"We're all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars" Oscar Wilde

It's odd that I haven’t contributed to the interweb litter in a while. I guess I’ve been too busy working and having fun to scribble down silly things. This is still a work in progress, and at the very beginning stages of that progress.

THE LIGHT HOUSE

Once upon a time in a dark world lit only by proud stars, two people fell in love, the prince of summer and a daughter of spring. They were married and together, ruled the entire world. They lived on top of the highest mountain, in a beautiful lighthouse, bringing light to the world. See they were so in love that the light inside of them shone out into the darkness of the world and made the world a better place. Every night they went to sleep their light did not shine; it glowed warmly in the dark, an orb of hope and light providing safety for people to rest their weary heads. 

Together they were unstoppable, they did everything for the people. They helped the world to grow. The night sky was pleased by this and considered their world the shinning cherry to her galaxy of tiny lights. For the darker she was, the brighter they glowed.

Because they were the oldest people alive it became blindingly obvious that they were also the wisest people alive. Many troubled people came to ask the king and Queen for help and each day, thousands of them climbed the never-ending winding staircase to their beautiful lighthouse in search of their guidance. But. 


After a while the people became spoilt and used to the king and queen’s kindness. The wonder of their world's iridescent landscapes and forever summer began to dim. They took for granted what the King and Queen gave up daily to ensure they had a permanent beaming sky and happy hearts. One by one, the people began to be-smudge the beautiful world the King and Queen had illuminated out of love.

And on one particular, things took a turn for the worse.

A rich scientist, Mister Winter, visited the stain glass lighthouse in search of love akin to that of the king and queen. 

When Winter bowed before the pair and relayed his request, the king and queen looked at him sadly and shook their heads. “We can’t make love, we can only make light. We can show you the way but we can’t take you to the end of that journey.”

But these were not the words that Winter had wanted to hear. The words echoed in his mind as his face filled with stark white rage.

In a fit of silent rage, Winter was gone from the lighthouse before the King and Queen could shine some light onto the issue at hand. They did all they could to locate him but alas, Winter had come and gone, leaving nothing but an icy fear in their hearts. 

For the next year Winter became a man obsessed.

How dare they refuse his plight, it was unheard of. He'd had the kind of life where he'd never gone wanting... Until now. It was a sore point and the dark thoughts it poured into his mind infected everything. Suddenly the sight of the rising light at dawn was a gruesome reminder of what the King and Queen had. Of what he did not, but should, have.

He fumed about town and thought, “If I can’t have warm, sunny light in my chest then nobody will have it.” And with that frosty statement ice filled his veins. His heart grew so cold that it froze. Grasping his hatred with a firmer grip than gravity he let himself tumble blindly into the depths of his rage, and began to formulate a plan of the most malicious revenge.

While Winter's heart withered by the day, the King and Queen could feel a distinct chill in the air. And it gripped their hearts with fear but not even their inner disquiet could prepare them for what was next.

Winter’s plan was simple and even easier to execute than he had ever imagined. His idea was to bring ice to the people’s hearts and it did not fail him like the King and Queen had. 

He found that people were selfish and easy to manipulate. Malice ran thick through the streets like a river of impenetrable hatred. But the King and Queen only shone their incandescent light ever more brightly and managed to warm the frosty glaze their people had voluntarily placed between them. 


This did not deter the rich scientist, oh no, it motivated him tenfold. He vowed to destroy the king and queen’s love and break the spell of light on the world for good. Little did he know what this would do to his world.

And so...


After months of tireless planning he snuck into the glass lighthouse balcony while the queen was asleep. The king was nowhere to be found and so the rich scientist went ahead with his evil plan. He placed his icy fingers on the queen’s forehead and began to freeze her mind. Unfortunately for Winter, the king happened in upon this from downstairs and he was forced to run off having only just begun to complete his task. 


With a sharp pang in his chest, the king bent to check on his beloved, only to find her catatonic and peaceful. Thinking nothing of it he surrendered to slumber.

The morning after the sleepy King leaned over to wake his wife. And only then did he fully begin to realised what had really occurred the night before.

The light inside of the queen was still there but it was trapped for the most part and for all he tried, the king couldn’t shine his into her mind. In fact, the problem was not that her mind was frozen but the mixture of such extreme light and ice was causing a great fog in her mind and she had forgotten everything she knew, even him. To this obstacle the King threw obstinate positivity. He was determined to track down his Queen’s attacker and fix the problem.

But optimism did little for the King and there was nothing to be found, save for despair in his heart. Years and years passed and the king began to lose hope. Without his love by his side the light inside of him began to fade and turn in. Little by little the world began to get darker and darker, until it was pitch black and void of any brightness. The king was just another smudge on the earth, shuffling about in dejected silence. The people of the world began to fear for their future as none of their food would grow and many began to die from the bone chilling cold.

The freckled night sky, seeing this became upset and jealous. It was her job to provide eternal bespeckled darkness and this new fangled pitch-black object was a great problem in her mind; a pimple in her peppered perfection. She thrived on the fear that she induced in people’s minds but this dark sphere where there used to be light was leeching all of the fear that she so rightly deserved. Having never done anything like this before, as it was not her nature, the night sky was hesitant but decided to visit the king. When she found him he was grey and withered from years of hopelessness and despite all of her coaxing the king was lost and she could do nothing.

As the night sky was about to turn her back on the king, a brave little star, the brightest star in the night sky, offered himself up in place of the king’s withered broken heart. His courage brought a flicker of light to the king’s and gave him the heart to carry on with his age-begotten quest. The star stayed by the queen to protect her and what little light he had, he shone as far and wide as he could for the people. With this light came new hope.

Having learned who the secret attacker was, from the brave little star that had watched over their world in wonder at such light and love, the King travelled to winter’s home to settle the score.

Meanwhile at the glass lighthouse, the star’s courage and light burned through the clouds in the queen’s mind and she awoke from her catatonic state for the first time in years. She called for her king only to find him gone, and when she had heard the tale of what had happened she went in search of him.

At winter’s house, the king and the rich scientist battled. They were equally matched and it drained their power, leaving them at a fruitless impasse. When the queen flowed into the room she found both men furiously clinging to life and attempting death upon the other. With her King by her side she was able to shine light and hope into him and gave him the strength to resist winter’s advances. The rich scientist, realising that he had lost slumped in defeat at their feet, begging for mercy.

The little star, seeing such pain was filled with sorrow and pity for the rich scientist. He took winter up and hugged him, glowing all the while. Winter, entranced by such a beautiful white light lost his bitterness completely and gaped in awe. He asked to stay with the little star forever, exploring the night sky, seeing fantastical things, always enrapt. And so they floated on up into the welcoming arms of the night sky, leaving the bewildered king and queen to pick up the world winter had ruined near beyond repair.

After a mere few months of winter’s disappearance, the king and queen had finally restored their world to its initial rich hubbub of joy and warmth. The people were grateful to them, realizing how foolish they had been, and began to visit the lighthouse on the mountain every day. But the king and queen knew in their hearts that the people would become spoiled again and would not risk another winter in their midst. They decided to shine as little as possible for three months of the year, in homage to the years they had lost with one another to winter. And to protect the other from anyone’s harmful hatred they turned to the night sky and requested a place in her freckled depths, next to one another. They shone so brightly that they could not become any old ordinary stars, and so the night sky decided to turned them into the sun and the moon, eternally dancing around the world, providing light in the darkest places.