The Monster King & The Witch Bride

The Dream

"You are chao's and beauty intertwined, You are a tornado of roses and the fire from a shooting star. You are the Divine's daughter. You are ancient magic! Ember, Remember who you are!" A whimsical voice cooed.

"Mother? Is that you? Please mother tell me where I am?" Ember's voice cried out into the emptiness, and as if in response the darkness that held her firm against its bosom released her, fading away and in its place a room of varies odd door's materialized. They were everywhere, Ember turned around and around glancing at each one. Some were on the ceiling and others surrounded her. Glass, wood, Decorative, small and large doors. The more she looked around at each one the dizzier she felt, but to her they had a sense of familiarity. Memories awoke inside her at each glance and burned to be released from her skin.

" What is all of this?" Ember breathed, her skin ached and her heart pounded within her chest.

"You're not the same as you were before, you've lost yourself." The voice answered.

"Am I supposed to go through one? What am I Alice and is this my wonderland? Where's my white rabbit?" Ember thought sarcastically to herself.

"You were made for far more beautiful things. Chaos is only understood when it is loved by the wild, not weak. Embrace your chaos, embrace your magic! The world is ready!" The voice echoed out.

" Where's mother's voice coming from? One of these doors?" Ember whispered. She peered around the room, Carefully looking at each door again, until she saw it. Her skin burned until it seemed to glow as she stood in front of what seemed like the largest door in the room, dwarfing all others around it and looming over her. The front door to her old family home. It had a simple lemon yellow colored background with hand painted beautiful gold and orange marigolds across it. A memory flashed before ember of her mother painting each one, her hands covered in splotches of paint. Ember sat on the porch watching her work, lemonade in her hand, humming an old lullaby.

Ember watched the door as they came alive, creeping up and slowly swallowing the door whole, Trying to engulf the sun. The door hid every family secret they had behind it's warm and inviting facade.

She took a step towards the door, her legs quivering beneath her and her hands clamming up.

"Of course it would be this door!" Ember sighed, Knowing deep in her heart it was the door she needed to go through. As she stood there all the memories of happiness bubbled to the surface of her skin, but a sea of dread creeped over it and filled its place as she feared what waited for her on the other side.

" You can do it ember, you can do it!" Ember chanted lightly, her voice a mere squeak.

"Yes child, Accept your magik!" her mother's voice whispered around the room.

Ember reached forward and grabbed a hold of the golden knob and twisted the door open. With a light click the door squeaked open and mist seeped out and wrapped itself around ember. Ember took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold and into the unknown.

Warm air rushed around her and her nightgown melted away. In its place a white silk robe draped over her skin. Around her the mist formed into a room and realization hit ember like a brick wall. She stood there her eyes wide, She knew that she was about to relive that fateful night and the only pain awaited her.

Ember's breath caught in her throat as she stared at the center of the room. There sat the ceremonial stone tub, Directly on top of the pentacle that her mother had hand carved into the oak floor years ago, and there next to it stood her beautiful mother. Her curly Cinnamon Brown hair had been tamed and braided, Left to hang down her back. She wore a simple moss colored sundress that hung close to the curves of her body and exposed her slip arms. Down both sides of her arms she had the moon's phases tattooed, and around her throat she wore her amethyst amulet that rested just above her breasts and when the light caught it flashes of purple would escape.

Gold and Bronze from the amber; that the tub had been carved out of; reflected across her mother's skin while she stood there preparing the tub for the bath that would begin the cleansing ceremony.

"Mother fawned over that tub, saying that it had been in our family for generations and that relics of our past made our craft stronger." Ember thought to herself as she remembered her mother's quirks. 

Ember's mother walked to the far end of the room, ready to retrieve the cauldron from the red brick fireplace. In a single graceful motion she pulled the cauldron from the blue flames that she had conjured earlier. She carried it back to the tub and with a small crimson cloth and she carefully poured the boiled sage into the tub. The steam rose to the ceiling as she turned to grab the small glass jars that sat on a small counter by the amber tub.

" I remember. Mother spent the whole afternoon harvesting all the herbs from our garden and collecting honey from our neighbor bees. She took so much time carefully cutting and preparing them for this moment. She hummed such a sweet lullaby the whole time." Ember thought to herself, Still frozen in the spot she entered in. "She had made tonight seem so beautiful when she spoke of it." Embers eyes burned with the memory and poured down her cheeks. Her soul trembled as she watched the old memory play out before her.

"Sage to heal the soul, and sprinkled sweet grass for the great mother's blessing." her mother's voice softly chanted as she scattered the herbs across the waters surface. Her voice as gentle as a breeze, like a lullaby. 

"Lavender to invite our ancestor's spirits and protect us from evil." then with a deep breath she dipped a spoon into a small green glass jar of honey and allowed it to slowly drip into the boiling water. " and finally honey to bind the spell and grant the body quick healing." Her mother looked up at ember a bright smile on her lips and a gleam of hope in her eye. Her mother had been waiting for this day for a very long time. Ember remembered how much her mother had groomed her for this single day, Even now she was still unsure why. Embers stomach turned in knots, She wanted to wake up from this memory but everything continued on. 

The scent from the herbs filled the room, Taking control of ember's body. In her trance ember untied the robe and slipped the silk cloth from her shoulders, Her breasts puckered at the sudden exposure as she stood there bare before her mother and her coven of four other women.

Gracefully ember moved closer to the tub her face calm.

"No, Please!" Ember screamed but her voice was lost as her lips betrayed her and remained silent. She peered down at the water.

"Like stepping into a pool of ambrosia." Ember whispered. The water was an off color from the herbs that had mixed together, but the bronze of the amber stone still shimmered, Be-coning her forward.

"Let us open the circle" Ember's mother's voice announced from behind her. Ember looked up as her mother placed varies crystals around the outside of the pentacle. She placed Bismuth, Amazonite, Amethyst, and many other crystals around it. Once she was finished, she and her four sisters went to the counter and collected their different colored candles.