Story: Spellbound
Author: ShrapnelGirl
Exclaimer: All characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya, not me!
Author's comments: This is a little fanfic idea I got one evening and just couldn't rest until I has this prologue out on paper! I have an idea for the first chapter, but not so much after that. Please let me know if you are interested in reading the first chapter. I'm planning on having this story include Dark!Iceland, Human!Puffin and an unorthodox portrayal of normal-Iceland from the eyes of an actual Icelander. Also a typical Hetalia world-meeting-gone-wrong, wery perplexed Nordic five and a bunch of other nations being silly. Story might get angsty/romantic/etc. Rating might also go up, depending on what I'll actually write.
But please, don't let me hold you any longer. Enjoy the story!
Update 31.03.2013: Cover for Spellbound was made by Silverblueroses (u/2432057) (silverblueroses. deviant art . com)
Prologue - Icelandic highlands, winter of 1263
Iceland felt a sharp pain in his chest when the elven queen turned the blade of the sword. She had stabbed him with it; she had actually walked up towards him and stabbed him. Iceland fell to his knees. He could feel the strength of his body draining out of him. The elven queen pulled out the sword, making Iceland groan loudly. He coughed blood. Blood also flowed from the wound, colouring the snow beneath him red. The elven queen threw her sword into the snow where it quickly got buried by the raging blizzard of the Icelandic highlands. Her eyes burned with untamed fury.
"Your betrayal shall cost you deeply," she said. Her fair voice boomed with supernatural strength, momentarily drowning out even the wailings of the northern wind. Her wild hair danced with the storm, in front of her face, creating reflections of dark shadows in her eyes - Iceland could have sworn those shadows were the silhouettes of the land wights, watching him from the eyes of the elven queen. It must have been the blood loss that created illusions in Iceland's mind. The land wights hadn't been interested in showing their faces for over 200 years.
"You swore to safeguard this land," The queen reminded Iceland. "You swore your allegiance to the Hidden People in the battle against the human invasion. You swore to always fight for independence, for magic and for the gods of old. You took the name of this country, said you were this country, that you were Iceland itself." The elven queen now had tears in her eyes. "You said you would be my king," she said, almost too low for Iceland to hear it.
Iceland lowered his eyes. He could not meet the elven queen's accusative gaze. He knew he was guilty of every charge. She had the full right to be angry.
"Look at me!" the elven queen demanded. Iceland involuntarily obeyed, looking back into her eyes. They stung his soul like the sword had stung him only moments before - only the queen's gaze was much worse. "Do you know what you have done?" She didn't wait for Iceland's answer, but carried forth. "You have succumbed to the humans who now wreak havoc upon the homes of the hidden, claiming our houses of stones and of hills are their to dig up and break. This land now belongs to a foreign king - and a foreign religion."
Iceland felt his pain grow with every word. It was true. It was all true. He had failed to guard his land and now it was a country of Christian humans under a Norwegian king. All the mystical creatures of his sacred land had been run out of their natural habitats and were forced to live in the highlands, on the black beaches or the black desserts. Iceland had broken every promise he had made to his people, the hidden people, and his queen. He had failed to become an elf worthy enough to marry the queen and guard the land with her. He had broken her heart.
"I'm sorry," he tried to say, but exhaustion swallowed his words before he could even form them.
"I cannot kill you," the elven queen said with bitter remorse in her voice. "You cannot be killed, nor can you die a natural death. That is the truth I once took as a sign of you belonging to the hidden people. No matter how long your life," the queen said with disgust in her voice. "You do not have what it takes to be an elf." Iceland cringed at those words. He felt as if he was being abandoned by his family. "Instead of death, your punishment shall be one to hunt you forever," the queen said. "You are hereby banished from the elven kingdom forever. I will also put you under the strongest spell I am able to cast. Every full moon you and the one you love the most will transform into the darkest, most evil versions of yourselves and terrorize the world. You will have no control over your actions. You will be plagued by an unquenchable thirst for destruction and lies. No counter-spell will be able to safe you, and so you shall live for the rest of your life."
When the elven queen had spoken those words, she disappeared into the storm. Iceland allowed himself to fall into the blood soaked snow and be buried by the blizzard. He slept for fourteen days and fourteen nights, only to awaken at the next full moon. His blue eyes turned red at the sight of the moon and Iceland immediately felt a compelling lust for mischief. He grabbed the elven queen's sword that lay on the ground beside him and went on a blood hunt. That night he killed an outlaw roaming the highlands and three sheep.
When the moon made way for sunrise, Iceland´s eyes turned back to blue and he felt normal again. Horror at his nightly actions consumed him. And so it would be every full moon for the next 700 years.
If you liked this prolouge and would like to read the first chapter, please comment or PM me. Also if you have any ideas or wishes you would like to see fulfilled, don't hesitate to contact me. As I said, I don't have that many ideas for this story yet so I'm open to suggestions! I'm also pretty busy with school so I very likely won't start writing the first chapter until I see there is an interest for it. Also feel free to let me know if there are any spelling mistakes or anything in the text.
I got the idea for Iceland's eyes turning between blue and red from Himaruya changing his eyes from red to blue in his official design. I think the different eye-colours fit well with Iceland's two personalities: the normal blue eyed Iceland and the dark spellbound Iceland with his red eyes and mischievious grin. What do you think?