Here is the next chapter.
I am skipping over Jay's and Evie's portion of the quest, so this starts right when they enter the throne room of the Forbidden Fortress. I am tempted to tell you what this chapter will be about, but I think I will keep it a surprise for now. I think you will like it, hopefully. If not, then I probably wasted my time.
So! I finally watched Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in theaters. I made me think of two things. One: I mistakenly called Diaval a crow when he's a raven (I'll fix that with a funny scene next chapter). Two: I have a new idea for how I'll end the story, which starts with this chapter. It will be the same ending that I planned, but something extra will be added, like a reunion between . . . well, I'll keep that a surprise for now. After all, I may decide not to use that idea. Although, I now have another idea for Family Day that I will definitely use.
Enjoy.
This was where her mother used to rage and command. This was her seat of Darkness.
They pushed farther inside the Forbidden Fortress, Mal at the front. Carlos, Jay, and Evie fell like a phalanx of soldiers behind her, almost in formation.
The black stones beneath their feet were shiny and slick, and the entire room was haunted by an aura of deep malevolence. Mal could feel it; they all could. This had been a sad, angry, and unhappy home. Even now, the pain of that time burned its way through Mal, deep into her bones.
There was an empty place in the middle of the room where her mother's throne used to be. It had sat upon a great dais, flanked by two curving sets of stairs. The room was round and ringed with columns. A great arc cradled the place where the throne had once sat, guarding an empty spot. The tattered remains of purple tapestries moldered on the walls.
"So where is it?" Carlos wondered, looking around the cold stone room.
"It has to be here somewhere," Evie insisted, turning to look behind her.
"Maybe we should split up," Jay suggested.
"My mother was never without it because she needed it to walk. She held it even as she sat upon her throne." Mal moved to the spot where the throne no longer stood. "Here."
"So where would it be now?" Carlos frowned.
"It wouldn't be where anyone else could touch it," Evie commented.
Mal flinched at the word touch. "By the way," she began as she adverted her attention to her trio of companions, "none of you can touch the scepter. If you do, the scepter will possess you. I can touch it, but I will fall asleep. I will wake a few minutes after, according to my father."
"Look!" Evie cried, spotting a tall black staff with a dim green globe at its top leaning against the far wall.
Taking a deep breath, Mal walked with false confidence to the Dragon's Eye. As she reached out to grasp the scepter, a voice—male, with an unusual Irish accent—warned, "Careful. This is your test. You will see and experience only a fraction of the pain and despair your mother did before she arrived on the Isle of the Lost. Are you prepared to see the truth of her tale?"
"Gonna have to be," Mal retorted bitterly.
Before her . . . friends could convince her not to do it, Mal grabbed hold of the scepter—
And fainted.
Mal had no idea where she was. She certainly wasn't on the Isle of the Lost since she was surrounded by powerful mountains and an array of floral and fauna.
Mal stood next to some sort of enchanted lake, watching a peculiar scene unfold. Two tree-like creatures—kind of like a mean version of Groot, though the MCU is not in this universe—appeared to be some sort of guard with a little girl standing between them. The girl had to be at least ten years old with long brown hair, but that was the only normal thing about her. Her head had these oddly shaped horns while enormous black wings twice the size of the girl protruded from her back. There was something familiar about the girl, but Mal couldn't remember where she's seen her.
"Come out here!" The little girl ordered with a slight trace of an accent in her voice. "Come out here this instant!"
Mal gasped in recognition, though none of the three seemed to hear her or even see her. That little girl . . . was her mother, Maleficent!
A boy about the same age as the young Maleficent came out from hiding. Something told Mal that he was Stefan, though before he became a king since he looked like a peasant. Young Maleficent held out her hand expectantly, but Young Stefan pretended he didn't have anything. Young Maleficent raised an unconvinced eyebrow to which Young Stefan revealed a white crystal rock from his pocket, reluctantly handing it to her. With a small smile, Young Maleficent watched as she dropped the crystal into the lake, returning it to where it belonged.
Now Mal was confused. If she is supposed experience the pain and despair her mother felt, then why is she seeing her mother in a happy moment? I mean, Young Maleficent is smiling at Young Stefan like she made a new friend—
Wait . . . Mal could guess where this was going.
As she predicted, time moved forward faster than Mal thought it would. Many years must have passed since her mother looked only slightly younger than she does in real life. In the current memory Mal was watching, her mother still had her gorgeous wings, which looked even larger than before. However, Mal had a strong, gut-wrenching feeling that would soon change.
Stefan, probably in his mid-twenties, suddenly decided to visit one night after not seeing Maleficent in nearly ten years, maybe longer. The two were sitting next to one another in silence. Stefan handed Maleficent a container of some sort, who sipped the contents with no hesitation. In the matter of moments, Maleficent lulled to sleep, not knowing she had just been drugged.
