to the remaining people.

People choose to forget the day we saw the remaining debris, the once tall and graceful castle reduced to a pile of rubble. These days many refuse to acknowledge it, and the few that will remember it undermine the damage and claim it was a graceful fall from power. The night of the Fall was warm, you couldn’t sleep well because of the stale heat and lack of airflow through the walls. What the night wasn't was loud. No yells or cries from the castle, no audible evidence of crumbling bricks or smashing glass. Dead silence. Many left, after that night as we had no ruler, no guidance, no sense of belonging or connection. The morning after, instead of being at work, men and women lined the streets, staring at what remained of the Underwood castle.

The gates were drawn in and the guards nowhere to be seen. All the flags had been cut from their post and bricks had been pushed off the tops of the high walkways. Surrounding water had been drained to mud and once tall and glorious trees reduced to thin and crippled branches.

Today, the castle is silent; no children, no mermaids, no bells or singing trolls. Once vibrant and mystical walls are now unkempt and have crumbled to ruins. There have been rumours for years; the family had run away, or were turned into Guyups by the Xiomaras in the South of Glory and had to flee or simply they were kidnapped, but none of these ever made any sense. Most people believe in the Black Book Theory. Two young boys were sent in four days after the silence fell. After only an hour inside they came out quietly. A crowd waited anxiously for their review. Kieran, the younger boy, said:

“It’s abandoned, but not by choice. It’s deceased, but not naturally. They wander another realm, but remain lost. Everly didn’t want it, but was forced into ownership.” Kieran swayed in a trance, and the older boy, Hugo continued,

“The Black Book makes all final decisions, any form of rebellion is conquered. It sits waiting, alive and well, yearning to be read. Its pages are full of air, and it rages.”