Valley of Shadows and Roses | ONC 2024

Chapter 26

Luna liked the new royal court of Rose Valley. She was finally the queen she had always wanted to be. There were no intrigues in the court. No one considered her walking bad luck. Prince Sebastian kept Luna company by her side. Everything was as it should have used to be. As if the time in between never happened.

But something was wrong with it all. She was different. Luna was no longer who she was. The life she lived seemed like an illusion that was about to fall apart at any moment. It seemed like just another game. Maybe she was paranoid, and maybe she just didn't know what to believe anymore.

Only Prince Sebastian seemed to be real. He was her escape from the curse flowing through her veins. He was her escape from the illusion that everything was normal. The voices in her head quieted down when she was with him.

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Once and again came that magnificently ominous day that counted all the years of her curse. Her birthday.

That quiet, sweet voice beckoned her to him with magical strings woven through her every nerve. Luna climbed the stairs that stretched up to the sky, to the tower from her sweet nightmares. The moon shone in its full glory. Its light illuminated the rose garden, whose beautiful flowers had rotted this morning. Even the growth in the Dark forest turned into ashes from which it arose. Something strange was in the air. Something magical. Powerful. A harbinger of the end hovered in it.

Prince Sebastian was waiting for Luna in the tower. As she suddenly approached the edge, he pulled her back. He held her wrists tightly so she wouldn't slip away. Now is the time when the curse can be broken. When they can defeat the Shadow Lord.

Luna was in a trance. Prince Sebastian was talking to her, but his words sounded so distant. She was not in control of her own body. She was locked in her mind and watched the events around her like a stranger observer. The curse kept pulling her towards her destiny, but Sebastian held her tight. He didn't let her do what she had no choice in.

"Listen to me, Luna!" Prince Sebastian called to her from the depths of her soul. "Listen to me. You have to control it. Rule that curse. Turn it to your advantage," he told her.

But how? she wanted to say, but the words wouldn't come out of her throat. How?

"You have to take control. You managed to defy the Shadow Lord for decades, and all these years, he made that decision for you. He made you die night after night. Take that choice back."

But how? How? Shouted a voice in Luna's head. How?

"It's your choice, dear Luna," he was soothing her with beautiful words. "Take that choice back. Choose by yourself. Only you can determine whether you will live or die. Fight it. Take the reins in your hands."

She followed Sebastian's advice. She imagined herself holding the invisible reins in her hands. And she immediately knew what she had to do. It was enough just to fight.

"You can fight him, Luna. In your blood lives magic stronger than his. You can defeat the Shadow Lord. He's weak," Sebastian said. "You don't need a savior. Do you hear me? You are your own savior, Queen Luna. Choose life."

She is her own savior; it sounded in her whole being. The striking of midnight rang in Luna's head. The gaps between each stroke seemed endless. The curse was waiting for its victim. It craved blood. Luna's legs carried her against her will to that deathly edge.

Prince Sebastian held Luna tightly by the waist and kissed her, and she kissed him back. The kiss was like a dream. She longed for him. She wanted him.

That was meant to be the kiss of pure love that would save the princess from her curse. That kiss was meant to free her. Prince kisses a princess, and everything's going to be fine. The darkness will disappear. The good wins over the evil.

But as I told you, this is not a fairytale.

"You survive, Luna," Prince Sebastian said gently against her lips.

"I'm sorry," Luna said.

"For what?" asked the prince incomprehensibly.

And in that moment, she pushed him. He gave her a look full of betrayal. Prince Sebastian lost his balance, staggered and fell from the tower.

"Oops."