Underwater Castle [The]

The Underwater Castle!

Deep in the heart of Raecken, a young girl lay basking by a brook.
Named Carolina at birth, she was the exquisitely beautiful daughter of
Lustos - a strange, charming man who lived a quiet life amidst the
peaceful wood.
The brook happened to be Carolina's favourite place in the world. She
loved every minute to be lying next to it on days when the sun managed
to shine it's way through the trees, and bring alive its beauty. The
glorious brook's waters were quite different to those of other brooks,
and sparkled gold and silver - attracting elaborate birds to drink from
it. Carolina often watched delightedly the birds, though pondered why
she never saw the same creature twice come to the brook, but only new,
and more beautiful birds come in their place. Not that she regretted
the phenomenon - it merely made her inquisitive as to what might be in
such water, that when drank, made birds unhappy to return to it, when
it was their thirst required quenching.
But Carolina had her book, and as reading it managed to wholly satisfy
her eager imagination, Carolina soon forgot about the birds, indeed the
brook itself. Pausing only to sip from her bottled water, Carolina
found herself entwined in new worlds that the words she read presented
her. In one such world Carolina discovered a secret underwater castle
full of vast rooms, themselves full of mirrors. The mirrors gave
reflections of oneself, but always through the eyes of a dog, so that
what one saw in them was always an image of love and loyalty - her two
most regarded virtues. Reading was a startling business, Carolina
considered, that it had the power to awaken one's dreams so
vividly.
The afternoon wore on, and Carolina grew tired. Well, lazy really -
occasionally she was prone to it. So that all of a sudden, Carolina
picked herself up and skipped home to where her father Lustos was
preparing her favourite dinner of Squid and Blueberry bake.
Once she had eaten, no less than ten scrumptious portions of it,
Carolina kissed her father goodnight, and took herself off to her
bedroom. Sinking into her bed, a handsome four-poster upholstered from
Eiderdown and Hemp, Carolina lay gazing at the stars while allowing her
mind to wander where it pleased? She found herself again by the brook,
in conversation with a Lark that had taken it upon itself to engage
with her. The Lark was lost and was asking Carolina for directions. The
trouble was, the Lark could not tell her where it was heading, which
meant Carolina was unable to point the dear thing in the right
direction?

