The Princess and the Reaper
Long ago there was a kingdom called Rubrum.
It was a fine land – all kinds of green colors decorated the endless fields, cities bloomed between forests and rivers, and the horizon was covered in a mighty castle with countless towers that shone red once the sun set behind it. In the afternoon the shadow of it reached all over the country side – a reminder for the Rubrans that their whole life is connected to everything the shadow touches.
One day darkness overwhelmed the beautiful land and engulfed everything in a pitch black fog – the humans, the houses, even animals, and plants weren't spared. The air got thick and every being that breathed in this fog got turned into a will-less figure – not entirely dead, but not entirely alive either. Without any aim of going the people of the kingdom walked along the streets of Rubrum, haunting it ever since.
The castle wasn't spared by this either – even the Majesty and their subordinates got infected by the curse, wandering aimless through the once beautiful castle.
Except one person didn't get the curse. It was the seventh daughter of the Queen, young, and only seventeen at this date. She was dancing the moment the curse hit the kingdom – it was too fast for her to notice. Everything went so quick she didn't even notice a person standing behind her when the princess looked out of the window when she did her stretches, seeing the fog coming in a flash.
And then everything was black and silent, short of a voice of a man that clang over the whole continent of Orience and reached even the three adjacent kingdoms – Concordia, Lorica, and Milites. The voice was clear to hear in every person's head and overwrote the thoughts of them in their minds for this speech.
"Rubrum has to atone for its sins since generations. No life will ever prosper in this land and its grounds, it shall burn in the fire it stands for. A curse has befallen the land – one, that only someone out there can break. Whoever manages to wake up the seventh princess of the Queen shall gain control of the land and nature will return to it, the fields will bloom better than before and all hunger will be stilled. But the task will not be easy and not anyone can try to wake her up – it has to be someone special.
The curse will linger for 842 years in which the princess will remain in a deep slumber until death will take her and the kingdom will vanish from the world."
The message was clear, everyone understood what needed to be done. The three kingdoms decided to work together in this bad times – even though all three of them wanted to have this land on their own. Each of them struggled with their own hunger problems, and so having fertile soil would bring an end to this. And yet they knew non of them would manage it alone.
Each kingdom set out one of their fairies out to investigate the situation in Rubrum – they were called Deuce, Cinque, and Queen, and where the best magical creatures they had.
It looked bad, in fact it was so bad the fairies had to hold themselves in order not to be overwhelmed by that – the fog might have cleared now, but it left a burning hell. Parts of burning cogwheels stuck in the ground, engulfed buildings and forests in a sea of flames – the inhabitants still wandered aimless in the streets, apparently unaffected by the fire. But they still cried for help, cried for someone to wake up the princess and break the curse.
Even though the fairies were awed by that sight they still managed to find a way in the castle, avoided several traps and fearsome monsters that hid in the shadows. It was a good thing they were small in size, but big in thinking, though they got in little banter from time to time. They were still coming from three different regions, it was normal to have some misunderstanding.
In the end they found the room where the sleeping princess laid, glad that she didn't have any harm. Immediately they dragged her to a safer room, tucking her in a bed where they can watch her with a keen eye.
The princess was still in her dancing garb when she fell asleep by the unknown magic, but that didn't stop her from being the most beautiful girl the fairies have ever seen – her white messy hair was definitely an eye catch, she was rather tall for a seventeen year old girl, yet her body was toned with muscles from the dancing she used to do since she was five years old, making her a strong young woman.
Unfortunately the fairies didn't know anything about her personality, so it was hard to know what would wake her up … if there was anything that would wake her up that is. They only knew that someone special can only do that, but without any hints who to look for it was impossible to narrow the search for that special someone.
And so the three fairies discussed long, exactly three days and nights, before they came up with a somewhat unsettling idea. They wanted to call out to every royalty and strong person that lived in one of the three kingdoms, hoping they would be special enough to break the magic and set this land free.
Each fairy went back to their respective kingdom – Deuce went back to Concordia, Cinque to Lorica, and Queen to Milites, to send the message they had prepared.
Soon enough many people from all over the kingdoms volunteered to help the fairies – the finest princes and princesses gathered, Milites sent their best scientists, Lorica their strongest men, and Concordia sent out their finest women from the Astral Guard.
