The Lost Monarch

When Hope is Gone

"Hope is a fickle thing, for when it fades, when it retreats from the grasp of the broken, it is nigh on impossible to find again. Yet hope is instrumental in so many things. The daily function of all beings, the joy, the laughter, it is all forgotten in those moments where hope is gone.

But I ask you this, dear brother. Is hope ever truly gone? Or is it only lost? Waiting for someone to find it again, that is the true test of hope.

And so, I continue to hope that you will find your way back to the light. Your sins are countless, your heart surely corrupted. However, I know that there was a time you loved me. A time you would have done anything to see me smile.

I still have hope that my brother isn't fully gone."

– A message written in the ruins.

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"Are you sure this is the right place, Eva?" Alister, at age... six? Seven? He didn't really know. Eva told him he was two, but he didn't believe her. She was mean sometimes. But anyway, at this age, he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

     "I'm sure, idiot. The old man said this was how to get into the secret base." Eva snapped, whacking him on the back of the head. She was the tallest of the group, which was totally unfair, because it meant she got to boss everyone else around.

     The tallest was in charge, that was what she always said.

     "Don't call him an idiot, he's just a little silly sometimes!" Ophelia protested, pouting at Eva. Alister wasn't sure if 'silly' was really much of an upgrade, but at least she was trying.

     "This place makes me nervous," Alister admitted, fidgeting with his hands. He glanced over at Theodore. Theodore didn't talk a lot. He was nervous most of the time.

     That realisation, that Theodore was obviously super nervous, made Alister straighten up a little bit. He had to be strong for Theodore, and brave too! Since Theodore wasn't the bravest. Or the strongest. He was kinda short and scrawny.

     "What, and the outside doesn't?" Eva crossed her arms, staring at him with that look she got whenever she was annoyed at him, or about to call him something mean like... "You're such a cowardly little stray dog, whimpering back to the people who hit you because they gave you that scrap of food once. Where do you suggest we go? We can't go back out there!" Eva's voice started to rise and she gestured to the cityscape below them.

     The ruined castle on the hill. It would sound poetic, if it weren't so terrifying. He swallowed his fear, forcing himself to still his trembling hands. Theodore was looking at him now, so he held his chin up. "I'm not scared. I'll go."

     "Good. Now, come ON!"

     Alister stopped right before the archway leading into the castle. He remembered that day all too well. Standing before the archway as he was in that moment, he suddenly felt smaller than he had in years.

     The sensation of falling ripped the scream from his throat before he was halfway down. He heard the distant cries of his friends, calling out his name before he was swallowed completely by the dark.

     Searing pain split his ankle, and he cried out, alone in the darkness.

     "I can't... I can't just sit here," he whispered to himself. "'You can't just sit and cry, crybaby.'" He did his best imitation of Eva's voice, and it helped a little bit.