Beastly ever After

CHAPTER ONE

Once upon a time, those are the words that begin all stories and fairy tales, but in our case, it starts with an ending far more hopeless than could have ever been imagined.

In the centuries that have come and gone, the world has revolved with magic, fairy tales are popular, and one true love has risen strongly. It was in those times that three fairy sisters peeked into the future and glimpsed an end to all that was magic.

A glitch in an otherwise perfect world written in perfect harmony, where the world is ruled by magic and the stories of fate are spun by fairies continuously for the joy of all who live in this world and in others.

On that rainy night when the winds were high enough they seemed intent on blowing off the roofs of homes. The sisters Telia, Brea and Mariae glanced into the ball of fortune, a relic of the ancestors before them that was used only on Samhin night to see the past or future.

In it, they saw doom, the destruction of every fairy and magical creature that lived and wove these human stories– for it was a trait of man to move and conquer even those that did not belong to them.

To aid their cause, four witches, Athica the cunning, Sabina the honest, Aria the wise and Elia the watchful, came forward to make a crystal of immense power that would aid the life force of the fairies.

It is called the Crystal orb. Four witches would make it, but it would be one that would doom the world of the fairies forever by taking what had been meant for another.

Despite the protest of these sister witches, what they did not know was that their sister, Athica the Cunning, would become more power hungry than any could account for, she would dream of power beyond what she already had.

On another night of Samhin, Athica would cast a spell drawing out the magic from the Crystal orb. In doing so, she would doom the fairy people to extinction.

The sky was black, the moon round and full hung in it, the pale light giving a backdrop to the unclad woman. She stood still, tall and slender, red hair falling lushly over her shoulders, evil seeped from her curling around the trees, the rocks congealing the air with its stink.

The birds and all the creatures of the night had fled, seeking to escape the tendril of bitter madness that followed like a cloud.

Gliding across the grass she came to a stop in the falling water called the sunburn, where water ran like gold light, a contrast to the pale moon round and full, served its purpose, shining into the water clear, clearly giving back her reflection, and then she began the chants.

"Oh water most pure, give me what I seek, the one thing which my heart yearns for, show me," she cried, taking the bowl of blood that had been left for her use. She poured

"The blood of seven," she cried

"The souls of thirteen," she repeated as she opened a glass vial and a screaming ghost flew out of the bottle's mouth as she poured it, and her voice shook.

"Give me what I seek, that whose destiny twines with mine" she cried out, and the water began to shake violently and strongly, and then it gave way to glass as the orbs floated out of the water.

" You can not take the orb, Athica. It is not for us. It was never ours to begin with ", her sister ground out, and she resisted the urge to sigh,

" You can't stop me, Elia, this power is ours to have. We gave it, and we can take it away" she replied.

" Athy please", Sabina, the youngest, pleaded, trying to get her away from the orb, but the brighter it shone, the closer she drew to it.

" How can you be so sure" Elia asked again, and she laughed, becoming unstable and almost mad.

"If you take that orb, or it's power, you will be our enemy, you will not be allowed to return home ever. " Aria the sister of wisdom said, her tone calm and final. Shock washed over Athica, but stiffening, she stood straight and grabbed the ball,

"Very well, I shall leave. " she sneered

" But remember, this world will not forever be your sister. I will come for you," she turned away, disappearing into a puff of smoke.

The weakened fairy who could only gain energy from the orb which was fueled by the fairy tales they spun like threads of gold would now have nothing to feed their orb.

But she didn't doom only the fairy, she also doomed herself by refusing to take account of the surge of power in the orb and, in her quest for power, she would lose her life force, too weak to hold the power of the orb.

The only way left for her to survive would be to thwart the fairy tales and stop all the couples from finding true love.

Centuries have come and gone, the fairies are still slowly going extinct and desolate, only a trace of their magic still in the air, called fairy tales, but they are actually real lives affected by the surge of magic.

In every century, the story changes and as they deviate from the true plot ending in loveless marriages that end in human divorce, the magic dies off a little and Athica gains more of her life force. If this goes on much longer, soon all traces of the fairies will be gone forever and the witches who helped this come along are nowhere to be found.

Today we tell the story of the orphaned little girl who is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters and who is about to fall in love with the crown prince, but yet a beast lurks in the corner and love is not as straight forward as it should be.