The Gift of Good and Evil One Shots: Volume 1

The Greatest Gift Ever Asked For

Leonora was numb.

She didn't know what to say or do anymore.

She had just lost the only people who had ever cared about her in an accident that everyone in town was convinced she caused.

It wasn't her fault...truly it wasn't.

She wasn't even near her house when the fire started. She had been out in the woods behind their home collecting fruit and herbs when she saw the smoke.

But no one believed her; because no one saw her out there. All they saw was that she was outside the home as it crumbled to the ground, completely unscathed, while her parents weren't so lucky.

And given her tendency to be a bit of a troublemaker, everyone assumed she'd set the fire, in retaliation for whatever punishment her parents had forced upon her following her latest outburst.

No one spoke to her at the funeral. Well, no one except the local minister, who only spoke to her to inform her that there was a room available for her at the inn until she could get a job.

Leonora would turn sixteen in a few days; and with no parents, she would have to find a way to live on her own, making her own money, until she eventually wed...if anyone wanted her.

Certainly no one from Gavaldon would wed her; news traveled fast around this town.

But Leonora didn't want a husband from Gavaldon anyway. She wasn't even sure she wanted a husband at all.

She huffed to herself as she trekked through the forest that surrounded the lake near Gavaldon. It was far enough away that she wouldn't have any unwanted encounters with judgy townspeople and could finally grieve on her own.

Tears had stained her face for the last 48 hours straight. She couldn't stop them...she didn't even try.

As she sniffled softly, she moved to sit on the stump just outside her secret place.

It wasn't really a secret...

Anyone could find it if they looked hard enough. But Leonora was convinced that nobody ever did. She'd never seen anyone else inside it in all the years she'd come. And truth be told, she liked it that way. It was like having a little corner of the world all to herself.

Tucked away in a cave near the lake, covered with vines and leaves, was a shrine. When she had first found it, she hadn't known who the shrine had been resurrected for, as there was no inscription, or plaque, or anything of the sort indicating who the man in gold was. But as she'd explored further, she'd found a book, much like the story books in Madame DeVille's bookshop, that told tales of King Midas and his son.

The Lost Prince, they'd called him.

Yeah...lost.

The book had been separated into three sections. The first section was about King Midas, the second about his son, and the third was blank; which Leonora found slightly odd.

In King Midas's section, it talked of his rise to power; how he built his empire after making a deal with Dionysus which allowed him to turn anything he touched to gold. His empire rose quickly after and eventually he had a son. When the son grew up, Midas learned that he had secretly married a woman named Prytania of the Dead. She was one of the most feared witches in all the realms.

King Midas was so ashamed...so angry with his son's betrayal that he ordered their capture. His guards chased them all throughout the reaches of his rule, determined to catch the traitorous son before news of his marriage rolled through the lands. When Midas' men finally caught up to the couple, King Midas learned that Pyrtania had bore a child; the perfect mix between good and evil; though they'd sent her far away from Midas' kingdom, to be safe from his wrath.