Chapter 2: In Which Elena Conquers a Corset
Hello again. It is time for Chapter 2 of The Kingdom of Rain.
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Based solely on his size and age, the man who apparently had pulled Elena up from the inviting rope ladder was certainly a far cry from someone who should theoretically be able to carry her weight. He was an old man, but not so old that it was crippling; he was in at a seasoned age, somewhere in between the father and the grandfather generations. Elena speculated that one time, long ago, he was probably a very attractive man. The creases under his eyes were barely there and his black hair was peppered gray. Whether he was old or young, attractive or unattractive, Elena distinctly knew he was kind and gentle just by the smooth way he smiled at her as she pushed herself to her feet after climbing up into the bottom of the castle.
Is he a ghost? Elena, if he's a ghost, you should totally punch him in the face. Followed by a hostile takeover of his flying castle and then taking over the world!
The man closed the hatch over the ladder without taking a moment to hesitate. After Elena steadied herself, she observed the interior of the castle to discover she was in a courtyard and, by all accounts, it looked just like a beautiful garden (with colors that would probably force tears upon her if they were splattered against her windshield) that happened to be hovering in the air. There were trees, flowers and even grass, and no indication that the vegetation might be affected by high altitudes. The courtyard was surrounded by stone walls that loomed overhead so Elena could not see beyond them.
I've deducted that Elena probably has a fear of colors splattering against objects. So if she ever got into a paintball fight, she'd curl up into a little ball and weep, because... colors remind her of her dead parents? Okay. I've seen weirder phobias.
When she turned, that was when her jaw dropped. You see, she's from upstate New York (which is very different from New York City, let me tell you) so she's rarely seen anything beyond silos and hills. It doesn't take much to get grander than a silo or a hill, and the vision of the extravagant castle resting just beyond the wall was almost a little too much for her to take in at first. She's not prone to fainting spells, but if she were, she may have fainted just then.
Then why do you mention... ah, whatever. I'll have to get used to this lemony narration.
"Elena Lash, I presume?" the old man asked after a bit of quietness that Elena had hardly realized she'd allowed.
He knows her name! He knows her name! Okay, that's basically sign #1 that this guy is like psychic or a wizard or something. And Elena's the Chosen One. I'm not sure if this is obvious or I'm just too Genre Savvy. Maybe both?
"My name is Professor Milton Steinorth," said the old man, extending his hand in a rather dainty fashion in order to collect her hand. She held out her hand with intentions to shake his, but he took her fingertips and leaned over, kissing her knuckles with great care, and then let her go. "I know most things."
But his friends call him Dumbledoor.
"It's the Kingdom of the Clouds," Elena murmured, turning her head to look at the magnificent castle again. She wasn't sure where the title had come from; perhaps deep in her subconscious, because somehow she felt as though she had read it before.
Okay, so I was... wrong on that account. Then I suppose there's also a Kingdom of Rain. And there's more kingdoms, too. Or something. Which should be obvious, considering the other books are called The Kingdom of Thunder, The Kingdom of Mist, and The Kingdom of Wind.
"The Chaste Beauty…" Steinorth reminisced with utter sadness filling his warm eyes. He was truly heartbroken over the girl's loss. The Chaste Beauty was a bit of an oracle; occasionally, she had visions that foretold the future. As a matter of fact, she was even able to foretell her own murder, but the vision was so vague, that she couldn't pinpoint exactly when or where it would take place (visions are a little wonky that way). The Others killed her quite without permission (obviously) and disappeared without a trace. There was no way to track them or restore their Chaste Beauty, so the Kingdom of Clouds was on the search for a new one.
And, retrospectively, that exposition may have been better as a monologue by Steinorth in order to explain who and what the Chaste Beauty was. So pretend it was in quotation marks just then.
Wha-what!? Why can't you just put it in quotation marks? Why can't you just edit it? Is that too much of a problem?
Anyway, Elena gets dressed by the people, she goes to see the king, and she has to wear a corset.
But no, this King was not twenty-five feet tall. He was averaged sized, or maybe even a little on the short side. One might think he would construct a throne that was slightly smaller than it should have been in order to make him seem larger, rather than getting a large throne designed to make him seem smaller. Regardless of his thought process behind the construction of his fabulous chair, he was there in all his glory: King of the Kingdom of Clouds. (Which sounds rather redundant, doesn't it? I supposed to double mention of 'king' in the title is only meant to draw attention to the fact that, yes, he really is important, and don't you forget that.)
Don't worry, Lemony, I won't forget one of the major characters of your story. You don't have to keep reminding me this, you know.
"You," the King began, "have Awakened."
Elena was utterly confused by the King's statement. "Awakened?" Elena questioned.
"Awakened as the new Chaste Beauty."
And now Elena was utterly utterly confused. "I don't have visions. I don't prophesize things like she did. I can't replace her."
The King chuckled in sort of a condescending kind of chuckle that Elena was not totally fond of. "It is your destiny," said the King. "It is what you have been chosen to do. I know how confusing this must be for you, but this is what you were born to do. Just knowing you are here will set the minds of the people at ease, and will keep the Seven Sons from jumping to any quick conclusions…"
The first part of awakening is hitting a butterfly with your car and breaking into tears and then climbing up a strange castle that could have anybody on it and might even be a figment of your depressed imagination. Just sayin'.
However, he didn't have time to continue. There was suddenly a great rumbling from outside the grand windows that went unmentioned until this point, and the constant whirring of the supposed helicopters underneath the castle seemed to skip a beat (I wouldn't bring up that whirring if it wasn't necessary for you to know about it). The King seemed concerned—quite concerned—almost hysterical, even, and stood up from his enormous throne.
"We can keep you safe, Elena, as long as you allow us to," he practically bellowed at her.
Elena's mouth fell open, still a little taken aback and unsure how to react. She looked out the window and saw a giant black mass in the far distance moving closer to the castle at break-neck speed. Smaller shadows spurted off the giant one, and Elena realized what they were: cannon balls.
SAY. YES. Seriously, it's not that hard of a decision. You're being shot at by cannon balls and a great king of a floating castle offers to keep you safe, and you just stand there and sort of open your mouth? Really!
Elena began to fall as well. She fell towards the windows on the other side of the room. Surely she would crash right through and fall back down to earth. Surely…
Surely some Dues ex Machina will save you?
A wire trashcan hit the side of Elena's car. She awoke with a start, flailing slightly as she did, and gripped onto the steering wheel in terror. There was a storm outside; there was howling wind and rushing water and all that jazz. The wind swept a lone trashcan up off the ground and smashed it against Elena's car. It was startling and perhaps scratched the car but, all around, she was fine.
What.
Elena stared out at the hill in front of her and it was as it always was. There was no giant floating castle. Professor Steinorth and the King were both oddly vivid elements of a strange dream (why does Elena dream about old men?). Elena could not recall exactly when she had dozed off, but she found herself rather glad that she wasn't tumbling out of a floating castle and careening down to the earth.
What.
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