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Description
Stella reached the volcano just as the sun rose above the horizon and was soon before the large pile of stones halfway up the mountain that served as Gale’s tombstone. This was where it had happened, where the tunnel had caved in and separated them forever. Stella felt the tears rise to her eyes once more just thinking about it.

It looked considerably nicer than when they had left it on that fateful day. There were some candles and flowers and a plaque with Gale’s name leaning up against it but the most exceptional part of the setup was the image someone had painted on the large boulder that primarily blocked the cave off from the outside world. It was a silhouette of Gale’s figure, perfectly done in gold on the face of the stone. It was perfectly smooth and shone brightly in the growing light of daybreak. It’s polished face was without a single brushstroke, making it look as though it was a solid object grafted onto the stone itself rather than an image. Stella thought it was beautiful.

“Please forgive me Gale. I couldn’t save you.” Stella said sadly to the silhouette. “I wanted too, I really did, but I just left you behind to die. I’m sorry.” The stone remained silent and merely served to emphasize her loneliness. Stella couldn’t handle it and squeezed her eyes shut as the tears came violently to her face. She hadn’t been ready for this, she realized. She needed to leave. Right now.

Stella was only able to get a few feet away however before a loud CRASH stopped her in her tracks. Slowly she turned around, blinking to keep the dust out of her eyes, and was surprised to find a large golden object embedded in the dirt pathway. It was big, about the same size as she was, and unnaturally round save for a short curl of thick golden wire on the top of it. Stella timidly approached the object, unsure what to make of it. The thing seemed to glint ominously as if urging her to investigate, and so with a sigh, she grasped the golden curl and yanked the entire thing out of the ground.

It was a pig she realised as it landed on the ground next to her, or at least a golden statue of one. It’s goofy face was frozen in surprise, as if at it’s own predicament, and Stella was surprised not to see a single scratch or dent across its metallic surface. It was in perfect condition, which made Stella wonder why it was all the way down here, smashed into the ground like a regular old stone. She peered up at the top of the volcano where she assumed it had fallen from but saw no indication that any pigs were looking for it.

'Regardless, I might as well bring it back up for them...' She thought. It gave her an excuse to get away from the little memorial. With a grunt she raised the statue above her head and began the long journey up the volcano.

In no time she was sweating under the strain of carrying such a heavy burden. It’s massive weight seemed to want to crush her into the dirt and she was quickly growing tired. Despite this, however, she was actually a little surprised it didn’t weigh even more. She figured such a large mass of solid metal should have been impossible to carry on level ground, much less up a mountain, yet she was succeeding at doing the latter albeit only barely. Perhaps it was made of wood and then painted golden. Stella decided that made much more sense

Finally she reached the top of the volcano and caught sight of the castle where she was headed. The once grand building looked like it had seen better days, with large dark holes adorning many of its wooden surfaces. In fact it almost looked like it had tried to stand up to a meteor shower and lost. Stella had never seen it in such a state of disrepair, but figured that the pigs had probably fallen into disarray without anyone to lead them. They hadn’t exactly been living luxuriously when the birds had first met them.

With a sigh, Stella shouldered her burden and approached the towering castle which loomed over her as if attempting to intimidate her. It’s dark, second story windows glared at her menacingly, daring her to come nearer so that the whole thing could topple down on top of her. Stella eyed it uneasily but continued onward.

Finally she reached the huge oak doors and deposited her load on the ground with a CLANG. Stepping towards the doors, Stella knocked on them twice before stepping back again and waiting for the round green face that she knew would appear in the doorway. She waited.

And waited.

And waited…

…And waited…?

Stella looked up at the large wooden doors in confusion as they remained shut before her. The pigs may not have been very focused or organized or ambitious in their pursuits, but they had always been amicable. As long as she had known them, they’d hardly gone a moment without grinning goofily and even though the two groups had been on opposite sides, the pigs had mostly treated the birds warmly. It was quite unlike them to ignore the door…

Pushing the doors open a bit, Stella peeked her face inside the quiet building, squinting to see through the darkness.

“Helloooo…” she called uncertainly. “Is anybody home?”

At first, she got no response. The building remained quiet and still, as if it had been abandoned long before her arrival. As she stood there, waiting, she glanced about the inside of the little entryway and noticed several more golden statues lying about. Their golden, lifeless eyes peered at her through the darkness, sending a chill up her spine and making her feel like she was intruding.

