The Steel Castle
Story by Heartwell Roots on SoFurry
This is some microfiction, written off to the side of everything else. It's meant to read sort of like a children's book. Too bad I'm not a visual artist, or I'd provide some pictures for said picture book.
The Steel Castle
By Heartwell
The boy watched the sea go by each night, and crash through the sand castles he made each day. Those sand castles, he missed, but it was only a matter of time before the tide would let him make some more. For the ocean did scream. Never once did it simply let the boy relax and create on his own. No. He must venture into the water to catch his dinner. It told him he would die if he didn’t. Then there would be no sand castles to make, for there would be no boy. And so, the boy sulked out into the ocean, surrounded by the shouting water.
He spent most of his time working as hard as he could. Putting in as much effort as possible, so he may eat and play again. Every day, the ocean begged him for more. He made sand castles that were taller than himself with details that wrapped every side, every edge, every crevice, even with the water’s limits. Still, it kicked them down with little apology. After all, he’d better wake up early tomorrow, for tomorrow was a busy day. Doing the same menial task that he's been doing since the day he met the ocean.
The boy had his hobby, and it was time consuming. He knew that, but he didn’t care. Soon, he developed a style for himself, despite the ocean’s lack of help. The boy wanted to build his castles somewhere else. A place where he didn't have to make his castles of sand. The ocean asked him where he would go. It told him he was too young to go out there, and that no one would take him seriously. Nobody cares about the kid playing in the sand anyway. When the boy learned this, he cried. He cried so hard that it might as well have made the ocean stronger. Every day, the water grew closer to his beach. It asked him when he'd focus on his survival, and stop with these meaningless efforts at the shore. The ocean never considered what he wanted to do. The boy sat there in silence in the water's requests. He daydreamed of castles that were not made of sand. Castles of steel. They would stretch far beyond the clouds, unable to be deterred by the roaring tide below.
On the last day, the boy had finally constructed his masterpiece. One which he’d been carefully planning since before the ocean was so violent. A sand castle so high, so wide, so sturdy, that he could live in it, regardless of the tide's demands. He didn't have to construct castles of steel to make his dreams a reality
The boy was proud.
People saw his tower of sand, and came from miles around. They could see its grace from beyond the treeline, which used to conceal the beach. He was no longer alone. The boy had friends who appreciated his work, and wanted to make sand castles, just like he did. On the shore’s edge, there were hundreds of sand castles, all with their own uniqueness. The boy loved his new friends. He never wanted to let them go.
This angered the ocean. What right did the boy have to bring outsiders to its shore? Such disrespect! Such gall! The ocean would teach the boy who is boss.
That night, as the boy held a house warming with his new guests, the ocean concocted something that would drown the boy back to what it thought was reality. A storm was brewed. A hurricane larger than the likes of any seasonal storm. The boy, and all his guests, and all their creations, and all their sand castles were swept away that night. All of it was gone, except the ocean, and a very, very sad boy. He sat on the sand in silence, refusing to even look at the water. The ocean asked if he would go out and hunt for himself. The boy said he would not. The ocean asked if he would swim along its shore. The boy said he would not. Quietly, the ocean asked if he would build a sand castle. The boy said he would not.