Let’s Build a World

Midnight’s Mountain

The mountain is the highest in the entire land– yet as you go higher, it becomes easier to breathe. At the bottom of the mountain is the endless desert, but as you climb up the mountain, and day turns to twilight, the scorching sun and sand are slowly replaced with first fields of lush grass, though as darkness descends you reach a forest filled with lush fruit, white, bean-shaped fruits about the size of two fists. The deeper you get into this forest, you realize that the fruits are glowing in the dark. You take a bite, and though you are so thirsty that you could drink gallons of water and so hungry you could consume three feasts, you’re suddenly satisfied. The energy you lost climbing the mountain is restored. You’re awake enough to notice the scent in the air of warm jasmine, and you realize that the flower’s vines twine around the trunks of the trees. Still, you keep climbing up the mountain, determined to reach the top. The forest melts away into a garden, and as you step into the rows of flowers, your way is no longer lit by glowing fruit and fireflies. Instead, you see a trillion stars studding the midnight sky. You see, just a little ways above you, a roofless gazebo, pure white and glistening in the night’s glow. You climb through the rows of flowers, towards the structure. Within moments you have reached it, and you are met with piles of pillows and blankets. You don’t know where they came from, but they smell slightly of mint and jasmine. You collapse onto the blankets, and for the first time since starting your climb, you look back. The mountain slopes down around you on all sides, surrounded by a desert that still glows a faint yellow with the sun– not nearly as vivid as the stars above you. You turn your face towards the stars. A few constellations are recognizable in the dark sky. Your mother’s voice is clear in your head as you recall stories she told you of goddesses and magic, of heroines and monsters. Clear, cold winds play with your hair. They’re tinged with just enough ice that you must pull your blanket around you tighter, but soon your eyes drift shut to their soft lullabies. At last, many hours later, you wake. You have slept deeply, dreamed of the future with a fairy magic that can only be found on Midnight’s mountain. While it is still dark around you– as it always is on the mountain’s peak, you are prepared to make your journey downwards, back into the oppressive and draining day, knowing that you now have the strength to journey on.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by E. K. Seaver.

@issawriter7

@devastate-lasting
*cough* Sorry I forgot to tag. My post is up there ^^

@devastate-lasting (1) Awesome idea, (2) these are SO COOL, (3) I may steal some of y’all’s ideas (not really XD).

So, I’m not a very good worldbuilder (since I don’t do it very often…), but I’ll give it a go!

The City

(So original, I know…)

Crumpled ruins are all that are remains of what once was a glorious gateway into a new world. Buildings line a single street that leads into the ocean, shingles crashing one by one into the flooded depths of a pathway many great kings and queens once trod. An eerie wind whistles through open windows, attempting to weave through tattered curtains and escape through cracked doorways. Some say, usually those living on the outskirts of The City and who still feed off of legends, that the whistle heard is the Siren’s song, their gentle call to the sailors porting at the now-sunken harbor. Many inhabitants of the rugged land miles away from The City discredit these myths, but there is no denying the mystery that surrounded the abandoned city and those who dare to travel through…those who never return.

A chill creeps up your spine as you survey the ruins of The City. A small bird perches on a lone metal brace, the flag that once hung on it left to the mercy of the wind years ago. The bird sings a pleasant tune, obviously oblivious to the grey clouds hugging The City and the dark shadows that toy with the ripples in the river.

But you see it. You feel the foreboding, and as you take a step into your small rowboat, the oppression grows heavier and heavier, until it weighs upon your shoulders and rocks the boat. Or perhaps it is the Sirens whose tails slap against the boat, threatening you for trespassing, promising the fulfillment of their treacherous song…

You grip the edge of the boat, cautiously peer into the murky waters and search through layers of debris and looming shadows from something, anything. A tail. A scale. A lock of hair.

A gleam on the far right catches your eye. You whip your head around, zero in on what looks strangely similar to a serpent’s scales. The scant sunlight shifts as the clouds press closer, and gone is the glitter.

Was it ever there?

The Lake

Around this land, there were many lakes. But only one was The Lake.

The Lake was nestled deep in a valley and brimmed with waterlilies. Rolling hills rose up at the very beginning of The Lake’s edge. So you could literally lay on your side at the top of a hill and roll down, down, down, and SPLASH! You’d plummet right into its tranquil water. The scent of the lilies was so strong that they filled your mind with visions of the mountain maidens in white gowns, dancing on summer’s eve.
Beneath the water, if you looked up, you would see the green silhouettes of the bottoms of a thousand lilypads and bright yellow sunlight streaming down to touch The Lake’s depths. Did they truly touch all the depths? I guess no one could really say. Then you’d rise back up to the surface and all around, you would hear nothing but the occasional chirp of birds (though there were no trees) and the annoyingly constant thrumming sound of a cricket that you could never pinpoint where it came from exactly.

There was no wind, but the air was brisk, the sun warm, clouds white and sky blue. It was the type of day that would turn into the type of night that belonged to The Lake.

@joy-caroline

Thank you:) Maybe I’ll make a whole story out of it someday:)

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Abigail.M..