The Castle: A Fairy Tale

[There sat an elephantine stone castle within a deep forest.  It could be any forest on Earth, but you could never know it was the right one until you were already deep within and could hear the voice.

Not a plurality of voices, merely one, always hitherto unknown by the observer and defying classification.  It has neither gender nor accent, nor even a language.  Each person to find the castle hears a different voice, and reacts according to their personality, but their reactions always lead them to the same outcome.]

Eve was on a hike.  She enjoyed hiking in different forests, and saved up her money each month for a plane ticket to another wood somewhere in the world.  She loved the way each forest was different, but still teemed with life and sound.  There was no music Eve loved better than that of the forest.

She was walking in a temperate woodland forest sometime in May when she noticed the leaves getting thicker.  Not the ratio of leaves to space between her and the sun, but the thickness of each individual leaf on each tree she passed.  The further she walked, the darker the forest became.  She decided to turn back.

Of course, like any person hiking in the woods in a fairy tale when it starts to get dark, Eve became lost.  She followed the path forward and backward, but either way she went she returned to the same point.  She decided to sit down there, regain her bearings, and set off again when she was calmer.  She was no stranger to losing her way, but had always managed to find her way home.

She had just pulled out a map when she heard a voice through the trees.  It sounded as if it was coming just out of earshot.  She decided to find the person and ask for directions.  At the very least, it was safer to walk with someone else in the dark.

As she walked toward the voice, she tried to place it.  She was sure she'd never heard the voice before, but there was something familiar about it all the same.  She continued to walk towards it.  Perhaps the owner of the voice was related to someone she knew.  She was still trying to place a gender for the voice when she stumbled across a clearing.  She'd been so lost in thought that she'd forgotten to watch where she was going.  Realizing how dangerous that could have been, she almost did not process what she saw when her eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight in the glade.

There stood an enormous stone castle, weather-worn and covered in ivy.  Its ancient, stolid foundation held firm, but here and there parts of the battlements crumbled.  The voice seemed to be coming from one of a few towers, which unlike the battlements seemed unfazed by the passage of time.

There were etchings and markings all along the exterior wall at eye level.  Deciding that the voice could probably wait just a few more moments, Eve read the first one she could see, scratched on in permanent marker:

Turn back.

To be continued...