When You Accidentally Destroy The World

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Until I let them in. Green pastures and blooming flowers year round, now it's toasted lands and smoky skies. The humble cottages, their gardens and even the curious granite statue in the town square, all gone. The horde did not even spare the cobblestone roads from their destruction, going out of their way to uproot the foundations and scatter everything about; Only to then properly introduce themselves with their diabolical breath.

But I won't bore you with more details, I'm not that type of girl. You of course want to know how I destroyed the world, perhaps even why I did it. Well it all began because of a boy, it always does doesn't it.

He wasn't just a boy though, he was my younger brother and I loved him more than anything. We were the only family we had, I had him and he had me. Our father was a nobleman or so they tell us. He suddenly fell ill and passed away, exactly one day after being summoned to the castle for a ceremony. Our mother met the same fate as she had accompanied him to the castle, curious isn't it. We never even got to say goodbye to them.

The only reason we didn't end up in an orphanage was because my father's wealth which was technically now ours, was enough to take care of our needs. We inherited the house, a small cottage near the outskirts of the town, and we mainly lived self sufficiently, growing our own food and drinking from our private well. We also had one of my father's close friends keep an eye on us. Though he wasn't present in our day to day lives and I can't say he did much for us anyway. He was like a strange uncle you don't want to interact with but nonetheless you are glad he's your uncle.

We didn't have much but we did have each other. Life was slow and gentle, that is until the day everything changed when an uninvited guest had arrived.

It was the dawn of my younger brother's birthday, I had awoken early to surprise him with some freshly baked sweet buns. The sweet yeasty smell spread through the air as I pulled them out of the baking pot when a terrible rumble and grumble violently shook the ground, the walls and brought down nearly everything that wasn't fastened in place. The shaking was as if a rickety old senior had grasped the world in his hand and tried to hold it still.

I thought we were under attack by the flesh eating forest trolls like in the stories they tell us as children so I grabbed a knife and quickly ran to my brother's bed to protect him; Naturally he was fast asleep, he always could sleep through anything. The violent sound and shaking had ended, I couldn't hear the roar of the trolls, nor feel their stomping, I realized the fright wasn't caused by trolls but sadly something far worse.

A simple knock on the door followed by a little melody played on a trumpet and the faint sounds of horses clued me in to what was the cause of all the commotion. I looked out of the window only to see a caravan of horse drawn carriages all ivory white with gold trim and a reflective blue paint that would have made me curious as to its origin, had they not nearly brought my whole house down.

I walked to the front door carefully avoiding the wreckage of our belongings on the floor. Tableware from the cupboard, my windowsill herbs, the table, chairs and even the portrait of my parents were now spread about the floor.

"Look at all this mess I'm going to have to clean up. It's going to take me all day." I thought.

Thankfully the baking pot I had set on the counter was heavy enough to save the sweet bread, I had that victory at least. With the knife still in my hand I reached to open the door but before I even gripped the handle, the door flew open and nearly hit me.

"What a grand honor it is for you to meet me on this beautiful day." A tall thin boy no older than me said as he nonchalantly walked in and walked past me as if I were not even there. His nose stuck up in the air and his arms queerly held behind his back inspecting my now disheveled home.

"What a pigsty you have here, why is everything on the ground and I thought you were a blue-blood." He said with his back towards me.

"Excuse me? Who do you think you--" I replied before he quickly cut me off.

"Didn't you parents teach you proper etiquette on how to greet a guest?" He returned. "You think a girl would know to clean up her own home. And where is the drink you would've so graciously offered me?"

He paced about following his nose.

"Well at least you have some food to offer me." He said as he ripped one of the sweet buns from the pot.

"Hey those aren't for you." I told him as I held the knife up.

"Hay is for horses my dear." He said through a mouthful of my sweet bun. "And you're quite right, this really isn't for me. Not sweet enough, ugh, I wouldn't feed this to my horses." He placed the half eaten bun back into the pot.

Why I had the full intention of using the knife at that moment if it were not for my younger brother having appeared.

"Greetings young master, I am the Prince of the valley you may call me Prince George, a good morning to you." Said the intruder now introduced as Prince George.

"Good morning." My brother returned with his sweet soothing voice as he rubbed his eyes and gifted a gentle yawn like the beginning of a boys choir. "Why is everything on the ground."

"Yes young master I asked the same question, to your older sister. I hope she's treating you better than she treats your home." He picked up a chair wiped his hands on his tunic and made himself comfortable on the chair now facing me. "Come now, give us your answer love why is your home a wreck, I won't accept any excuses. There better be a good reason why you would insult the both of us with the quality of cleanliness around here. Not to mention your disheveled looks, you think a girl would at least make herself look presentable with company around or at least give your hair a brushing or two. I am profoundly insulted by your appearance"

I was so dumbfounded, words could not leave my mouth, I was only able to mutter stuttered gibberish made out of the beginnings of some of the most profane obscenities I knew. I didn't know much of them but I did know a few like the "s" word.

