a m b e r

Evelyn was quiet for the duration of the trip. I didn't blame her- it took less than 24 hours for hell to break loose. Many saw Eve as a fragile girl- they were wrong. 

Those people saw only what they wanted to see, what Eve allowed them to glimpse. Evelyn's poker face revealed next to nothing- years of brutal court lessons taught us that. Tentatively, I asked, "Eve? Are you alright?" 

My younger sister snorted to herself, but still revealed nothing on her face. I spotted a clearing, and nudged Eve, "Wanna rest?" 

Self loathing pierced my heart- Evelyn would truly hate me if she had known what I had done, my intentions gone wrong. I had woven a simple enchantment spell around her blue ball gown, expecting her to go with that dress but when Ella showed up in it, the Prince immediately fell in love with her. 

I wanted to throttle Ella so badly it almost hurt.

My sister nodded and we reached the clearing, collapsing. If I had to guess, we had walked about five miles through the woods.

We sat on the forest floor, in a small clearing, sunlight peaking shyly through the thick leaves and branches. Eve was staring at the map, contemplating to whichever place we could escape from Ella's wraith. She was always the calm one, anyway. 

I just lifelessly picking grass, my thoughts taking me far far away, as if I could escape reality.

"Just spit it out, Amber." Evelyn murmured, her gaze lingering on the Fall Realm, and snorting to herself. Even we weren't that desperate to flee to the Fall Realm to hide. It was well known that the Fall Realm was a Realm of danger and deception, a Realm I had no intention of returning to.

"I... you will hate me for what I've done." I whispered so softly even the ever patient branches seemed to strain closer to hear. 

"What more," She asked softly, "could you have done to stop Ella from humiliating us?" No judgement on her face- no, she was never the type of person to do that, though, was it sarcasm in those words? I shook those poisonous thoughts away.

Before I could lose all confidence, I blurting out, "Eve, look. I've... I've been practicing dark magic with a few of my... friends."

She blinked, "W-what??" And that was all the emotion she showed.

I took a sip of water from our canteen and sighed, "I started again about four months ago. When things started to get better for us. The thing about dark magic is that it's addicting, but it is so powerful. You know that, don't you? The side effects though... I can't neutralize it without a powerful amplifier. " I paused, "I'm willing to do everything for you-even if it means damning my own life." 

Out of instinct, she patted my back, but stayed silent.

My eyes searched her face intensely, struggling to see what she thought. I couldn't lose my sister- she was my only family...the only person I loved in this broken world. 

Sighing, she picked at some of the dead grass near where I sat. It was a side effect of dark magic. One reason why I envied my sister so much because she wielded raw magic, which meant that her side effects were rarely lethal, and she had more variety.

I understood that withdrawing from dark magic was a very demanding process and could kill the caster, especially without professional help, and despite this, I continued down a road that my family had tried to prevent. You promised, I could almost read her thoughts, you promised that magic was behind us forever, nine years ago.

Eve slowly raised her eyes to me, "Well, Amber. What do you want me to do?" 

I shook my head, "Nothing. We set up camp here. You start with the shelter, and I'll get some food from a nearby village." I lied- it wasn't a village. It was a city. Resmoa, a city in a region called Bressiya. 

Evelyn opened her mouth to protest, but I was back into the woods again. When I was a safe distance away from the clearing, I reached into my bag, and pulled the potion vial.

The morning mist of Evadon, which was a polluted place that once was a city in the Spring Realm, that would transform the inhaler, not permanently, into an ugly gold spinner. 

I needed a child of royalty to aid in my plans, and from gossip and dark magic, I had learned of a foolish girl who claimed she could spin gold. Of course, the king of that kingdom- King Brendan, told her if she didn't spin the gold, he would kill her. However, if the girl managed to pass the king's tests, then they would wed. A foolish girl, but my perfect chance.

The gates of the village loomed close, and when I stood next to wall, I uncorked the vial and inhaled the foul mist.

~

"Oh, how shall I ever spin gold? I am doomed! Forever!" A maiden from a tower cried. I sighed to myself. The girl reminded me of Ella Cinder, and I rolled my eyes at the thought. Why were they all drama queens? That thought slightly eased away the guilt of what I was going to do to her.

