The Human Rose

A fantasy story about love and trust…

Once upon a time there was a handsome, gray-eyed Prince, Jayesh, who live with his twin sister, Princess Gina, in the most magnificent palace over looking the Green Sea. Jayesh and Gina use to play with each other and get up to lots of mischief until Gina met Prince Bruce from a neighboring kingdom and fell in love with him. After that, Gina spent most of her time with Bruce, which left Jayesh with more time on his hands then he knew what to do with.

One day, while hunting Jayesh met an old man who asked him for help. The old man was new to the kingdom and he had lost his way so Jayesh offered to guide him back out of the forest. As Jayesh and the old man walked together, the old man asked Jayesh about his family and pretty soon he had Jayesh telling him his life story.

Jayesh and Gina had lost their parents when they were very young and had thus learnt to depend on one another but now Jayesh was feeling left out and lonely. As the old man listened to Jayesh, asking suggestive questions about Gina and Bruce’s motives, a seed of doubt was planted in Jayesh’s mind about Gina. In fact, the old man was really a wizard in disguise who wanted the kingdom and beautiful Gina for himself. By the end of their journey, the old man had convinced Jayesh that he was being wronged. Jayesh asked for the old man’s advice and it was only then that the old man appeared in his true form, that of a wicked wizard. By then, Jayesh was more concerned about getting justice for his wrong to notice.

Together, Jayesh and the wizard plotted to part Gina and Bruce. The wizard wanted to kill Bruce but Jayesh, who was not really a wicked person, told the wizard to cast a spell and turn Bruce into a bear. The wizard, thus, mixed a magic potion and told Jayesh to put it into Bruce’s food. Once that had been done and Bruce was turned into a bear, he was chased from the kingdom. The wizard then moved into the palace and tried to marry Gina but she refused. Further, she tried to convince Jayesh that he was wrong and that the wizard was wicked. The wizard could not let this happen so he decided to separate them. He cast a spell, which left Gina living in a glass cage while with subtle persuasion he convinced Jayesh it was the right thing to do.

Poor Gina in her glass cage, lived the life of a queen, wanting for nothing that gold could buy except love and happiness. One day as Gina sat in her glass cage sewing, she pricked her finger. As the blood rushed out, Gina put her hand against the glass wall and pressed her finger on the wall to stop the bleeding. Her action, however, caused the spell to break, freeing Gina from her gilded prison. Gina fled to the forest of the neighboring kingdom where, she had heard, Bruce was living like a bear. After searching for months and narrowly escaping death a dozen times, she finally found him snugly tucked in a cave, hibernating. Once again she pricked her finger and pressed it on the bear and changed the bear into her loving Bruce.

The two of them decided to fight the wizard and try and save Jayesh. They had heard that Jayesh, after Gina had escaped, had recognized the evil wizard for what he was but Jayesh felt so awful for his part that he knew not what to do. He tried to help the people as best he could but every time he was thwarted.

Gina and Bruce, who had become known as the Bear Prince, gathered an army together from Bruce’s kingdom and set forth to the palace to vanquish the wizard. After dealing with the wizard’s loyal soldiers and his demon spells, the Bear Prince entered the palace to find Jayesh and the wizard in mortal combat. They had been in battle for the past seven days and nights and Jayesh was weakening until he saw his beloved sister, whom he’d presumed had been killed. Drawing on his last vestige of inner strength, Jayesh parried the wizard’s fireballs and deftly neared the wizard until with a quick flick of his sword he slashed the wizard’s head and thereby ended the wizard’s tyranny.

After returning the kingdom to normality, the Bear Prince and Gina got married and lived happily together. Jayesh, however, felt a need to atone for his lack of faith in his sister so he gave his half of the kingdom to Gina and the Bear Prince and he set sail to explore the world. As he sailed around the world he met many people and saw many strange things.

