The sun had vanished beyond the blurred horizon hours ago. The old castle lay deserted, sprawling across its large plot of land, protective. In the strong wind, it creaked, as if to say “bring it”.
On closer inspection, the tall turrets were cracked, and heavily lined with use and age. Around the back of the castle grounds, facing towards the calm, impassive face of the ocean, a heavy wooden gate hung loose on rusting hinges. It creaked as it swung, colliding with its frame with a bang that could be heard over a kilometre away. The frame shuddered at the force of each blow.
A steel gate, set heavily into the surrounding tall iron palisade marked the official entrance into the property. From the gate, a twisting, darkened path led up to the massive oak doors of the building itself. The door opened to a courtyard, which housed many tall porcelain statues. A tall Remu stood in the centre of the courtyard, reaching its long arms towards the now-absent sun. The moon was high in the clear sky; however the whole castle was thickly blanketed in a heavy fog. It had been like this since morning. The courtyard led on to an ominous-looking set of stairs, which forked around a central spire like magnetic wire around a steel bar.
The group of children stared out over the sleeping city from a precarious balcony at the top of the staircase. Once, it had been a lookout. Now, the castle was only home to ghosts.
The kids walked back down the empty stairs to the forgotten courtyard. The moon caught a sword in its bright light as the kids passed. They hurried over to the shining weapon. After scouring the dusty ground nearby for several minutes, they found another. And then old helmets and armour were acquired, and put to use for the first time in centuries. For hours, the children played. Ducking, weaving, slashing, sword on sword, sword on armour, until, laughing and tired, they collapsed onto the ground.
They stayed there for several minutes, until, as they realized morning would come soon, they jumped off the hard, dusty ground, laid the old weapons and armour to rest, and moved back to homes that would be expecting them.
And, as the layers of dust consumed the building once more, and particularly old pieces crumbled to dust, time moved on.
The sun rose one ray at a time from behind the tall mountains surrounding the small village. The old castle lay, deserted, sprawling across its large plot of land, protective. In the beating winds, it shuddered.