The Swan Princess

Chapter 9: Once Upon A Time

- 7 years ago -

"Palli, Odette! Faster!" My mother is screaming at me. Behind me, the fire is roaring. The smoke clogs the air, making it harder to breathe.

The flames nip at my heels as I run. I'm coughing and about to topple over, but my mother keeps pulling me forward. Her fingers dig into my arms like claws as we keep going.

"Listen closely, eggie"

I bleed from how tight my mother has my arm in her grasp. The ruby-red blood drips down my arm and sizzles in the fire that's chasing us.

"I have to go back for my sisters, so you'll have to trust me and survive without me for a while."

My mother chants. I've never seen her like this. She's calm, composed, and secretive. Never delving into histrionics or delving into her deeper nature. She swipes her hand down my bloody arm, then draws circles in the air in front of us. Faster and faster she throws her arms in loops, until it becomes a glowing, living blur.

"Stars above, demons below,"

"One last wish"

A glowing purple void appears in front of us.

"To Svenia she goes."

And then she pushes me forward, and I blackout into the void.

...

The sun is shining. It's so... pleasant. I wake up in a meadow. There are pastel-colored flowers around me, and tall, shapely trees. To my left, a glittering lake awaits.

Where am I?

Then it comes back to me. The flames. The war. My oma, my mother, who pushed me here with blood magic.

I jump to my feet, then stumble, unbalanced. The time I spent running made my body ache, and I have only enough stamina left to stand. I look around helplessly for my mother, but she's nowhere to be found.

She's not here, of course. I didn't expect her to be. She would never her coven behind. I'll need to survive on my own for a while.

I walk to my left, leaning down to see my reflection. The water is so clear, I can see all the clear details of my face is the glistening water. I recognize this lake immediately from the clarity of the surface. It's the one I grew up next to. Mother must have been thinking of this place when she created the portal.

My hair is frazzled and sticking halfway up my head. I dip my hands in, pulling them back out to pat out the hairs on my head.

"Who goes there?" I hear my father's voice boom out.

I whip my head around and see my least favorite person. He's in his mid-50s, balding, and always wearing this insufferable frown. I'll never know what my mother saw in him.

"Father," I address, continuing to smooth out my hair.

"How the hell did you get here?" He storms, stomping towards me. Unlike my mother, he's never been graceful. Or tactful, for the matter.

"In case you've been avoiding the newspapers later," I respond dryly, "you know as well as I do that Joseon has been at war for a while now."

"That doesn't answer my question," he growls, and yanks me by my hair off the ground.

"Ow!" I swat, getting him to release me. I back away a few paces to get a look at him. Von Rothbart can be rude and an annoyance, but never directly violent. Something must have set him off more than usual today.

"Did one of your spells fail today? Why are you in such a mood?" He's still staring me down, and I can't tell why he's so mad at me. Our mutual disklike is usually just that, passive dislike, nothing more.