#1 - The Lost Princess

Once upon a time, there was a land where many legends and many tales sprouted from.

Or rather, there were many lands.

And the legends and tales were too many to keep count. But every being that lived in that age, every character, every soul, mortal or immortal, found its own way to have their adventures recorded. One way or another, the tales were kept. And the tales were told.

Some said it started in the tale that follows. That is a rather totalizing statement, for no one knows for sure where and when the world began, where this world began. But, the tale that follows can perhaps be best described as “the event that made this land significant”, as the Prince of Thieves once put it.

It started with the white castle, built within the thick mush unclaimed forest. Its walls were built with the best marble that could be purchased from the eight great dwarves, who were the masters of the mines. Its chambers were filled with treasures consisting of antiques from the days of creation. Every doorknob was made of gold, every ceiling, every wall were spread with marvelous paintings. Every curtain was made of the finest silk spun from mysterious tribes of manikins from the north.

It took the employed laborers nine years to build and fully furnish the castle, and the Prince of the South-East Fairyland was pleased with it. Another six years passed, and the castle and its surroundings were populated with all sorts of peoples… humans, dwarves, manikins, trolls, ogres, humanoids, elves, astromech droids, mermaid-human cross breeds, so on and so forth.

The land prospered. And the Prince grew proud, for no other King, Queen, Prince or Princess did as well as him. He shunned himself from the world, and he became drunk in his own pride and his own wealth.

Until one day, the Godmother of Fairies knocked on his doorstep, dressed as a beggar, to ask the Prince for help. He refused her, commanding her to depart. The Godmother of Fairies then cursed the Prince for his lack of love, and as much as the Prince begged her not to, the Godmother of Fairies turned the Prince into a hideous looking beast, with blue furs, seven legs, sixteen arms, fangs of basilisk blood, a tongue of a frog, and eyes of… well, he kept his human eye. And the castle was stripped of its glory. Out of anger, the Prince of Beasts tore through the village beyond the castles, tearing and ripping bodies apart, limb after limb, arm after arm, and head after head.

And everyone either died, or ran away, for none could stop the beast. The manikins left without a fight, the trolls and ogres all died trying to beat it to death, the elves’ magic bounced off the beast, the astromech droids were ripped to shreds, and the dwarves ran after seeing one of the great eight dwarves die in combat with the Prince of Beasts.

Only love could break the curse, the Godmother of Fairies had said to the Prince of Beasts.

*

And so, for six full years, the castle was entrapped in darkness. The marble turned from sparkling white to dusty grey, and it was close to being a place of eternal night. The Beast locked himself within the castle, shunning himself from the world. And the forest soon became known to travelers as the forbidden forest, for it always carried mists of darkness, and no one who has ventured within has ever left it alive.

Until one day, a young maiden, who had gotten lost in the forbidden forest, stumbled upon the castle and was captured and imprisoned by the Beast. There, the cheesiest of stories happened, for the Beast found the servant-dressed girl to be a sweet and beautiful young thing, and fell in love with her.

To win the girl’s heart, the Beast ceased to murder or cause harm to people. It re-learnt politeness, suave and gentleness. And the cheesiest of stories happened! She saw that his heart was pure, and loved him in return.

And one thing remained for the Beast to break the curse: A kiss of true love.

The young lass loved the beast as the beast, and with her eyes closed, she kissed the hideous face of the hideous beast, ready to break the curse, and live a life of royalty with the prince restored.

Only the beast turned into a rather cute looking frog. Almost spotless.

*

“You hideous looking frog. You lied to me! You said you were a prince?”

“Oorrgh. I am a prince. Oorrgh.”

“But you’re a… frog!”

“Oorrgh. I can see that. But I’m really a human prince.”

“Apparently not. You lied to me, and you tricked me into loving something that you are not. Not only have you wasted my time here, you’ve also wasted my love.”

“I Oorrgh did not, my love. The curse should be broken.”

“Stop croaking, you liar!”

And the godmother of fairies then showed up and cursed the fair maiden into eternal exile in the highest tower in the abandoned castle near the caves of the manikins, for she was unable to love beyond one phase. That though her vision was clear enough to see the beast as he was, she could not see the frog as he was.

And it was said that because she could love the beast, the godmother of fairies did not steal the fair maiden’s beauty, to give her hope that one day, someone can free her of her imprisonment.

*

Legend tells that the tower was never found.

The manikins, however, often spoke of a legend of a half-princess who is imprisoned in a tower in the sky, and can only be seen where the sun and moon is. And how she grew her hair long enough for one to climb to her cage and free her, and how she hoped that one day her knight in shining armor would take her away from her eternal claustrophobia.

The manikins also always tell of the tragedy that no one has ever found her, and that her love was one that found no redemption.

*

As for the frog prince, the godmother of fairies set him free of his curse, and placed peace in his heart to know that the fair maiden’s love was not a love worth keeping.

She restored his kingdom, the forest, and its peoples and animals.

And she blessed the Prince with a good wife, Belle, the princess of starry stars. He loved her, and she loved him, and they began a journey of living a life eternal happily ever after.

And they had a child, Cinderella. And her birth was where “happily ever after” began to fade away.

*

“WHERE IS MY BABY!” screamed Princess Belle to the servants.

"We cannot find her. We left the room for only a minute,” answered her servants.

The Prince at that moment rode out with his best knights in search of the kidnapped baby, while servants and guards overturned the entire castle to seek Cinderella. She was stolen in the night, and no one had heard a thing. It was almost as if she disappeared into thin air. Not even the windows were open, for the curtains hang still in the enclosed bedroom.

As the Prince rode through the forest, eyeing every tree, every bush and every pathway in hopes of seeing some sign of a kidnapper’s movement.

His determination outlasted that of his knights, for he never rested for seven days, riding further and further out. His knights had either resorted to laziness or death from thirst.

The Prince of Beasts finally arrived at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and at the forest gates of ghostly willows he finally found a sign that told him more of what he did not wish to know than that which he hoped to find.

The body of the godmother of fairies hung at the tree gates of the Forbidden Forest, surrounded by fleas and smelling of dead rot.

The Prince of Beasts knelt down and cried, for in his knowledge, he knew that only the Godfather of Fairies could have done such a thing. And that must also mean that the Godfather of Fairies has awoken from his millennium slumber.

“But why take my Cinderella? Why take my Cinderella? What have I ever done to you, oh Godfather of Fairies?” cried the Prince.

*

Princess Belle departed from the castle, apparently to beg for Godfather of Fairies to return their daughter to the family. But anyone would know that no one knows where the great magician dwells. Some suspected that she left of depression, that she cannot live within the castle walls without remembrance of her stolen daughter.

Over the years, Princess Belle never returned, and that was somehow expected by the Prince of Beasts. And slowly, the castle returned to its grey self, and the forest turned into a forest of fog and confusion again. Though this time, it wasn’t the aura of death that filled the forest, but the echoes of sadness and pain.

And that was the catalyst of the dark times that was to follow.

*

the end