The Talking Game

Chapter 1 and and Explanation

"No, yes." The phoenix said, then, sighing at your confused look, it says, "No, I will not tell you. Yes, I did see him."

"Why won't you tell me and do you know who he is?" I ask, annoyed.

"Because I have been explicitly ordered not to, and yes."

"Who ordered you not to tell me, and can you at least tell me who my abductor is?"

"Your abductor, and no, no more than that. I am allowed, however, to give you a hint." The phoenix is silent a moment, then it says, "In case you didn't know, the sun and moon both rise in the east and set in the west. If you're facing east, then you just have to turn left to go north."

I scowl at it. "I'm fully aware of that thank you very much."

"Really?" It cocks it's head to the side once more. "You could've fooled me. I thought there was nothing between those massive ears except whether I was a crow or raven, and dust. Regardless," it spreads it's wings, "I've got to leave now, although I expect we'll be meeting again. Farewell." And it flies away. You watch it soar away.

Then you put your hands up to your ears and mutter indignantly "I do not have massive ears."

I climb a tree and look at the sky trying to determine which way north is.

You see the sun on the horizon, and you can't tell if its rising or setting. You look to the right, and the forest expands endlessly before you. You look to the left. It's the same, except for the massive stone tower, the tip of the roof of which is obscured by clouds.

"Well," you say out loud, "I think it's safe to assume that's north."

I climb down the tree, noting which way north is, and head in that direction.

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After what seems like hours of walking, and probably was, based of how dark things are getting, you come to the base of the tower. It's really more than a tower, though. More like a castle. With a wall. A high, ten-foot wall, that seems to be made out of a seamless, smooth, black stone. After walking around for a while, keeping the wall to your right, you find the massive, wrought-iron gate. The hinges are rusty, and probably won't move, but that's okay because the gate is ajar enough for you to slip through, should you choose to do so. Although, that doesn't seem like a very safe option, judging by the dark, dilapidated state of the castle courtyard you can see through the gate...

I think to myself. I should probably just turn around and try to find my way out of this cursed forest and definitely not go through this gate, leaving all those people to a doom I probably can't stop anyway saving myself a lot of trouble. And with that I peer into the courtyard and squeeze through the gate, ducking into a shadow.

Standing in the shadow of the massive wall, you survey the courtyard. It looks like it was once a grand place. There's a pathway from the gate to the door of the castle, made of now cracked and mossy white marble. There are four massive, three-tiered fountains, two on either end of the pathway. None of them would be working though, since two have massive chunks missing from the basins, one has become the pot of various weeds and wildflowers, and the fourth has simply fallen over, shattered to pieces. Beyond the fountains are large, grassy, overgrown yards, with gardens that seem to once have held magnificently sculpted topiaries which are now lumpy bushy trees. The gardens beneath the topiaries are completely overgrown. Overall, it creates a sort of beautifully forlorn and creepy setting.

The castle though, is just plain old creepy. It appears to be made of the same smooth black stone as the wall, but it's been carved into bricks. The castle itself is made up of five spires in a circle, each disappearing in the sky before your eyes can see the top. The spire directly above the door is the shortest, and going counterclockwise from there, they get wider and taller. the center, between the spires, is adorned with a bloodred shingle roof. There are no windows anywhere, and the dark green, almost black ivy that's creeping up one spire only serves to make the whole thing creepier.