Every single one of them was notable in their own kingdom, many of them already made remarkable accomplishments, but if it was enough to break the curse they had yet to find it out.
The fairy Cinque tried it first, navigating the men to the deepest spot in the castle where the princess laid – but many of them already turned back by the horrifying sight of the never ending fire, the hot air burned hard in their lungs and let a huge percentage collapse. Only a handful survived the deadly traps that were set out for them and reached the princess, finally. However, once they were there, non of them knew what to do. Their solely presence didn't do anything to her, not even when they tried to touch her – not a single thing changed.
Cinque had to admit her defeat. There was no Lorican who could wake her up.
And so Queen took Cinque's spot and arrived with her Militesi people, going through every hardship the former fairy went through already, too. Yet her people were more frightened by the aimless wandering Rubrans that haunted the kingdom than by the immense fire the Loricans had problems with. Though they were amazed by the curse, interested in how it worked and figured out when traps lured in their way. More Militesi than Loricans managed to reach the chamber of the princess, and yet again – nothing happened, not a single twitch came from her as the tried to wake her up. Not even with their scientific knowledge they could figure out what could possibly break the spell.
And Queen too had to accept her defeat, leaving it to Deuce then as she safely maneuvered her people out of the castle back in the kingdom.
Deuce's Concordian women were the best military in whole Orience, nothing ever scared them – not even the hot burning hellfire, not the will-less Rubrans. There were a few casualties when they sneaked through the unsafe halls of the castle, but that was because of carelessness of some of them – jealousy ran high between them. Every one of them wanted to be the one to wake the princess up, thinking that they might be the one to do so. It was reckless, they knew, but as soon as they were in the middle of the castle they pulled themselves together, saying how ashamed they were that they thought like this in this situation. Without any further accidents they made it finally to the chamber and everyone was in awe by the sight of the princess.
And again like the previous two groups of people they tried their best to wake her up – they danced, they held speeches, and fought against each other to show her their strength. Some of them even tried to kiss her – but a strong force kept them from doing that. They figured, whoever was this special person the voice was referring to would be able to kiss her.
With this new information they traveled back since non of them was able to do that, sharing the news with every single person they could reach.
From now on the travels to Rubrum were better organized with way lesser people than before – extra arranged excursions to the castle were made without any casualties. Everyone who wanted to see the princess was now able to.
Month flied past like nothing and no one who ever saw the princess could even touch her. The strong magic around her forbid every mortal living to brush over her skin, making it impossible to kiss her. With every failure of someone the hope of another one rose, going through their ranks like it was an open fire.
The fairies spent years to escort every living human to the princess and after all that long time the hope of breaking the curse sunk, the motivation to continue all this sunk low for the fairies and humans.
Sadness sprout in each kingdom at the sight of Rubrum, the fires of it enlighten the night sky ever since. Many people still hoped for a miracle, but with each passing day it vanished step by step.
Children got to hear stories about a blooming Rubrum, laughing at the adults then because all they knew was a burning kingdom they can see in the far distance. Those children told their children these stories like the adults did about Rubrum, adding minor details to make this story more appealing to children – Heroes from every kingdom went alone to the castle, cutting through the burning cogwheels as if those were butter under a hot knife.
Those new stories were nothing more than tales now. One or two people still tried to wake the princess up once a year, but still no one managed to do that.
Years, decades, hundreds of years passed with the princess sleeping and the fairies watching over her, still hoping that one day a miracle would occur and safe this burning land from the curse.
But eventually the year 842 arrived and the story about a sleeping princess was long forgotten. But the fairies still remembered it, holding on to their tiny shivering bodies as they awaited the final judgment to the curse.
Death reached slowly across the Kingdom of Rubrum. A lone figure appeared in form of a young woman at the border, adorned in a crimson cloak and holding a huge scythe in their hand she wandered through the endless flames. Each Rubran that passed the figure dropped dead at the sight, falling over with a single wave of the figure's hand. Once enough Rubrans got released from their eternal curse, the figure held her hand out and fine lines reached from each body lying on the ground to the fingertips of the hand, ripping this aura completely out with a single motion.