One of his more important adventures was at the port of Dintstown where he was given a miraculous sword, which allowed him to triumph over evil and magic. His adventure began the day he entered Dintstown and met a beggar man carrying the most exotic jewel sword Jayesh had ever seen. The beggar offered the sword in exchange for Jayesh’s service. Jayesh must free the people of Dintstown from seven terrifying ogres. At first Jayesh was suspicious of the beggar who reminded him of the wizard but then he saw first hand the cruelty of the ogres who carried and tossed a baby between them as if she were a ball. Jayesh enraged by this cruelty, offered to teach the ogres a brand new game from his kingdom. The beggar man had told Jayesh that the only way to kill the ogres was by turning one against the other, but the ogres were seven brothers who were closer than peas in a pod.

Jayesh, however, taught them the game in such a way that the youngest ogre who played against the eldest was always at a disadvantage. The ogres were so thrilled with the game that they played it often, all except the youngest ogre. This resulted in the eldest ogre getting angry because he needed the youngest ogre to play so that he would have an advantage and thereby win. Naturally this resulted in a battle between the youngest and the eldest ogre, which soon spread until all the ogres were fighting amongst themselves. The result was that all the ogres were killed.

The beggar man, who turned out to be the king of Dintstown, did not only give Jayesh the sword but also offered his daughter Gwen in marriage to Jayesh. Jayesh, however, politely declined when he found out that Gwen was in love with another man, a commoner. Before setting sail, Jayesh got Gwen married to the man she loved, with her father’s blessings.

In this way Jayesh visited many ports and experienced many adventures as he helped people overcome their problems. He was offered many a princess but he never fell in love with any of them, no matter how hard he tried. All of them seemed to lack something that, if he asked himself honestly, he could not define. Thus, he sailed from port to port for three years searching for redemption, forgiveness, happiness? Who knew, he certainly did not. As he began his fourth year he felt hopeless and lost. He wanted to return home and rest but his weary soul urged him forward to a new city, Ice-city, which was in the opposite direction from home.

He had heard tales that a mighty powerful but wicked sorceress, Dalia, ruled Ice-city. Ice-city, it was said, was the most beautiful unnatural natural sight to behold. Although the sun shone warmly, the ice never melted. Surrounding the ice was the warm Indy ocean and it was said that on a moon-lit night, as one stood on the seashore, if one was really lucky, once could witness rising from the sea a beautiful mermaid with rich red hair and sparkling blue-green eyes.

This myth or legend or fiction intrigued Jayesh so he set sail for Ice-city. After sailing for many days, on a storm-ridden night, Jayesh sailed into the port of Ice-city and was greeted with great warmth and joy. It was only later that Jayesh was to appreciate this as a sign of the nature of Dalia.

The people of Ice-city showed Jayesh the city, and gave him and his crew food and shelter and treated him like a king. In this way Jayesh spent a month in the city without even noticing that time was passing him by.

At the end of the month Jayesh finally met Dalia, who literally, took his breath away. Although he knew she was a sorceress, and if everyone was to be believed, a wicked one at that, he had never expected her to be so radiantly beautiful and so delightfully charming. There was, however, a hint of sadness about her beauty. She had rich golden brown hair that glistened in the sun, and large, sad, honey gold eyes set against the baby soft pale skin of her face.

Dalia had lost her parents at an early age and had been brought up by a wizard. Yes folks, the very same wizard that Jayesh had killed. Dalia had, thus, drawn Jayesh to Ice-city to kill him but the moment she laid eyes on Jayesh she felt as though she had finally come home. She had, however, loved the wizard who had been kind and gentle to her but she could not deny her feelings for Jayesh. As a compromise she promised herself that she would set a test for Jayesh to gauge his real feelings and to see if he could be trusted. The wizard had taught her that feelings are fickle so one should not trust them easily.

