301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyP0TFUHn4M
The woman sat before the mirror, one hand clutching a comb, the other her hair, while her eyes scrutinized every inch of her face. The woman could never looked younger, her fair and supple skin and her long lustrous black hair shaded the fact that she was well into her hundreds. A lone tune humming from her smiling lips aided the task of doing her hair.
As if to rid the boredom, she picked a handheld mirror and chanted.
‘Mirror, mirror in my hand,
Who is the fairest in the land?’
The woman continued to look at her pretty face, and admiring her youth. Her smile made her more beautiful.
And then a soothing voice, possibly from the mirror recited
‘Skin pale as snow, her spirit fire bright,
The fairest in the land remains Snow White.’
Her reflection faded, and the picture of a couple materialized. It showed Snow White leaning onto the shoulders of her prince, her hands clasping his, as they looked on at their rosy children prancing around.
The woman’s smile vaporized.
Her eyes filled with vengeance as they looked upon Snow White.
How is she not dead? How many times shall I kill her?
Her hands stopped playing with her hair, and now a frown spread through her face. She continued to look at the lovely woman in the picture.
What if I try it again?
No. I can’t bear a second failure.
The mirrors short lyrical played once more in her mind.
…skin pale as snow, her spirit fire bright…
…her spirit fire bright…
…spirit…
The woman smiled maliciously.
Yes! I shall kill her spirit!
But how?
Her gaze shifted from the woman to her husband.
Of course!
Her wicked smile widened.
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It is always the marketplaces that bind the society together. Be it a wealthy man who sleeps on diamonds, or a measly tramp who sleeps on filth, when their feet hit the pavements of a market place, they are all haggling men who ruthlessly fight for every last penny.
And like every market place, the one here was also brimming with life, hawkers crying out their wares, men and women bargaining for something they never need, children scuttling between stuffed market place, ruby like apples, emerald grapes and amber mangoes lending color to the market and flowers whose scent mingled with the sweat and soil of the crowded market.
The marketplace bathed under the humongous shadow of the majestic palace. One could stand a day long staring at the palace and yet it would never cease one’s wonder for it.
But amidst the shadow the palace cast on the Makkah of hagglers, a face glowed, like the graceful moon. She strode, her yellow gown sweeping the floor, and each stride inviting more and more eyes onto her. Seven dwarves tailed her, and moved about in a comical way. Such a face and beauty could only belong to a princess, and she was, the lovely wife of the Prince who resided in the humongous palace.
She approached a stall, managed by an old woman, whose back was crooked, whose hair glacier white, and whose wrinkles looked like deep trenches, but whose age could never snatch away her quick eyesight or her sense of humor.
‘Hello there Snow, long time.’ She greeted the princess.
‘... and you haven't changed one bit.’ A smile played on the woman's lips
‘Thank you darling. What will it be, pears or apples… I am sorry. Shouldn’t have said apples.’
‘Ah, your memory’s failing you.’ The princess joked. But besides shielding her queasiness with a bit of humor, Snow White still looked upon the ruby apples as an equivalent to the devil. After all, it was the same fruit which choked her to death.
‘What I would love is a bag of fresh gossip?’ she shifted the topic.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHp1KZUmII
‘Then you certainly have come to the right place , darling.’ A smile spread over her face.
But before the woman could spill another word, a guard stormed through the boisterous crowd, slicing his path among the hassle.
‘You are to come at once, Princess. The Prince...’
‘Oh the Prince can wait. It is not every day that I converse with her.’ She returned her gaze to the old woman
‘Princess Snow White!’ his voice acquired a firm tone.
The market froze. Snow White too was startled by the sudden change of tone. Not once before had he dared raise his tone with her. Then she looked into his eyes, and they betrayed fear.
‘The Prince…’ his voice had a tinge of sorrow.
She waited no more. She took off, and the seven dwarves struggled to keep up with her.
Oh God, let him be safe.
But God had other plans.
She walked into the palace, and a group of people had already formed in the hall. As she approached, people moved so as to create a path for the Prince’s beloved.
Her pace slowed as she neared the body. The Prince lay on the floor, dead. But even in death, his beauty still remained. The more Snow White looked at him, the more the tears blurred her vision. She sat down, her one hand on the Prince’s chin. Memories flooded her mind, tears rolling down her eyes.
Who killed him?
Her eyes wandered, till they rested on a half-eaten apple.
The witch!
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The sky draped around it a blanket of darkness, shielding it from the heaven’s light, except for the moon and the specks of stars. The midnight had lulled every creature to sleep. But a few defied the norm and lay awake in the dead of the night. The owl, who lend the eeriness to the night with her hoots. The wolves, whose howls were a favorite among the wandering ghosts. The nightingale whose sweet singing was drowned by the heathenish sounds of the night.
