Tangled After Ever After

Prologue

     I felt myself disoriented, drifting through what seemed to be an empty plain. Occasionally, a figure or object would bounce off my unconscious form, though it remained desolate. My eyes were bruised, with a gradual pressure begging to split in two. The weight around me stilled with my awareness, which allowed me to perceive the strange energy emanating. I turned gently and eyed my hovering frame shrouded in murky darkness, filling me with fear. Though reaching up to touch the tightness around my head, I realized that my goggles rested over my vision. With a sudden burst of clarity, I lifted them off and gazed at the breathtaking shades of blues and purples surrounding me in swirls.
    I looked out in amazement as torn pieces of depicted structures came crashing into each other, bouncing between gravity and levitation.
    It felt like a familiar place, one I had dreamt of before.
    My house came towards my view in shambles, barely holding the shape of what I called home. As I observed the surroundings, it became clear that Old Corona stood before me, debris floating uncontrolled from the aftermath of a terrible occurrence. Panic set into my chest, and my feet moved to flee, but halted noticing the small piece of land I stood on. It was unstable and would surely lead to my demise if I had followed my instincts.
       "Varian, I've been waiting for you for sooo long."
  The sudden voice startled me, but the calmness of the tone reminded me of gentle fingers running through my hair. A laugh adorned with a grin lit up her face as I opened my eyes for the first time. She embraced me, and spoke gentle words that overflowed with pride as my lips tumbled her name.
     I faced the voice that I had long to hear once more.
    "Mom."
   Gazing at her, I couldn't help but notice that she resembled the family portrait. However, there was something different about her - she appeared more artificial. She stood before me dressed in a pale green dress, accompanied by a red apron and strawberry hair that wisped in a sudden breeze. She held her arms wide, and I felt a strong urge to run into them. However, an uneasy feeling held me back despite my efforts to convince myself it was her. Deep down, I knew the truth - she no longer existed.
  "Varian, my sweet? Why hesitate?" The woman's smile seemed to stretch upward almost unnerving; touching corners of her sharp eyes.
    I've seen the smile somewhere, and that word she used to describe me, she would never say my sweet.
   "Funny, Dad always said that you called me precocious." I folded my arms, knowing that I had outsmarted her intention.
   For a moment, she appeared flustered, but quickly regained her composure. I raised an eyebrow in response. The image froze briefly, seemingly contemplating whether to proceed or not. Then, she spoke, saying "Varian..." before pausing to think. "Always tooooo clever," she muttered. The woman's figure transformed into a radiant blue lady; her hair striped in grey as her attire turned black.
    My heart froze, but my anger spread faster than the frost.
    "Zhan Tiri!" My hands clenched with anger. Suddenly, I felt a solid object between my fingers. I was surprised to see my hand holding the chemical solution that had encased my father. When I looked up at her, I saw a broad smile on her face.
   "Do you want revenge, Varian?" She toyed with me, placing a finger on her chin. "You would be no better than Cassandra if you expected hurting me was a solution." Her long, sharp tongue scraped over a row of pointed teeth as she smiled causing my voice to rise.
   "You have no right to even say her name after what you forced her to do."
   Her smile remained plastered. "I never forced her to do anything. She listened. Like she listened to her mother...as you listened to your father." She paused.
    "From your shared history of betrayal and disappointment, you should have expected the worst. After all, where did that get you? Traitor?"
  My anger toppled, and I threw the sphere towards her before I could stop myself. As the dust settled, my heart sank as I saw the elixir crumble in her grasp.
    "Alchemist, you should choose your battles more wisely," Zhan Tiri rose her hand and summoned a cluster of black rocks. The ground started to move at the impact of stones, and to my horror they were all coming my way. I quickly dogged one just as it was about to pierce my foot through and pushed my feet forward as thousands of rocks sprouted behind me. I turned back, seeing they had stopped, frozen in place. I turned back forward to see why. The mystical black rocks stood surrounding me in an open dome.
   "How is this possible? You can't be here," She mocked, guessing his thoughts, "Yes, Varian, this is a dream; it's not real."
    The rocks held Zhan Tiri as they lifted her above the bowl. "Varian, does this still feel like a dream to you?" Lowering herself into the bowl, he waited for her to read his mind but soon realized she was allowing him to speak.
   "It has to be. You're dead." She pulled a face that looked insulted.
    "Varian, I'm offended that you think a diminutive union between the stones could destroy me after just a small taste of its power. You should know that a person with so much potential as I wouldn't have been able to be destroyed." She paused, thinking for a second. "Well, at least not entirely." She smiled again, passing right through me.
    I turned back towards her. "I don't understand; we saw you shatter to pieces because of the of the Moonstone and the Sundrop." She put her hands up to her hips.
    "The Sundrop and the Moonstone cannot destroy something they don't want to. I have a destiny to full fill for them."
    He stared at her, confused, until she sighed heavily, "The Sun and the Moon opals are not just burst of energy...they're more than that, something wonderful." Her smile stretched wide as she clenched her fist, imagining the stones in her hands again. "...crafted by unmerciful beings who have kept them from reaching intensity."
    She looked down at her hands, marked with scars on each wrist as she allowed her voice to soften, "They may comply to another's demands, though they hold the power to determine the fate of their masters."
    I paused for a second, trying to process her words.
  "You're confused, aren't you, Alchemist?" She was becoming increasingly agitated with my inquiries.
    "Yes... very much so. Rapunzel destroyed- ." She put her finger up to silence me. "Princess Rapunzel didn't destroy them, but tore them from this planet; separating them forever from joining. However, the time is coming when the Sundrop and the Moonstone will become essential and union between will be inevitable." She paused for a second.
    I couldn't read her face. "The stones will return. The destruction of Corona will be deliberate...and it must happen, and you will help me, alchemist." I stepped towards her.
"You're a liar. I won't help a martyr. We stopped you from destroying Corona and will stop you again," Her eyes remained glossy as she took in this young alchemist.
  "I won't be deceived like Cassandra," I said. Suddenly, the ground shook, and the foundation began to crumble. "What's happening?"
   "Your undoing." Her hands clenched but slowly let go. "But don't worry, I will help you regardless to fulfill this destiny." Zhan Tiri's smile widened, and her eyes spread upward. "Whether you like it or not, you are involved and you will ruin the Kingdom of Corona...because of your loyalty."
   The ground beneath me crumbled sending me to grasp to the edge of remaining surface. I desperately tried to reach anything beyond, though all I found was Zhan Tiri looming over me. "If you choose to stop this destiny you will be separated from the one who will wield the stones beside you," she spoke confidently, her teeth rising into a cat-like grin. "Varian, you will be to blame for Corona's suffering in the end." A chuckle escaped her grin as my grip slipped; I could sense the rush of adrenaline and the wind as the darkness overtook my senses.
    Zhan Tiri's voice echoed in my mind, warning me that the stones would come to me and my decision would be lasting.

***

    Varian's eyes snapped open as he quickly sat up in bed. His heart raced through his paralyzed figure as he noticed the open window. Ruddiger was just on the edge of the sill, having seen him struggle through his nightmares, and was just about to pounce. Varian realized he sat in a covering layer of sweat took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet smells of late autumn.
   "It was just a dream...it was just a dream," Varian clutched his chest, "Oh, man."
    Ruddiger immediately, at seeing Varian's wide-eyed expression, climbed onto his lap; he rubbed his face against his mint shirt as the raccoon's tail brushed against Varian's tear-stained presentation. The boy's gloveless fingers stroked through Ruddiger's fur, comforting him that he was all right. However, he couldn't stop returning to Zhan Tiri's last remarks.