The two women appeared out of nowhere and stood in a clearing in the woods, their jet black robes camouflaged in the blackness and illuminated only by the radiance of the prevalent moon which was at its largest. For a few moments, they stood still, eyeing each other with immense interest as though lovers reconciling after years. Then, they started walking towards each other and stood a few inches away.
“What’s the news?” inquired the first witch, in a soft and silky tone, raising her hood to reveal the face of utmost glamour and youth.
“The best of a kind,” the other responded in a typical girlish voice, smiling widely, unveiling her hood. “The prophecy has come true indeed, of a mortal offspring being born at the full moon, bringing with it the promise of eternal youth and beauty for us, which would assuredly lead to a graceful end to all our hunts in search of youthful souls and make us retain our immortality forever,” she announced, in a sort of horrifying bliss.
“Enlighten me more dear, about this offspring, is it completely true, does the description in the divination accurately match the face of the child?” the witch asked hysterically, unable to contain her curiosity and exhilarating anticipation any longer.
The other witch beamed with pleasure, revealing her sparkling set of perfect teeth and claimed loudly,
“Yes, it is! The baby girl is blessed with a face, with the capability to flinch the full moon into shyness, crystal green eyes through which a being can view its detailed reflection. Its smile, which can raise the sun, and whose tears can bring a thunderous storm. I can assure you with my life’s sake that this child would fulfill the hundred-year-old prophecy, and provide us with the everlasting beauty that we have craved for centuries.
“Indeed, but bear in mind,” warned the second witch, as she walked aside with her head up, watching the moon with its glamour reflecting through her dark eyes. “The child will only be able to fulfill the prophecy when the full moon cycles escort her to the verge of adulthood, till then you must eliminate every obstacle guarding her and keep a close watch on her until she is ready to embrace her destiny,” and with these words, she vanished into the woods, leaving the other woman beaming with ambition…
Meanwhile, the king of Windsor glowed with pride, holding his only heir, a precociously gorgeous baby girl in his arms and celebrating in the castle, with the royal crowd gathered all across the place.
“At the birth of my dearest daughter, I would be giving away a thousand gold coins to each farmer, blacksmith, and other workmen in my kingdom,” he announced proudly, standing at the top of the castle as the entire kingdom rejoiced and praised the king and blessed the baby girl.
Amidst the celebrations, a scream was heard from inside the castle, and chaos was created as the king ordered his guards to search through the castle to discover the source of the gut-wrenching noise.
The guards rummaged the castle thoroughly and to the king’s worst horror, they found his wife, and the queen of the castle, lying in a pool of blood in her chamber. She had been murdered in cold blood, however, there was no sign of any weapon or the murderer. Most astonishingly, the wound was neither made by any dagger nor by any other weapon that they could contemplate or recognize, it was an oddly large and circular slash made on her stomach. The elderly lady who was present at the time of the princesses’ birth had been escorted back to her place under the eye of the king and his guards, therefore, they couldn’t suspect her in any case.
The noble king was immensely heart-broken, severe dejection ruled over him to an extent that he unequivocally lost the desire to live and for the next few days, he shut himself fully in his chamber where he laid grieving in his deplorable despondency. In the interim, the king’s guards searched through the entire kingdom but achieved no success in finding any suspect, let alone the murderer.
“Dear king,” began his chief advisor earnestly, watching him as he laid on his bed, overcome with substantial gloominess. “You must continue living, not for yourself then at least for your beloved little daughter. Whom you vowed to cherish unconditionally, till your final breath. For what happens, happens by the will of the gods, and cannot be denied, nor can it be reversed,” he advised sagaciously, placing his hand on the king’s palm.
A young woman entered the chamber carrying the baby princess in her arms and caressing it with immense affection. The king noticed this and was moved to a profound extent that he hurled a proposal at the maiden for her hand in marriage. After a moment of contemplation, the girl, who glowed with the essence of immeasurable beauty and ostensibly endless youth gave her consent with utmost honour and delight and vowed to raise the princess as her flesh and blood.
The night of the royal wedding, a peal of vile laughter was heard through the sky, which reverberated dreadfully across the kingdom. A laugh capable of taming the roar of thunder, which caused the forest trees to tremble, and one which shook the horizon and the resilient walls of the castle….as a witch revelled that night of doom.
