+ + +

Once upon a time there was a troubled young lady who lived in a tower, and she very much liked books.

The tower was not one meant to lock princesses inside, nor was there any evil stepmother to blame for any misfortune. Rather, the young lady had laid the foundation of the tower herself, atop a bed of thorns and a grove of rose bushes. It had been birthed from an innocent and harmless dream shared by three like-minded souls — all of whom were just children.

The first was a vision of color, explosive and vibrant expression from a paintbrush swept across the fabric of the world.

The second was a symphony of sound, both harmony and melody in a rhythmic waltz of multiple complementary polarities.

The third was a web of words, spun from the poetic fibers of the naked soul weaved into the stitch-work of heartfelt fantasy.

Together, the three of them held hands and said: 'Let there be light'—

—And then there was light, laughter, and love.

That was the the origin of the Beginning, a very very long time ago.

+ + +

However, every Beginning is eventually followed by an Ending.

For this story, the ending came premature. 

The bond holding the trinity together fractured, and the symbol of their union crumbled. The children splintered each onto their own paths. The eldest vanished, the middle child fled, and the youngest was discarded in the remnants of a sand castle left only partially erected. The tower was never completed.

Left behind, the youngest child wept. 

The girl was not strong or brave. She had no talent with the brush nor gift with song. Try as hard as she might, the young lady could not continue the artwork according to the original design. Instead, the parts that she patched over turned out ugly and misshapen. Every piece that she tried to fix only broke down further. A single misplaced note distorted a beautiful harmony into pure cacophony. The wondrous tower that the three had shared rapidly became twisted grotesque monstrosity.

The symbol for their bond had transformed into a depressing beacon of her loneliness and failure.

She turned inwards and curled up inside a cloud of gloom.

+ + +

Time passed.

The young lady feared the light that shined from bright places, so she erected thick walls that blocked out the sun.

The young lady hated the vast echo of empty rooms, so she made gloomy, cramped, and oppressing corridors that dampened sound from the poorly tuned wind chimes shrieking outside in the air.

The young lady resented her former everlasting friendships that turned out to be merely transient. She shut away her heart, emotions, and her desires, and locked it away in a deep metal chest where it couldn't be pained by disappointed expectations. Companionship was an illusion, and there wasn't anybody worth getting attached over.

After all, nothing lasted forever. 

She didn't like people. She didn't like the fake smiles of predatory businessmen and adults who reeked of their greed. She didn't like the giggles and gossip of girls behind closed curtains, and she definitely didn't like the sadistic grin of locker room boys who sneered and mocked the vulnerable weak for their own self-amusement and aggressive sense of superiority.

So she hid and ran.

She didn't extend an arm to the little gay prancing lamb that was imminently about to be torn apart by wolves. Instead, she pretended that she didn't see and looked the other way while stalking lions crawled through the tall savannah grass. She slipped into the shadows, unnoticed, while the hunters crouched and leapt to sink their fangs for a thrilling kill.

The young lady was always very good at hiding.

She hid very well.

She was not very brave.

The young lady buried herself inside her stories.

Absorbed within the fairy tales, sand castles, and fantasy, it was so easy to forget about her troubles and worries. 

Wouldn't it be nice if fantasy could become reality?

Magic was incredible, and stunning heroes made her heart throb. Seeing them prevail over darkness and legions of evil filled her with hope and dreams. No adversary could crush the spark that burned inside these legends. Dragons breathed fire that gave life to the universe, phoenixes were reborn, and gryphons bore the courage to ride impossible odds. Unicorns needn't necessarily have maidens and hedge witches could rescue princes and then tragically melt into puddles from developing unrequited love.

Goblins could be the most honorable knights.

She didn't have to be there in the story.

Simply being nearby and somewhere in the audience was enough. 

She was content with this.

If she hugged the paperback book tightly to her chest, she could feel the warmth of the pages filling and flooding her. It was better than any heater, blanket, or hot drink. When her stomach was filled with nice words, she felt like she had a tiny bit more strength. She could feel happy.

It was a little cold when snowed outside, but it didn't matter if she felt toasty within.

+ + +

Once upon a time there was a troubled young lady who stood atop a ruined tower, and she very much liked books.

The sun had been blocked out, and a dense forest of sharp thorns cradled this ancient amphitheater of drama. Crumbling black walls stretched up to the sky, and the wind chimes screamed with with dissonant cacophony as gusts blew across the ramparts.

It was empty and lonely.

The young lady looked across the devastated scene of her own folly. 

She sighed with deep regret, as this place had become a wasteland during the time of her misery.

It was not a very good place to read books.

She turned around and walked away.

One day, she would craft a new tower.

She would make new tower that was better for keeping and protecting stories... for a new future.

Until then, this place would stay at rest, quietly tucked away in the corner of the world.

It was a tomb, and the young lady had no desire to linger here any more.

+ + +

Epilogue.

Present time... many months and years later...

"Woah! Check this out!"

"Dude, this awesome! @Johulc, get over here!" 

"Chill, man. If it's another giant mammoth, I'm logging off for today."

"No, I'm serious! Are you seeing this too?"

"...Is... Is that a castle?"

"There are these giant thorns growing everywhere. It's like a literal maze of humungous black vines."

"Somebody actually built something this far out? Something of this size must have taken forever..."

"Why do you think it's walled off? You can't get in. It looks abandoned too."

"Do you think it's hiding something?"

"Haha, I feel like a fucking adventurer. This is awesome!"

"What are you? Like a twelve year old?"

"This server isn't a fantasy MMORPG. There aren't supposed to be dungeons and that kind of stuff here. Something just seems really weird. The nearest portal is hours away."

"Well, somebody must have made it."

"Should we leave it alone? If they walled it off like that... maybe they don't want us sniffing around? It looks like it took a lot of time to make something like this. Maybe we should ask around on the forums if anyone knows about it?"

"Don't be such a chicken, Sylv. You won't be impressing any ladies if you're always such a wimp."

"I say that we break in. Just to see what's inside. There might be treasure."

"Oooh, I can go for treasure! I want one of those 「 Weather Control」 staffs that they've started selling in the market. They're stupidly expensive for ordinary users though. It's dumb that only moderators have full server privileges. What's the point of a sandbox server if you can't do whatever the fuck you want? I want to blow stuff up already."

"Me too! I want to make a volcano explode! It'd be hilarious! Especially on that Flan bitch. She muted me last week. Can you believe that?! She's fucking annoying with how she's always going on about trying to keep the server PG-13. This is the Internet, what do you even expect?"

"Hey guys, how are we getting in? I'm not getting anywhere with sawing these giant vines. They're like impossible to cut through."

"Jo, why don't you try your 「 Fire」 staff? Burn it all."

"Huh... you're smart! I like you!"

"Let's get this shit a run for its money. Flamethrower mode!"

"Fuck! Watch where the hell you point that thing! It's hot!"

"Chill, man. You can't die on virtual reality."

"Dude, it still hurts like shit."

"Hey! It's catching! It's on fire! Jo, it's working!"

"Yeah baby. Burn and burn."

"Burn it!"

"This is fucking awesome!"

"I could do this all day."

"Hey! Give me a turn too!"

"No way in hell! I want this section up in the flames! We can switch after that!"

"Damn you selfish cunt. There's gonna be none left! I want my turn now! Gimme it!"

"Haha, no dude."

"Burn it!"

∎