Queen of the Woods

Sunlight flits through the canopy of green that covers the forest as the Queen of the Woods moves among the tress on her early morning sortie to awaken the woodlands to the new day.

Her bare feet gently brushing the forest floor as she hovers along; the fallen leaves and pine needles tickling her toes making her giggle and show her warm smile.

At the sound of her mirthful laughter, the flowers begin to open their blooms as she passes by, gingerly touching their soft pedals with the tips of her fingers, causing the colours of each one to further deepen in richness for their Queen.

The many creatures inhabiting the woods emerge from their cozy dens in the tall trees or burrows in the soft ground to greet their Mistress with chirps and calls of excitement.

Smiling broadly as she passes her woodland subjects, the Queen of the Woods spins around in the air, her ephemeral sundress twirling around, swirling the leaves and needles and grasses up with a merry rustling sound, bringing more creatures out from their night-time refuges.

Lifting her arms up, the Queen beckons her realm to come alive and not be afraid, for the sun has risen and her sister, the Night Queen's time has passed for another day.

Coming to an ancient tress stump, she steps gently down onto the soft ground and sits regally, a true Queen on her throne.

The soft breeze continues to tussle her flowing hair about as if she still moved, causing her to radiate with constant life and beauty; puffs of pollen dancing in the breeze around her wooden-crowned head.

Bunnies, chipmunks, sparrows, moose, birds, bears, and all manner of her animal subjects gather around her as she greets them one and all with a beaming smile and melodious laughter as shafts of golden sunlight shine down upon her; illuminating her with brilliance.

All forgetting the fearful night as their Queen has come to protect them in the new day's light.

All unaware, that from within the shadows still hidden from the light between some of the older gnarled, closely growing trees, the Night Queen watches.

Night's dark eyes full of contempt for her sister sitting surrounded by her loving rabble of simpering creatures; she too had loyal subjects, the creeping, slithering, scuttling beasts of the night; some of which moved over the skin of her bare legs and feet as she stood cloaked in shadows.

And soon, they would be let loose on the world of the sunlight to vanquish the day and turn it forever into night.

Soon, the Night Queen thought, backing further into the darkness, her malevolent grin full of starkly white teeth glistening bright.

Death of the Demon King

Alas, tis a sad day, for our King is dead.

He had ruled over this dark domain for millennia on end, and brought such great suffering to the world; what a glorious reign!

Such pitiless plagues; such perverse pestilence He had spread across the land; not only corrupting the lands themselves, but the hearts and minds of the people who dared lived in the light.

Fa! Such fools! Did they think to resist His dark will!?

How could they have hoped to escape His dominance; so great it was.

Once was.

That will that had once been so powerful it felt as though it would crush the world in His dark grip, had begun to falter as of late.

For centuries passed, the world above had all but forgotten the darkness of below; relegating the realm of monsters and shadow to myths and legends.

And our King had become complacent, allowing the light to continue to radiate and grow.

Thus the time indeed had come for His long reign to come to and end; for myself to orchestrate a shadowy coup unseen.

So now, as I hold His head aloft for you all to see; severed by my own hand, honour him and mourn; the death of your great Demon King!

Rejoice, you dogs! And kneel! Bow before your terrible new Demon Queen!

Castle Alverone

Can you see it? High up above; barely visible, but it is up there, that tiny speck that crosses the moon when it shines brightly on cool, clear nights.

Make no mistake, though, it's still there even behind the cover of clouds; there in the blinding light of day. It's always there, making its journey around us as we sit down here on the ground; through the vacuum of space, shining like a beacon with the reflected light of the stars themselves.

Orbiting the planet; a lone sentinel from a time long gone: The Silver Castle of Mount Alverone.

You doubt that it's true? There couldn't possibly be a castle made of silver rotating around above us in space, you say? How did it get there? Why is it up there; might be questions that come to mind.

