"What!" Lance cried in disgust. "We can't move now, we've only just settled down here in Ebon Keep. Does the Queen know of this?!"
"Apparently it was her idea." said Lance’s wife. "None of the neighbours know why she did it, either. The Queen hasn’t talked to anyone for at least a week, it’s like she’s a completely different person.
"Yes, I noticed that too" came the reply. "The Queen’s behaviour has been a little bizarre lately. And what’s happened to King Bluegarden? The last town meeting was two months ago. I think something’s going on."
"Maybe you should check it out, dear, you do have a passion for adventures."
.
Lance’s Discovery- A Secret of Evermore Fanfic
By Ladrik
Lance stepped out his door and looked out onto the world he loved. It was fast approaching his 50th birthday, yet he still felt like a child. Lance hated being bored and that’s why he never got what was considered a "proper" job by the people of Ebon Keep. Instead, He took to a life of adventure and made his money by discovering treasure and finding lost artifacts. He was also known to visit Nobilia market, over the other side of the mountains, to trade his treasures or to gamble. For this reason, Lance’s family was one of the richest in all the kingdom (and one that many were jealous of). His wife Sylvia was perfectly aware of Lance’s doings and she didn’t mind one bit. Now, Lance was a pretty unconventional adventurer by all accounts. He was forty-nine years old and he had grey hair and a grey beard. Lance couldn’t care less, however, he wasn’t going to spend the last part of his life trapped inside a nursing home cursing at young passers by. He was going to be out there, taking risks and being brave. He was about to be put to the test.
Lance decided that his first mission must be to infiltrate the castle and to hopefully overhear something from the queen herself. As he walked along the dirty cobbled streets, various passers by informed him that "there was something not quite right about the Queen" and "the king hasn’t been seen in days..." He paid little or no attention to the idle gossip. Ebon Keep consisted of a five-layered horizontal street and he was now on the fifth layer, which contained the castle. The gate leading to the castle was patrolled by a man looking eerily like himself and this occupied his mind for a couple of seconds. "It’s not uncommon" thought Lance as he walked up to him.
"Good day to you sir" said the guard in his most mocking tone.
"Yeah, hi." replied Lance. "Can I come in? I’ve got an urgent message for the Queen"
"Let’s have it then." Said the guard, becoming more and more relaxed.
"This is an URGENT message that only the Queen herself can hear."
"Oh IS it. WELL then GIVE IT to her." The guard didn’t appear to know where to use sarcasm, let alone know what the word meant.
"CERTAINLY" said Lance. He was proud of that retort. The guard let him through.
.
It was the year 1994 in Evermore. In about Eight months a boy and his dog were going to activate an inter-dimensional portal and find themselves trapped here. But that was in the future, at the present moment Queen Lobelia Bluegarden had authorised the whole city to move across the chessboard ravine and settle down in her new, clean kingdom called Ivor tower. The castle had been built in just four months and no details of the move were made available to the public until last nights surprise announcement. It was scheduled for two weeks away. The villagers used to love the Queen, She was warm-hearted, funny and she always treated them with respect. That was before the announcement, Most of the villagers now thought that the Queen was a bitch. They were probably right.
As Lance stepped into the castle grounds he noticed there was something odd. Sure, the castle had never been "clean" at the best of times but this was absurd. The place looked deserted. Rats ran freely along the floor and were in such great numbers that it seemed to Lance that they ruled the castle. There were no other guards patrolling about so it was relatively easy going for the time being. Lance stepped inside, the castle interior was no more impressive than the outside, as rats ran giddily round the halls. Rubble lay at the base of pillars that skewered the roof like a cocktail stick through a lump of meat. There was no doubt about it, this castle was in very bad shape. Eventually, Lance came upon a large spiral staircase leading upwards. He took each step with relish, he was ready for anything the world could throw at him, he wasn’t afraid. Not yet.
He reached the top of the stairs. A large, oak door lay ahead of him. He paused for a second. Did he really want to go in? What if he discovered something terrible, what if- No wait. This wasn’t the same adventurous Lance. "I must be getting old" he thought "but I’ve got at least one more adventure before me." With that last dramatic sentence he pushed open the door to the throne room. A deep, frightening silence struck him when he entered the room. From his current position he couldn’t see the thrones of the King and Queen. If they were here then they were definitely aware of his presence. The loudness of the creaky door saw to that. He stood perfectly still. He got an immense feeling of self maladjustment, which he hadn’t had since his 20th birthday and he didn’t understand why he got it then. At last he cautiously decided to traverse the small staircase up to the thrones. "There must be someone here" thought Lance as he saw that the fireplace was still alight. There were two more steps ahead of him, the feeling grew stronger, then one step, then none. At the top of the staircase Lance could feel an immense feeling that something was not quite right, that he and everyone else was out of place. He wasn’t sure who he was, or even where he was, everything seemed like a big lie. He wrestled with his mind, trying to force the demons out of his head, but he couldn’t. Names and pictures, facts and faces were flooding into his head. As Lance fell unconscious onto the floor he suddenly realised that he knew everything, everything about Evermore’s past. He knew that the world had been created as an experiment, for the perverse enjoyment of the four individuals who created it. Lance and his family, Lance and every person in the world had just been added as background detail, unimportant and largely unobserved. They had been given false pasts, false identities and false memories. With a chest-full of pain he collapsed.
.
"Why did you do that, Amelia."
"He really annoyed me" said Amelia ", busting into the castle like that. I had to do something to get him back. This seemed like the perfect revenge."
"You do understand that you’ve ruined his life, don’t you?"
"Yes sir, that was the idea."
"And did you think about who he might tell?" said the voice "If Mr. Ruffleberg ever got wind of this he might start feeling sorry for them. Lucky for you, he’s still wrapped around my little finger."
"Excuse me, sir. But why don’t you just kill Ruffle- I mean Mr. Ruffleberg."
"I still need him. Under that thick skull lies a great mind. Now, about this fellow here. You can’t kill him, it would cause too much suspicion. I suggest you take him back to his home and put him in bed, that way he’ll think it was all just a dream. Now get to it.
"Certainly, sir."
.
Lance woke up. Something didn’t feel right. Suddenly An image came into his head. Then another, then another, it was all flooding back. He lay in silence for about five minutes, he didn’t have the strength to face the day. It all seemed so real, what he had just experienced. Was it all a dream? His mind told him it must be, but Lance was never known to trust his mind. His heart was his bible, and it told him it must have been real. If it wasn’t why did he feel so betrayed and depressed? He Lay in silence some more before he came to a decision, He had to tell everyone about the secret of Evermore. Lance drifted to his feet. As he walked to the front door of his house he noticed Sylvia, his wife, doing the washing. She looked so joyful and full of life, blissfully unaware of what he had uncovered. As he looked at her seemingly buoyant face he almost cried. What would a shock like this do to her? He tapped her on the shoulder.
"I’ve got..." he paused. "I’ve got something to tell you."
"Well what is it dear" she said "Spit it out, you look like death." Lance gazed down at himself in the water. His usual charm and friendly smile had been replaced by the face of a solemn wraith.
"I’m going on another adventure, dear." He said. "I just wanted to tell you this time."
Sylvia’s eyes left the washing board and gazed directly towards Lance. "That’s wonderful dear. Just make sure to be back by tea time."