"Ah I see." The Prince then leaned towards my brother and whispered. "It seems your sister is suffering from hysteria an all too common problem among her sex, must be a chronic issue by the looks of things."

He stood up from the chair dusted his backside and then walked to my brother's side.

"It's a good thing I arrived today. You have a great journey ahead of you young master. My father, the King, has summoned you to the castle where you will be tutored in the monastery to channel your gifts. And I have come here to retrieve you."

"His gifts? Retrieve him? Monastery?" I quickly tried to air out my confusion.

"Yes precisely, the monks have been keeping an eye on your brother since before he was born. Apparently there is a prophecy of some sort surrounding your brother, circumstances have changed, things have come up and they are now trying to make the prophecy speed along."

"Prophecy? My brother?" I ran to my brother's side and held him.

"I'm afraid I don't know any more details than that, they said the less I knew the better. Can you believe them talking to me, Prince George like that? I nearly had to do the unthinkable to them. Anyway, for being so understanding and for being so kind as to let your brother go. The King has graciously endowed you with this chest of treasures as well as an invitation to the commencement ceremony tonight."

Two soldiers then proceeded to carry in a large chest with what sounded like heavy coins and valuable metals. Then placed it on the ground to a dense thump.

"Father says it's enough to last you several lifetimes or as a dowry for any nobleman of your choosing. That is of course only if you can get over your unceasing attraction to me." He said as he pinched either side of my cheeks with his hand and made my lips pout.

"Get your hand off of me." I shouted as I slapped him across the face. "And my brother is not for sale, take your money and go."

"See now young master, hysteria, I told you." He adjusted his jaw before replying to me. "The King said its quite urgent, I simply cannot take no for an answer, but don't worry you can visit him in ten years when he is finished with his training. Until then have fun in your little hovel alone."

He shouted at his guards, they restrained me and took my brother from me in tears. There was nothing i could do. The Prince's caravan left and caused another violent tremor and who knows what else broke. I was too busy crying to pay attention.

Then all was silent. That is until there was another knock at the door. I grabbed the knife and opened the door, ready to strike and take out my anger.

"Please don't hurt me." A feminine voice shrieked and woman with her hands guarding herself was standing in the doorway.

"Are you with the Prince?" I shouted at her.

"No no please don't hurt me, my name is Chiree, I have nothing to do with the Prince." She replied in terror.

Quickly I dropped the knife. "I'm so sorry." I began to cry again. "The. Prince. And. His. People. And they took my brother." I couldn't speak properly through my sobs and the frog in my throat.

"There there child, I know what you're going though." She said as she wrapped her arms around me. "I know the grief you are feeling." She wiped the tears from my eyes.

"Do you know what it feels like to have the only thing you've ever loved taken from you." I told her.

"All too well my dear, all too well." She repeated, before she made her way through the house diligently cleaning the mess on the floor.

"When I was about your age the same thing happened to me. The King, then a boy prince came into to the orphanage I was being cared in, and took my brother from me. Ripped him from my arms, talking about some silly prophecy of some sort. He was the only thing I had in this world, the only thing I loved."

"What happened to your brother?" I asked.

"I never saw him again." She returned.

The feeling of never being able to see my brother again, made me sick and I nearly fainted. Chiree caught me and sat me on a chair, she then continued to clean.

"I have unfortunately seen this happen year after year, tragedy, after tragedy, after tragedy." She paused her movements.

"But we can make things right again." She spread her arms to show the now clean room, restored to its proper state. "We will return your brother to you by nightfall and ensure this never happens to another again."

Intrigued I asked her, "What do you have planned?" now feeling less nauseous.

"Well my dear, tonight is the opening commencement ceremony for the new crop of monastery students, and you just so happen to have an invitation into the castle."

She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a leather pouch.

"You see I'm not invited into the castle. But with this, I will be."

She dropped the pouch into my cupped hands, it was surprising heavy for its small size and it felt like whatever was inside it was slowly moving, like spinning gears almost alive.

"Once inside the castle, simply make your way to the grand fountain, and throw this in water."

"That's all I have to do?" I asked.

"That's all you have to do, I will take care of the rest and make sure not to look inside. Can you promise me that."

"Yes I can do that."

"Excellent." She said with smile on her face.

She then presented me with a dress fit for a princess and even provided a horse drawn carriage for my transport to the castle. At the time I didn't question how she came to possess these things nor how she had these things at the ready. I was primarily focused on rescuing my brother, so I didn't ask why or how.

