}*{
Mab leaned over an old book, reading about the dark magics, I fascinated her. There were no pictures, but she could imagine the power in her own hands. It made her salivate a little, Titania had always been better in her magic studies than she. Perhaps this form of magic was for her, making plants grow from nothing was not something she could manage.
She remembered when she was eight- Titania and Mab were sitting together in the school room, their parents watching and teaching. Before the two girls were pots of dirt, she recalled her mother asking them to grow a plant, any plant out of nothing but dirt. Mab tried and tried but could only grow dandelions. Titania sprouted parsley on her first try, their parents congratulated Titania and praised her. Only scolding Mab for her lack of talent.
This magic was different, and Mab loved it. In the dark parts of the library she practiced, summoning shadows and demons to play for a while. On one particular day, she was talking with a lithe shadow and a servant happened to spy this activity.
He ran and told her father what she had been doing in the library, surely not studying light magic.
}*{
"Where is Mab, Mother?" The sweet blond haired child asked, looking up at her mother with wide eyes. The woman turned her head, kneeling down to face her daughter. "Mab has done a very bad thing, and you must not speak to her." Titania blinked, bewildered. "When can I play with her?"
The woman stood up again, looking askance. "Never. In all the eternities." and she left her daughter, standing alone in the marble halls, dwarfed by pillars. What did Mab do? she asked herself, walking down the halls with bare feet. Footsteps echoing around the ancient palace, empty; save for her mother-Gaia, Mother of Worlds, Her Father, Aether- Chaos of Space... and her only sister, Mab.
Titania and Mab were the youngest of Gaia and Aether's Children, and were given special tutoring in Runic Spells, and the most powerful Magics. There were; however, other paths of knowledge, Aether's parents, Erebus and Nyx had used a powerful shadow magic to create the universe. This was forbidden on earth. Due to it's immense power, if a mortal tried to learn, they would either destroy themselves or others would.
Mab had managed to learn the dark magic on her own, perhaps with guidance from her grandparents. After being caught the world wanted her killed, banished to the outer spheres... But Gaia would not allow her child to suffer so terrible a fate, Instead she locked Mab away in the deep recesses of the palace where no Gods nor Mortals dared venture.
"Let me out!" Mab cried, pounding on the enchanted door with her now bloody fists. She was so alone in her prison, left to the darkness. After many hours of screaming and crying, her voice had left her. Just like everyone else. "Mother..." she croaked, sinking down to the shockingly warm ground and crying dry tears.
A warm sensation filled Mab's small body, and she felt stronger. Memories that were not her's flooded her mind, her grandmother was there. "Grandmother, why do they do this?" the ten year old asked, gazing into the pitch darkness. Whether or not her eyes were open, she could not tell but she imagined a face. Beautiful in it's Grecian simplicity, a sloped nose and symmetrical eyes. "Those who hurt you are afraid, my love. They fear you great potential, your mother is afraid of man. You needn't fear the dark, it will not hurt you."
Mab nodded and as if a candle had been blown out, she was asleep. Nyx stayed with her for a time, watching her poor grandchild sleep. With a deep sigh she departed, sweeping through the palace when she finally arrived in Aether and Gaia's chambers- nobody was there. Nyx was old and moved slowly, though she appeared to be quite young. She didn't have time to search for her Children, as she made her way back to the dungeons. Desperate, she called her brother Chronos to her.
"My dearest sister, what is it that you desire of me?" The man asked, walking down the stairs beside his sister. His gilded wings dragging behind him and his aged eyes sparkling. "How much time has passed since I left Mab? And what has been happening above? "
Chronos closed his eyes, "Several thousand years. But do not worry, Erebus has been teaching her. "
"Come again? Erebus? What is he doing here?" Nyx gasped, trying her hardest to go faster. "That is no business of mine, sister. As to your other question, Gaia and Aether have left this world and have gone to create the next... They have created monstrosities, and tampered with-"
"I do not wish to hear of what they have done to this world, I wish to know of Titania."
Chronos frowned, turning away from Nyx.
She stopped and placed a hand on his shoulder with a sigh, "I apologize for being short with you, brother. Please tell me things relevant to the current issue."
"Apology accepted, " Chronos began walking again with Nyx by his side. "Titania was educated by her parents before they departed, and wedded as well. But it is a stormy relationship, goes to show how well arranged marriages go." Nyx rubbed her temples, "And?"
"She is now ruler over the Fae. Her husband, Oberon has left for his own kingdom... My goodness, you really do move slowly. " Nyx cast Chronos a glare, he grinned. "Mab has released herself... she should be on the surface any moment now."
}*{
Titania paced her room, she should have been at her desk, she was more comfortable in her bed. She climbed in and started reading letters and treaties.She hated it, Titania heard the groan of her door opening, she looked up from her papers to see a woman with long black hair and a ragged dress stepped inside the room. "Titania." She said in a deep and croaky voice.
"Who are you?!" Titania screamed,
Leaping out of her sheets so she was standing on her bed. "Do you not know me?" The stranger asked, sounding hurt.
"You sound familiar somehow..." Titania lied, not wanting to upset the stranger.
Suddenly, the stranger's expression hardened and in a burst of speed jumped onto the bed and grasped Titania's red dress in her hands, leaning into the Queen's face. "Familiar somehow!" She hissed, her hands getting hot.
Titania gasped, grabbing the stranger by the wrist and pulling her hand off of her fine dress, "How dare you aggress the queen!" Titania growled, her eyes beginning to grow an unearthly shade of red, her hair turning a blood color. The stranger stepped away, feet sinking into the mattress while a wicked smile crossed her pale face. "So you want to fight, Titania?"
"I hate the pro-noun game, just tell me who you are!" Titania barked, preparing to launch destructive energy at the annoying woman.
A warm darkness filled the room, blocking out the bright sunlight from the open window and blowing out the candles at the desk. "I am Mab, your sister from eons ago. Fear my wrath, sister. "
Titania tumbled to the bed, asleep in an instant.
The light returned and Mab crouched over her sleeping sister, watching Titania's hair turn back to it's normal golden color. "Never forget me again." she whispered into her sister's ear, standing up and walking calmly to the balcony, leaning on the railing, facing the sun for the first time in twenty thousand years.
C21 FX blood red roses
