AN: A lot of reviewers have pointed out a canon error: in the books, there is a gap of nearly a thousand years between the end of the Narnian Golden Age and the Telmarine invasion. In this story, the invasion takes place within a couple years of the Pevensies' disappearance—otherwise there would be no plot.
The amount of time between the two events is never actually stated in the novels; it comes from a timeline that C.S. Lewis gave to an editor. The authenticity of this timeline, though widely accepted, has been questioned by some who think the editor may have tinkered with it.
I am of the opinion that it must not be entirely canon. The timeline is in many places inconsistent with the text of the books (e.g. if Jill and Eustace were born in 1933 and The Last Battle takes place in 1949 Earth time, they are both sixteen years old, and Tirian, being barely any older, can't go around calling them "children") and in other places simply doesn't make sense. Why would the Telmarines wait nearly a millennium to invade Narnia? I can think of no satisfactory reason.
That said, this story is only classified as AU because it doesn't use the canon timeline. I tried to make everything else as canon-friendly as possible.
I will also warn you that this story occasionally discusses dark topics such as prejudice and bullying. They are included to reflect the worldview of the 1940s—ignoring the ugly parts of history can't undo them. We can only learn from our mistakes. I hope my use of them is not too heavy-handed.
I hope this note clarifies any further confusion and that you enjoy the story.
Final Disclaimer: It should be fairly self-evident by now that I am not C.S. Lewis (may he rest in peace). If I were, this story would be a lot better, and most likely not published on Fan Fiction dot net. ~GwF
….
There once were four kids who stumbled into a wardrobe, discovered it was a portal to another world, vanquished evil, and lead a noble country into a decade of prosperity and cultural growth.
We are not them.
We're the four kids who stumbled into a wardrobe (or some other similar object), discovered it was a portal to another world, got vanquished by evil, and unwillingly lead a noble country into centuries of bondage and oppression.
We've been told that the stars were aligned against us, and that's true. We did our best for Narnia.
But Aslan was gone, saving some other universe.
And so we lost.
We're writing this down because we owe it to all those who died in the Caspianic War. There was no other world for them to run to. We will never forget them.
We're also recording this because, as horrifying as our experience was, we must preserve the memories while they're fresh. The time will come when this information needs to be known…