Editing Arrivederci (section)

== CHAPTER 1: The Queen’s not-so-glorius return ==
   Walking back to the castle was… a journey, to say the least. There were overgrown plants everywhere, crumbling buildings that could get knocked over with a small gust of wind, and an eerie aura to the whole place. She jumped over an overgrown root and looked around. The once bustling city was now devoid of all human life. She kept walking until she found the town square. Looking around, she could barely recognize it. She thought back to the simpler times when there was life here. She sighed and shook her head. No use dwelling on the past. She needed to move forward.

She made her way out of town square and headed up the hill to the castle. The castle was on a hill, not only to overlook the wondrous people of their nation, but to see far beyond, to see any threats that might come their way. It was a steep hill, so to say she struggled climbing up it would be an understatement.

When she finally reached the castle, all she could do was gasp at how time had treated it. The once glorious, once shining castle, now reduced to a crumbling structure that was the ghost of once was. She took a tentative step forward and entered the castle, careful to not step on any loose rubble or touch anything that would make the castle fall apart more. She looked around, noticing how some of the hallways were caved in. She decided to head to the throne room, carefully manuvering around the rubble.

She walked into the throne room and was immediately showered with light. She looked up and saw that most of the roof had fallen into the throne room. The thrones themselves were relatively untouched. She was somewhat surprised, and decided to take a closer look. 

As soon as she took a step, the room began to rumble. She looked around to see if she could spot the source of the noise, to no avail. She took another step, and the room shook even more. She took a hurried step backwards, but the shaking didn’t stop. Then, some cracking noises filled the room. She looked around, desperately trying to find the source of the noise. She looked up in enough time to see an unbroken part of the roof start to fall. She didn’t look in enough time to move, however, as the 10,000 ton piece of brick fell straight onto her.

Or would have, if it didn’t get violently knocked off course at the last second. She blinked, looking around in shock. She didn’t see anything that could have done this. She was alone, at least she thought she was, but there was no one around to prove her otherwise. This was too big of an event to blame on the wind, however. There was someone, or something, in here with her. Now she just had to find out who or what it was.

“Hello…?” She called out. No response.

“Is someone here?” Nothing.

“Please come out! I’m not going to hurt you, I promise!”

Try as she might, no one responded to her calls. She sighed. She knew someone, or something, was here. She was determined to find it.

The aura in the air as she crossed the room was unnerving. She knew something was off simply by listening to the way the wind blew. It was a silent noise, but when you heard it, it was a whistling noise, like an arrow finding it’s mark. The air spoke of danger, of some old tale that hadn’t been told. It smelled of sorrow, of a tragedy that could not have been avoided. A breeze whisked past her ear and sent a chill down her spine that had her quickening her pace to the thrones.

When she reached the thrones, it was safe to say she was more than surprised. She had no idea how the thrones had managed to stay intact all this time. The golden frame shone brilliantly in the sunlight that shone in from the still caved in roof. The velvet glistened, still soft to the touch, the cushion inside was still intact and comfortable. The beauty of the thrones begged the question: How were they still in tact? The castle was physically crumbling around her: The walls had multiple holes in them, the stone and brick was all worn down and crumbling, the ceiling was as good as gone, and even the floor had plants sprouting out of it. She spotted a small tree growing in the middle of the room and wondered how long it had been there.

She glanced at her throne, the queen’s throne, the one that sat right next to the king’s throne. She stepped over to it and touched it. It was solid, it felt cool, it was real. Her mind wasn’t coming up with some sort of reminiscent hallucination (her advisor certainly would have said it was a possibility). It was real. She sat in the chair and was brought back to memories before she left. Balls being held in the castle, people dancing and cheering. Watching as the stableboys ran around playing tag, as the stablemaster tried to chase them down and scold them. Watching as the jester put on a show. Watching as the knights informed them of anything and everything that went wrong so they could fix it. Listening as her advisor told her the best course of action. Posing as the castle creator painted her portrait.

She sighed and stood up. If only her advisor were here now. But, he wasn’t. She decided to keep exploring the castle. She left the throne room and walked the halls to her personal quarters. They also led to her husbands quarters, whom she missed dearly. Her husbands quarters were before her own, and she stopped as she passed by them. She decided to take a look inside, to see the state of them now.

She took the doorhandle and gently swung the grand door open. She remembered that her husband’s quarters were simple, and always clean. They had a king bed on the right wall, the side of the bed pushed against the back wall next to the window so he could look out at the stars before he slept. He had a bathroom in the back left corner, and a dresser on the left wall. His closet was in the front right corner. His front wall was simply covered in portraits. He did some art, yes, but the castle creator absolutely loved to paint, but he had no where to put his paintings, so the king allowed his paintings to be hung up around the castle. The king kept his favorites.

Yet when she opened the door, she was not met with the beautiful, clean room she remembered. The outside wall had caved inwards, the ceiling was breaking at the seams, the bed was covered in rubble, the bathroom was destroyed, the closet was filled with rubble, and the dresser had fallen over on it’s front. The only thing that stayed the same was the wall of paintings. They looked as if this ruin wasn’t even in the room. They looked as beautiful as the day they had been painted. She took a few seconds to mourn the room, before she left to see her quarters,

She walked to the door of her quarters, preparing herself for the destruction she would see inside. Or, at least thought she would see, because as she opened her door, Her quarters were exactly the way she remembered them. She blinked and rubbed her eyes a few times, but the room never changed. She walked inside, looking at the dresser, bed, nightstand, walk-in closet, bathroom, the seat underneath the window, even the chandelier; It all looked untouched. It was as if the castle wasn’t crumbling around her. She walked around and touched every item, every area, everything, and confirmed that it wasn’t a hallucination. She pinched herself (ow). It wasn’t a dream (she could practically hear her advisor saying “how peculiar”.).

Why was it that all of her things were untouched, but the castle was literally falling at the seams?! This was peculiar, peculiar indeed. She decided that she was going to figure out what was going on.

“You like the room, I see?”

Turns out she wouldn’t have to search for long.