I walked across the dense forest, the unusually ruthless wind piercing my throat and my legs felt numb, as though they hadn’t moved in ages. The moonlight guided me towards a path I was magnetically attracted to. With absolutely no idea in the world where I was heading, I was merely a puppet in motion, whose strings were controlled by an unknown force.Shivers ran down my body, the heart was palpitating as though a bulky rock had been attached to it, which was oscillating and banging it. I felt like a cactus, as prickly goose pimples wrapped me up. Time seemed to have just halted, and I felt I had travelled a million miles across the forest when suddenly a luminous ray of light punctured through the moonlight filled darkness. I pushed aside the le
The image of the medieval king struck my iris and blurred Black and white images flashed across my mind of something that appeared to be a party, a group dancing on the dance floor, and the same king sitting on a throne. The images had barely ended when a name formed across my lips effortlessly.“King Eric the third, of Windsor Castle, who was mainly famous for his unique style of fighting with his trusted dagger and rarely a sword,” I blabbered automatically, without even realizing what words escaped my mouth, it was as though someone had forced the words out of me. The entire class gazed at me in absolute shock, with their mouths wide open as though they had just discovered a horrifying alien lurking inside me.
“Ellie don’t fall, Ellie concentrate, no matter how hard he hits you, just stay put,” shouted Judy from the stands in the empty gymnasium, as I stood on top of a pyramid made by the school's cheerleaders and the black hooded figure kept hovering above, attempting to push me down but I moved sideways cautiously, maintaining my balance. The figure made a dozen more attempts but in vain. In the end, it sped towards me at a rocket's speed and unveiled his face, exposing the spiky incisors and bloodshot pupil-less eyes. The fiend gave its best this time and I swerved to avoid its attack, hence, losing my balance and causing the pyramid of cheerleaders to tumble, and I fell terribly through never-ending blackness….with a scream which could prob
New Year’s Eve seemed to be unnaturally sunny and a lot less cold as compared to the previous year. Was that a result of g1obal warming? Or the mass air pollution that spread across the city due to the endless fumes emitted by cars? No one could figure out, nevertheless, the weather was pleasantly snowy. The plaster on my leg had been finally removed and I could walk normally and I had been strictly prohibited by the doctor against and physically straining activity, hence, Alex and Matt postponed our trip to the Forest of Dracon to the end of January, or at least till the time my leg got completely healed and I could run. In the meantime, the three d
Despite his serene words, I started getting gravitated towards it out of sheer inquisitiveness. The stall guy’s smile dissipated instantaneously as he watched me walk away from the stall, and in the direction of the tent. I reached the entrance and felt warm air blowing from inside the place. The interior appeared dark from the entrance, intimidating me slightly, nonetheless, I still plucked up the courage to enter it purely to satisfy my insatiable curiosity. I walked through the darkness, no idea in the world what I would discover at the end. A distinctly strong, but arousing essence of lavender diffused through the warm air, teasing my sense of smell. Abruptly, a massive glow of light punctured through the blackness, and a large clearing came into view, causing
The sun had concealed back in the clouds and the temperature seemed to drop drastically as evening fell. Astonishingly, three hours had passed since I entered the tent. I had lost track of time inside the mystical place and gotten so engrossed in the future that I nearly overlooked the present. Shoving all the events that occurred in the tent to the back of my mind, and adrenaline rushing through my blood, I ran as fast as my barely healed legs could take me, my brain thundering and heart pounding like a pendulum. I reached the place where I had left Matt, panting atrociously I looked hither thither but discovered no sign of the three anywhere. I took out my mobile from my handbag hoping to call them but the battery had been completely drained. Clenching my teeth
The rest of the day passed ordinarily exuberant as well as relieving, as I returned to the hustle and bustle of school and felt born ready to shift my focus back to academics which had gotten substantially neglected as a result of the dreadful events of the last few weeks. The last hour was Psychology for Judy and me, which was predominantly my favourite subject, while Judy loathed it and thus, was pretty terrible at it. Miss Clarissa, who along with being an erudite professor of the subject was also quite an amiable and fortunately lenient teacher who genuinely cared about the students and their grasp on the subject.“Good morning everyone!” Miss Clarissa greeted zestfully, with a dynamic beam that radiated the face of every student and they all
My eyes shuddered open, wet due to a sprinkle of water on my face. And the face I noticed was of Holden, bending down on me. Immediately, I attempted to punch him but he held my hands as I struggled like a fish out of water to hurt him. “Ellie, please relax, I am not going to hurt you,” he assured, holding my hands, in the fit of fury I spat on his face desperately, and he backed off with disgust.“Ellie just calm down!” shouted Judy, as she entered the room carrying another glass of water. A splash of relief broke ove