PROLOUGE

You might know the tale of a certain young woman who possessed magical healing abilities via her hair, but what you don't know is that there is a tale beneath that tale. That tale is full of turns, some dark, some sensual, and all surprising.

Our story starts with an ancient legend. One that has been around since before anyone can remember and history had been recorded. It told of a time before that magic drop of sunlight fell to earth on that fateful day and of a mysterious old Warlock. As the tale goes, he had traveled the world over many times and gained much knowledge and power by doing so. However, as all things do, his time in the world was coming to an and. He decided he didn't want this great knowledge and power to disappear with him. So, he used his magic to create a door behind which he sealed this knowledge, then hid the door away so that the greedy and corrupt wouldn't be able to find it and use what lay beyond to destroy the world. The Warlock, being wise and careful as he was, left a single clue to the doors whereabouts, an enigmatic poem:

When the sun lays upon the ground

That is where the key is found

Purest of hearts and golden light

Will bring my treasure into your sight

Naturally many sought out this great power and treasure, but all failed. Even if the door was found, it surely was locked with powerful magic, with no known way to get the key. Over time, the legend became just that, a mere myth of a legend passed around by wistful thieves as a form of amusement. Then, one day, that single drop of golden sunlight fell to earth, and the talks of the legend grew to fever pitch. The first part of the poem had come true. Or so it was thought. Many sought to find this drop of sunlight, which was said to have blossomed into a flower, and use it as the key to unlock the door. Not that anyone had any inkling to the door's location. There was also whispers that the flower itself had great magical powers, that it could not only heal wounds and illness, but the ravages of time as well. It could allegedly grant anyone eternal youth!

A dark and mysterious witch, Gothel, however, wouldn't be deterred. Using her great magical powers, she extended her own life so she could search for that door, and upon hearing of the legendary flower, and the healing powers it possessed, she knew it would not only be the key she needed, but possibly grant her all the time she needed to find that door. Using her own magic and razor sharp wits, she located the flower. Now all that was left for her was to unlock it's magic, which she did using a poem written on a parchment said to have been a page from a tome possessed by the very warlock of the legend. Not only was she restored to her youthful self, but she had all the time she could ever have need of in her endless search of that mysterious door. Not wanting anyone else to use that flower's magic she hid it under a dome she wove out of foliage.

Years passed, and a kingdom grew nearby, the Kingdom of Carona. Of course, you know that the Queen grew deathly ill when she and the king were expecting a baby. You know of the search, and consequential discovery of the flower, and how it saved the queen from death, and imbued the unborn child with it's powers of healing through long golden hair. You also know of how that child, a princess was snatched away by Gothel, only to be hidden away deep in the surrounding forest, shortly after birth.

What you don't know is that Gothel not only wanted to use Rapunzel to keep her young and grant her the time she needed, but thought that by raising her as her own daughter, she could essentially fulfill the second part of the poem in the legend, so she'd be ready when she finally found that door. You see, she knew she wasn't at all pure. Not by any stretch of the imagination, so by keeping the girl as pure as possible, the girl could be the key to unlocking the door. It was, in her mind, essentially killing two birds with once stone.

Now she only needed to find that door...