Prince Lucas Friar had just slain a dragon. A dragon from Hell, to be exact, a dragon that was a fairy - or a fairy that was a dragon? It didn't matter, because both were dead. The afternoon hadn't started out so eventful, not in the beginning. Or maybe it was just eventful in a different way. He was meant to marry the princess he was promised to at birth, but he'd stolen away instead to the home of the girl he'd fallen in love with, his peasant girl who he'd seen dancing in the woods, the one who'd stolen his heart the moment he set eyes on her.
Except, he only found her home empty and barren, and an evil fairy awaiting him. He came to in an old dungeon that smelled of moss and dead things, confused and scared. But he hadn't been there for a half hour before three fairies came to him. He'd never met fairies before, though he knew many had lived in the woods, but (according to his father) it wasn't princely to go wandering about unaccompanied in the forest. His most recent encounter with a fairy hadn't been good, but these three seemed trustworthy. Two girl fairies, and one boy, each dressed in a different color.
The one in red, the boy, introduced himself as Zay. The one in green had a soft smile and long brown hair, and she introduced herself as Riley. The one in blue who seemed to be the leader of the group, introduced herself last as Isadora. "But we don't need to waste more time with introductions," she said shortly. "Princess Maya is in trouble."
"Princess…" Lucas wasn't putting the pieces together - sometimes he was a bit slow on the uptake, despite getting good marks in his studies. "Princess Maya?"
Isadora looked even more impatient than she had before. There was a crease between her eyebrows. "The girl you met in the woods. If you want to save her, you must go now." Hearing that Maya was in trouble was all he needed to propel himself into action. He let the fairies guide him to the castle which was surrounded by thick thorny vines, and was being guarded by a dragon. A dragon - princes were supposed to fight dragons, that was basically their whole deal. But even though Lucas was good with a sword, panic began to overtake him.
Before he could completely crumble, though, Zay thrusted an enchanted sword into Lucas' hands. "You're not going to lose, Prince. Not with this."
Lucas felt pale and clammy, but still maintained his manners. "I think you can officially call me Lucas," he said.
Zay smiled, his red aura growing a little stronger with it. "Alright, Lucas. Give Hell back to her."
The fairies seemed to disappear. It was just the dragon, the thorns, the castle that held his peasant girl, his princess, the dancing girl from the woods. The dragon leaned down low to him, her eyes narrowing. When Lucas looked directly into them, his insides ran cold.
Maleficent, from the word Maleficus, meaning wicked. Lucas had never fully conquered Latin, but that definition echoed clearly in his head as he drove his sword through the beast's neck. The hatred in the creature's eyes seemed to grow more, and for a second, Lucas thought the wound only angered it, but within ten seconds, the dragon collapsed to the ground with a mighty, earth-shaking thud.
Lucas didn't have time to consider the magnitude of what he'd just done before the fairies were ushering him into the castle, only allowing him one spare glance over his shoulder. Funny. It hadn't seemed as easy to kill dragons in all the books he'd read. There wasn't any time to ponder that thought. Perhaps, if there was, he'd have been able to prevent all the events that were about to be set in motion. But Lucas just kept moving, though the nagging thought of the dragon's eyes filling, not emptying remained with him.
When he stepped into the princess' chambers, however, he stopped short. His reward for defeating the dragon would be her - sunlight itself. When he first saw Maya, she was bathed in it, golden hair spinning all around her as she grinned and twirled in the forest, humming an old lullaby he'd heard growing up. And now, she was lying in a bed four times her size, eyes loosely shut, face clean of emotion. It wasn't a look he liked on her, not at all.
He would like nothing more than for her to open her eyes and smile at him again - he didn't think there was anything he wouldn't do. "Go on," Riley said behind him, gently, but with the same edge of impatience that Isadora hadn't tried to hide, urging him to hurry. He would kiss Maya, she would awaken, and the rest of kingdom would awaken with her, and then it would be happily ever after.
The dragon came to mind again, but he waved the thought away. It had hit the ground with a force that shook the earth; surely, it wasn't alive. But the princess was, for now, and she needed Lucas in order to remain that way. He knelt beside her bedside. She looked so beautiful. He tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear and gently, tenderly pressed his lips to hers.
And then, instead of the princess rising and greeting him he felt himself crumpling, his hand sliding from her face and to the floor. As sleep overtook him and he was pulled into someone else's dream, his last thought was of the dragon he had slain. The eyes that filled instead of emptying. The dragon he was supposed to kill. Had anyone checked if it was really dead?