Stefan waited a few minutes for the concoction to take full effect. After laying the fairy on the ground, the human shook her shoulder and spoke her name a few times to see if she would stir. Satisfied that she was fully unconscious, Stefan brandished an iron dagger from his pocket, raising high above his head before his strike.
"NO!" Mal cried out in despair, not wanting to see such a horrific sight.
As if the man heard her, Stefan stopped midway through the swing before tossing the dagger aside. He couldn't kill his first friend; however, he quickly had a new idea for his wicked scheme. From his pocket, he produced an iron chain and stretched it out in his hands till it was full length.
Mal clenched her eyes shut, knowing she would hear the screams of her mother at any moment. When the screams didn't happen, Mal slowly opened her eyes in fear. In the blink of an eye, the midnight darkness turned in the first light of the day and her mother was slowly waking from her drug induced sleep.
Maleficent struggled to sit up, much to her confusion. When she looked over her shoulder, her beautiful face morphed into a horror, letting out a piercing cry that could traumatize anyone, including her baby girl.
Speaking of her daughter, Mal became a shuddering mess at hearing her mother's pain, tears falling down her cheeks without her wanting them to. But there something unusual going on. Mal could literally feel the injuries on her own back when she had no wings to begin with. It was like somebody had dragged a knife through her back for the fun of it. The pain was excruciating, almost making her black out from it. If this was only a fraction of the torture her mother went through . . . then everyone has underestimated the Mistress of Evil, including her own daughter.
That is enough, a voice—the same Irish accent voice—insisted. You can't handle much more. I will end your test here and say you passed.
"No," Mal croaked, surprised by her inability to speak. "I can do this. I need to see more."
As you wish, the voice agreed. However, you will only be shown a few more events from the hundreds that could be used.
Almost like someone snapped their fingers, the scenery changed unexpectedly. Mal now stood on what appeared to be the roof of the Forbidden Fortress with her staring at her mother's back. A raven flew to Maleficent, who turned him into a human man with the swipe of her finger. Was that . . . Diaval? But Mal thought he was a crow, not a raven.
While she mused the thought, Mal missed the man—who she will assume is Diaval—telling the wingless fairy the news. Her mother didn't appear to take the news well as a green-like fire starting to surround.
"He did this to me," Maleficent slowly began as the fire grew, "so he could be king?"
With a powerful scream, a beam of green fire shot to the sky, almost like she was trying to tell the betrayer that she knew the reason behind his wicked scheme. Mal used her hand to shield her eyes from the incredibly bright light. The moment she did, the light vanished for some unknown reason.
When Mal moved her hand away, she noticed that she was now standing out to the side in a throne room of a castle. Stefan and his queen were standing from their royal seats as they watched their greatest enemy—a.k.a. Maleficent—standing over their daughter's crib at what looked to be the princess's christening. Due to the chatter of the guests around her, Mal could barely hear what the trio was saying. Stefan went down to his knees, almost like he was begging her mother for some mercy.
Mal only heard a few words her mother spoke regarding the curse. Something about being woken by true love's kiss? Mal had no idea that her mother was the one to add the loophole into the curse. She just assumed that any spell could be woken by true love's kiss.
Another phrase caught Mal's attention. 'No power on Earth can change'. That meant her mother couldn't change the curse either.
With another blink, Mal had returned to that magical forest where, apparently, a few years had passed. Mal could easily tell that because Aurora was now her age, but only a day away from turning sixteen instead of two. Aurora was happily sitting next to Maleficent, who appeared to be enjoying the teenager's company though there was something else weighing on her mind. Suddenly, Maleficent offered to let the princess stay with her in those woods. Aurora jumped up from her spot, racing through the trees to tell her three aunts the good news.
Just a moment later, the happy scene changed into a scene of betrayal once again.
Aurora, now with puffy eyes and red cheeks stained with tears, confronted her 'Fairy Godmother' about her curse, asking why she didn't tell her about it before. A short moment later, the princess realized that Maleficent was the evil fairy that cursed her as a child and stormed away from her.
"Diaval!" Maleficent shouted once the princess was out of her sight. "Find Prince Philip. We need him to break the curse!"
What?
Maleficent searched for Philip to save Aurora?
Mal was never told that part of the story. Her mother literally did everything she could to right her wrong, yet she was still outcasted on the Isle of the Lost. How was that fair after everything Stefan did to her?
Before Mal could fume much longer, she was no longer in the forest. Instead, she was now standing in the center of a bedroom, where she watched as her mother towered over the sleeping beauty in bed. Maleficent apologized for what she did and vowed that nothing would happen to Aurora while she sleeps for as long as she lives.
Maleficent placed a simple kiss on the princess's forehead with so much love and affection that it swelled Mal's heart, but that was only a small percentage of what she could feel. Every now and then, Maleficent would kiss Mal's forehead in the same manner, though Mal finally understood then just how much her mother truly loved her, which was equal to the love she felt for Aurora, possibly more.
