In a Land Far Away: An Anthology

Just Like a Sandcastle

by Myadence

It always amazed me how quickly something could fall apart. No matter how beautiful or perfect it was, it could always break, crumble even. Just like a sandcastle, anything could fall apart without a sound. In a strange way, I took comfort in knowing this, it meant that everything would end eventually. I liked to think that the people during the Melting all those years ago would have taken comfort in this too.

Year 5438

"Prince Arlein! Please hurry!" Theo pleaded, picking though the mess I had made the night before.

"Sorry, I'm almost ready." I mumbled.

That wasn't entirely a lie. I had physically been ready for a while now, but a part of me just wasn't ready to leave yet. The thought of having to see my family filled me with a dread that made me nauseous. It wasn't often that we would all have to get together, but those few times we did, Father's funeral, Sere's coronation, and now Calcion's wedding, were all set out to end horribly.

"It can't be worse than last time." He empathized.

"Someone threw a shovel at me!"

"Yeah, but now you'll be better prepared!"

The royal family simply did not get along. It was a fact every commoner in the kingdom knew. The blame couldn't be placed on a single person. Although one could argue otherwise, and they would.

The kingdom was split into roughly 17 factions. One for each member of the direct royal family. It could be compared to how the people of olden times followed a sports team. You would pick whichever team was your favorite, then blindly and madly support them to the fullest. But instead of getting goals, it would be about who got the throne.

It was a constant never-ending battle. Even when the battle was over, it wasn't. Sere's coronation had been the bloodiest battle yet. Bloodiest in the metaphorical sense, although that wasn't always the case. My family wasn't even the worst of it! It was the supporters you had to fear. The ones who would do anything for their bias. The ones who could hear something from their idol and completely blow it out of proportion (although I'm sure that's what their idol meant to happen).

As the youngest, I didn't have too many followers. It usually didn't bother me. There were better people to put your trust in anyways. I wasn't as easy to idolize as my other siblings. In general, I was pretty average. I wasn't strong like my brother Calcion, and I wasn't a genius like my sister Sere. That let me get away with a lot. Out of us all, I was given the least amount of responsibilities. Show up where and when you're supposed to and you'd be fine. That was something I probably took advantage of more than I should've.

"I swear Arlein," Theo swam over, "We need to leave!"

I dramatically sighed, "What if we just skipped this one?"

"I'm fairly certain someone would kill you." He half joked.

Theo was my best friend. He was family more than anything. Real family. I'm sure if I pushed, he would let me stay here.

"Please?" I whined.

"You want to go to the surface." Theo mumbled .