Einar stepped out of the large castle made of black marble and living midnight birchwood trees and into the ever dark air.
He looked above and stoically observed the shining lights that mimicked the stars as they swirled slowly across a back drop of night sky colors. Fuchsia pink, indigo blue, royal purple, darkest black, all served as compliment to the bright white lights that shimmered against the galactic ceiling of this part of the wood. Lights born from the fruits of the Night trees.
Trees placed here by their lord of course.
These trees so old and massive that the tops had not been seen since the dragons had first been created by the goddesses. Due to their height, it was believed that a whole world below it had come to existence. A world in perpetual darkness that mimicked the night sky.
How his family had scrounged and saved for a start fruit, all in hopes that Einar would offer it to someone he loved and start a family.
Einar scoffed quietly to himself. All the good it had done them. Years later and still alone, the star fruit remained with his relatives. Locked away and waiting.
How long will it wait he wondered to himself.
Every so often, one would fall, like a shooting star, streaking across their artificial sky. Their shining light marking their path as they approached the ground.
Many of his people would hunt and search for these fallen star fruits, their possession and ingestion believed to bring great luck and magical powers.
Most often the fruits were used as a proposal items, offered by one to another as a symbol of love and commitment. A promise of protection and light, just as the fruits provide to his people.
He sighed with resignation as he turned to take in the castle.
A beautiful construct, not so large as to be excessive but built for protection. It's height made to give those inside an unobstructed view of the surrounding area, the living birch trees on five corners, in the shape of a star. To the trained eye the translucent barrier emitted by the trees could be seen, whisper thin but still and steady like a statue.
Balconies were placed strategically and conveniently. Some for the enjoyment of guests and the lord himself, others for the militant personnel to watch over the grounds.
Many of the walls were lined or entirely made of glass, magically imbued glass of course, but the effect was as desired, creating an open and honest view of portions of the castle, allowing those inside to easily see what was outside of the walls and vice versa.
His lord had always been an involved and open leader, always welcoming the commoners, always ruling sincerely and from the heart.
The Midnight Castle, almost as old as time, a refuge for the galaxians and the Folk of the night, a meeting place for the community, a safe haven to anyone who should need it.
And his home.
Einar felt a deep throb of sadness at the thought of his lord and all that he had done for his people.
He stepped forward making his way into the castle to resume his duties.
He entered through the tall open double doors, also made from birch wood, and made his way through the high ceilinged hallways, the ceilings decorated in complicated filigree and painted foliage, all commissioned by his lord of course.
His steps fell silently on the plush running rug that ran through all of the hallways of the castle.
Einar nodded his head as he passed workers and citizens milling about their business.
Entering the main hall of the castle, shaped as a pentagon as well, hallways branching from each wall, he began his ascent on the marble stair case that's base lie opposite of the causeway he had just exited.
The wide steps required that he be mindful of his stride, their length too long to allow him to reach either banister if standing in the center of each step.
But he did not need the banister. No, no. He had made this ascent every day for most of his adult life. He could walk these steps blindfolded. And hand tied.
The stairs spiraled, off shoots would lead to different hallways, different rooms with designated purposes. All of which wove and built soundly around the living mass of the Night Birches.
Einar did not stop until he had reached the top of the castellum. He strode across the landing to walk through the open double doors that led to the roof.
Stepping out he walked past more guards, to who he nodded in acknowledgment, receiving military grade salutes, their fisted hands over their hearts, before they returned to their at ease stance.
He walked until the reached the edge of the roof that jutted out slightly, where a baluster separated the person against it from the edge of a very high drop.
Sequestered from the world, the Midnight Castle was near to impossible to reach without magic means. Those from the world of light assumed that it was a separate dimension all together.
As isolated and impenetrable as it was, it might as well been. He still had never discerned exactly what his lord had done to separate his people from the outside world.
He made a mental note to ask the next he saw him.
If he saw him.
Einar stood on the balcony, turning his attention to the scenery below.
There was no wind here, no rain, no sunlight, yet life thrived. Bioluminescent animals of all shapes and sizes flitted back and forth foraging food from bioluminescent foliage. Those of the original Galaxias tribe traded amicably in the narrow streets that wound this way and that through the Midnight city and the monumental trees. Their bodies, reflections of the "sky" above them, black and constantly undulating with the colors that could be seen above them. Their eyes shining white orbs, adapted to the darkness. Some possessed long white hair and others had no hair at all. Despite the differences between each, they all were considerably larger than the average human with incredibly long pointy ears and a set of bug like wings. Some wings resembled that of a butterfly, while others resembled a dragon flies'. A very few special members possessed wings like those of a dragon, although much thinner and smaller.
Often times those with these wings were from long lines of royalty that had once mingled with a dragon blood line.
Einar was one of these few.
His family had served the Midnight Castle for generations, a long line of galaxians born with dragon wings had been chosen to serve as the right hand to the dragon of midnight.