I assumed that she was the unfortunate girl and followed the sound of her voice. I finally made it to the window ledge, after climbing three stories. And that, I tell you, is not something pleasant to do, especially when you have a fear of heights. "Is there something wrong, girl?" My voice came out grumpy and low. 

I felt so tiny, with horns on my head, mattered and dirty hair and I had a drooling problem. Maybe I should've used a different spell....

"I c-c-cannot spin gold and if I can't spin it, the King will punish me and my father." She sobbed. I wanted to comfort her, but the person, monster, didn't allow me. I was to be ruthless, cold and greedy. Not to mention smelly and unpleasant.

"I could spin gold," I told her, " For a price."

She looked up at me, "Anything, anything." Idiot, I thought to myself. But some of the Amber from Before seemed to have compassion, and so, I didn't ask for her firstborn child. Yet.

My slightly blurry vision landed on the silver necklace around her neck, "That necklace of yours."

The maiden handed it over, gushing, "Thank you so much!" If I wasn't occupied with the difficult, grueling task of spinning gold, I would have requested her to shut up. 

It was actually harder than it sounded. You had to feed the straw in slowly-, it's too hard to explain, really. The maiden watched me with relieved eyes, so I tried to shut her out and focus on the difficult task.

The maiden eventually fell asleep and I managed to feed all the straw in and turn it into gold. By then, it was dawn, and the sun was beginning to get up.  

I could feel the glamour beginning to slip so I quickly jumped out the window, and swiped food off a cart full of apples and grapes. 

By the time I reached the woods, I learned that the maiden's name was Tes Lanowa from the market gossip. I dared a small smirk. Tes had no idea what was coming for her.

~

"You were gone for a day and you bring back fruit?" Evelyn snapped, her eyes suspicious. I coughed, and spun up a lie, "Well, you see, I got sidetracked..."

"How?" Eve pressed, snatching the bag of fruit I carried and walked to the makeshift tent of branches and leaves. Nice shelter, I noted to myself. 

"I saw this handsome boy.... and one thing led to another." I fibbed expertly. But I knew she didn't believe me, and I couldn't explain the relief that rushed over me when Evelyn left the topic alone, grumbling of the lack of food. She knew it was a lie, but I was thankful she stopped pressing. 

The next time will be her newborn, I swore to myself. During the mornings, if I wasn't sleeping, I was going over with Eve the basics of magic again, to refresh her memory. But, I could tell that she didn't need to relearn much- she summoned hellfire three days after I began reviewing magic when it took even the talented months to do just that. It was something she had learned to do so long ago, I almost forgot. 

Yesterday, I learned that our beloved Prince Charming had put a bounty on our heads, 70,000 gold coins each. Another reason more to hate that man and Ella.

Tonight, downing the potion and climbing the tower again, I awaited the young maiden to sell her baby to me.

Did I feel guilt? Yes. But what could I really do about that? A plan began to formulate in my head before I shoved it away and climbed in the window.

"More straw into gold?" I asked, gruffly.

"Yes but..." The maiden trailed off, tears rolling off her face.

"But?" I grunted. "I don't have anything else to give you." She whispered.

I started for the window, "No jewelry, no gold."

"Wait!" She called out, desperately.

I sucked in a breath. She was going to seal her fate. "Yes, fair maiden?"

"I'll offer you my first born child." She weeped. I nodded, "Very well, time shall come soon, and when I collect your debt, there should be no arguments, understood?"

She hesitated only for a second, "Yes."

"Swear it," I rasped, and told her to swear in the name of black magic.

"Alright, alright. I swear in the name of black magic, that I pledge my first born child to the creature who spins straw into gold for me." She snapped. A puff of smoke appeared over her right arm, vanishing after branding the arm with a unique mark. 

It was my brand- and a reminder of the debt she now owned to me.

"Very well," I sat down and began to spin straw into gold one last time, a dark smile gracing my lips.

~

"We're going," I woke up Eve at dawn, packing our bags. "What?" She murmured, half asleep 

"Can't let Cinderella catch us, remember?" 

She squinted up at me, her expression suspicious. "...If you insist." 

So this is my first banner I ever made via Photoshop CS6 extended, we got a long way to go. 

Edit 9/10/16 Wtf happened to me? I remember that I didn't know how to use fonts back then, and the pngs are just terrible. Remind me to fix up my banner skills *groans in embarrassment*  It's supposed to be Amber and Evelyn.