Next day, Lustos awoke her with a song as matter-of-factly as he did
every morning. As it was the same song Lustos had sung to her
yesterday, and would indeed be the same song he'd sing to her tomorrow,
Carolina knew each word and note of it by heart! Her father knew this
too, yet this never stopped him from repeating the effort that made his
daughter laugh and cry herself awake every day - possibly because his
daughter always made Lustos his breakfast, and without waking her,
breakfast rarely transpired!
While rustling up the fish eggs and fauna Lustos was growing so
impatient for, Carolina gave her morning attention to an adorable Lark
perched chirping on the kitchen windowsill. As it was still so early in
the morning, and the cup of Tea she'd had a few moments ago had hardly
stimulated her yet, Carolina failed to register that she'd spent the
whole of last night verily dreaming of a Lark! That it had asked her
for directions despite not knowing where it was heading! Meaning
Carolina only gazed at the Lark, without clearly seeing it there, in
its early morning song, in front of her nose, perched on the
windowsill?
Upon eating breakfast with her Father, Carolina made her way to the
bathroom where she bathed in Honey and Silk. It made her a terrible
gooey mess, though, so she showered the muck from her skin with water,
before towelling-dry and dressing in the flower-petal frock she'd woven
herself just a few days ago.
"My, my, don't you look the very picture Nature had in mind for her
daughter the day she knew she'd conceived", Said Lustos somewhat
cryptically, upon his daughter presenting herself to him in their
kitchen.
Whatever he'd meant, Lustos managed to compliment his daughter, which
was something, she supposed!
Like yesterday, Carolina walked the wood-path that led to the brook
thinking of her father. For such a great and charming man he was also
an awful shame, sometimes - mainly due to his unrelenting thirst for
wine he brewed himself from the forest's plentiful supply of berries.
If only he'd stop drinking, Carolina wished, then maybe he'd meet more
people, even fall in love again. But oh, how he hates himself so when
he is sober that I wonder if he'll ever find true happiness? This she
dwelled on for a few minutes, until the brook presented itself again -
and she seemed to forget everything of the troubles she felt on her
father's behalf.
First, taking a soft blanket from her bag, Carolina lay out the cloth
with precision, neatening it's edges so that it was comfortable - to
her eyes. Beautiful things pleased her, but they needn't be fussy or
fine. Then her book, and after that her water-bottle. As yesterday, she
lay herself down and basked in the pleasure of her favourite place in
the whole wide world - unaware that the Lark had watched with great
affection her every move.
The Lark had made it's way to the brook flying in flurries from branch
to branch following Carolina's path through the woods. It had sung all
the while, though Carolina hadn't noticed it. But the Lark had not
grown tired of trying to catch Carolina's attention, so perched itself
on the slightest of branches overhanging the ebbing brook below, right
where Carolina would be bound to look. 'She might as well be listening
to a Walkman, and wearing a blindfold, for all my effort is worth right
now', the Lark parodied, 'but she wont be able to forget me after
today, I'll make sure!' What the Lark had in mind remained to be seen,
and until seen, would not be in her mind?
Carolina had only been sunbathing for a few minutes when it was she
fell agitated and at a loss as to what to do with herself. Her father's
woes did not enter her thoughts, so that was not why. Nor did an idea
for a new dress to weave, as many times had woken her peace. No, this
time around, Carolina fell agitated entirely inexplicably. Like those
who have sleepless nights, Carolina managed only to sit upright and
stare at the walls. The wall facing her was of the brook, slap bang in
the centre of which was the Lark. Yet still, even then, Carolina failed
to realise that what she was staring at was a vast reflection of
herself, made by a giant mirror, and not yet seen with the loving,
loyal eyes of a dog.
Then, in a moment that owed itself to an irrational surge of
spontaneity, Carolina tore every bit of clothing from her body and
darted with great haste headlong into the brook. She began swimming
with enormous urgency, not up to the surface but down and further down
towards whatever might be midst the deep, swallowing blue beneath her.
She'd held her breath upon entry, but now found it was no longer
necessary, that she could breathe like fish's gills had replaced her
lungs. Schools of fish several times smaller than her little finger
darted every side of her, opening up to give way to larger and more
dominant species, still no greater in bulk than her hand. She swam with
impressive speed, in and out of the contrasting blocks of sun-lit, then
dank water, all the time part of a world of extraordinary unfamiliarity
to that which lived outside. The land had no place here, it seemed.
Though she had not swam deep enough yet to realise it was beneath her
and fuelling every life force about her. Then, without introduction, a
bonny Labrador dog doggy-paddled out in front of her, as though she had
reached a junction in a road and allowed it it's right of way without
the faintest flicker of an eyelid. So Carolina followed it out left,
and attached herself to it in the vaguest of ways, as though dreaming,
or reading perhaps. Where the Labrador was leading her mattered not,
she felt secure and positive in it's leadership, thus questioned not
it's direction. For maybe ten minutes she drifted, watching intently
the Labrador's four paws paddle their way through the brook's deepest
depths, always onwards - tinged towards evermost depth. Until the
faintest outline of a grey-green object presented itself to her
panorama. It was not until a few moments later she realised what in
fact was blocking out the rest of the underwater world, and immediately
recognised it as the castle in her book. Upon the image clicking with
her, her guide the Labrador vanished, having undertaken and executed
it's purpose with the utmost ease. Carolina had forgotten all about it,
too, and used her clear memory of the book to navigate her way over the
Underwater Castle's turrets, through it slits and down it's eerie
shafts that beheld the Room of Mirrors. Rather like Mario within N64's
platform, Carolina found herself surrounded by an assortment of
regally-framed pictures, that were just reflections, but that were the
first scenes to narratives, any of which she could leap into and
experience. Where the similarity ended was that Mario need take a leap
to start the game, whereas Carolina need only to view the scenes for
the game to end.

Swimming back, in desperate need of breath, Carolina's fish-like
ability had alarmingly disappeared, leaving her on the verge of
distress - until, that was, the Heavenly pale-blue of the outside world
rippled wonderfully just a few metres in front of where she looked up
above her, defying any sense of dimension entirely. To have the surface
within reach so soon puzzled Carolina, naturally relief soon took-over
however, and with a final, frenzied flurry of kicks, she broke the
waters skin with an exasperated, yet thoroughly triumphant punch of the
fist, that broke also all the world's quiet in it's wake. Once more,
all of Nature's most subtle sounds - that so many of us take for
granted - orchestrated themselves with great amplitude. The particular
part of the opus Carolina had barged in on was readying itself for the
grand finale, that Carolina would bear acoustic witness to in just a
few moments time, in a moment of unparalleled personal poignancy.
..
Breast-stroking her way to absolute safety, Carolina noticed how
immediately calm, and at one with everything, she felt. There was no
reason to feel contrary in fact - her father Lustos would be fine, as
would her social life! For though there was no one not blood-related,
namely Lustos himself, that she could regard as a friend, or even an
acquaintance - all that would change in due course. For her life would
not be limited to the confines of Raecken forever, despite her liking
the confines of Raecken very much indeed. No, one day soon the forest
path would lead her outside itself, just as the Room of Mirrors had
done so merely moments ago.

But one mystery still remained, and that was this? Why was it when
birds that came to the brook to drink, did so only once, never to
return? And that only evermore beautiful birds replaced them?
'Why', Sung the Lark, 'isn't that obvious by now? There are no birds,
there's only a bird, and that's me! Each time it is you see yet a more
beautiful bird come to the brook, it is simply me returning!'