Prologue
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a handsome young man ruled the kingdom. He was intelligent, brave, kind-hearted – all in all, a fair king that was loved by the people. His kingdom, one of seventeen, was not the largest and most prosperous, but he worked to let his land flourish. He travelled everywhere, making sure that each and every person had food in their belly and a roof over their head. He set laws to protect the rights of his people and banished any corrupt palace officials.
In time, his kingdom thrived. The homeless now had a home, the beggars no longer begged, and the injured healed under the medical system he created. His people adored him and threw celebrations in his name almost every month. They treated him as a legend, a legacy, and told their children and grandchildren of his virtues.
But, alas, it led to his undoing. The people of his land loved him, but he felt that what he had done for them wasn't yet enough. He became anxious, greedy even, for more. The king wanted the sprawling lands and powerful armies that many other kingdoms possessed. He wanted to have his castle and entire capital city made of gold, instead of modest stones, like the kingdoms that had abundant mineral resources. He wanted to have a thousand fleets of ships at his command, like the kingdoms located near the sea.
And most of all, the young king wanted power. He had never been power-hungry, but now it was all he craved. He drove himself near mad with want, lost as he was in his illusions of sparkling jewels and vast territories. Soon, the king forgot the joy he felt when he looked over his people. He no longer laughed, no longer smiled. His face, still remarkably handsome, twisted with anger when he saw what the other kingdoms possessed. His heart became overrun by hatred and his mind, once so intelligent, filled with jealousy. Most of all, he felt stifled, choked with unfairness. He was born to rule! How could it be that he was stuck with one of the worst kingdoms in the lot? They lacked the gold and diamond deposits that other kingdoms boasted and the land was dry and cracked in most regions. No, this couldn't possibly be right. Somehow, fate had messed up.
The more he contemplated it, the more he liked the idea. Of course fate had messed up! He started setting his sights on neighboring kingdoms, imagining how it would feel to rule two, three, four times the amount of land he owned now. His daydreams included strand after strand of jewels around his neck, women who flocked to his wealth, and the power that he rightly deserved.
The king decided that it was up to himself to right the accidental wrong. And so he gathered all the talented magical beings he could find, consulted fortune tellers, and hatched himself a plan.
She was born Princess Aurora, third child of the kingdom, and she was the first princess to be born in Sylfaen in centuries. Aurora was named after the Roman goddess of the dawn, for just the mere thought of a princess filled the king and queen with sunshine. (It's all really quite cheesy if you think about it.)
She had five gifts bestowed upon her at birth. Technically only four – beauty, grace, charm, and intelligence – for the fifth one was neither a virtue nor an object highly coveted among the seventeen kingdoms. Instead, it was a chance to live.
Because, you see, some time in between the fourth gift and the fifth gift, there had been the rudest of interruptions. It came in the form of Maleficent, a notorious dark witch that was absolutely livid about being left out of the baby shower festivities. King Stefan had opened the castle doors to everyone, for heaven's sake. He invited each and every magical creature in the kingdom of Sylfaen – each and every one except Maleficent.
Well, to be completely honest, that was a bit of an exaggeration; King Stefan had definitely not invited the werewolves, or the centaurs, or the giants, and many more. But Maleficent still took it personally, in the same way that she took everything personally. She had burst into the ballroom, seen the fairies gathered around a pale pink crib, taken one look at the small princess that laid there, eyes wide and startlingly blue, and cursed her. Cursed her to prick her finger on a spinning wheel the night she turned seventeen and die on the spot.
It was the fifth gift that saved little Princess Aurora. It proclaimed that instead of pricking her finger and dying, she would live as a commoner until true love's kiss. With those words, Princess Aurora's destiny began to morph into something else completely.
And so she lived, knowing exactly what would happen on her seventeenth birthday but not aware of how difficult it would be and just how many lives rested in her hands.
A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first fanfic in a very, very long time, hahaha. I would love to hear feedback, so please review :) Also, since I started this fanfic at not a very convenient time, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update. The life of a student...*sigh* But I'm determined to finish this, no matter how long it takes.