The Nameless Girl (GxG)

Part 1

A centuries-old damaged castle made of fallen, treacherous half bridges and passageways, crumbled, humid walls, stone consumed by dirt, mould and wasted rainwater. An abrupt cliff so high it might as well never reach the bottom of the earth, or perhaps it simply morphed into an endless abyss. Perhaps it led straight to the opened gates of Hell, and if one were to fall off that cliff, they would simply vanish from the surface of earth, and be thrown into the burning fires of Hell, for all eternity, for ever daring to hope to cross that doomed cliff.

Beyond the cliff lay endless grey, barren plains, completely nude if not for a few scattered dying trees and leafless bushes, and all looked more of a decaying skeleton rather than the last remnants of a once flourishing flora. No grass, no tree, no animal could survive this rotting, putrefying land. In fact, if one were brave enough to look closer, they would see it for what is was and nothing more. Ashes.

Ashes of a long-pasted time, last sparks of an ancient, cursed life, gone with the wind.

Ashes born out of a lingering, overflowing fire that came from the pits of the ruined fortress, as if to make sure that living-dead Nature would never truly come back to life. Cruel, ruthless fire it was. Like fire, like ashes.

For indeed, in the lowest hall of the grand castle lived an animal, an untamed creature. The last creature this land bore. A magnificent, ever-growling dragon, with scales of a deep red, eyes of a bright gold-yellow, and claws, as sharp as a thousand knives, always scratching at the stony floor, accompanied by furious, dull roars, which never missed to let out puffs of smoke and bursts of orange and scarlet flames.

It was indeed quite a sight to behold, if there were one living being to bare that sight. Sight that was, alas, even refused to the only inhabitant of the estate. The only human inhabitant. For the dragon was forced to share its dominion with one young maiden whose face it had never seen, as she remained confined to the highest room of the top-most tower.

The girl knew next to nothing about life beyond the walls. The entirety of her knowledge could be resumed with the color of her bed linens and curtains, which were of a deep blue, the texture and color of her dress, which were made of plain cotton, of the exact same deep blue, the feel of the stones imprisoning her, rough and moist, and the sound of the far-off rumbles coming from far below, and the consuming dread that her shelter might shatter to pieces at any time.

She did not know that the creature that lurked in the shadows of the lowest levels of the castle was a dragon. All she knew was that she was not alone in her torment and, as small a consolation it might be, this was all she had. She never dared trying to escape the comfort of her bedroom and meet her companion of misfortune. And so, she waited in her tower room, night and day, walking from her bed, to the tiny window, then back to her small library and her washbasin, and so on, and so forth.

She lived in constant fear that one day, the giant beast would seek her presence, or worse, that it would simply leave. For what was more frightening to a girl with no past and no history than novelty? Even if, in that very instance, novelty rhymed with Freedom.

She did not know what she looked like, except for the long, dark blonde, wavy hair she would often find tangled in her hairbrush, or at the bottom of the sink. She did not know how old she was. Was she closer to birth, or closer to death? How could she know, as she did not even know how long she had been trapped here.

She did not know her name.

She did not know how to read, even though her shelves were filled with thick, leather-covered books she had all skimmed through. For how could she ever know how to read, while she had never even heard a word? And thus, she did not know how to speak either.