Kingdom Fall | A Sander's Sides Story

Prologue

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Sander's Side series or characters.

Now you may continue on with your regularly scheduled fanfiction

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          The castle was silent. Not a noice within the palace, nor a single halted footstep. It'd been this way close to a week. Quiet. Empty. But soon a creek permits the air, an unused door crying out. Minutes pass before the creek is heard again, the door being opened ever so slowly. For each push is punctuated in fear and the silence between, highlighted in caution. The door is opened, enough so that a fearful eye peers out. Flickering two and fro, searching for Unseen. A grumble is heard and that fear is given in to a desperate hunger. A small child, maybe six, reaches his hand out the door. A test of the unknown, his fist trembling. Then, deciding he couldn't wait much longer, the boy takes a step out.

          After leaving the safety of his room, the child scrunches his eyes shut as his shoulders hunch forward. Hunger pains and anxiety grow in the pit of his stomach, unease leaching off his nerves. (He shouldn't be here, he's going to be caught, this isn't allowed-) With a shaky breath, the child braves on.

         The boy's stomach growls, protesting long days without food. He'd been told to stay in his room since his mentor had left, but hunger had overcome the paralyzing fear of disobeying. However, with each inch forward, the fear trickled back. The hallway swayed as the boy continued to walk, twisting and turning, spiraling into the unknown. With pillar after pillar, gaudy chandeliers placed in intervals, and the same repeating floor pattern, the hall went on forever.

         The boy continued to walk but each step grew a bit more tired, each breath more strained. He'd been walking for hours, yet it seemed he hadn't moved any further or closer than he'd been before. It was getting hard to breath as exhaustion and panic overcame him. The panic finally descended upon the child like a tidal wave, tripping and crippling him. Emotions whirling around, spiraling out of control, and he was drowning. Never taught to swim, lost, and so very afraid. The boy's breath came out in hurried huffs with an occasional choked inhale. Tears flooded his vision, paired with silent sobs and gasping breaths.

Click..clack..click..

         The sound of dress shoes upon marble floors. The boy halted, eyes growing wide, pupils dilating in terror. He trembled on the ground he lay on, not daring to move, not daring to breath. Tears blurred his vision but he saw the pair of polished dress shoes walking towards him with perfect clarity.

Click..clack..click..

        He'd been caught breaking the rules. The child curled into himself on the shining floor, a weak whine letting loose as his anxiety crippled him once more. The boy bit his lip, trying to remain silent as the footsteps loomed nearer. He regretted coming out of his room, he knew he'd have never gotten away with it, he was just so hungry...

Click..clack..

        The footsteps stopped just in front of the terrified child. The silence heavy as the boys chest heaved, feeling the disinterested gaze of his tormentor. Like he was a pebble upon the road, his mere existence a constant inconvenience. His mind spiraled, the boy was nothing. (Nothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothin-)

"Virgil,"

         The voice was deceptively calm, as it always was, but the child heard how it lilted in such a way to convey the man's cold amusement and cunning anger. The boy, Virgil, only let out a choked sob in response, shuddering, shaking, and overwhelmed. Shame and fear festered around the very embodiment of anxiety. His brown bangs stuck to his face, covered in tears, and brushed over dark brown eyes. Virgil brought himself to sit on his heels, folding his hands into his lap in a way that'd been taught. His stomach rumbled.

"I hadn't forgotten about you..." The man muttered, annoyed by the boy under his care.

        Virgils eyes met the heterochromatic ones of the man standing before him before cowering away. The man simply sighed deeply, as if so desperately tired of the child's antics, annoyed really. He then reached down, lunging for the boys wrist. Virgil flinched at the man's harsh hold and stumbled as he was pulled to his feet. Virgil stifled his ever mounting panic and hiccuping sobs as he was dragged down the hallway. The young boy was terrified, but continued to trip down the hall with the man setting an uncaring pace and grip.

The pair walked away with a steady clicking and the uneven, panicked breathing of the child. They disappeared down the corridor, nothing remaining but drops of tears and snot left on the floor.

The castle was silent.

***

AUTHORS NOTES:
Okay, so this is my first(ish) shot at fanfiction. Im an amateur writer and editing this all myself, so constructive criticism is welcome. I plan to do a lot with this story, this is just the beginning. We'll be seeing Virgil grow up and the setting and plot will be developed more in later chapters. There will be alot of that in the next chapter actually. Im writing for fun right now so updates won't be consistent but i plan on finishing this story. Comments bring me life so don't be shy. If you've read this far, kudos, I'll be back to bring more content soon

~Eilyn

Edited: 6