Just an Ordinary Fairytale

A Twist in Fate

The room that Owen had fallen into was darker than the other rooms in the castle. He shuffled in fear of falling to open the curtain on the other side of the room. Ever since he and Alex had left their town, he had not stopped quaking in fear.

With his shaking hands, he opened the curtain and light flooded the room. Ancient books littered the many desks and he shivered at the cryptic writing. Owen could almost feel the evil in the air. He almost soiled his pants when he realized, but he was standing in the witches lair, the center of evil.

Owen almost took off in a flurry of tears, but something written in one of the open books caught his attention. The witch obviously was not concerned about someone going through her stuff. Everything was lying out for anyone to see. It was kind of stupid for her to leave her diary sitting out in the open. Owen shuffled through the dusty book, and his eyes got wider and his legs shook with every word.

"Everything we knew was a lie." Owen mumbled to himself. No wonder why the king and queen didn't look concerned for their daughter. Because there never was a princess, never had been.

He would have felt horrible about going through the witch's diary.  But a single written phrase stood out. "My power is failing, and I can't keep myself sustained on the lives of the pure forever." Owen stopped, and read back.
"It has been years since the last poor soul wandered through the gates. I don't know how long I can wait till another pure heart arrives. My power is failing, and I can't keep myself sustained on the lives of the pure forever. At least they are a good source of magic. If they don't agree to the spell, I have to lock them up in the dungeon till they do. At this rate, I will never take over all the kingdoms. The princess disguise isn't working. None are quite willing to give up their soul to "save" one measly kingdom."

Owen couldn't believe what he had read. He went on, and devoured page after page, unraveling the witches plan.

The legend was only a decoy, there never was a princess, there never was an inheritance. It was all so the witch could corrupt a pure heart to take over the world. She had explained in great detail about how she was going to do it too.

The witch would lock the hero's that didn't fall for her disguise in the dungeon . She would use their soul to fuel her magic and to keep her young all those years. All the poor hero's without a pure heart would be a crystal statue without a thought, then thrown in the basement.

It almost didn't seem real. By the time Owen had finished he was shaking so much he sat down to compose himself. Terrified. Owen was terrified for himself and his friend. Who at that moment was probably in the witch's clutches.
At that moment, Owen felt something that he had never felt before... Bravery. He pushed himself out and ran out the door, determined to save his friend.

If caught, he would immediately be turned to crystal. But Alex, his selfless friend who had always been there for him, would be the one imprisoned for the rest of his life. Or he would fall for the witches disguise and give up his soul to take over the world.