Sleeping Beauty and The Fire Bird

Vanessa opened her eyes slowly.

Her head was ringing and everything seemed blurry to her. She tried to move, but her hands were weak. It felt like she was trapped in her own body. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move at all.

After a while, her vision cleared and she could see the things around her. There was a bowl of water, some glass bottles, a mortar and a brewing stand. Was she at a doctor?

She lay there for a few minutes, unable to move and too tired to care. She just appreciated the rest. It was quiet. There was a window next to the bed she was on and a cool wind wafted through. Her hearing came back to her eventually, and she started to hear what outside sounded like. She could hear chirping, the sound of wind whoosing through forest trees. She even appreciated the occasional bird that would bless her with a song, or even in one case, was bold enough to perch on the windowsil.

Once again, she had no idea where she was, and this time atleast, she didn't mind.

Hours passed. She began to grow bored of the forest outside. Not in the sick-of-something way, but content-with-what-you-have kind of way. It wasn't too bad though. Whoever put her in here made her lie on her belly instead of her back, so even though she couldn't move she was still comfortable. After being here for so long, she concluded that she must've been asleep for a long time if no one came to check on her regularly.

Counting time seemed kind of depressing to her, so she decided to instead measure her time in bed with the birds that landed on the windowsil. After her third bird, she heard the door creak open and little fleeting footsteps move across the wooden floor. She couldn't see who it was becase of the way her head was tilted. She couldn't even move her head that much, so she decided to stay put until the person came to her.

A couple of seconds later, the figure came closer. Vanessa closed her eyes tightly and took a breath. She decided to open them again and got startled by the face of a boy that was inches away from her own.

She looked at him akwardly while the little boy looked at her expectantly, as if he wanted her to do something.

She cleared her throat to say something but as soon as she did, the boy bolted out of the room, screaming.

"Sleeping Beauty's awake!" he shouted. "SHE'S AWAKE!! MOOOOOMMM!!!"

A second later, she heard another voice. It was a little girl's voice.

"Really?! Wait, you didn't kiss her did you?"

"What?! EWW, No. She woke up on her own. I told you she wasn't a princess!"

"She is! You must've kissed her awake, there's no way she could've woken up on her own. I'm telling mom!"

"Hey, stop it! I didn't kiss her, I thought she was dead!"

"MOOOOOOOOOOOM! Mason kissed Sleeping Beauty!" she screamed!

"I DIDN"T! Marge is lying!" he screamed back.

Another voice joined them. It was their mother. Even from where she was, Vanessa could her the annoyance in her voice.

"Both of you stop yelling. She just woke up, and she doesn't need all this. Now, both of you go and get Ezra. And stick to the path this time. No shortcuts ok! Go straight there and back."

After she heard the patter of little feet become more distant, the woman entered the room.

"Hello there, are you awake?" she asked in a gentle voice.

Vanessa gathered what strength she had and turned over to meet her gaze. She tried to talk but the only thing that left her mouth waa a hoarse yell.

"Don't try to talk yet dear, you've been in a coma for a few months. Take your time."

Vanessa frowned.

'Months huh?'

The woman began walking around the room, gathering herbs and liquid then mixing them in a jar. Vanessa guessed it was a type of medicine until she bagan to do magic.

The woman waved her index finger above the jar which made the liquid inside spin and smoke to appear. It was shaped like a clover, then disappeared after a few seconds. She then poured it into a glass bottle and walked over to her.

The woman pulled up a stool and sat next to her.

"Here sweetie, drink this. It's an elixir for rejuvenation. It'll give you your strength back."

Vanessa looked at the green liquid suspiciously then turned to the woman expactantly.

"Well, that's fair." she said with a smile. "Can't expect you to drink something from a stranger now can I?"

She raised the glass to her lips and took a sip.

"Here."she gestured to her with the glass bottle.

Vanessa gave her a curt nod and with that the woman raised the glass to her lips and tilted it slightly. Vanessa felt the liquid slide down her throat. It felt....well, green was the only way she could describe it.

When she finished the entire glass, her strength suddenly came back to her and she was able to move her limbs again! The first thing she did was sit up. She'd gotten fed up of sitting down. The elixir didn't just give her back her strength, but it also gave her her voice back.

"Thank you." she turned to the lady with a smile.

"Well, it could've been poison that only takes effect in large amounts." she said with a sinister smile.

"Just kidding! You're welcome dear. My name is Aliza. I'm a doctor. Nice to finally meet you." she said extending her hand.

"I'm Vanessa." she said reaching out her hand. "Where am I?"

"You're in Lazorin. It's a village on the edge of Elvan." she said.