I was determined, prepared and I was running through the situation in head while in the carriage. I make my way to the fountain, pull the pouch conveniently hidden in the cleavage of my dress and toss it in. Simple, right?

The journey to the castle was a decent distance, not so much horizontally but vertically; The castle sat atop the highest peak in the center of the valley, our valley was quite a peculiar sight. It almost looked like a gugelhupf baking pot, which is like a fancy bowl with a cone sticking up from the center of it. No matter where you were in the valley you could always spot the castle.

It took the horses a lot of stamina to make the climb. I had never visited the castle before and it was a strange experience having my ears "pop" from the elevation but finally, I had arrived.

There were more people there than I had anticipated, it looked like twenty families were having a communal celebration. They were extremely cordial and were dressed in clothing similar what my father would wear the few times he was summoned to the castle, you know before his last time up there.

It was a strange sight to see, all those people at the castle, faces I had never seen before. Now I never used to go out much other than for miscellaneous errands around the village, but I knew the people from my village, even some from the other villages. I would occasionally take my brother on field trips to other parts of the valley, you see, no one comes in to the valley and no one leaves the valley. We were surrounded across all sides by sheer stone cliffs, unscalable and unpierceable, kept us caged through its presence. That's what made our valley, "the valley", like the bowl I mentioned earlier.

But as strange as it was seeing those new faces, nothing shocked me more than what happened when I turned to see what was over the top of the cliffs I had grown up seeing all my life. The very same cliffs that I thought were keeping me imprisoned.

A horde of foul creatures stretched into the horizon. I couldn't see much detail as they were quite a ways away but you could see enough to know they were despicable and terrible. Like if a lake were made out of red serpent-like spiders all crawling, pulling and pushing atop one another trying to catch breath from the surface. Just out there within eyesight but not one of the guests up there seemed to mind. So I pretended not of mind either, nor did I ask any questions, I just wanted my brother back.

I tried to search around the castle grounds for the fountain but the guards kept us confined in and around the grand entrance and the gardens. I didn't see any monastery either, I figure it must have been a name for a wing or attachment to the castle, but I couldn't spot anything that stuck out.

It was then that the Prince spotted me, he grabbed me by the waist with one hand, took my hand with his other and pulled me in closer to him.

"My lady, I spotted your beauty from the moment you arrived, and I knew I had to have you. Marry me my love." He said as leaned over me trying to make bedroom eyes.

I fought back the urge to slap him again but I figured he didn't realize who I was, and the slap would just remind him. I thought I could use this opportunity to get what I wanted.

"My Lord, it is a grand honor to meet you this beautiful day." I replied trying to hide my voice and I even gave him a smile. Vomit nearly ejected from my stomach and blew my cover.

"You know what, it is a grand honor to meet me isn't it." He released me from his clutch and began to ponder. "You know, you're the most pleasent woman I've ever met in my life."

"You meet much woman my lord?" I asked him.

"Quite a bit, father wants me to marry and start making children. So I've been meeting a lot of women as of late. Some good, some bad, one downright awful. What a disgusting excuse for a woman. More of a pig than a woman to be precise."

"Oh do tell me about this pig woman. So I know what not to do my lord." I told him.

"Well there's not much to her, I met her this morning to be exact. She was incredibly rude to me, downright awful in fact, her home was kept like a pigsty, she lacked proper etiquette, she looked like she hadn't slept in a week, her hair was a mess, she had foul breath, the sweet buns she offered me were good but I couldn't let her know that, she was violent and she was kind of ugly. Nothing close to your beauty my love." He returned to grabbing me.

"Well my Lord surely this girl was simply taken aback, perhaps the sun had just barely risen and she was preparing the morning meal. And perhaps there were some extraordinary circumstances that lead to her home being messy, and perhaps she had not yet groomed herself because the day had not yet started, nor was she expecting company so early in the morning." I told him as I was holding back my rage.

"No that's not it, she is a pig woman through and through, the only good thing I can say about her is that she raised her younger brother well. I hope to never see her again. But you my love I hope to see you everyday for the rest of my life." His lips got close to mine.

"Please my Lord, I am a lady, surely a gentlemen like you knows ladies prefer to take things slower. Besides I noticed you said something about her brother being the only good thing about her. Do please continue." I replied as I held back from hitting him.

"Oh yes her brother, great child, he's the reason for the commencement ceremony you know. Father had me personally retrieve him. The boy was in tears originally when I picked him up, but he settled down. You know I graciously allowed him to ride in my carriage which is why I know he's a great kid, quite a chatter box that one."

"My younger brother a chatter box?" I thought to myself. He had never been known to be like that, and I knew him all my life.

