Heart Of A Rose
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“I have seen the truth of what lies beneath,” said Heart of a Rose, as she stared up at her reflection. Her eyes had gone black and her lips were blue, her cheeks were flushed with crimson and her hair was white as snow. The mirror seemed to shudder and crack in her hands but she paid it no mind. She looked at the mirror until suddenly she heard a voice calling her name.
“Who are you?” he asked, “and who is this creature behind me?”
She turned around and gasped. It wasn’t a mirror that reflected the world before her. Instead, there was only darkness. And then the shadows moved … and they took form. As if from nowhere, a tall man emerged into her sight. His face was dark and shadowed, his skin pale as marble.
He wore a hooded cloak with an emerald green sash tied tight across his chest. He stepped closer and she saw his head, which was bald with a single long silver lock hanging over one eye. There was something familiar about him, but at the same time, he seemed entirely alien and strange.
In his hand was a staff with a red jewel set on the top. “You’re not a witch,” he said, looking down at her coldly. He held out his hand for hers and said, “Your magic can’t harm me.” But Heart knew better than to trust such words. After all, he had never been here before.
“But I do see you now,” he whispered, and as he spoke the night began to fade away and the shadows melted like ice in the water. Now she stood beside a lake of fire and within its blazing depths sat a throne, where a woman waited to welcome her.
Her hair was the color of blood; her eyes were as deep and dark as a bottomless well. When she smiled, she revealed sharp teeth like shards of broken glass.
“I am a demon,” she said, her voice like nails upon glass. “And demons are born in pain, just as I was born. You must be Heart of a Rose. Welcome to my kingdom.”
“Where is this place?” asked Heart, as the flames grew higher. She looked beyond them and saw a castle, standing strong and proud against the backdrop of a star-filled sky. Its walls glowed with crimson stone and its towers rose above even the highest peaks of Mount Fuji’s shadow.
Beyond that, she saw a forest filled with bright flowers and lush foliage. At first, she thought she must be dreaming, but when she reached for her reflection and felt the warmth of blood-red lips, she knew differently.
The demon laughed, throwing back her hood to reveal her true self—a thing so vile and horrible that Heartfelt as though her very soul would be stolen and burned forever by its gaze. “This is the Hellfire Citadel, where demons meet to discuss matters of power and intrigue.
But I will show you much more than this if you want it badly enough. If you desire my company, you’ll find me wherever I go, because nothing escapes my notice. I am the Keeper of Secrets. And soon you shall know everything you need to know to live your life without shame or regret.
You’ve come far. So don’t turn back now.” Then she turned around and the light died, leaving Heart alone again.
“Is that really you?” asked Heart, turning to look back at her own reflection. The black and blue had returned to her eyes, while her face was pale as moonlight and her skin was as smooth and pale as porcelain.
“Yes, it’s me,” said the girl inside the mirror. “Don’t worry.”
Heart smiled and placed her hand on the mirror. “Are we good?”
The mirror answered by saying, “We’re good.”
***
Heart of a Rose stood before a crowd of young witches—mostly teenagers with their faces still soft and unlined. They huddled together near the entrance, wearing robes of red, brown, orange, green, and white, with golden trim and embroidered designs, while their wands and pendant brooches showed off vibrant colors as well.
One witch with long curly hair walked forward and said, “Welcome, my dear. I’m so glad you made it.”
Heart bowed and smiled. “Thank you.”
“My name is Mab,” she continued, holding out her hand and saying, “So please, call me that, if you wish. No one here is going to try and hurt you.”
“It’s nice to make your acquaintance,” said Heart, shaking hands with the young woman.
Mab’s hair was long and blond, and she carried herself like a queen. She had a wide smile and sparkling blue eyes. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you from everyone else. I hope you’ll be able to help us understand our powers and how we might use them wisely.”
“What can you tell me about the Archdemon’s army? How many soldiers are there?” asked Heart.
A witch nearby said, “Thousands. We estimate two thousand five hundred.”
Another witch said, “No matter how you count the number, it remains too few to fight off the Archdemon himself and his army.”
The Archdemon had arrived on an island called New England. There he had gathered the armies of every nation under his command and had begun the march across the ocean toward Japan. His troops numbered nearly ten thousand soldiers, which included both humans and elves.
They marched behind a dragon, who breathed fire and crushed all that stood before it. But dragons were vulnerable to fire, and they were only useful during the day. Once darkness fell, the Archdemon was forced to send them into hiding, and the battle had yet to begin.
“Do any of you have magic?” asked Heart.
One young witch said, “Not yet, but we’re working on it.”
Another said, “We’re not sure, but we think some of us do. We’ve found traces of it throughout our bodies, but nothing we can really control.”
They talked on and on until Heart finally said, “Let’s stop talking about this. I need to see how you perform magic.”
Mab said, “But I thought you didn’t know anything about that.”
“That’s why you have to teach me, then,” said Heart, smiling.
