Once upon a time, before Merlin had learned his first spell, there lived a fair and just Queen. She had three courtiers: Brost the knight, Kael the wizard, and Mil, the people’s representative.


In over four hundred years, the Queen had never allowed so much as the tip of her nose past the ramparts. She never left the castle, nor did she give audience.


One stormy night, late in the year, Mil burst into the castle. His robes billowing in the chilly wind, he called an emergency meeting of the court.


“Right, now that we’re ALL here,” Mil began, glaring pointedly at Kael, who had had to be dragged in by the ear half an hour after the Queen had arrived, “I can tell you why I dragged you out of bed at this magic-damned hour.”


“The goblins have finally revolted, haven’t they,” interjected Kael. Already incensed, Mil looked furious at Kael for stealing his thunder.


Shooting basilisk eyes at the uppity wizard, Mil ground out, “Yes, they have. And we have no idea what magics they might possess, nor do we have even a rough estimate of their numbers. We must be careful, but we must be decisive. I do not want to set a precedent for such rebellions in the future.”




Brost, never one to hide emotion, growled in a low voice, “I always knew we shouldn’t have trusted those filthy animals with our gold. I say we show such inferior races no mercy. Meet them head on, with overwhelming force. Dirty fucking-“




“That’s enough, Brost,” interrupted the Queen, “Although I agree that we must meet their terrorism head on. Kael, do you think it would be wise to mount a magical attack?”




“Strategically, it would. Any trained wizard will be worth two dozen goblins in battle. However, I do not know that we can spare too many given the situation with the castle,” came Kael’s quick reply.




“What are you talking about? There is no priority greater than this, Kael, you lazy bastard,” spat Mil.




The Queen shared a look with Kael, before slowly offering, “Perhaps we could release a few from their duties; retain those who are necessary to stop it from collapsing, and send the rest? We are in no hurry, after all.”




Kael took a deep breath, running his fingers through his long, unbrushed hair.




“My Queen, what we are doing here… I really have no idea what might happen if it we were to do that. Theoretically, of course, it should be possible to keep the process in stasis with a few dozen wizards, but… Magic is not to be trifled with.”




Mil’s grating voice interrupted their conversation, “Right, well do it. We have an uprising on our hands, man! They will kill our people, then they will come here and kill us too! ‘Magic is not to be trifled with’ well neither is goblin steel!”




With that, Mil rose and looked directly at the Queen. Offering him a regal nod, she declared, “Mil is right, of course. Brost, you will lead the defense. Kael go with them and take as many wizards with you as you can. Thank you for coming to alert us, Mil.”




With that, the Queen rose and glided out of the room, beckoning Kael to follow as she did.




Two weeks later, the courtiers were seated around a table with the Queen again. Brost wore bloody armor, and an even bloodier grimace. Kael looked as if he hadn't slept in over a week. Mil too, bore evidence of having been on the battlefield.


Somehow, despite the lack of gore on her robes, it was the Queen that seemed most in need of urgent care. Once radiant skin had turned sallow and pale. Her hair was falling out in clumps, and her eyes were bloodshot, with dark bags underscoring her unrest.




It was Kael that spoke first, "Our Queen was about to undergo an incredibly complex magical ritual before the revolt began. That was why I was unsure whether we could spare wizards for the battle. I have devised a way to put the ritual into stasis, freeing the remaining wizards. Then, we can finally end this madness.”




Drawing in a ragged breath, the Queen tried to speak. Her face twisting into an ugly grimace at her inability to do so, she simply nodded.




Nodding back, Kael rose gingerly and left the meeting room, only to return almost immediately, sweating profusely, shoulders straining against an invisible weight.