"Do please tell me more about him, and where I can meet this fine young gentlemen?" I queried.

"Well the entire ride up here, he was taken by the views and wouldn't stop pointing all the villages his sister had taken him to. He wouldn't stop talking about her. I don't know what he sees in her. Very boisterous and gentle kid. I don't have any siblings but if I did I'd want one like him. And as for meeting him, don't worry we'll all get to meet him shortly." He explained.

"Shortly? I'm afraid I've never attended a commencement ceremony at the castle my lord." I asked.

"You've never attended a commencement ceremony before? Well I guess that makes sense I've never seen you here before, they happen from time to time. They more or less just introduce the new crop of students admitted into the monastery, this time its just one. It's mainly just an excuse to celebrate. It's more for the students as they get a final outing of fun before ten years of solid training and education. Very rigorous, Father says this time it's different though and he mentioned it being quite urgent. I don't know what that's about so don't ask."

"Interesting, say my lord, I also heard about a great fountain somewhere on the castle grounds, would you mind taking me there I would love to see it." I asked him while caressing his face.

"Anything for you my love. But we have to wait until the King opens the gate, you see thats where the grand ceremony is being held. In the meantime spend some time with me." He said as he kissed my hand.

So we talked and talked some more while he gave me a tour of the castle grounds we also met some of the other attendees until the sun was ready to set. It was the most grueling time of my life, I thought I couldn't get any more nauseous around this guy but I was wrong. I felt like I was swimming in a whirlpool being around his arm.

Finally the guards opened the gates into some inner sanctum in the top of the castle and led us in. It was a large space, the floor was made of marble, towering pillars around us and a full view of the valley even more beautiful and terrifying than what I had seen before. At the center was a large fountain made of intricate marble sculptures and churning perfectly translucent water, there was nothing else like it that I had ever even imagined. The fountain appeared more like a throne than a fountain. It was exquisite and beautiful.

However, around us I was reminded of the terrible view just beyond the cliffs. There was nothing but the raging red horde of those foul creatures I had tried to forget.

My heart was beating it's way out of my chest I couldn't understand why. The fountain was in front of me but I didn't act immediately.

The King finally appeared with my brother at his side. He began a speech that I couldn't remember, something about the dragons making progress on scaling the cliffs or entering the valley somehow. My brother being the "last hope" is the only thing I actually caught from his speech.

Though my heart was beating heavy I managed to stay true to the mission, I ran to my brother hugged him and I threw the leather pouch into the fountain. It happened in slow motion I can still replay it in my head.

The pouch sunk into the water, and the water took on a foul brown color and smell. The marble sculptures themselves turned withered and cracked.

The King grabbed me by the shoulders, his eyes were bulging and wide. I don't remember what he said but presumably something like, "What have you done?"

It was like I was in a trance, everything happened so slow and I was unaware of what really transpired.

The color faded from the valley, everything became dull, like the soul was cut from it. Even lifeless objects like stone. I could see the colors fade from that vantage point atop the castle.

The only color I do remember was small streams of bright red coming from the base of the valley cliffs. As if the cliffs themselves were bleeding from their wounds.

The next thing I remember, I was rushing out of the castle gates with my brother in hand where I could now see a clearer view of the valley below. As well as I could see in the dim light of the sunset anyway.

The valley, my people, were now overun by a horde of red dragons. There was nothing to go back down to, what was I going to do anyway. Fight thousands of dragons with my hands?

The Prince had apparently been trailing us as he took my brother from me and carried him away. I followed the Prince closely behind and we made our way through several hallways and passageways, some hidden. Before entering a large spiral staircase.

Down and down we went. Until eventually catching up with some of the guests I had met earlier. These were people from the ceremony that had made their way here, significantly less than the number of people I saw attending. They all looked at me with hatred. It was a feeling I had never felt before, to be so despised knowing they wanted me dead.

At the bottom of the staircase the Prince opened a stone door that lead to a deep corridor. I couldn't see the end of it, not that it was very well illuminated there anyway.

The Prince then gave a short speech to the few people in our party. "We are the last of our people. I can't force you to follow me and you are welcome to stay here and die. We will one day reclaim our land but today is not that day. This boy I carry in my arms is our only hope to free our lands from the horde of dragons. He must be kept safe until he matures and we will return to free what is ours. Until then we will trek to a distant land. But I warn you, beyond this corridor, everything you knew about the world will change. Nothing you knew is real, every truth you knew will change, and every aspect of your life was false. From the clothes you wear to way you speak to your knowledge of how the world runs will forever be changed. There is no going back. Now let's get going, it is a long walk."

We walked for hours, enough that the sun was rising on the other side of the corridor. I had destroyed the world, but as we emerged on the other side I realized our world wasn't the only one.