She was just about to give up when her ears picked up a sound emanating from the depths of the castle. It was so quiet she almost missed it, and it was only after hearing it a second time that she realized it wasn’t her imagination. After a moment’s hesitation she decided to investigate and slipped inside the building, letting the large wooden doors creep shut behind her.

Pacing down the long dark hallways of the castle, Stella followed the noise as it grew louder and more defined. Besides the mysterious sound, the entire building appeared to be empty and desolate. In fact, the only indication that any creature had ever lived there was the myriad of golden pig statues that seemed to litter the place. They were everywhere, sometimes bunched up in one place and other times more separated, but always present no matter which room Stella came across. Each one was unique and incredibly lifelike, realistically in the middle of a task as if they had been alive only seconds prior. They were amazing to say the least, but that didn’t make their frozen stares seem any less creepy.

"So, what’s with all the gold anyway?" Stella wondered aloud as she passed a large sculpture depicting two pigs in the process of eating their lunches "Where did they even find it all?"

She didn’t know and frankly she didn’t really care. For now she would just have to grit her teeth and try to ignore the feeling of being watched that was riding up her spine. The good thing, she realized, was that the sound was getting closer. She was now fully able to make out what it was; a deep moaning like one might release early in the morning when their alarm goes off too early as well as the persistent pitter patter of raining water that provided white noise behind it. She was getting close now, she could tell.

Pushing open a set of large double doors, Stella found herself in the grand throne room of the castle. Though the entire building looked to be in disrepair, the throne room was by far in the worst shape of all. The throne, once large and imposing, had been ripped clean in half, the top of which was lying several feet away, almost in splinters. There were several deep gashes cut into the floor and across the walls, their insides polished and golden as if from intense heat, and one of the large stone pillars positioned around the room had been smashed to pieces, causing the ceiling to sag dangerously. The entire back wall of the room was missing, seeming to have been torn away and tossed aside somewhere, thus allowing sunlight to creep into the otherwise dark building. In the very center of the room was a concrete fountain, or at least what Stella assumed used to be a water fountain. All that was left of the statue that had been at its center were a few jagged metal pipes. Water spewed forth from within them, spraying high into the air before raining back down upon the fountain in a million tiny individual droplets. This was where the raining sound had been coming from, she realized. It was also the source of the moaning.

Hopping over to the fountain, Stella found a single pig lying inside, his body badly bruised and covered in numerous welts and bumps. He was lying directly underneath one of the streams of water, groaning deliriously as the water washed over him and plastered his golden hair to his face. Recognizing him, Stella was thankful it was he who had been moaning and not one of the others. Even though all of the pigs were nice enough, she still felt weird talking to most of them; she could never tell which ones she’d talked to before.

Stella bent over the edge of the fountain and pulled the semi-conscious pig from it, shaking him lightly to help him regain some of his senses. His eyes fluttered open as she lay him on the floor next to the fountain and he peered at her in confusion, his eyes unfocused.

“Ste...lla…?” he asked, his voice raspy and broken. Stella nodded solemnly in response and the pig closed his eyes once more to keep from becoming nauseous. Stella looked around at the destroyed room, the smashed fountain, and the battered pig lying before her. There was only one question on her mind right now.

“What happened here?”

“We were…attacked…” he said, struggling to remain awake. “didn’t even get to…defend ourselves…”

“Attacked? By what?” Stella asked. The pig weakly shook his head.

“No time…” he mumbled “your friends...they’re in danger...”

“Wait, what?” Stella exclaimed, panic entering her voice “Why? What’s going on?” The golden haired pig was already losing consciousness though and he seemed not to hear her.

“Please, she isn’t herself…” he whispered, his voice trailing away “you must save her…before it’s too late…” With that, he passed out and Stella was left dissatisfied and without answers.

Before she could think of what to do next, a bright flash of light drew her attention to the giant hole in the wall at the back of the room. Moving to it, she found she could see the entire island beneath her. At some point, clouds had started rolling in from the sea, bringing with them the cool chill that always signified the approach of an oncoming storm and making the day much darker than it had been that morning. It was because of this increased darkness that Stella noticed something happening near the treehouse. Every few seconds or so there would be a bright flash from the base of the tree which would bathe it briefly in golden light before abruptly going out. For some reason Stella felt worry enter her heart every time the light flashed and her mind went back to what the pig had said moments ago.

'My friends are in danger?' she thought anxiously 'Maybe I should go back home…'

With sudden urgency she crossed the room and opened the door, taking one second to peer at the comatose pig by the fountain before moving through the door and closing it behind her.