Everyone nodded. “Good idea. It’ll make you feel better, too.”
When she stepped through the doorway, the girls gasped, exclaiming, “She’s beautiful!”
And when Heart spoke, “You can see my face,” they were shocked anew.
“Who are you?” asked a young girl.
“I’m the Keeper of Secrets,” said Heart, “and I came to learn as much as I could about what you know.”
As each girl took up her wand, Mab explained in a whisper to the others, “Now she may touch your arms, and we’ll see if the spells work properly.”
Heart looked over their shoulders and whispered to Mab, “Which should I start with?”
Mab said, “All of you have magic, just different levels of it, as we discussed earlier.”
Each girl began to cast a spell. But none of them worked correctly or seemed to last very long. The first to try was a dark-haired witch who had a small wart on her nose. She waved her wand and shouted, “Disappear wart, now!”
Her voice cracked as she finished her words, and the wart disappeared instantly, leaving behind a scarlet line where it had been.
Several other witches tried the same thing and got similar results. Some spells lasted longer than others and produced more powerful effects, but all fell far short of what Heart expected.
She turned to Mab and said, “Can you explain what you mean by different levels of magic?”
Mab nodded. “Yes, the higher your level, the more power you possess.”
The dark-haired witch who had performed the successful spell on her wart went on to say, “This spell is probably pretty low-level compared to most. It’s also something we already knew we could do.” She shrugged and said, “If you don’t expect too much from us, maybe we can surprise you.”
Mab asked several of the other girls to step aside and cast another spell for her. When the warty witch was alone once again, Mab placed a hand gently against her arm and said, “Focus upon the wart. See it clearly in your mind’s eye. Then imagine it disappearing, completely gone. You must concentrate on it hard enough to make it happen.”
The girl closed her eyes and held onto her wand tightly while whispering to herself. Her forehead glistened with sweat.
Finally, she opened her eyes, and tears streamed down her cheeks. She gasped, “I can’t believe it!” She wiped her sleeve across her face and stared at her skin. It was smooth and clear, free of any sign of the wart. She touched the spot and felt its absence, but couldn’t find evidence of its existence anywhere.
“Why did it work for me but not for you?” asked Heart.
“It wasn’t your power, dear child,” replied Mab. “Your concentration was too weak to hold the spell strong enough.”
“Maybe it would be easier to show you instead of telling you,” suggested Heart. “How many of you can use healing magic? How about light magic?”
Many of the girls raised their hands. A few even tried casting spells without using a wand. Most used little more than puffs of smoke, though one of them made an apple float above her head.
“That’s wonderful!” exclaimed Heart. “You all seem to have mastered some basic magic.”
A tall young girl named Treena stepped forward and said, “My mother taught me. She’s very good. I can cast a lot of useful spells.”
Heart turned to Mab. “I’d like to ask a favor of you, Mab.”
“Anything,” she answered, “but don’t tell me anything you shouldn’t. I have my own secrets.”
“I need a book that will help me learn the spells you’ve shown me,” said Heart. “I want to practice before tomorrow night. Do any of you know how to create a library book?”
“I’ll teach you,” said Mab, “if there’s time.”
***
The next day, Heart walked through the halls of the castle. The students all stopped to look at her, pointing and whispering to each other. They were still trying to understand how she’d managed to turn into a bird.
But they weren’t talking about the bird. Instead, their attention was focused on the new dress she wore. Its deep blue material flowed freely around her legs and hips. It was cut high on her chest so that her cleavage showed when she moved and revealed more skin than the other dresses she had worn since arriving at this place.
Some of the boys whistled, but she didn’t pay them any attention. She had bigger things on her mind, namely learning magic as quickly as possible.
She found the classroom, which was a bit larger than most, but only because the walls were decorated in a wide variety of colors and images of birds. The teacher’s desk was carved out of an old tree trunk, and his chair was built right into it. He sat behind the desk, watching as he read from a book called Magical Creatures and Their Meanings.
When the bell rang, all the children rose, and Heart joined them on the other side of the room.
“Good morning, children,” said their instructor, turning a page. “As you all know, tonight is a special occasion for many reasons. This is Halloween, the night of the year when we celebrate the dead as well as our own mortality.” His thinning blond hair fluttered in the breeze, and he glanced up briefly to see if anyone noticed.
He went back to reading while he waited for the rest of them to settle down. Finally, he put the book down and looked directly at Heart. “What’s your name?” he asked.
“Heart,” she replied softly.
“Is it true what they’re saying? About you turning into a bird?”
She nodded, and a few kids chuckled.
His brow furrowed, and then he sighed. “Then I suppose we should talk about how magical creatures are born.”
They settled in to listen, but Heart wasn’t sure what he meant. After all, she hadn’t turned into anything yet. But she was beginning to get an idea of where all the rumors about her came from.
“We begin by explaining that there is much we still do not know about nature. We don’t understand why things happen when or how they do.” He pointed to a picture of a small brown owl sitting on a branch.
