Wraithwood

Life isn’t a fairytale.

Words that a girl named Rune Wraithwood had lived by since birth. Not a mere phrase or a simple motto. No. It was a warning. One to ensure she never forgot the harshness of the world just outside of her reach. The same world that decided to punish her for the sins of her mother. And though her mother’s crimes were indeed not a fairytale, she was always happy to recount the tale to Rune every night before bed.

“Once Upon A Time… there lived a world without magic. Where everyone believed it to be a simple myth. Until one brave woman discovered that a man named Christopher Brimstone had a vault of it sealed away inside in his luxurious manor. The woman was his maid, just going about her business… when she heard a voice beckon to her. The voice of true magic, the voice of Infernus. Infernus pleaded with her to share it’s power with the world. But Brimstone caught her just as her hand inched closer to the vault door. The two fought and in the madness that ensued — the vault shattered! It unleashed a tidal wave of magic and decimated most of the world. Thousands of survivors were now in the possession of great powers that would forever alter the course of destiny. They were something different now, something more.

"But Brimstone blamed the woman for the innocent blood that now stained her hands and sought to execute her, refusing to see the bigger picture. Luckily, other brave men and women sided with her — vowing to fight alongside her until the bitter end. Alas, the war ended in tragedy. Brimstone won. His cruelty now at its peak. He decided that death would be too kind for the woman and her allies. So, he cast a spell to trap them on an island deep in the sea. Where any time they tried to swim or sail too far away from their prison… they would be erased from existence — their bodies utterly destroyed and every memory of them wiped off the face of the earth. Brimstone then dubbed this hellscape — Shadows Keep, where only the darkest souls would dwell. While Brimstone and his servants rebuilt the mainland into their ideal… utopia. A kingdom called Everian. Where he and his followers continue to celebrate their victory to this day. But back on Shadows Keep, the woman vowed to never give up and one day get her revenge — after all, she was the Dragon Queen.”

“Tell it, again,” Rune yawned. “Please, Mama?”

“Not tonight, dearest,” Amaris kissed her daughter’s forehead, before getting up from the side of the bed and turning off the light.

“Do you have to turn off the light, Mama?” Rune asked, her voice layered with a hint of fear.

“Yes, but never fret,” Amaris smiled. “You are a Wraithwood. And the darkness of night shall always kneel before us. So says Infernus and so say we all.”

“…Mama?”

“Yes, dearest?”

“Why didn’t we get a happy ending?”

“Because life isn’t a fairytale, Rune. Despite what our jailers wish everyone else to believe,” Amaris’s eyes flared briefly, before her expression softened ever so slightly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me — I must get back to work. I have a vow to uphold. Goodnight, dearest.”

“Goodnight, Mama.”

Amaris left and shut the door behind her. Rune rolled over in her torn and tattered sheets. It wasn’t just the dark that terrified her, it was the shrieks of pain that accompanied it long into the hours of early morning. Shrieks that came from the dungeons below her tiny bed. The eight-year-old girl reached out, removing a small figurine of a pirate taped underneath her nightstand, and clutched it tightly.

“SOMEONE — PLEASE — HELP!”

“STOP — OH, GOD — NO!”

“ARRGHHHHHH!”

Rune covered her head with the sheets, cowering as she held the figurine close to her heart, every inch of her body shaking with fear.

Sometimes she wished the Dragon Queen would give up, if anything so she could feel safe for just one night…