The Edge of the World

By C.S. Brown

This is a fantasy tale about an unknown knight who went everywhere searching for his something. It explores the knight`s ever changing view of the world as he wanders through it. Along his journey, his fears, doubts, and internal struggles appear in the form of ghosts, physical scars, and demons. There are unmarked graves along the paths he chos

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
• Release date: Jan 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685157791

C.S. Brown

C.S. Brown was born and raised in Alabama. He graduated from University of Alabama at Birmingham with a degree in computer science with a minor in Japanese. He is a Marine Corps veteran, and is currently teaching English in Japan. After that he plans to start working as a video game designer.

Book preview

THE START

A fork in the road and a lonely destination with the hope that loneliness was not the prize of the effort he would put forth.

The Messenger, a giant owl, known for his wisdom and strength.

In a path those must tread to find what lies beyond, speak out loud what you wish and begin your first steps.

Answering in kind,

I wish to find a love worth keeping, in a maiden true and fair. To have and to hold until death takes me.

So be the path he chose as the beginning lit up and he stepped forward.

Many would perish, many would succeed; there was no training this knight could have done to prepare him for what he would find. He was hopeful, he was brave, he was naive. This is his story.

FORESHADOW

He made it to a hilly, grassy meadow and surveyed the area.

Before him was a giant forest…and there were souls leaving it. Defeated, broken souls, transparent and twinkling in the summer sun.

The sadness could be felt in the air, and yet there were adventurers like him entering the forest.

Thousands of them, seeking the same.

He moved forward only to be looking into the soul of a broken one.

Tears in their eyes, they spoke something into the air he could not hear.

Moving on, believing it was best not to stay in such a broken area.

FOREST

SIREN

At first glimpse she was in the water, and a fair maiden she could be. Surprised he could meet someone so fair, his first real-world lesson was about to unfold.

Walking to her and yet blindsided by the beasts that guarded her.

He could be her hero, and wouldn’t that be a tale to tell them all? Knocked back by the three that guarded her, he would have to fight, but anything worth fighting is worth having, right?

He would defeat them by attacking their pride, their mental state, because his innocence he wore like a shield, and it blinded most. He reached her and she brought him in the water and there…he drowned.

He fought her the whole time, but she killed him then and there, and his body floated to the top.

Rescued then by a dark being, and she breathed life back into him. Opening his eyes to what looked much like the siren that took him beneath the water.

Except she was out of the water and just floated there.

It looked like a ghost of the siren; did she die? His answer was a knife in his body.

She retreated into the dark, and he lay there, bleeding.

The start of his journey, awakening what some would call wisdom. He would keep asking himself…why?

THE GARDEN

As he walked through the garden, he checks each flower as he passed.

He was looking for something that he saw and hoping he would see it again.

It was faint, but it fluttered away, away from him.

He saw it take off, out of the corner of his eye, this butterfly with wings that put others to shame.

Mesmerized, he followed it through the garden.

It took off again, this time away from the beaten walkway.

It would pause and so would he.

His hope wasn’t in how long she would stay, his hope was that she’d keep pausing, because in pausing, she would be near him and not away.

It was beautifully peaceful to see her take off but increasingly painful every time she flew away.

All he could be happy for was that she was still in the garden.

He could see her dance around the flowers, dance around him.

So he sat near the cool, crisp water and kept an eye on her…a party of three, the moon, the beauty, and the knight…she took off again, but this time it was just the moon that stayed.

He lay down where he was and wondered if he’d enjoy her dance again.

THE FLOWER

He's created another ghost, however unwillingly.

Another tie to his soul that bleeds him dry.

Every day, hurting and his happiness fleeting.

Death is a comforting friend.

He’ll analyze himself, what he did, what he needs to do, become.

There's a point to it, there has to be, but try as he may, he cannot find it.

Pain is the soil to his flower, and his focus has been solely on his flower, neglecting the nourishment needed to make it bloom.

It would seem he added petals to a stem unable to hold the outcome, and at night, when he says hello to his ghosts, all he’ll notice is the stem growing weaker, falling with time.

The antidote…he’ll miss.

So tell