The Dark Fairy

Chapter One

Barren land.

Nothing but barren land covered the west side of the Enchanted Forest.

This used to be a home for many. There was good magic that used to swirl and dance through each atom of this space. Now destroyed by a forest fire.

Evil fuelled the flames; pulsated hate and death from its core. The fire moved swiftly through every secret path it could find. There was no mercy within its wake. Anything or anyone that got in its way turned to ash before their time, and once that evil force was satisfied, the flames died down; leaving uncertainty in the footprint it left behind.

A sad sight.

Surely nothing good could come from the dust that was left.

The fairies grieved for many moons over the loss of their friends from the west side. They would visit now and again to remind themselves of what they once had.

Despair took up thrones within their hearts.

Hope seemed far away.

But, one day, at the centre of the destroyed west side, a small, delicate hand broke through the ash covered earth.

A hand stained by the charcoal the fire left behind. Soon an arm followed, then a head with long matted hair - black with soot, and two dark, heavy wings that weighed her new frame down.

This poor, naked, creature crawled out from her hole, turned around and stared at the Mother of Fairies, who winced at the sight of her.

A sparkling light filled the creature's emerald irises, as she imprinted on the golden grand elder fairy.

"Mother?" the creature enquired, with a voice that rang like a bell.

How could such a beautiful sound come from such a wretched creature? thought the Mother of Fairies.

"Mother?" the creature pleaded, reaching her filthy arms towards the only other being she knew to exist.

"A face such as yours..." the Mother of Fairies uttered, but words ran away from her. She took a step back from the dirty newborn. Her eyes did not leave the wretched thing's face. It had such a dark beauty to it. Black with soot, but enchanting in its own way.

The elder fairy understood that this was indeed a fairy, and it was her duty, as the Mother, to bring this being into the world and find a place for it amongst her other children.

But she couldn't shake the darkness that surrounded this new arrival.

Surely, nothing good could come from it.

Surely, this thing was tainted.

She wanted to abandon the strange young fairy, with every ounce of her despairing body. But it was her duty to raise all that were born within the Enchanted Forest - the condition of the forest could not come into question. She was bound by a powerful magic that could not be disobeyed.

"You came from the ash, formed from despair. Your features drawn together from the flames of death," she said over the unwanted child. She then named her the cruel name of Carabosse, meaning - face inflammation; for her mind could not leave the mystery of the child's facial features. She was surely going to be haunted by those eyes for all eternity.

She turned to leave the desert that once was the west side and clicked her graceful fingers.

Carabosse got up and followed her.

◇

Carabosse was taken to the residence of Theia, the Mother of Fairies' sister. Theia was someone who she could burden the child with, with no objections.