Description
Stella reached the volcano just as the sun rose above the horizon and was soon before the large pile of stones halfway up the mountain that served as Gale’s tombstone. This was where it had happened, where the tunnel had caved in and separated them forever. Stella felt the tears rise to her eyes once more just thinking about it.

It looked considerably nicer than when they had left it on that fateful day. There were some candles and flowers and a plaque with Gale’s name leaning up against it but the most exceptional part of the setup was the image someone had painted on the large boulder that primarily blocked the cave off from the outside world. It was a silhouette of Gale’s figure, perfectly done in gold on the face of the stone. It was perfectly smooth and shone brightly in the growing light of daybreak. It’s polished face was without a single brushstroke, making it look as though it was a solid object grafted onto the stone itself rather than an image. Stella thought it was beautiful.

“Please forgive me Gale. I couldn’t save you.” Stella said sadly to the silhouette. “I wanted too, I really did, but I just left you behind to die. I’m sorry.” The stone remained silent and merely served to emphasize her loneliness. Stella couldn’t handle it and squeezed her eyes shut as the tears came violently to her face. She hadn’t been ready for this, she realized. She needed to leave. Right now.

Stella was only able to get a few feet away however before a loud CRASH stopped her in her tracks. Slowly she turned around, blinking to keep the dust out of her eyes, and was surprised to find a large golden object embedded in the dirt pathway. It was big, about the same size as she was, and unnaturally round save for a short curl of thick golden wire on the top of it. Stella timidly approached the object, unsure what to make of it. The thing seemed to glint ominously as if urging her to investigate, and so with a sigh, she grasped the golden curl and yanked the entire thing out of the ground.

It was a pig she realised as it landed on the ground next to her, or at least a golden statue of one. It’s goofy face was frozen in surprise, as if at it’s own predicament, and Stella was surprised not to see a single scratch or dent across its metallic surface. It was in perfect condition, which made Stella wonder why it was all the way down here, smashed into the ground like a regular old stone. She peered up at the top of the volcano where she assumed it had fallen from but saw no indication that any pigs were looking for it.

'Regardless, I might as well bring it back up for them...' She thought. It gave her an excuse to get away from the little memorial. With a grunt she raised the statue above her head and began the long journey up the volcano.

In no time she was sweating under the strain of carrying such a heavy burden. It’s massive weight seemed to want to crush her into the dirt and she was quickly growing tired. Despite this, however, she was actually a little surprised it didn’t weigh even more. She figured such a large mass of solid metal should have been impossible to carry on level ground, much less up a mountain, yet she was succeeding at doing the latter albeit only barely. Perhaps it was made of wood and then painted golden. Stella decided that made much more sense

Finally she reached the top of the volcano and caught sight of the castle where she was headed. The once grand building looked like it had seen better days, with large dark holes adorning many of its wooden surfaces. In fact it almost looked like it had tried to stand up to a meteor shower and lost. Stella had never seen it in such a state of disrepair, but figured that the pigs had probably fallen into disarray without anyone to lead them. They hadn’t exactly been living luxuriously when the birds had first met them.

With a sigh, Stella shouldered her burden and approached the towering castle which loomed over her as if attempting to intimidate her. It’s dark, second story windows glared at her menacingly, daring her to come nearer so that the whole thing could topple down on top of her. Stella eyed it uneasily but continued onward.

Finally she reached the huge oak doors and deposited her load on the ground with a CLANG. Stepping towards the doors, Stella knocked on them twice before stepping back again and waiting for the round green face that she knew would appear in the doorway. She waited.

And waited.

And waited…

…And waited…?

Stella looked up at the large wooden doors in confusion as they remained shut before her. The pigs may not have been very focused or organized or ambitious in their pursuits, but they had always been amicable. As long as she had known them, they’d hardly gone a moment without grinning goofily and even though the two groups had been on opposite sides, the pigs had mostly treated the birds warmly. It was quite unlike them to ignore the door…

Pushing the doors open a bit, Stella peeked her face inside the quiet building, squinting to see through the darkness.

“Helloooo…” she called uncertainly. “Is anybody home?”

At first, she got no response. The building remained quiet and still, as if it had been abandoned long before her arrival. As she stood there, waiting, she glanced about the inside of the little entryway and noticed several more golden statues lying about. Their golden, lifeless eyes peered at her through the darkness, sending a chill up her spine and making her feel like she was intruding.

