Kingdom of Tales

Chapter 3 (Compare and Contrast)

As the days passed by, so did the lands. Plants began to wilt and the former farming land was reduced to gravel and stones. "This is... a problem." The chief of the village decided on a meeting for residents of the area. "Not just for us, but for the neighbouring towns." As I overheard the grim murmurs through the trees, I sighed and started to return to the cottage.

"This world only has a limited amount of magic, Your Majesty. It's a very precious resource to us, humans, and even wildlife. Please do not take it for granted." Those sudden words struck into my head. Alpine... is the world already beginning to lose its magic source...? I grew skeptical and inspected a few patches of grass. I gasped in horror as the patches started to fade at my touch.

"Oh god..." I muttered quietly. I never thought it was this bad... I got up and immediately headed for the deeper woods. I'm bound to find an old sword back at the castle. I strode along the thin grass back to my old home.

However, it turned out that I had a terrible sense of direction, if it weren't evident enough from my search for Moonlight Village. "You have got to be kidding me! Really?!" I screamed out, realizing I was lost once more. So, I began to wander aimlessly throughout the thick forest.

What seemed to be an hour later, I stumbled upon a small clearing where sunlight was shining through the giant branches of the trees. An odd stone was set into the ground. I walked closer towards it, noticing it was engraved with strange runes and multiple languages. Two, in particular, caught my eye.

These are wizardry runes... I thought to myself as I trailed my fingers across the worn down rock. I then noticed a small line of text belonging to my own language in the center of the stone.

"Here lies the third and final member of The Guardians, Gaerwn Beatrice The White Fortress."

I stepped back from the now known grave of Gaerwn. "Oh... my god..." I fell to my knees in horror. "Were you here this entire time...?" I asked in disbelief and felt tears drip down my face. Someone buried him here... Someone cared enough to bury him here! Why? The sudden question popped into my head. Why?

I then noticed a slight bulge in the ground. I decided to dig it up and found a short sword with runes in wizardry language and a sheath that seemed to go perfectly with the blade. This was yours... I glided my fingers along the runes with care. I curled up in a ball, or something that seemed like one, and remained in front of Gaerwn's grave with the sword in hand, grieving in silence as I had never done before, until twilight.

I came back to reality as I heard a rustling in the nearby bushes behind me. I immediately sprang up, hiding the sword behind my small stature. "Who..." I muttered quietly until familiar strands of white hair poked out of the leaves. "Ga-...?!"

Shiro. It had to be him, not Him. "'Ga'...? Were you going somewhere with that?" Shiro raised an eyebrow, suspicious of my sudden pause. "Sorry, I, um, well..." I trailed off, leading my eyes towards the grave behind me. "Oh... were they someone you knew?" The white-haired man asked cautiously. I took a second to think about my answer. I couldn't say that I compared and contrasted both Shiro and Gaerwn without regret. It was too much for his fragile mind to handle. I looked off to the side, uninterested.