As Maleficent slowly pulled away, the princess began to stir from her slumber. The 'evil' fairy watched with a certain fascination, surprised that she was the one to break the curse. Her one moment of joy and relief ended when she heard footsteps coming from the hallway. As soon as she hid in the shadows, the three good fairies burst through the doors with Aurora's birth mother, all four relieved to see the curse broke on its own. During the momentary distraction, Maleficent slipped through the cracked doorway before she could be seen.
Mal waited a few moments, expecting for the scene to change again. That's odd . . . nothing happened.
Follow her, the voice instructed. This is the last event you need to see.
Curiously, yet cautiously Mal escaped through the open doorway and into the hallway. She found no traces of her mother, so she decided to travel to the bottom floor of the castle, hoping her mother would be somewhere near.
When Mal arrived at her destination, she didn't expect to see a battle commencing between the royal guards and Maleficent. Well, it actually wasn't much a battle. The guards—which were covered head to toe in iron armor—had the 'evil' fairy surrounded and trapped underneath an iron net while a few others managed to restrain the powerful dragon, who must have been Diaval.
Mal watched as a man dressed in a much fancier armor design towered over the confined Diaval. From her mother's perspective, which was flat on the ground with a weird angle, you could probably see the man piercing the dragon in the heart. From Mal's perspective, which was staring straight on at the scene, she could see the man piercing the dragon only in the shoulder, not in the vital organ. That means . . . !
Now you know the truth, the Irish voice chided sourly. Now it's time for you to wake!
Mal blinked her eyes open. She was now in the throne room at the Forbidden Fortress instead of the other castle. When she fell asleep, she had been holding the Dragon's Eye scepter in her hand. Luckily the scepter was still in her tight grasp, but now Jay, Carlos, and Evie were standing over her like she was a comatose patient.
"You're finally awake!" Evie shouted. "You've been asleep for nearly an hour! Are you alright?"
Mal rubbed her eyes tiredly, though she silently noticed that she had been crying in her sleep. Wiping away the tear streaks on her cheeks, Mal insisted, "I'm fine, really. I just . . . watched my mother's tale and saw the truth. I'll be fine. Just give me a minute to catch my breath then we can leave to give her the scepter."
As they pushed through the front doors, the gargoyle bridge once again faced them. On the other side of the bridge, they could just make out the winding path leading its way down through the thorn forest, from the direction they'd originally come.
"We're practically home free," Mal announced, looking sideways at Carlos, who sighed.
"I don't know. Do you think it looks a little more, you know, crumbly? After all, those earthquakes we were feeling back there? It doesn't seem like the safest plan." He glanced at Mal nervously.
Nobody could disagree.
The problem was still the bridge, It was all in one piece this time, with no missing sections—but they all knew better than to trust anything in the fortress.
And not one of them dared set foot on it, after the last time. Not after the riddles. Though they'd made it over easily enough the first time, once they'd answered the riddles, they hadn't though about having to go out the way they'd come.
Mal stepped in front of Carlos, who looked frightened at the thought of having to answer new riddles about his mother. "You don't have to do it again." She took another step forward, and then another. "You don't have to stand up for yourself and everyone again. Now, it's my turn."
"What?" Carlos looked appalled. "Mal, you can't! You're still weak from being in that spell sleep."
Mal ignored him. The wind picked up as Mal kept moving forward, but she didn't stop. Still clenching the scepter in her hand, she shouted up at the gargoyles. "You don't scare me! I have seen worse than you!"
The wind howled around her now. She took another step, motioning for the other three to move behind her.
"Are you crazy?" Jay shook his head belief as he slid behind her.
"Mal, seriously. You don't have to do this," Carlos whispered, ducking behind Jay.
"Definitely crazy," Evie mumbled from behind Carlos.
"Me, crazy?" Mal raised her voice even higher. "How could I not be? My mother had her wings forcefully cut off her body because a man wanted to be king! My father was accused of committing a crime by his ungrateful nephew after he selflessly helped him! Both were painted as villains and was sent to the Isle of the Lost!" She adverted her attention back to the gargoyles. "There's nothing you can throw at me that's worse than what my parents went through."
As she spoke, Mal kept pressing forward. She had crossed the halfway point of the bridge now, dragging the others right behind her. The wind roared and whipped against them, as if it would pick them up and toss them off the bridge itself, if she let it. But Mal wouldn't.
"Is that all you've got?" She stuck out her chin, that much more stubborn. "You think a little breeze like that can get to someone like me? My uncle is god of the sky!"
Lightning cracked overhead, and she started to run—her friends right behind her. By the time they reached the other side, the bridge had begun to rock so hard, it seemed like it would crumble again.
Only this time, it wouldn't be an illusion.
The moment Mal felt the dirt of the far cliff safely beneath her feet, she stumbled over a tree root, barely managing to catch herself from falling thanks to the scepter. Letting out a sigh of relief, Mal looked over her shoulders to see her three friends staring at her with a new look of appreciation and admiration.
"Let's go home," Mal insisted calmly. "There's something I need to tell my mother."