“For instance, the female is always larger than the male of a given species. And yet, there seems no rhyme nor reason to these differences. Some birds fly while others run, and still some can only swim.”
Heart watched him closely as he talked. He seemed nervous, almost scared, despite the fact that he claimed to have spent countless hours researching animals and birds. Maybe this would give her something she needed to work with.
He continued to explain the basics of animal birth: that there could be two or more eggs laid at once, and the chicks were hatched within three days of being laid.
“And sometimes, the egg never hatches. In this case, the parents will eat the eggs to prevent another from hatching.” Heart shivered. This explained what had happened when she’d first arrived at the castle. If the dragon had eaten her eggs, it must mean that the wizard had been there when he did it. That made sense.
The boy paused to glance at her face again as if looking for confirmation of whether she understood.
“Do you have any questions?” he finally asked.
She shook her head, not wanting to appear rude.
“Very well then. Let us continue with some other interesting facts concerning birds.”
A small black chick hopped up on a shelf near the front of the room. The class gasped, and everyone reached for books to take notes.
“Now we come to the most important question: How does a bird actually become a bird?” His voice became animated for a moment, and he waved his hand at the picture of a young eagle standing proudly beside its father.
“This is the answer: A bird is born from an egg that has already hatched—that is, the shell has broken open—and now contains nothing but feathers. The chick begins to hatch and grows inside the egg. As it moves around within the confines of the shell, it causes rips in the shell, making it easier to crack. Eventually, the shell splits apart completely, and the chick pops free.”
Heart tried to imagine the process and couldn’t make it seem real. The idea was far too strange, and yet somehow, the boy spoke in such an authoritative tone that she felt like she might have seen a live chick burst from its shell before her very eyes.
“You’re right,” she murmured. It was impossible, even for one as gifted as she had become in magic. But the way he’d spoken of this, so confidently, it was possible that he knew something she didn’t.
“Let me try to explain,” he said after a moment. “The chick inside the egg is a bird, albeit an unborn one. When it leaves the eggshell, that part of the baby has changed and therefore becomes a different creature entirely.”
“But what happens to the part that was in the egg?”
“It remains in the egg forever,” the teacher replied quickly. “That’s just a myth we’ve heard since childhood. In truth, all that changes when the egg breaks is that the baby bird is suddenly free to grow and develop outside of the shell.”
Heart nodded, feeling slightly comforted.
The children began to chatter again, and Heart leaned close to ask another question.
“Why does the parent bird not simply feed its chick instead of letting it grow inside the egg?” She was referring to the story about the wizard.
He smiled, pleased with her for having followed along so far.
“Birds aren’t quite as clever as we are. They cannot magically break apart the shell, nor can they magically keep something alive inside the nest.”
The class chuckled, and Heartfelt was relieved to have a good laugh with them.
“So what exactly happens during the hatching?” she asked. “Can you describe it?”
“Sure. The chick pushes up through the narrowest part of the shell and begins to move about in the dark space inside. It uses its claws to dig itself deeper into the egg, pushing the membrane away in order to gain room to stretch out.
Once it starts growing, the air escapes from the shell, which expands as well. Soon, the chick’s movements cause the chick to break free, and we see the baby bird for the first time.”
Heart watched the boy carefully as he described how the chick grew inside the egg and pushed out of the shell. She wanted to believe that he could really have done this, because that meant she would soon get her hands on a dragon egg and do the same thing. And if he could, she certainly should be able to…
“There is a small problem with your theory, though,” Heart told him quietly.
The teacher frowned. “What problem is that?”
“The egg wasn’t nearly empty when I first found it. There was plenty of room left inside.”
The boy pursed his lips tightly, then glanced toward her and shrugged. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to explain yourself better than that.”
“If I can show you what I discovered when I cracked open my own egg, then maybe you can understand. We might need to use some other method to crack it open, but—”
His eyes widened, and the students fell silent once more.
“We will talk later,” he told them. “For now, let’s go back over what we discussed.”
And he resumed speaking about the differences between birds and reptiles. Heart listened closely but couldn’t focus. What had been happening in her dream, in her nightmare, seemed much closer to reality than the things the teacher was talking about, or the things she’d learned from reading about dragons.
When the bell rang, signaling the end of recess, she gathered her books and hurried out of the classroom to return home. But she couldn’t help looking across the playground, searching for Fenrir in his tree, wanting to see if he was there waiting for her.
Instead, she saw the wolf who’d chased her down the street and knocked her out. He was lying on the ground nearby, and the sight of him made Heart feel weak. For some reason, she remembered his eyes, his teeth, and her fear for him and all wolves.
Then she looked past him to a large dog sitting next to a man on the sidewalk. It was barking at Fenrir’s body and making it twitch.
This is not what I want!
She turned and ran away without thinking, leaving Fenrir behind, alone and unprotected.
The End