Clap for the Witch of Snakes!
Suggested Theme:
Main Theme- Dark Paradise by Lana Del Rey
Dreams are the blood of the moon. The moonlight is a vein for the blood to flow into something else. Like roiling on the surface of a mourning ocean. Or dancing around a crying Muse. Or withering the petals of a sunflower. The moonlight carries dreams into the dreamer like a chariot that carries the sun across the sky. However, moonlight can disrupt the serenity and sow turmoil in the fertile crescent of a dreamer's dream.
Selina's dream starts off innocently enough. She is a child, no more than six, in a field of violet hyacinths and crimson snapdragons. The flowers tickle her stocky knees and touch her thighs like the wind tangling her harlequin hair. The sky is blue with white clouds swirling about like sea foam. There is light as though it were produced by an invisible sun. She feels the warmth of the light caress her face.
She is not alone. There is an equally stocky girl with red pigtails and blue overalls. She is streaking through the field of life like a comet in the night. Selina runs to her, but the girl runs from her. Selina serpentines, while the girl dodges. The girl refuses to be caught like a Xerces butterfly.
"Bloom!" Selina has to resort in calling out the girl's name. Bloom stops like a mouse that has her neck snapped by a snake. A chill wracks Selina's young frame at the deathly stillness of Bloom. Selina wanted her to stop, and Bloom stopped like she wanted. So why isn't she happy when she got what she desired?
The warmth goes out like a candlelight. The hyacinths begin to bleed dark drops of blood, while the snapdragons breathe brimstone fire. The snapdragons burn Selina's bare feet, while the hyacinths smear blood on her small thighs. She is burning and bleeding, but Bloom remains untouched. The Dragon Flame is frozen in her pure visage, while Selina is razed.
Selina's are carried by a dry wind along with the smoke to a spring. The spring accepts her, along with the smoke, and allows her to gestate in the crystal waters. She is reshaped into a pubescent form. Her limbs are longer, sharper like gnarls on an olive tree. Her breasts are triangular and unsymmetrical like the first pyramids. There is a light dusting of yellow-green hair in places that were smooth as ambrosia.
She arises from the water like myrtle in the summer. Her choppy hair clings to her neck like smoke in the water. She looks left and sees a pubescent Bloom. Her fire-red hair flickers across her back and in her hands is a blue mantle with flowery embroidery. She is holding it out for Selina to take and clothe her nudity.
Selina looks right. She sees Acheron, in his scowling flesh, holding out the Legendarium for her to take. In those weathered hands, Selina can feel the Legendarium beckoning her to turn the pages of the dark, ancient tome. To be like Pandora and unleash the evil contained within.
She has two choices. She can choose to be cloaked by Bloom. Or she can choose Acheron and the Legendarium. She shivers in the cold, pristine water. She wants warmth, but she also wants the power to command the forgotten creatures. She wants both. She'll tell them that she wants it all.
She opens her mouth to tell them, but a white snake falls out of her mouth and into the water. She looks left to see Bloom trembling at the snake; then, she looks right to see Acheron is unfazed. Bloom drops the mantle and runs away. The mantle falls into the water and covers the white snake. There goes a choice.
She does not pick up the mantle. Instead, she takes the Legendarium from Acheron's hands. She wanted it all, but she couldn't have it. Perhaps, she never had a choice to begin with. She's still cold, but at least turning the pages will warm her fingertips like a hearth. But the book cannot warm the rest of her body.
She slips the Legendarium under her armpit and reaches for the mantle. When she pulls up the colored cloth, the white snake bites into her right breast. The venom causes her to fall into the water. Acheron does not stir from his spot, but simply takes back the Legendarium. She wants to scream, but no sound erupts from her mouth. The white snake has robbed her of her voice and also of her life.
Selina wakes up. She has a leather-clad hand on the Legendarium. She is in her bleak room with only moonlight illuminating the room. She opens her mouth, but no snake falls from her violet lips. It was just a dream. None of it was real. She clutches the Legendarium to her chest and falls back onto her cold bed. The dream lingers in her mind and causes her to question her life.
Would Acheron really give her what she wants? But more importantly, will the power make her happy? The Legendarium offers no answers for the Witch of Snakes, but allows itself to be pressed into her breasts like a serpent's egg. Selina does not know the answer, but it's not like she has any choice.
Author's Comments- I was inspired to write this story because of the recent release of "Stella's Big Party" episode on Nick's site and also inspired by a Madoka Magica amv with the song that is in the main theme. I had forgotten how much I missed the bright colors of the show. But, more importantly, I realized that I never wrote a story for Selina, a character that I was fascinated with because of her ability to beguile the Trix and her past ties with Bloom.
She has so much unrealized potential that I know won't get tapped into in the show. She's the Witch of Snakes, but I cannot ever remember her displaying that power in any of the episodes except for in a flashback. Her name is obviously derived from the moon goddess, which is why this story does pay tribute to the deity. Her relationship to Acheron initially interested me because I was hoping for something deeper than master and assistant, but nothing really happens. I haven't seen the last six episodes, but I am certain that he'll backstab her like the Trix were backstabbed by whoever is their master for the season.
However, this story is also littered with symbolism and allusions to Ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian myth. This time around I just wanted to make a story that doesn't have a plot; it's just about Selina's dream and an excuse to go nuts with symbolism. Also, her dream has some symbols that I am willing to clarify.
In 10,000 Dreams Explained by Pamela J. Ball, snakes can represent primitive sexuality, death, and repressed or thwarted energy. Serpents can paradoxically represent destruction and life.
The white snake is derived from a Grimm Brothers' tale of the same name. In the tale, when a white snake is eaten, then the one who ate it has the power to talk with animals. I tweaked it a bit in this story so that Selina would lose her voice when the snake comes out of her mouth. It's sort of a reverse of what happens in the original tale.