Fruit Tree
- Mia Lyttle Twysted
- Aug 26, 2023
- 3 min read
The tree stood in the middle of this courtyard for many more years than I was alive. There was not another like it anywhere on our planet. Scientists have tried to seed new ones, all without success. As I see it, it is and always will be mysterious.
Our ancestors built the Grim Wyrm Castle around this mystifying fruit tree. Small bridges line together six thick, squared towers. Firm sandstone walls strengthened the structure. Scattered windows line those walls in a nauseatingly random pattern that provided archers and artillery lookouts during its heyday—proud and boasting soldiers who believed Grim Wyrm to be the height of perfection and integrity.
The thickly wooded forest and heavy river to the south provided for the people of Grum Wyrm for many generations. They prospered and thrived as healthy and happy people. Once a year, they would gather around their beloved fruit tree as it dropped its bounty onto them. Spreading the black-tared fruit around, they all shared in the delicious drops of heaven.
Dancing around the large brown two-tone base, they would sway as the forking branches moved slowly to a melody within the wind. One by one, the people would place their hands on the bark and be given visions of otherworldy beings and creators. Individuals found themselves in another life. A life where they were born, lived, and died in the time it took to pull their palms away after prayer.
Lessons from those lives gave people wisdom beyond their years, yet, the legend says it also left them haunted—memories of loved ones from lives unlimited played with their minds. The magical effects of a mystical and mysterious fruit tree were all they could think about. It was like a drug.
Slowly the once-great people of Grum Wyrm began to go mad. As they lost their foothold in the world, they began to turn on each other. Many wanted to return to a life they had lived after eating fruit from the tree.
No one noticed at first, but the fruit on the tree started to dry up little by little. This only escalated the growing chaos. People began to fight, afraid they would not be able to have a piece of fruit. They were desperate to see something new, to be somewhere grand and magnificent. They wanted that taste of the paranormal.
Citizens started sneaking to the tree under the cover of the night to pick the fruit before it had ripened. The sweet soft flavor turned bitter and sharp, leaving a bad taste in their mouths that would not soon subsist. Placing their hands on the tree, they prayed, but the world they were taken to was nothing like the ones they had known.
As times in Grim Wyrm grew darker, so did the worlds people were transported to. Murder and suicide spread around the castle as the people began to dwindle. Before it was all said and done, dirt streets were smothered in blood and decaying bodies. Centuries passed as life outside the castle went on, and the once great civilization of Grim Wyrm Castle became nothing more than a fairy-tale bedtime story for children.
The tree that once was dying in the middle of this courtyard has now grown its fruit back. Though it is forbidden for someone to eat the fallen fruit as the tales warn of madness and destruction, one can't help but be curious if the legend is true at all.
The life I lead in this world is far from fantasy. I am leaving this letter so those who find me know this was my choice. Whether I am transported to a beautiful land or one of demons and darkness, it cannot be worse than the life I have been suffering through.
As I roll the magical fruit around in my fingers, I wonder if the Devil is whispering for me to eat it, but eat it I will, and if madness comes, I welcome it.
Prompts and Inspiration:
Haunted
Paranormal
Devil
Mysterious
Castle
The tree that grows worlds as its fruit
365 creative fantasy writing prompts - C.H. Knyght
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