Trees are usually green and brown, am i right?
I mean, well they could be yellow or red or orange in autmn, but mostly they are green.
Well one day, i was walking along this graveyard, and i noticed this paticularly large piece of Cheese.
It was the smell, the disgusting, nauseating smell of the rotting, or moulding, i do not paticularly care which is which, of the cheese that attracted my attention. I found the whole situation a wee bit queer.
There was me, small little me, alone in a graveyard, at dusk. And there was this huge peice of cheese right next to me. The worst bit was the fact that growing from this piece of cheese was a tree, a purple tree.
Its broad, fan-shaped leaves were paper thin, yet, they were as sturdy as diamond. The leaves also had a strange luminescence to it, almost gem-like, but not quite so. Intrigued, I plucked a single leaf from the lower branches, it yielded easily, the stem of this leaf was already half torn. The leaf was as light as a feather, its edges as sharp as a knife's.
By this time the moon had already risen, for the night had arrivied. I held the leaf high, and let the starlight shine through the semi-translucent leafblade, and was enthralled by the spectacle of light that shone throght the leaf. It was Beautiful. I stood there, mesmerised by the swirling colours, until and errant breeze blew the leaf straight out of my hands. I snapped back into reality. I was suddenly aware that i was in a graveyard, at night, without a light souce of any kind. Who knew what abominations lurked in the darkness of the Abyss of the Graveyard. I started my walk back to the distant lights that was the Gatehouse, where the Gatekeeper watches the gates, making sure no Undead make it through. Shadows jumped at me from behind every tombstone. A strange mist gathered around me. my walk became an all out run.
I was nearly overcome by fear when, out of the fog, A low stone hut with a small chimmney materialized. I ran to the door, and shouted for the Gatekeeper. A kindly old man with storm grey eyes and a weathered face appeared in the doorway, framed in light. Not waiting for an invitation, i stepped into the hut.
As soon as entered the little cosy hut, the door behind me slammed shut, causing the plates in the adjacent shelves to rattle with the sheer force that closed the door.
"Hi Grandpa," i said.
"Thats Gatekeeper Grandpa to you my little Ardawyn."
***
I never figured out why my eccentric old Grandpa was a Gatekeeper, one of the seventeen Guardians that watched the Gates of the Graveyard. Well sure he was a skilled mage, but there were many skilled mages throughout Xyrilia that were on par or even better than him. Now, because of his Status as a Gatekeeper, our family had been very well taken care of by the king. We had many times the amount of money an average dolt could earn in a lifetime, we were able to mix with Royalty, we were even considered as Nobles. However, there was a Downside of being part of a Gatekeeper's family. First, we had to live near the Gate. If that was not already bad enough, we all had to learn to Turn Undead. Now that, is irritating.
To be considered proficent in the art of Turning Undead, one had to go for Proficiency Tests every Fourth and Eight moth of the year. Now, one must remember that not all Undead were malicious. I do have a few vampire friends who are very nice people, of course they are civilised and pay for their Drinks. I even had an Vampiric Boyfriend once, but lets not talk about that...
***
I woke up shortly before sunrise, and began my daily ritual of casting Flare up the chimmney. The Sphere of bright light shot forth into the sky, followed by a loud bang which was meant to wake all the Gatekeepers. Every since Emily died I decided to go live with Grandpa, who taught me lots of interesting and useful things that i would otherwise have not learnt. I also became his "assistant", I helped him with his normal chores, stuff that had nothing to do with the Gate.
I could hear the other Gatekeepers waking up in the nearby huts.
I Blacked Out.
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