Valley of Shadows and Roses | ONC 2024

Chapter 6

Winter has come. The air cooled. White snow was falling, shimmering in the light of weak sunlight. Plants have lost their beauty. Petals of flowers withered. The leaves on the trees have rotted and fallen. The naked bodies of the trees formed eerie silhouettes. The shadows did not disappear; on the contrary, there seemed to be more and more of them. They were increasing every day. It turns out the Shadow Lord meant it when he said he decided to stay.

The king was busy appeasing the people. They were afraid of what the future will bring. The shadows had not yet ventured out of the safety of the forest, but if any ventured to them, they spoke of terrifying experiences. Omnipresent eyes. Strange sounds. Mysterious voices calling your name. You were not allowed to follow them, or you would never come back. And, of course, the shadows that follow you every step of the way.

And so the forest began to be called the Dark forest. A dark forest full of dark beings belonging to a dark prince. Everyone avoided it as far as possible. And if they had to enter it, they took all kinds of amulets with them, which were supposed to protect them from evil, but didn't help.

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Princess Luna was walking through the rose gardens wrapped in a winter cloak. The hoarfrost covered the bodies of sleepy plants waiting for spring. Luna has been spending a lot of time in the gardens lately. Her existence was somehow causing conflicts in society, so the king kept her in the background. 

And because of that, she had a lot, a lot, a lot of free time. She often did not know what to do with it. Time was passing slowly for her when she had nothing to do. She didn't need sleep. Luna didn't really need anything like ordinary people. She didn't need to eat. She didn't need to drink. She was afraid she didn't even need to breathe. 

This caused another conflict in the court. No one believed her existence. They didn't know what she actually was. What did the Shadow Lord do to her? It made her days seem endless.

Luna walked through the garden. She looked at the rose bushes, which until recently, were decorated with beautiful flowers of all kinds of colors. The only thing left of that beauty was the thorns that were supposed to protect it. When she thought about them like that, she realized that she, too, was like such a flower. They got life in the spring. Lived in the summer. Withered in autumn and died in winter. And in the spring, the cycle started all over again. Except that Luna was able to overcome that cycle of life and death in twenty-four hours.

In that, a bud appeared out of nowhere. The tiny bud grew from a twig that seemed dead. Luna fixed her gaze on it. It grew bigger and bigger until it blossomed into a beautiful rose. Its dark red head just shone in the frozen landscape. Falling snowflakes decorated it like diamonds. Luna walked over to the blooming rose as if it were just another mirage that would disintegrate with a touch. She touched it carefully. The rose was real. Its petals were so fragile.

Suddenly all the roses in the garden bloomed. The multi-colored flower heads smiled at Luna from everywhere as if it were the middle of summer. That made Luna smile. Smile sincerely. For the first time in a very long time, something brought a smile to her face. It was a miracle. Winter has blossomed. And she knew who was behind the magic.

Princess Luna looked around to see if she could see the origin of the magic. If she could see the Shadow Lord. She saw the border of the forest and the surrounding gardens. She looked through the trees shrouded in mist but did not see him. Therefore, she only gave a fleeting smile to the shadows and left.

The Shadow Lord saw Luna, even if she didn't see him. He watched her from the safety of the Dark forest as she walked through the sleepy gardens as if she wanted to bring them back to life. And so he did it for her because she couldn't do it herself.

Lately, he's been watching her more often than he'd like if it's appropriate. Among the shadows, you had to prove your power constantly, and so did he, despite the fact that he was clearly the most powerful. Princess Luna was supposed to be his victory when he would no longer have to prove anything, but she rejected him. That didn't exactly help him. 

During these fights, Luna provides him with a distraction from reality, and he even accidentally starts to like her. However, he immediately pushed such a possibility out of his mind because emotions are a weakness, and he is strong. He preferred to go back to what he was best at, being the dark prince that everyone thought he is.