Stones Of Winter

The Departed Artists

"Finally, The beautiful city of Purdue. It was filled with creativity, artists, tall buildings were decorated with stain glass windows and beautiful streamers everywhere. They loved parties and architecture. Strange creatures and people within those four kingdoms felt safe there. They were the humble elitists. Always looking for someone to enjoy their adventures with them."

Jasmine smiles like a young girl would as their father told them a good story before bed.

"As the story goes, the four kingdoms functioned the best in unity: Verbena would trade knowledge, Reverie would watch for external threats from other kingdoms, Woodruff provided protection with it's army, and Purdue brought community and laughter among the four kingdoms through art and architecture. This all comes to a halt when there is a split in ideals about how to handle the stones powers."

Grandma Jasmine chews on her cheek, staring to have trouble piecing some of the story together. 

"Ah, but that's all the boring stuff. I'll skip over it so I don't bore you to death, " she laughs. 

"About this time, there was a new Queen that Immerged in Purdue name Lucia. 

"Lucia was beautiful, she had long ash brown hair and her eyes matched the opal stone of her ring. She was fascinating because she was as likely to wear a long elegant gown as she was to get paint on it. The people loved her very dearly.

"One enchanting night after a kingdom conference, the young queen of Purdue had stumbled into a handsome prince. He was clearly from the kingdom of Verbena by the way he dressed and spoke with such diligence.

"The mysterious man asked for a dance and they talked for hours. Her servants watched as she laughed and cried with this new stranger that no one seemed to know. There are rumors that she had once told a close servant of hers that she could look into his eyes and feel like time ceased to exist. It was humorous to them since Verbena, the town he was from, kept the ring of time.  

"It was love at first sight. She was enthralled by the mysterious gentleman who requested an audience with the queen, and he was fascinated by her leadership and light-hearted approach to life. He was charming and seemed to care very much about her kingdom of Purdue. He wasn't cold and calculating like others from Verbena could be. 

"They were deeply in love. He stayed in Purdue for over Twelve months before leaving. She became pregnant and gave birth to a Girl. However, he was more mysterious then she might have initially thought. One evening, after a party, he wrote a letter and vanished.

"When he left, the kingdoms of Woodruff and Verbena unexpectedly stormed the kingdom of Purdue. It was clearly betrayal. 

"The kingdom of the Opal stone, Purdue, was raided by Verbena and woodruff, the kingdoms of knowledge and war. The civilization was pillaged and wiped out.  Lucia used her Opal ring to open a portal for some of her people to travel through. The portal would take them to a far-off land and were to never come back," 

Olivia paused her grandma's story, "WAIT WAIT WAIT, So you're trying to tell me that this town came from a different dimension with magic and that why we're called, "Lucia, the town trapped in time? "

Her grandma slouched back in her chair, "Yep." 

Olivia paused and stared into space for a moment. She opened her mouth and closed it again, realizing that it didn't quite make sense, "But what abo-" .

Grandma Jasmine cut her off, "HUSH CHILD AND LET ME FINISH! Now... Where was I?" She sighs and winks at her granddaughter. 

"She stood by the portal, observing every citizen that entered while she searched for her daughter, but she was no where in sight. Surely, one of the servants in the castle had her and would come soon. Tensions were high as the evacuation ensued. All near by people had been evacuated, but there was still no sign of her daughter. So she and a guard ventured back through the silent castle.

"She found her daughters room and entered, it was dark out, so the windows were blackened. Her heels clicked across the wood board floor as she approached her daughters bed. She heard a light crying from a crib by the window. 

"Halfway through the room she heard something splash, the floor was wet. The queen stopped in her tracks as the smell of copper filled her nose and made her eyes water. Someone had already breached the inner castle and had been in her daughters room. 

"That's when she noticed a man standing in the corner, it was her lover. She  re-opened the portal and sent the guard away, sealing her fate. No one truly knows what was said in that room that night.

"After Queen Lucia's last breathe was given, a citizen came and returned the baby to her servants before vanishing. The people of Purdue were in a whole different world, with no way to get home. They all agreed to name this new place, Lucia, after the Queen who lead them there to safety ".

Grandma Jasmine's nostalgic smile faded as the fireplace burnt out, as if she were picturing more, but was remaining reserved,

"And that's how the town of Lucia got it's name," She ends.