#hi if anyones read missing evidence this could technically be considered part of its lore lol

[villruu]

Sixteenth Day Event Prompt:

Eret's castle in the wind

Eret sighs, pausing and leaning on her cane heavily as she takes a breath.

Across her, a sprawling valley extends as far as her frail eyes can see in the full light of the sun. The terrain is deeply uneven, sharp depressions dotting the valley, half covered in thick bushes that try to keep hidden the treacherous holes. With a huff, she continues her walk, carefully following the small creek nestled into what once was paths of wooden planks and cobblestone.

It has been ages since then, she hasn't bothered to keep track in a long long time, and yet, muscle memory guides her easily through the deceiving terrain. More than once her hair gets caught on the thick branches of nearby trees, forced as she is to sometimes almost crawl to continue, but she has come from too far to let herself just be stopped by mere plants.

At last, she arrives to her destination.

Eret stares at the decayed remains in front of her. From the tall castle she had built only mere fragments are left, crumbling stone bricks marking the place where she once lived. The front arch is barely a wall, one column left of what once was a strong wall, more moss and vines than rock.

She steps inside slowly, taking her time to stare at what once was her home. The wood has all but rotten away by now, sunken into the dirt to be reclaimed by nature once more. The colorful stained glass is all but gone, what wasn't destroyed that fateful day now eroded away by time.

She walks through the ruins without hesitation, despite the ominous creaking the remains of the building give as the wind that runs across the meadow slams against the fragile walls. Her personal garden has overtaken the entire inside, the small and carefully trimmed tree now a titan, its trunk so wide it would take a minimum five players to even begin to wrap their arms around it. The crown of the tree covers what little of the sky can be seen, a new roof for the destroyed remains.

Despite it being more pieces of rocks than an actual building, Eret is still acutely aware of what was each part. She can easily identify the long corridors she built, despite being half a wall by now, she can spot the benches she lovingly built, now mounds of dirt covered in thick grass and bushes. She can even identify what is left of her flag, the threads long dissolved by time but still a identifiable indent in the tall grass.

She doesn't know why she yearned so much to come back here, to ruins that were best left alone to be completely wiped out by nature, but she can't help but be grateful she did make the journey in the end. There's something inside of Eret that settles upon watching what is left of her time here, an old wound finally soothed.

Her cane clicks loudly as she walks through the littered dirt, the broken stone bricks turned into gravel by now that crunches under her shoes. For half a second she wishes she had thought to bring someone else with her, but she quickly shakes the idea away. Anybody who could have understood what this place meant to her has either long been gone or she has long since lost contact with. And despite how much she can… appreciate her new companions, they wouldn't have understood the severity of this place, the weight it had on her mind.

This was once a bastion, a castle, a proud building made by too arrogant hands. What more fitting end for it, than to be gently washed away by time?

With tired legs, she soon arrives at what once was her throne room. Little remains from it, same as the rest of this place, but a small part has managed to endure. Most of the gold is gone, but a small mound of redstone is left, the block barely larger than a slab, surrounded by crumblings brick stones and netherrack.

She sits down upon it, wincing at the ache on her knees, bones loudly protesting the movement, deciding to take a small break before leaving. The throne room looks bare, even to her failing eyes, no traces of opulent wood or carved gold left, the floor now entirely dirt, overgrown weeds as tall as a sheep covering every tiny space left.

The wind picks up, its howl slowly increasing in tempo, as the storm in the horizon looms ever closer to her. She pulls her jacket tighter around her, rubbing her hands to try and catch some warmth. The long shadows inside the ruins make the temperature fall lower than out in the meadow, below the blazing sun that still hasn't been covered in its entirety by the approaching rainstorm.

Taking one last deep breath, she quietly pats the mound she is sitting on top off and slowly gets up. Eret knows this is the first and last time she will ever come back here, so she takes her time in leaving, making her best to memorize this relic of the past. As she finally gets out, she stops to watch a new corner of the tower fall to the ground, rocks crashing and breaking into a million shards as it shatters, pushed by the strong gale.

Taking one last look, she turns her back and starts the walk back. She has lingered enough, and for as much of an immortal she is, she isn't still yet immune to the dangers of radiation. Best she takes her leave before she gets sick with the remaining radiation that still clings to this land. Her castle, despite being so far away from the ground zero of the explosion, was still affected enough that, to this day, it is still a land that no mortal should cross if they didn't wish to die a slow and painful death from the poisonous air.

Eret has seen enough, or at least, all that she cared to see.

There's nothing left here for her.