"I have instructed the remaining wizards to leave, and am holding the matrix up on my own. I cannot sustain this for long. Here is what we must do," started Kael, dropping to his knees and spreading the scrolls out over the cold stone floor. Conjuring a block of charcoal and a candle, he set about diagramming a complex runic circle on the ground, "Brost and Mil, you must stand here and here," he said, pointing at two triangles along the edge of the circle, "You will be supporting me by feeding the ritual some of your magic. I will attempt to imprint our Queen's and soul onto the magical matrix of the castle. The two are already very closely interlinked, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. However, this will take a lot out of me, and I might not survive if I do not do the same for myself. After the Queen and I are gone, Brost must not leave his triangle. Doing so will prevent either of us from returning. Mil: win us this war, and return with my wizards. They will know what to do."




When Kael was done, the trio took their prescribed positions. Kael took a single step to the left, and began chanting in a tongue lost to time.


The air became thick with magic, and the hairs on Brost's arms stood on end. Mil's ears popped, and the Queen sunk to the floor as the pressure mounted. Light tremors in the walls of the castle increased in intensity until it seemed as if the very Earth was trying to buck them off. Through it all, Kael paused not even to draw breath.


In a flash of orange light that seared Brost's eyeballs, the rumbling stopped and Kael's voice ceased it's chanting. Blinking desperately to restore his vision, Brost called out, "Did it work? Kael? Mil? Did it work?"


"It... seems that it did," came Mil's tentative reply.


Brost, still blind, turned to the source of the voice, "Go! Time is of the esse- glurg!"


Mil pulled the spear back out, shoving the knight from his triangle.


"I have always been King, Brost. Now I have the title to go along with the work," he said, dropping the spear, and turning to the door, "Oh, and don't worry. I'll be putting up the strongest wards I know. Nobody will find you, not in a thousand years. Die now, fool."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


A century later, two witches and two wizards would be drawn to a castle hidden by some basic wards; a castle brimming with magic, a castle that seemed almost to have a soul. And that, my dears, is how Hogwarts Castle came to be.

 

1201 words by MS Word as written - 1200 exactly when the scene break was removed (and when using an online counter). This one passes in terms of word count, but FFS...

Anyway this is another neat idea. It's one I expected to see, being the origin of the Castle, but it didn't quite click for me. I was never quite sure what was going on, though I can appreciate the concepts in play.

Spoiler

“Before Merlin had learned his first spell” is a great way to give a sense of how long ago this was without sticking actual numbers in.

I like the names Brost, Kael, and Mil… BUT! I keep seeing “Mil” and reading it as the acronym for “mother-in-law” and just no.

This sentence is a bit awkward for a few reasons mixed in together, I think?

Already incensed, Mil looked furious at Kael for stealing his thunder.

The “shooting basilisk eyes” bit is also awkward to read. I like the concept, mind you, and your point comes across perfectly well. It just feels a bit sloppily done, I suppose?

Also want to point out that it doesn’t feel much like a Fairy Tale by the middle – at the start it did, with the Queen who never left her castle and the courtiers – but once they’re chillin’ and having a conversation about Goblins it feels more like a standard story.

So I have the impression that Mil didn’t know what was wrong with the castle. As soon as it seems to be sorted that some wizards will leave and some will stay to deal with whatever-it-is though, he… seems to lose all curiosity. It seems natural that he would ask WTF is wrong with the castle if he doesn’t know, and if he does know then one would think he wouldn’t be dismissing it.

Starts to feel a bit more like a Fairy Tale near the end again.

And at the end I have so many questions. Mil is the King… of what? Scotland? Magical Britain? What was the Queen the Queen of? Where did the Castle come from to begin with? Did Kael and the Queen leave or did Mil kill them? Did they not come back to see WTF happened to Brost if they lived? Did Mil win the war? Which war?

I like telling the story of how Hogwarts castle was created and/or came to be, but I’m not sure this is that story? The castle appears to have existed prior to this story, after all, and we don’t know what happened to it that made it into what it is today apart from Mil putting up wards on it.

Good idea that could use a good deal of polish.

 

It's what happens when you copy paste from gdoc to a forum text box. It doubles everything. Also that's the most fucking unself-aware comment I've ever seen you say.

I'd suggest you post something more constructive. Comp threads are exempt from shit posting.