Good questions to ask indeed, but perhaps you might mull over instead: who lives up there still, in such an unlikely of places? And what could have caused them to leave this Earth behind?

There have been many theories throughout the years; the greatest minds in history trying to answer the problem in vain.

Perhaps the lord or lady who dwells within ran a foul of a powerful dark warlock who cast a spell over the castle, causing it to float up like a balloon until it left the atmosphere, got caught up in the perpetual gravitational pull of the planet's orbit and is now forever stuck spinning in tandem with Earth's daily trip around the sun.

Or maybe it was an early scientist that created the world's first castle-shaped rocket, but once it blasted foolishly off the Earth's surface with powerful fireworks; it only had enough gumption to get stuck up there in its unending ellipse.

Another possibility altogether could be that an angry and bitter old wizard became fed up with the problems of the world and its people and build a magic castle to leave the planet behind; floating peacefully out in space, away from everyone.

Many a brilliant mind have gone mad before their time with obsession at solving the riddle, but no one has got it just right.

How would I know, you ask? How would a doddering old man in a shabby old suit, sitting here alone on a park bench know what the smartest of people throughout history have all wrong?

Well, let me answer that with a bit of advice for you; free of charge:

If you ever set out to build a castle made of material so light you could move from place to place, in order to visit the many lands your rule over, simply by picking it up with your one hand: make sure you tether it to your wrist with a damned string!

And make doubly sure that you do so if your lady wife asks you to go get some fresh milk from the farmer down the way, otherwise there will be hell to pay, whenever you figure out how to get the blasted castle back down again.

Christmas Carol

Oh, Carol, how I wish you were here with me now. I have been good all year and now I am missing you; wishing you were here with me on this lonely Christmas night.

I think of the times we had and the love that we shared and I want you to come back to me; come back to me now, so I can make it right.

Oh, Carol, how I wish I could take all that I said and all that I did. If you came back to me now you would see, I really have been good ever since you went away. For now I only sit and look out the window, waiting for your return, but there is only the wind blowing cold outside in the dark, wintery night.

It was a night just like tonight that you took your leave, and I hope that now, perhaps you will finally come back to me, tonight of all nights. But lo and behold, what is this I see in the distance now; a slender, spectral figure, clad all in white.

Is it you who I see? Is it you who has come back to me? I knew you could not be held, deep down in the frozen, earthly soil of your shallow grave. I knew you would come back to me, oh Carol, are you not the most wonderful sight!

But why do you seem so full of anger and rage, my love? You cannot still be mad at me. After all, I did bring you back. I know I was the one, who put you in that hole in the ground, but I have been so good and spoke the spells and incantations correctly; I preformed the rituals right.

Oh, Carol, I have brought you back to me, granted, with the same black magic that I used to murder you the year before, but that was so long ago. Can you not forgive me? Please, my love, why put your cold, dead hands around my throat? Please, Carol, oh please, what will the neighbours think, when they find my body throttled by a ghost? They will certainly die of fright.

Insidious

Far out in the middle of the sea, there is a small, tree-filled island, and in amongst the woods the island there is a small, dark cave.

Inside the darkness of the cave there lives one of the most insidious of creatures has ever been.

No one has ever been to this island in the sea, or even knows that it is there, yet they have all seen the creature that resides within the depths its cavern, though they may not have been aware.

For each day before the dawn sun rises, it slinks its way out of the dark, hovel hole and spreads its evil across the world.

Though you may not recognize it, you too have encountered the foul fiend, perhaps even today.

For it can disguise itself cleverly; it can become whatever it needs to be, to carry out its dastardly scheme.

It could have been the one who secretly turned off your alarm clock late last night, causing you to be tardy for work once again.

It could have taken the shape of the sweet little old woman who snuck into line in front of you, only to insist on paying her bill with all the change at the bottom of her enormous handbag.

Or perhaps it took the more sinister form of that irritable barista at you local coffee cafe, who purposefully took your ritual order wrong, only you realized it after you had gone.

