Narcissus

Prologue

Prologue

***

Thousands of years ago, there was a Prince named Narcissus. He was the most handsome man in the land and many girls had offered for his hand in marriage, but he refused every one of them. He said, " None of their beauty compares to mine, only when I find one equal in beauty will I consent.". Because of that, girls from all over the kingdom, and even neighbouring lands had come. He refused every one of the women.

One day Narcissus decided to take a ride on his horse. It was a beautiful mare, one of the best of its kind, 'I will have the finest horse in the land,' was his thoughts when he had went to the market to buy it.

During his ride Narcissus had become parched, so he stopped at a nearby stream to quench his thirst. At coming upon the stream, he saw a face, 'That is the most beautiful face in all of the lands,' he thought, ' is it true that there is a face in the kingdom that is better than mine?' . It had been his own face that he was starting at. In fact, the face has been do gorgeous that Narcissus couldn't stop looking at it.

***

Thousands of years ago, there was a Prince named Narcissus. He was the most handsome man in the land and many girls had offered for his hand in marriage, but he refused every one of them. He said, " None of their beauty compares to mine, only when I find one equal in beauty will I consent.". Because of that, girls from all over the kingdom, and even neighbouring lands had come. He refused every one of the women.

One day Narcissus decided to take a ride on his horse. It was a beautiful mare, one of the best of its kind, 'I will have the finest horse in the land,' was his thoughts when he has went to the market to buy it.

During his ride Narcissus had become parched, so he stopped at a nearby stream to quench his thirst. At coming upon the stream, he saw a face, 'That is the most beautiful face in all of the lands,' he thought, ' is it true that there is a face in the kingdom that is better than mine?' . It had been his own face that he was starting at. In fact, the face has been so gorgeous that Narcissus couldn't stop looking at it. Hours went by and he was still staring at his own reflection.

After a while, a wood nymph stumbled upon Narcissus while looking for a spot to bathe. She has instantly fallen in love. Every day after that the wood nymph would go and stare at Narcissus, trying to get his attention, but to no avail. Months had gone by without him acknowledging her, and she was getting desperate. He had been so gorgeous that it made her go mad.

One day, out of anger she has screamed at him, the next grovelling at his feet to forgive her. Days go by, with her screaming at him them to her crying and begging him to forgive her. She couldn't stand it any longer. Our of her rage and desperation to be noticed, she did something that haunted her for the rest of her life: she killed him.

After that she went into exile. Nymphs were only supposed to use their powers for good or if they were in life-endangering situations. Soon after that there had been reports from the woodland creatures about a witch in the forest that kept on rambling things like 'I didn't mean to, I'm sorry...'; 'Yeah? Well I hate you too!' and so on. No one ever saw her again.

The kingdom was devastated when they heard the news of what happened to Narcissus. After that they declared war on all things magical saying that they were a threat to mankind and that they would try to make us their slaves. The fey and all other magical folk were forced into hiding.

After a while, the tension died down, but the nymphs never showed there faces again. After a few centuries people started to call it a myth, a legend; and nobody believed in magic or wood nymphs or dragons anymore.

After that day the oddest thing happened: a new type of flower arose in the forest. It was even odder that the flower first popped up in the same exact spot the the Prince had died. In some rumors it was said that the wood nymph that had killed him had made a new type of flower for a support of memorial, to remember him by. In others it was said that Narcissus had reincarnated as a flower in the same exact spot that his past life had died. The weird thing was that the flower never died. It never wilted, shriveled, or even drooped. After winter was over, someone (it was never the same person twice), would go and brush the snow off of the flower. It was always there, still exactly the same.

As everyone slowly stopped believing in magical folk and the legend of Narcissus, the flower slowly started dying. The nymphs were starting to get scared, along with everyone else. Nobody knew what to do or even know how the flower was dying. Once it finally died, everything magical went into a great depression, which, ironically, happened to the humans to. Dragons started to go extinct, along with mermaids and sphinxes. They all died, until there were only the races of wood nymphs, a few mermaids, one dragon and a few elves. There were other small races that didn't go extinct, but nobody bothered to see what they were.

Soon, those same flowers started popping up everywhere and, oh the irony, they called them Narcissus'.