The Legend of Last Land Fall

Dawn broke on the morning of the first of November, 2018. It was the day after Halloween, and the night before the townspeople had put aside their rising fear and anxieties at the state of the world, and partied into the night. The media would later say that Last Land Fall had been ripped up, torn asunder. That it had been the work of their neighbours over the sea, aliens, global warming, every politician they could name.

But, there’d been no tearing involved, the schisms were cut, sharp edges. The pier had been sheared from its watery foundation and now pointed up and out to where the sea should’ve been. The air smelt of sherbet and the lighting of matches, and the scent of spilt Southern Comfort liquor wafted on the breeze. Some areas had been become pastel. The townspeople themselves had become sepia versions of themselves. Tea-stained and frightened, they gathered outside to point and look.

Huge shapes had appeared. Circles of orange, aubergine, and black—targets, or eyes, there was much speculation. The red-and-white lighthouse from the point now towered where the town square had been.

It was the pink party hat crown hovering on the inland horizon that gave the culprits away, that and the chanting from the viewing platform on the lighthouse. Soon, everyone who was able assembled round the lighthouse. The door had vanished, several people walked round and round its perimeter, puzzled, then angry. There was shouting.

High above the sepia crowd, the figures of seven teenagers stood looking down at their parents and friends. Their pink party hats were rumpled. Fox, rook, owl, deer, eagle, spider, bee—their faces were still painted from the past night’s revelry.

The Legend of Last Land Fall

"We speak for the animals, birds, insects now. We speak for the planet. We’ll not come down until something is done," they shouted. For that night past a spell they cast and binding it was indeed. In tribute to the severing spell, the town’s name became Last Land Fall. This, depending on where you stand, was how it ended, or it all began.