And Snow White, kept awake by sheer vengeance.
She moved across the darkened streets, a cloak wrapped around her that shielded her from familiarity and bone-chilling wind, a knife she clutched in her right, and revenge imprisoning her mind. If one looked up into her eyes one would see pure animal revenge shining within, they would see a soul devoid of compassion, and passion, driven by revenge.
She walked through the woods that led to her house, and though she had forbidden herself from crossing over her past unpleasant memories, revenge blinded her from her past resolutions. She only had one objective in her mind.
Kill her
Her eyes laid on the lone hut that lay in the thick of the snowy forest. Her whole life had begun and ended in that wooden abode. All those memories flooded her mind at once. Tears fell as she thought of her mother, her father.
And her stepmother.
Instantly her revenge conquered her emotions.
She stood against the door, and for once hesitated.
You knock, she comes, you kill.
She knocked on the door.
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The woman sat before her mirror, slowly painting her eyelashes. She donned a black cloth, a color that granted her unwonted beauty and grace. She was happy her plan had worked out, and a new king would soon ascend the throne tomorrow.
A knock on the door woke her up from her thoughts. Her lips widened into a smiled viciously.
She is here.
The woman stood, and up from her table, picked a knife that she had sharpened an hour before, and proceeded to answer the door.
She opened the door, and before she could realize, Snow White’s right hand flinched. But the woman blocked the attempt with her blade. A second stroke too was deflected, and soon they blindly traded blows. The fight brought the witch out of her home, and the two women fought with their blades, and Snow White, gentlest of the two, found herself losing. The witch drove her backwards, until she reached the brink of the cliff, where she heard the icy waters ferociously lashing out at the rocks below.
She turned to glance at the merciless river, and at that point of distraction, her blade flew out of her hands.
The witch, whose face depicted the frustration of the fight, broke once more into her cruel smile.
‘Isn’t it ironic that the mother and the daughter face the same fate from the same hands?'
Snow White’s fear was replaced by anger.
‘You killed my mother!’
‘I just hate competition, and your mother was far too beautiful. And you know how much I loathe a competition’
Her icy fingers pushed the younger woman into the gushing water.
Snow White felt the terror run through her body, but that sensation lasted only a little while. Because the next moment, the icy water had taken her.
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She woke up on a mat. An old woman stood by her bedside, with a steaming cup, and once she realized Snow was awake, she offered the cup.
‘Where am I?’
‘If the prophecy is true, you are a hundred miles away from your country.’
‘A hundred miles? That is impossible!’
‘Not if the prophecy is true.’
‘Prophecy?’
The woman looked into the girl’s eyes.
‘We will talk after you finish your drink.’
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‘This whole world was once nothing but a place of blandness, where for miles at a stretch the eye could never discern the remarkable. Some say an entity called God had changed it as we had known it, some say it was rocks from outside our skies. But those legends are nothing but beautiful tales.
‘At the time, there lived five dragons, the first creatures on the planet. No one knew who they were, or what beget them, but that mystery granted their divinity. Each controlled one of the five elements – fire, water, air, earth and lightning. And merging their powers in different proportions, they created all that we see. From lifeless rocks and sands, they began to create the first life forms.
‘Their greatest creation were the human beings, entities superior in language and intelligence. These creatures reached their complete superiority when the combined powers of the dragons were blessed unto them, when fire, water, air, earth and lightning were bestowed upon them. The humans created astonishing inventions with their resources. But they weren't satisfied. They wanted more
‘Their greed drove the mankind to slay the five creators, thinking that the killing of dragons would bestow them infinite resources and power. The dragons fell, but though the resources unchanged, their death brought darkness and doom to the world. But their magic remained, and it flowed into the generations of man, tapped only by the purest of mortals. Each generation brings with it five such people, and in this one, you Snow White, are one of them. You are Water.
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A hundred miles away, the woman looked again at the mirror.
‘Mirror mirror in my hand,
Who is the fairest in the land?’
The screen materialized into nothingness, and out of the haze, a lone figure appeared.
‘A merciless soul, her heart black as night,
The fairest is she whose hands cradle me tight.’
Her once cheerful smile reappeared, a symbol of happiness that masked her vile and vicious self.
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The whole monastery had been built to commemorate the five dragons that had been slayed by their own creations. The crumbling structure for years upheld piety, repelled vengeance, vanity, hate and spite from this world. But revenge had found its way, and thrived right in the heart of the monastery.
Snow White waited till all the residents of the monastery retired. And with the darkness, she shall merge, and kill the witch with her newfound powers.
She had not failed in ripping me apart. Now I shall return the favor. 301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz41jOCHGCs