The Beloved One, the Cursed One.
It had always been an honor to be chosen and to dedicate their life to serving their lord. His family had always been treated as an extension of his lord himself, he had always insisted that their family was the only family he knew.
Einar still remembered the day he had been chosen at the young age of eighty. It was the proudest moment of his life.
His family had raised him for this, prepared him for this.
But despite all of this, he had failed his family, and he had failed his master.
He could not bring himself to recall that night, no matter how hard he tried.
After it had happened he had replayed the events in his mind relentlessly, tortured himself with the possibly lost opportunities and berated himself for the things he could have done differently to prevent what had happened.
Night after night he had thrashed in his sleep, recalling more detailed bits and pieces of what had happened. Each time he gripped the information, turning it over in his mental hands, looking at it from all aspects, finding places and times where he could have done better. Tried harder. A missed step here, a second too slow interaction there.
He couldn't remember the last time he had slept restfully.
As Einar stood on the balcony, he felt a jolt of what he could only describe as electricity. His eyes grew wide as he watched the world below him react similarly. The bioluminescent plants and creatures began to glow brighter and brighter, some of them slowly flashing in bursts of light.
The galaxian people looked around precariously, their wings unfurled and ready for flight should fleeing or fighting be necessary.
This lasted the rest of the "day".
The following day the foliage and creatures were brighter and much more active.
And the day after that.
And the day after that.
Before long a month had gone by and the surge of power that filled the deepest part of the Midnight Forest had not subsided.
Einar had been kept busy with all of the worried and frantic citizens of the large municipality. Many had rushed to the castle, seeking answers that Einar did not have.
After the initial rush of panic, and Einars' diligent work to restore calm to the city, he continued to search for answers. He spent day after day in the castles library, a place as large as some villages, looking for any evidence of what it could mean. The hours he was not in the library, he was in the wood, collecting samples and bringing them back for further analysis.
Still he could find nothing.
Before long another month had gone by, and that was when they all received the answer they'd been searching for.
A sonic boom resonated throughout the city when a black undulating portal opened at the front door of the castle.
Einar saw it from the balcony he often occupied.
He leaped over the banister and glided quickly to the ground, sword drawn, ready for whatever may come.
With his free hand he shot a beacon of red light into the sky. Moments later soldiers began to surround the portal.
Another beacon was shot, this time yellow, the citizens were being signaled to evacuate.
"Please, please be enough time to get my people to safety. In the name of the North, East, South, and West, I pray.", Einar whispered to himself, fighting off the fear of what may come, pushing the images of the event that had happened 20 years ago deep inside of himself. He could not afford to dwell on those tragic memories, the people needed him to be calm and ready, focused and vigilant.
Brow furrowed and teeth clenched in concentration, body coiled, ready for the first sign of danger.
Einar shot another evacuation signal, he could sense that there were still some villagers present and ge needed them to leave for their safety.
As he felt the rising frustration that came with inevitable fear when facing the possibility of death and destruction of all he'd ever known, he realized all of the bioluminescent creatures were coming towards the portal, not away from it. Night Flies that resembled dragonfly's but that were as large as hawks came buzzing, almost curiously. Vulpine the size of bears with glowing fur ranging from green to blue came with tails tucked and ears laid flat looking more timid than threatening. Parrakites with large fanning tail feathers that glowed purple and yellow flocked to the tops of the castle and surrounding buildings to perch and watch what was to come.
A sudden realization came to Einar as he watched all of these creatures gather.
"Stand down!", Einar commanded. "I repeat, stand down!".
The guards warily dropped their weapons a fraction of an inch, ready should the command change to "attack".
His whole body shook with shock and excitement. It was him.
Seconds later another crashing sound like lightning came as a large black beast stepped casually through the portal.
Einar fell to his knees instantly.
"My lord.", he rasped, his emotions threatening to take hold of him. He had waited 20 years for this moment.
Lucius Absentia came into full view and the portal behind him, contrastingly, closed quietly.
The royal guards all fell to their knees.
"For the Night!", the guards roared in unison.
Standing tall was the Beloved One, the Cursed One. He had returned.
______________________________________________________________________
Raven felt nothing as he saw his kingdom bent at his feet, appearing before them.
Would he ever feel anything other than this heartbreak ever again?
He could not be sure.
But he knew that he could not avoid returning to his old life, the life before Caeli. He had a kingdom full of Folk that needed him, and had needed him for the last 20 years.
Was that how he would measure his life now?
Before and after her.
He intended to respect her wishes of being left alone. This did not change his decision to be ready should she seek him out, either for help or reconciliation it did not matter to him. He would be there, ready and willing, in anyway that she needed.
And so he returned. He would become more powerful than ever before, he would exact his revenge on those that had cursed him to be a mindless creature and he would become the person Caeli needed and wanted him to be. Become the person she had thought him to be.
And maybe, one day, she would return to him.