Maybe even the most malevolent manifestation of all, that group of tourists that stopped at the top of the escalator to plan out their day, while the gangs of commuters piled up behind you, jostling into you and making you spill your incorrectly-made morning brew all over the front of your newly bought shirt.

All these shapes and forms to attain its purpose, its main goal; to impede you, to cause you delay, to make you feel like you are having the very worst day.

Each day it accomplishes this, it returns once again to its lonely island cave, to laugh to itself in the darkness and gloom; to giggle itself to sleep, to awaken once more, to try and ruin your day.

Yet, there is a way to fight this most terrible of monsters, to not let it have its own way; simply do not let it get to you. Just smile, and say, 'Have a nice day!'

Just breathe and be kind, despite what others do or say.

If only everyone would do this, the creature would be vanquished, its reign of terror at an end.

But until then, it sits and smiles maliciously, from out of the shadows of its cave, deep within the small forest island, far out in the middle of the sea.

Betwixt

Betwixt the shadow of night and the light of day, out on the horizon of the dawn, there lies a plain of existence separate from our own; a realm where all things are possible and time is stretched out into eternity.

There are some who say that there is no such place, that it is a fleeting fantasy of those that wish to escape reality. They say what lies out on the horizon is only more horizon, a shimmering haze that tricks the foolish into venturing out further and further, until they become lost and drowned out in the frigid sea.

Yet, this is untrue, this fact I know; know it in my heart, that there is another world beyond the edge of this one, and it is there that I must go.

Galloping across the grassy plains, my horse charges on as I push him to dash on; onward fervently, toward the glimmer on the horizon; onward toward the gateway that leads to another realm amongst the golden clouds that hang there.

While keeping my sights ahead toward my goal, in my mind I look inward to see the pleading faces of my family, imploring me not to strike out on my quest. I had tried to explain to them, tried to make them see; there was another world out there; I needed there to be.

But they would not listen, so it was with a heavy heart that I stole away in the night, to race against the rising sun; to meet that perfect moment where the first sliver of daylight breaks through the cloak of night, to reveal the way in.

If only I could be fast enough, I could see her again.

As we moved closer to where I knew the land would give way to the crystal blue waters of the sea, doubt crept, sneaking in to my sorrow-filled thoughts.

It must be there; it had to be, for why else would she not have returned to her devoted love; why had she not returned to me?

I too had thought her tales of the realm between worlds to be a foolish dream, so away from me she had run; towards the dawn's new born sun, until she had vanished into its bright, golden light.

Now my only hope is to find the land she has already found; to tell her I was wrong, that I do believe in that place, in her realm above the sea and below the sky above, where we can be together forever as one.

Sprinting now, the wind whipping in our faces, man and beast moving together, racing to the edge of consciousness; memories of my love's smiling face blurring in my mind's eye, as the horizon melds with the land and sky, allowing us to gallop on through to the realm in between.

Here betwixt the shadow of night and the light of day, I have found you, my love, you were right, and now forever here we will stay. Far away from the grey world we left down below; far away from the cold, cruel sea, where our earthly bodies now lay.

My Love

Why do you shake, my love?

Though, the fire is roaring with its heat so bright,

There is indeed a chill in the air that cuts me to the very bone.

Why do you shiver and quake, my love?

For it was I that was lost in the dark and cold of the woods tonight,

Though I cannot remember how I came to be there, dirty and alone.

Why have you gone so pale, my love?

It was I who had visions so terrible and full of fright;

Visions of being buried alive in the earth so deep,

For past sins I had to atone.

Why do you not come to me, my love?

I have returned home to you, but you do not delight.

After I awoke in that muddied field,

At the foot of that foreboding tombstone.

What is that you whisper, my love?

I cannot not hear what you have said.

Mutterings to yourself,

That I cannot be here...

That I am dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk7B-E4oIWA