First Round of Playtest: Crown Prince of the Apocalypse

So I finished my first round of play test a couple of days ago and I wanted to share the story that came out of it and the world I said goodbye  to. I hope you enjoy it, and hey if you've had the chance to play test this game - I'd love to hear about the world you made and whether you too said goodbye to it.

CW: blood, graphic violence, self-sacrifice

Centuries ago - rain unlike any other fell on this world. For instead of water, what rained upon the land was blood, poisoning the earth and causing death wherever it touched.

People now did not like to talk about that - so it was a wonder to me that the memory of something that occurred centuries ago is still remembered. That's when Andrew, the first person I grew close with in my visits to this world, told me that even though the people tried to forget it - that rain left an undeniable mark on this land.

"The blood lake," he said casually while the rest of our companions flinched - as if they experienced psychic damage just by acknowledging it's existence.

"The blood lake?" I asked - thinking maybe it was just nickname - but I was wrong. It was an actual lake filled with blood. I didn't understand how it could have been so - but Andrew took me near it and there it was.

The stench of iron and death is strong in the air, and no living thing could possibly swim in it's depths.

Andrew and I were the only ones brave enough to come close to it - the others knew better, I didn't know at all and Andrew just didn't care. We stood in front of the lake for what seemed like hours but must have been just minutes - and then stepped away without another word.

I was the only one to look back and that's why I was the only one to see a creature that seemed to be staring back at us.

Not us.

Andrew.

Then at me.

Then it smiled and all I felt was fear.

***

After I had settled in and discovered how life was like in this world - I tried my best to learn more about it, and to record my life here. I learned that I wasn't the first otherworlder to have come here. In fact Andrew's mother was an otherworlder too.

I learned that food from our world managed to make their way here - with the nobility enjoying our fast food as if it was the meal of the gods. I learned that sometimes trees of this world escaped gravity sometimes. They called it the season of the dying trees, and you would think that they die normally. Not in this world - the trees would float as high as it could - and then fall back to ground: "dead".

I learned that this world's boogeyman was a giant bird covered with feathers - and it was someone from another world that saved this world. I learned that there were those who believed the rain of blood was a blessing and that they're desperate for it to happen again.

I learned that Andrew was a prince and that I was in love.

I learned that even though I could bring things from my world here, I couldn't bring anything from back. 

Not that it would matter anyway. I never remember my visits when I'm there so what would be the point?

***

My time in the world soon became dangerous.

It started when everyone started getting sick - hair would fall out and in their places, people started growing feathers. It was very contagious and soon reached even the royal family.

Andrew did not escape, and he cautioned me to stay away - but I didn't listen.

That's how I learned that I was immune to the disease that was spreading among the people, my hair did not fall, feathers did not grow on my skin and my body did not grow deathly ill.

Rumors of a hospital with a cure soon reached us and we made the journey. It didn't take us a very long time to stand in what must be the oldest building I have ever seen in my entire life.

A building with pillars for support, and made of bricks that are cracked in multiple parts. When Andrew was brought inside, I had the chance to get a closer look at the building. I've noticed that there are different kinds of images, drawings, art carved into the pillars. Pretty images and stories that probably made sense to the people of this world.

At the very back of the building - on a pillar that stands by sheer willpower at this point - the carvings there tells the story of the giant bird and the final fight with the savior, the otherworlder.

The carving revealed something that they didn't tell me in the stories: the savior cut the bird's throat - and blood ran from it to rain all over the land. The savior caused the rain of blood after cutting the bird with the same feathers like the ones that replaced Andrew's hair.

I felt like I was back at the Blood Lake, I could even smell the iron in the air again - and before I could move on my own, I felt a hand on my shoulder. A doctor, or a healer,  or whatever name they've decided for people who could heal Andrew - turned me around to face him.

"He's asking for you," the healer said, "The prince wants to know if you're okay."

I let him lead me back to Andrew, but I take another look back, just like at the lake. There was no monster this time to meet my eyes - no. I was still scared by what I saw though - the pillar's carvings were gone.

***

The beginning of the end finally came before we were all ready for it.

The Officers of the Law came for me, with the backing of the King - Andrews's grandfather.

Andrew wanted to hide me, because of course he did. I should have known much earlier, and maybe I did. But definitely - by then I knew - he loves me too. Maybe he still does - there would be no way for me to know now.

I didn't know why they were after me - but I knew it was not for my own good. The hate the lived in their hearts was plain in their face - they wanted me dead. They wanted me gone. The may just be doing their job, but I could feel that if it wasn't their job, they'd hunt me down for free.

So to keep Andrew safe, I let him fall asleep in my arms, before running and hiding.

That would be the last time I would see him.

***

I found her as she was about to die.

The oldest living otherworlder. She told me everything and why Andrew's grandfather wants me - and why I've never met Andrew's father. The curse of the royal family - Andrew's curse.

I was the spark that would start the fire - and it would end in blood and death, if I don't stop it first.

Andrew's father made the decision for his parents - to end his life before his wife must.

So I'll leave and never come back.

The dying otherworld told me that that's the only way that we both live. I must leave and close the way back. The longer I spent here - the closer Andrew comes to turning into the boogeyman of this world - the giant bird that turns out I, the otherworld, am destined to kill.

And the blood rain will fall.

She tells me how to close it as her last words - but I don't write it down. I couldn't risk anyone learning how to do it and therefore finding  a way to undo it.

No one else must come here - that will end the curse.

***

I do write one thing down.

I tell him why I had to go, why I can never come back and why no one else will come. I tell him everything but the how of it all. I tell him that I love him, even though he already knows. I tell him that I'll miss him, even though that's a lie because I never remember when I'm back in my world. I tell him that this is the only way where we both live.

I don't want to kill him and I don't want him to kill me - because I know that too will kill him in a different way.

I leave with a letter and I forget everything.

***

By the end of this play test - I couldn't believe the way I created this world, for it felt planned - this world - instead of it being at the mercy of the whims of a deck of cards.

I'm halfway through my second playtest where I wake up on a ship floating in a world covered in water, and I have no idea how this story will end - and how this world will be shaped.

I hope your experience with Missing Month, should you give it a try, be just as fun as my first go at it was.

All my love,
Glaiza Champion