The Witch in the Forest and the Boy King with his New Clothes
Origin of the world, and the witch's power.
Once upon a time, long long ago before the Kingdom was even established, the great powers of the world sundered into a great many different pieces. Some stay stuck to the fabrics above they called the skies, and mostly, they fell to the soil below. Eons passed and the powers gradually transforms, the dust of the splinters became many different living things, and amongst them are humans. One of the bigger pieces that broke and fell deep into the earth became the great witch that lives in the great forest, her powers are as vast as her trees and as free as the winds that blew through it. But without a body, she cannot feel the world and she wonders for it.
The whispers of the world taught them a great many things, they taught them the words to things and the most sacred thing of all – Names.
One day, curiosity finally gotten the better of her, and a whisper from the earth spoke to her a name, a name to see the colour of the deer she loved so much. So, she gave herself that name. The name gave her a form, a beautiful free spirited young lady with hair the colour of the fawn she longed to touch, with eyes as bright and green as her emerald forest. Unbeknownst to her though, the name meant that she have bound herself to her form.
She loved her name as much as she loves her form, the feeling of the grass tickling through her toes as she stands, the cold breeze cutting pass her skin as she ran, she could laugh, and she could even cry if she wanted to. She could turn into a deer, a bird, a leopard. She thought she could do anything, she thought she was free, and she loved her name so much she wrote it over and over again in her cave.
The humans far away proliferated, they learnt what was taught to them well and even more. But the more they prosper, the more the friction between them grew, it amplified the way they feel about this world and everything in it, and soon they started using their knowledge against each other. Years of fighting, chasing, driving each other to the extremes ends of the world. The human settlement creeps in closer and closer to the great forest, settling down. They chop down her great trees to build their houses, they capture her animals and rear them in cages. The witch loathe their ways of living, so she kills the humans lurking in the forest whenever she sees them, she kills the scattered villages when she is bored.
Living in fear, they spoke of the great witch in the forest in hushed whispers.
One day, a man rose up. The leader of the knights. He heard of a word that nobody have been, he wanted to be the first to be called so, he wanted to be King, so he gathered his knights with his might, and he gathered the people with his charisma and announced – It's time to stop living under the fear of the witch. We, can have our own kingdom too.
So, they waged a war against the great witch.
But how could specks of dust win against the great powers. They are fighting a losing war.
Days goes by, blood was shed and fed the earth. The man lost yet another war in the forest and lost all his men, but he hear the witch again, he hear whispers telling him to run, and he ran, as fast as his legs could take him. He ran until he found a cave concealed by the lush foliage and hide himself in it, there are words written all over the walls, the same two words over and over again.
With curiosity, he speak of it under his breath, with bewilderment, he speak of it out loud again, then in enlightenment, he speak of it in surprise once again. The true name of the Witch.
The ground shook, strong powerful gust of winds stirs up the dust within the space. An angry, shrill howl of frustration split across the cave, and from the darkness of the cave a figure is formed. The Witch appears before him, with eyes filled with desperation, fear, with face twisted with resentment and hostility. "What have you done?" the Witch snarled.
The man's lips curl with deviousness. "With your name, I ask of a covenant." He spoke.
From in between the Witch's gritted teeth, she muttered the words she is obliged to by the laws that existed even before her:- "For your blood, I'll grant you your wish. With your flesh, I'll demand my bargain."
"I want your powers."
"How arrogant, you cannot survive. Human body cannot own my powers."
"Then…" The man's face turns in deep thoughts. "I'll bound you to me. I want you to serve me. You will serve my blood for eternity."
The Witch swoop in uncomfortably close to the man, her fingers wrapped around his neck, claws almost digging into the skin. "You….." She warns with bitterness. Then with another hand hovering over his face, she draws her hands slowly away. Blood pools on his skin and was pulled out of his eyes, his nose, his mouth like strings and absorbed into her skin, it drains his skin and hair of any form of colours, leaving him as white as snow.
The blood touches her skin and searing red inscriptions of sort burns on her skin, it spreads all over her body, leaving in its wake the soot black curse stark against her pale, clean skin.
"You will regret this." the Witch whispers indignantly, taking unsteady steps backwards, glaring at the man with eyes brimming with tears.
"You serve me now." The man announced with all smug smiles, laughing. "Now banish yourself into the deep forest with hast. I'll speak of your name when I need you."
"I'll return for my bargain." She speaks.
The witch crumbles down into a pile of black ashes onto the floor, the wind blew bringing the ashes away.