Vanessa's eyes widened. "Elvan! That's the other side of the kingdom! How did i get here."

"Ezra said he found you with some bandits. Do you remember anything at all?"she asked in concern.

"I remember them saying that someone payed them to kidnap me." she said trying to recall what she could remember.

"Huh, you're pretty lucky Ezra found you when he did. He's the one who brought you here actually." she told her.

Vanessa didn't know what to say. She only remembered seeing someone and asking them for help. He really did help her after all.

"Who is he?" she asked Aliza.

"Oh, he's- Well, it's complicated." she concluded after trying her best to find the right words.

"Can I meet him?" she asked after a while. "I want to tell him thank you."

"Sure, he's coming over soon. In the meantime, do you want something to eat?" she asked her while turning away.

"Ok." she replied curtly.

Vanessa followed Aliza downstairs into a kitchen and sat outside while she waited for her to finish cooking. It was a pretty little house.

Made out of bright orange wood and the outside walls were lined with white flowers. A willow tree stood outside with wildly swaying branches and leaves with a slower swaying swing attached to its branch. The area around the house was covered in grass, with a cobblsestone path that lead from the front door.

It seemed like a nice little place. She began to think that maybe, this was the house she's always imagined living in. No castle, no title, just Vanessa. To her, it felt like just yesterday she had been kidnapped. She felt that just yesterday her life had nearly ended.

Another feeling came up though. One she didn't want to experience. She could feel her hands stiffen, remebering what she did. The adrenaline rush she got when she stabbed the eris. She could feel the fear she felt then. The desire to kill. She could feel the blood that ran down her hands as the body fell next to her feet.

A soul desperately clinging to a body, the body that desperately clinged to his neck to stop the bleeding. She swallowed and clutched her arms tightly. In hindsight, maybe she actually felt his soul. Maybe she felt the way she ripped it from his body.

She swallowed again; but this time it felt like bile was rising from the back of her throat. She felt like a hypocrite. She remembered thinking why it was so easy for them to kill someone so easily; but at the end of the day, she had killed someone just as easily as they had.

Her hands were clean, but she could still feel the sensation of blood, thick and drying. Why was it still there.

It shouldn't be this easy. It couldn't. There was no way killing was so easy for anyone. Right?

The thought depressed her. It was that easy. She had come from a pampered life where certain aspects of the real world couldn't reach her. Now she was outside the walls of the castle. People died all the time, nothing would change that.

She snapped from her thoughts at the sound of a caw. She looked around to try to see what made the sound.

She looked in all directionsv until a bright orange caught her eye. A bird that perched on the willow with its claws clinging to the sensitive bark, looked at her with a tilted head. It's ornamental feathers on its head seemd to glow with firey life and its eyes blazed.

She'd read about them before. Bright orange coloured birds with long feathers. They apparently flew insanely fast, and if they reach a certain speed their long tail feathers light ablaze. People use them as messenger birds, and even breed them so they can fly quicker. A wild one was rare, but that was back in the capital where most were domesticated. She guessed that since she was in the forest at the edge of the kingdom that meant that they lived undisturbed.

She liked looking at the way it would release its talons from the tree and fly around the tree.

It seemed to be circling an orange lily that had sprouted from a tree trunk. It's plumage seemed to spark to life whenever it got close. After flying around it, which Vanessa guessed it was observing, it perched next to its desired flower. The bird then began carefuly picking at the flower's stem.

It appeared awfully gentle with it's beak, like it didn't want to damage the delicate flower. After gently pecking at the stem, the flower came loose and the hawk plucked it from the crack in the tree's bark. The flower looked rare. Just like the bird it was as if they were both fashioned after flame; a light peach color at the center near its anthers, but then bright orange petals that grew wild and crumpled as it traveled outward.

With the flower carefully secured in it's beak, it left the tree and flapped off. It ascended higher, out of the canopy of the trees and soared away. Vanessa observed the tailfeathers of the ember-hawk light ablaze again and the wind scatter sparks all around.

She remebered all the things she'd read about them. The hawks were one of the many native species humans discovered when they first arrived on the continent. They were a real nuisance at first. There would be certain times when they'd fly together around the continent. This was a problem because they flew at high speeds and the faster they flew, the more sparks and flame they'd generate. So many of them were flying quicker than the eye could see and scattering crackles of flame everywhere meant that many houses burned down as a result. So they domesticated many of them. They were great messenger birds and racing birds. So it was inevitable that there wouldn't be many in the wild at a certain point.

It was a beautiful bird. Everything about them was a plus. Their feathers were fashionable and the sold for alot of ren. She looked at the bird growing smaller in the distance and wondered if she'll ever be free like that.