She was just about to give up when her ears picked up a sound emanating from the depths of the castle. It was so quiet she almost missed it, and it was only after hearing it a second time that she realized it wasn’t her imagination. After a moment’s hesitation she decided to investigate and slipped inside the building, letting the large wooden doors creep shut behind her.

Pacing down the long dark hallways of the castle, Stella followed the noise as it grew louder and more defined. Besides the mysterious sound, the entire building appeared to be empty and desolate. In fact, the only indication that any creature had ever lived there was the myriad of golden pig statues that seemed to litter the place. They were everywhere, sometimes bunched up in one place and other times more separated, but always present no matter which room Stella came across. Each one was unique and incredibly lifelike, realistically in the middle of a task as if they had been alive only seconds prior. They were amazing to say the least, but that didn’t make their frozen stares seem any less creepy.

"So, what’s with all the gold anyway?" Stella wondered aloud as she passed a large sculpture depicting two pigs in the process of eating their lunches "Where did they even find it all?"

She didn’t know and frankly she didn’t really care. For now she would just have to grit her teeth and try to ignore the feeling of being watched that was riding up her spine. The good thing, she realized, was that the sound was getting closer. She was now fully able to make out what it was; a deep moaning like one might release early in the morning when their alarm goes off too early as well as the persistent pitter patter of raining water that provided white noise behind it. She was getting close now, she could tell.

Pushing open a set of large double doors, Stella found herself in the grand throne room of the castle. Though the entire building looked to be in disrepair, the throne room was by far in the worst shape of all. The throne, once large and imposing, had been ripped clean in half, the top of which was lying several feet away, almost in splinters. There were several deep gashes cut into the floor and across the walls, their insides polished and golden as if from intense heat, and one of the large stone pillars positioned around the room had been smashed to pieces, causing the ceiling to sag dangerously. The entire back wall of the room was missing, seeming to have been torn away and tossed aside somewhere, thus allowing sunlight to creep into the otherwise dark building. In the very center of the room was a concrete fountain, or at least what Stella assumed used to be a water fountain. All that was left of the statue that had been at its center were a few jagged metal pipes. Water spewed forth from within them, spraying high into the air before raining back down upon the fountain in a million tiny individual droplets. This was where the raining sound had been coming from, she realized. It was also the source of the moaning.

Hopping over to the fountain, Stella found a single pig lying inside, his body badly bruised and covered in numerous welts and bumps. He was lying directly underneath one of the streams of water, groaning deliriously as the water washed over him and plastered his golden hair to his face. Recognizing him, Stella was thankful it was he who had been moaning and not one of the others. Even though all of the pigs were nice enough, she still felt weird talking to most of them; she could never tell which ones she’d talked to before.

Stella bent over the edge of the fountain and pulled the semi-conscious pig from it, shaking him lightly to help him regain some of his senses. His eyes fluttered open as she lay him on the floor next to the fountain and he peered at her in confusion, his eyes unfocused.

“Ste...lla…?” he asked, his voice raspy and broken. Stella nodded solemnly in response and the pig closed his eyes once more to keep from becoming nauseous. Stella looked around at the destroyed room, the smashed fountain, and the battered pig lying before her. There was only one question on her mind right now.

“What happened here?”

“We were…attacked…” he said, struggling to remain awake. “didn’t even get to…defend ourselves…”

“Attacked? By what?” Stella asked. The pig weakly shook his head.

“No time…” he mumbled “your friends...they’re in danger...”

“Wait, what?” Stella exclaimed, panic entering her voice “Why? What’s going on?” The golden haired pig was already losing consciousness though and he seemed not to hear her.

“Please, she isn’t herself…” he whispered, his voice trailing away “you must save her…before it’s too late…” With that, he passed out and Stella was left dissatisfied and without answers.

Before she could think of what to do next, a bright flash of light drew her attention to the giant hole in the wall at the back of the room. Moving to it, she found she could see the entire island beneath her. At some point, clouds had started rolling in from the sea, bringing with them the cool chill that always signified the approach of an oncoming storm and making the day much darker than it had been that morning. It was because of this increased darkness that Stella noticed something happening near the treehouse. Every few seconds or so there would be a bright flash from the base of the tree which would bathe it briefly in golden light before abruptly going out. For some reason Stella felt worry enter her heart every time the light flashed and her mind went back to what the pig had said moments ago.

'My friends are in danger?' she thought anxiously 'Maybe I should go back home…'

With sudden urgency she crossed the room and opened the door, taking one second to peer at the comatose pig by the fountain before moving through the door and closing it behind her.