Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Jim Henson studios and have no ownership of a number of the characters in this story.
My Lover's Curse
Prologue
There are those who believe that when we die, our souls separate from our bodies and either spend the rest of eternity basking in some version of paradise, or burning in a dark inferno. There are others who believe that once our bodies expire, our souls move on to another vessel and live life after life, either indefinitely or until we've learned all we've needed to learn and can finally retire our souls to the more pleasant of the aforementioned resting places. And, of course, there are those who believe that we have no soul and our existence ceases when our body does.
It is an age-old debate that will likely never be settled. There has never been a reliable source of information on the topic; dead people don't talk, after all. Of course there are those who claim to speak to the dead (often for a price) and there have been books written and films made about people seeing the afterlife in a near-death experience. But for every believer, there is a skeptic who vehemently denounces each claim, demanding solid proof. And so they continue to circle the question, believing what they feel is true, but never truly knowing.
Unless the people in question are immortals, living in the Underground.
The soul of an immortal is just that – immortal. Whether the body lives 10 or 10,000 years, the soul always lives on. The proof is in the binding of souls. With the rise in marriages for convenience, strongly bonded souls are a rarity and so this fact is slowly turning to faith among the young Fae, but there are still a few (elders mostly) who feel the tug of a lost love's spirit as it re-emerges in another body, or as it waits for when the time is right to reunite. This is even true for immortals living Aboveground. Although their bodies age much more quickly due to the lack of magic, their essence continues to move from one generation to the next for as long as each body will hold them. Each new body has no memory of lives past, but legends say that spirit memories can be awakened in the physical mind under the right circumstances and that even a body born in the Aboveground with an immortal soul can become immortal with the magic of the Underground.
So why the discussion of life after death? Because, once upon a time, in the Underground, there lived a young king, who found his soul's mate only to have her stolen from him and banished to the Aboveground before they could begin their life together. For centuries he could do nothing but watch her live and die through his crystals. Each tug of her spirit against his reminding him of what he lost, but also left him clinging to an ever-fading hope that the ancient stories were true. That one day, his queen would be returned to his side and he would once again find peace in her embrace.
A/N: So this is my first story in this universe. I will state right now that I'm not really well-versed in mythology of any kind, so I'm pretty much just making the rules up here as they suit the story. And while I will probably be using my old pal Google to help find some info, I really don't have time to do any extensive research. So if there are inconsistencies in the mythology then please don't be too harsh.
Also, please be aware that although I've done some pre-writing and I have a pretty good idea where this story is headed, there will be times where there might be some spaces of time between updates. I have a little one who loves to mash the keyboard buttons, so most of my writing is done when she's in bed. In addition, I don't have a beta, so even though I try to read over my work carefully, the odd spelling and grammar error will slip through. It's also been quite some time since I've written anything, so words might not flow as nicely as they should. Feel free to point out my mistakes, make suggestions, or offer constructive criticism.