Eternal Night: Myths and Legends About Nightmare Moon from Around the World

by _NAME_

The Griffon Kingdoms

Author's Note:

So, even though I canceled this story a while ago, I stumbled across what I had originally written for this chapter. it’s not much. I only ever wrote the first fairytale, a few short paragraphs of ‘book’ that aren’t even connected, and parts of another short historical piece before stopping. I figured I might as well post what I had since it’s not doing any good gathering dust on my computer.

‘The Moon Witch’ by the Griffons Grinn was based off of the works of the Brothers Grimm, who wrote down a lot of the most well-known fairytales. Also briefly mentioned is The War of the Talons, which was inspired by the real-life War of the Roses, which is also the inspiration for Game of Thrones.

THE GRIFFION KINGDOMS

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Many years ago, there lived a king and queen who ruled over a wealthy and bountiful kingdom. Their people were proud and happy, their military was strong and formidable, and the land was filled with light and pleasures abound. Everyone loved the king and the queen, who were the fairest and most powerful griffons in the land. Yet, they were unhappy because they struggled to have any offspring to call their own. But at last, they managed to have one clutch of eggs, and from those eggs, only one hatchling survived, a young prince who they raised with the utmost care, afraid for his health.

But despite their fears, the young prince grew up healthy, and was adored by all, just as his parents were. He had inherited their striking plumage, good nature, and wild ferocity, and as such, he had strong moral integrity, and his strength and cleverness in battle knew no equal.

And so, the kingdom flourished for many years.

But, unbeknownst to all, in a dark and ancient forest in a forgotten corner of the land, there lived an old Moon Witch. This witch hated the king and queen and their kingdom for no reason more than the wickedness and envy in her heart. She was of a ghastly visage, with a short, crooked beak, a hunched back, warped and misshapen talons, clipped wings, and had plucked nearly all of the feathers from her body over the years, leaving large, red sores across her skin. Any wayward griffon foolish enough to wander into her forest would never come out again, for she would take them and eat them.

The griffons in the neighboring towns all feared and shunned her. And so, she was alone in her little hut in the woods, with only her hatred for company. It was one day when the leaves had only just begun to fall from their trees, that she devised a wicked plan to destroy the kingdom that had always rejected her.

Now, this Moon Witch was as clever as she was evil, and she knew that her plan would not succeed if the good prince was at the castle, for she could not beat him in battle. So, she waited until the prince had gone to visit a neighboring kingdom before she went to the castle. There, she used her evil magic to force herself into the throne room, where the king and queen were sitting. The king saw this vile witch and tried to fend her off, but was struck down almost immediately by her magic. The queen, enraged at her mate’s death, leapt at the witch, managing to claw her across the face before also being killed.

The witch, beside herself in victory, sat on the royal throne and ate the king’s and the queen’s corpses. She had won, and now she was in charge of the kingdom. Summoning up all her magical powers, she enacted the second part of her plan, and plunged the entire kingdom into eternal night.

The sun was gone, and the Moon Witch had made it so that the moon was always in the sky, so that she could draw power from it. With this, she ruled over the kingdom with an iron claw, bending both the nobles and the peasants to her whims. But she cared not for their well-being, nor knew how to properly run a kingdom, and many a griffon died alongside the land that withered in the absence of the day.

Now, the good prince, safe in a distant kingdom, heard the news of the Moon Witch’s coup and knew that he had to defeat her. He set off immediately, leaving his entourage behind, and stopped only when he was about to keel over from exhaustion.

It took some three months and a fortnight before the prince made it back to his own kingdom and there he saw it was in complete ruin. The land was a shadow of its former self and the witch had grown even more powerful. The prince was discouraged, for he knew not how he could kill the witch and fix all her wrongs, but knew he had to try regardless.

He set up camp for the night, or what amounted to night what with no sun, within sight of the castle. From his position, he could see constant fires raging inside the place that was once his home. The town surrounding the castle was all but abandoned, for the witch had snatched up many a griffon to eat, and the rest had all fled to neighboring villages. The entire land was quiet, and the prince fell asleep.

When the good prince woke up some hours later, he set off for the castle with the intent to defeat the Moon Witch or die trying. It was sometime in the morning or afternoon, though he could only guess, as it was difficult to keep track of time without the day.

The prince encountered not a soul on his way to the castle and made it to the entrance with no issue. Once inside, he saw that the once beautiful interior was now completely ruined and bodies of half-eaten griffons were strewn about the halls, and he grew even more furious about what the Moon Witch had done.

He slipped into one of the servant hallways that led into the back of the throne room. Peering through the door, he saw the Moon Witch sitting in his father’s throne, wearing what looked like the pelts of both his parents, and gnawing on a bone of some sort. At this, the prince grew even angrier, and drew his sword so that he might kill this vile witch.

He slunk into the room, careful to keep quiet, but the witch was so noisily chewing on her meal that she did not hear anything else. The prince stood behind the throne in secret, sword raised above his head, and sliced clean through the Moon Witch’s neck, severing her head from her body.

All at once, a burst of magical energy erupted from the now lifeless body of the witch, and her head toppled to the floor, the bone still clenched in her beak. The prince shouted in triumph, for he had won.

Behind him, through the windows, came a great ray of sunlight. In the east, the sun slowly rose from the horizon, bathing the land in its gentle glow, and then shot out to a position high in the sky, finally bringing forth the day. The days of many nights had come to a close.

The prince took the head of the Moon Witch and proudly carried it out of the castle and through the town, where griffons were beginning to return. Upon seeing their prince and the head of the witch, they let out a great cheer and celebrated the return of their rightful ruler and his victory over the Moon Witch. And forevermore after, the kingdom was filled with peace and harmony.

- [‘The Moon Witch,’ Grinn’s Fairy Tales by the Griffons Grinn]

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When the Time of No Light occurred in the Griffonlands, the Eleven Great Griffon Kingdoms were standing on the cusp of the War of the Talons.

To properly understand just how the Time of No Light affected the Griffon Kingdoms and later influenced its culture, it is important to understand the political climate at the time.

As anyone familiar with the basics of world history knows, for a period of about ten years leading up to the war, the Griffon Kingdoms had been standing on the precipice of all-out conflict. It was a time of great political and cultural stress between the kingdoms, caused by near constant infighting and religious crusade.

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The only story that appears to have clear and concise roots in the Time of No Light is a fairytale known the world over, ‘The Moon Witch.’ It is a fairytale known the world over, but the whimsy and whirlwind romance commonly portrayed in the stage play is entirely absent in the original version of the story as recorded by the Griffons Grinn.

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On the 3rd day before the Nones of Winter, the moon did not set and the sun did not rise. Our presbyter gathered the town in the town square to perform mass communion in the hopes of righting whatever terrible curse had been cast over the land.

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Today, now a full month into these days of many nights, an accompaniment of King Grotte’s men came into town, relaying word that the king was mustering his troops for battle. It is as we feared. Our neighboring kingdoms had all but gone to war. We had known it to be coming but hoped we would never have to see it. They are conscripting all able-bodied men into the king’s army. This will be my last journal entry.

- [An unknown Squakish merchant’s journal, approximately 251; roughly translated]