Lucid Waking

Archive for July 5th, 2008

The Dark Kingdom

        Thirteen years. She had walked thirteen years…for what? She stared at the closed door and then glanced back at the bottom of the dusty stairs. She took a deep breath and pushed open the large mahogany door.
        The room was painted white with gold and black accents. The dust on the furniture faded its color and cobwebs hung limply from the peeling painted ceiling. There in front of her, right above where the bed should have been if it was still in tact, was a tarnished silver mirror. Her stomach dropped at the anti-climax.
        “That’s it?” she found herself saying. “I’ve traveled how long, how far, to get to this worthless piece of metal?” She stopped herself from screaming in frustration.
        “You stupid girl, the best gifts are those that vanity overlooks.”
        She turned around towards the door, but no one was there. She looked again at the mirror and it clouded over: a dark purple with milky lavender clouds bubbling behinds its surface.
        “Tell me then, Mirror. If I followed the prophecy exactly, why do I not receive my award? Why am I not queen?”
        The mirror laughed. “You are; in your own rotten kingdom.”
        The sky outside got dark and the songbird’s chirping turned to the cawing of crows. The white paint melted off the walls to reveal solid stone. The tapestries of heroics turned to those of massacres and the subtle reds of innocence became oranges and blacks of carnage. It was still a beautiful place in its own right. The trees had a dark elegance to them and the walls were no longer peeling with paint. The dust had cleaned up and everything reflected the light from where the new candles were burning.
        “Well, though I have to play the part of the wicked witch, you are still my mirror. No amount of evil will distract me from that!”
        “As you wish.”
        She chuckled. “That’s right.” She started pacing around the room feeling the dark elegance of the new décor. She had nothing for angels and nymphs, anyway. The new wolves and dragons and gargoyles were much more her type of minions. She smiled sweetly and turned to the mirror.
        “We’re here for an eternity with nothing to do. Give me servants, give me power, give me a kingdom to be feared. If I am going to be the wicked witch, I have to be the most infamous and feared. That’s the problem with your punishment.”
        “It wasn’t a punishment, but a statement of fact. But it is done as you commanded.”
        She looked out the window and saw the maids and servants bustling about. She spotted the carriage garage over on the other end of the estate. She saw guests being escorted to her second dining room for supper or tea or whatever they dared eat or drink. She smiled again. She was starting to like this curse.
        “Mirror, mirror, on the wall…who is the fairest of them all?”
        The mirror was silent.
        “Fix that,” she snapped. She felt her facial structure changing and she fought her urge examine the magic taking place.
        “Now?”
        “You, your highness.”
        “Good,” she started out of the room. “I’m going to meet some guests for tea, don’t make me come back up here and take a candlestick to your face.”
        The mirror watched her leave and let down a heavy sigh of relief. “The fairest,” it laughed as loud as it dared, “for now.”