And so the figure wandered over the kingdom, trailing a line of death behind her – the fairies were sure who it was, there was only one person who was able to let people die in an instant.
"It's the Reaper!"
In fear they could only watch how this single figure erased every living, … or more like half-living, Rubrans with a snap of her fingers, coming closer to the castle with each step. They couldn't do anything against it – no single living being could ever stop this trail of death.
It was only a matter of time until the Reaper reached the chamber of the sleeping princess, wasting no look at the three tiny shivering things in the corner of the room. All that mattered was the beautiful princess lying in the bed – once the Reaper took her, Rubrum would be gone.
"W-Wait!"
The Reaper stopped in her moves and turned around then, facing the fairies at the sudden call out. Though her face was covered under the hood, they were sure her cold eyes bored right into them.
"What?" The Reaper's voice was cold and stern, sending shivers down the back with just a single word.
"Y-You can try to wake her up with a kiss! Everyone who came here d-did that! … You need to try at least, please?"
There was a small silence in the room as the Reaper took a look at the princess before she turned around to the fairies again – fairies were magical creatures, they wouldn't try to speak to her if they weren't sure in their actions. Not even the mighty Reaper could deny their plea – and so she nodded and stepped closer to the bed, holding her scythe away as far as possible to take a closer look at her.
She had to admit the princess was beautiful, even after many years of just lying here she didn't lose any of her gentle aura – the Reaper felt that this person must definitely be someone special, otherwise she wouldn't hesitate with kissing her. Never she hesitated with anything.
But eventually she did lean in to her, carefully, as the fairies grabbed at each other even tighter now, covering their eyes as they awaited the backslash every other one who tried it got too.
… Yet there came no backslash. The Reaper's lips landed on the princess' without any force interrupting. She almost fell over from her stance as she deepened the kiss by opening her mouth – there was a sharp inhale coming from the princess suddenly, the first reaction she showed after hundreds of years of a deep slumber.
Her arms were moving in a slow motion and reached out to the red cloak the Reaper was wearing, resting on her back as they slowly broke apart. The Reaper looked at her in awe as the princess twitched her eyes, blinking then as her purple eyes got to see who woke her up.
"Reaper." She whispered, her voice a bit sharp on the edges as if she still wasn't awake fully.
With interest she reached for the hood that covered the Reaper's face, tucking on it to reveal her face under it – light blue eyes stared at her, white hair fell in front of her soft shaped face, and her hair was tied up in spiky ponytail. The princess was amazed by that sight, cupping the Reaper's cheeks with both of her hands.
"Princess." She whispered in return, still not losing the eye contact they held all the time.
It was then that the fairies finally took a look at the situation, gasping at the sight of the awake princess.
"That can't be!"
"Impossible!"
The curse was broken with this single kiss – a kiss by death herself and breathed life in the princess again. And with that Rubrum was saved by the person that was supposed to end all this, life bloomed again-
"Mom, really? That's it?" A child sighed and slapped her forehead.
"Honestly Mom, what kind of ending was this?" Another child groaned in agreement.
"I don't know what you guys think, but I liked it!" The girl in the adult's lap cheered and bumped her fist in the air, earning a chuckle from the grown up.
"Mom, what do you want to tell us with that? That you should wait until-"
"That you have to think for yourself, you dummy." Another kid interrupted all the talking.
"I think it means you shouldn't be afraid of death … or something."
"Hey now, you wanted a goodnight story from your Mom for once and you got one, so no complains here, got it?" Seven chuckled as she lifted the little girl in her lap up and tucked her in her bed then, stroking over the covers to make it more comfortable. "And it wasn't that bad, wasn't it?"
"It was okay."
"Yeah, really. Mom, you should tell us more stories often!"
"But what happened after that? I want to know now! Did they get their happy end? And what about-"
Sice stepped to Seven's side to give the little girl a kiss on her forehead to calm her down, chuckling too as she still continued to bore her with questions.
"How about I tell you this another time? It's late after all."
"Ow, okay. Promise?"
"Yeah, promise."
The lights got switched off then and Seven and Sice stepped near the door to shout one last "good night" to all their kids they had in the orphanage, ending the day knowing they all had a smile on their faces when they fell asleep.
Until tomorrow, where the next story will be told.