This place smelt wrong. It smelt of poison and gasses and things that he didn’t know, didn’t understand, feeling his lungs half choking him. Used to the smell of the salty sea air, the unpolluted stench of the beach and the clear scents of the forest, this was overwhelming and felt dirty. This wasn’t a place that he wanted to be in, nor a place that he understood quite how he had found himself in.

Least of all the position he found himself.

Metal contraptions whizzed around them, looking as though they had devoured people inside. They hissed out grey gasses, and roamed around on four wheels making the most ungodly of sounds - not even the Sea Witch had sounded like that. Eric’s stomach flipped, thinking back to the mistake he had almost made - or had he made it? He wasn’t quite sure, where time had started and stopped, where he had found himself upon the ship with the woman he thought he was going to marry, only who had turned into the Sea Witch … somewhere, around there things had become blurry.

Somewhere, around there he had found himself in this strange land. A magical spell, no doubt sent by her to stop him from finding his one true love. His Princess. HIs Ariel. The grassy mound on which he stood, was littered with strange signs - signs that were impossible for him to read. But then, Eric had never learned to read, he’d never had need to do so - not when his love had been for the sea, and those around him had helped him in those matters. Perhaps if his parents had survived and given him the royal upbringing he needed he would have done, but alas …

He blinked, squinting as he looked up at the sign, seeing an array of letters that were jumbled up and arrows pointing in different directions. A sign pointing straight ahead, to some form of castle - and that was where Eric set his sights on. The Castle. The King and Queen of this Land would know what to do and would be able to send him home again … or at least direct him to the witch of the land who could give him his potion to swallow or the spell to reverse the Sea Witch’s trickery.

And so, he walked onwards, mile after mile as people jeered at him, calling him names and strange things that he didn’t quite understand. Mocking his dress and attire, as he looked at them trying to understand what they were wearing, and why they were not in more distress. After a while, he came to the conclusion that this was this strange Land’s magic, and this was their equivalent of a horse and cart, but he didn’t know how they could stand and stomach it, not when he felt his own lungs rebelling at the stench and pollution of this place …

Miles he had walked, until finally he found what he was looking for.

Vast greenery, green lands for as far as the eye could see, the sound of running water from near by. The laughing sound of children playing, with their parents lounging around, picnicking at their leisure. This felt more at home, and he wondered if he’d not stepped foot into another Land, it felt so alien and strange compared to where he had come from … even if the air was no less clear.

The reenactment is that way … by the castle someone shouted to him, pointing towards the direction of the castle, and Eric thanked him, grateful that someone in this strange land recognised his plight. He trudged forwards, eager to find his home and find what he was looking for, looking out for the grand castle that would stand on the top of the highest hill and yet …

This wasn’t what he had expected, the runes of a castle lay down before him, rubble and boulders littering the landscape. This wasn’t the castle that he needed. This wasn’t the place that would help him … as he turned to look in horror at those around him, dressed in their medieval garbs. “Where’s the castle?!” He asked them, urgency rippling through his voice, only to be met with laughter and the confirmation that this was, indeed, the Castle he had sought out.