Soon, however, Jayesh and Dalia became inseparable as each confided to the other their past and their secrets. Dalia admitted to Jayesh that she had intended to kill him as a form of revenge and Jayesh explained to her that killing the wizard was the only way he could save his sister and himself. Dalia forgot about her compromise as she and Jayesh spent more and more time together.

Thus, three months after they met, Jayesh proposed to Dalia, who accepted. In order to conform to a traditional wedding Dalia and Jayesh decided not to see each other until the wedding day, which was set for the day after the full moon, that is two days away.

The night before his wedding Jayesh was walking along the beach, looking out at the Indy Ocean when he saw the mermaid he had come looking for. She swam out of the sea, dried her tail so that it became legs and nakedly walked up to Jayesh with an innocently sweet smile. She told Jayesh her name was Bianca and she only appeared on moon-lit nights because Dalia could not conjure her up without the aid of the moon. Bianca was, thus, not real but a spell of Dalia’s designed to lure Jayesh to Ice-city so that Dalia could have her revenge. On seeing Jayesh, Bianca for the first time had been able to swim out of the sea and speak to someone. Bianca had come to warn Jayesh that Dalia still intended to have her revenge.

Jayesh was stunned and did not want to believe Bianca but as Jayesh looked into Bianca’s blue-green eyes, he found himself drowning in their depths as doubts about Dalia assailed his weak mind. He began to wonder if he could ever forgive someone, even if he loved that person, if that person had killed Gina. He also began to remember all the tales he had heard about Dalia’s sorcery and evil plans. As he looked into Bianca’s eyes he realized there was no darkness, no shadows, just pure innocence, unlike Dalia’s eyes. Suddenly all thoughts vanished, to be replaced by lust, what Jayesh in his doubt filled mind mistook for love. As Jayesh let himself be over powered by this emotion, a tiny voice at the back of his mind whispered: “Stop! This is wrong. You love…” but it was too late. Once again Jayesh had been deceived by innocence that was only skin deep.

Bianca was indeed Dalia’s spell but she was the test of Jayesh’s love. A test Jayesh had failed. Bianca was innocent because Dalia had created her. Bianca was an illusion, which did not have to deal with the daily ups and downs of life. Dalia, on the other hand, was flesh and blood, which meant she could be corrupted or fair and honest or something in-between. Dalia had built a tough exterior around herself in order to protect herself, which made her seem hard and cold sometimes. Beneath that tough exterior, however, beat a loving heart – unlike Bianca.

Once Dalia realized that Jayesh had failed the test, he had betrayed their love, Dalia felt this wordless rage explode within her. All her anger returned with a revenge that made Dalia berate herself for being a fool and believing in Jayesh. There was nothing Dalia could do now to break the spell and destroy Bianca but come morning she would have her sweet revenge.

Jayesh woke up on the day of his wedding to an empty beach and the realization that he had completely betrayed Dalia. Before he had time to think further he saw Dalia approach in a magnificent rage. She had spent the night recuperating her energy in order to deal with Jayesh. She wished she could kill him and have done with it but despite his betrayal she could not. She could, however, make him suffer, which she fully intended to do. Thus, Dalia cast a spell, which left Jayesh imprisoned in a cave deep within the sea.

However, in punishing Jayesh, Dalia was punishing herself, for without Jayesh she saw no reason to use her magic for good. She was angry and hurt, which made her become cynical and distrustful. In order to protect herself, she thus became the evil sorceress that everyone claimed her to be and she ruled Ice-city with an iron fist. If, however, any looked closely they realized that despite her toughness and magic spells she tried to be fair and just.

Poor Jayesh lay in his prison unable to move a muscle. Dalia’s hurt and anger had so fueled her spell that for a year Jayesh lay imprisoned, more or less, in his mind as his body was taunted by the ‘sweet and innocent’ Bianca, who turned out to be a real fiend as she demanded more and more from him.

Fortunately, however, as the year passed Dalia’s spell weakened as she fought herself, trying to maintain her image as hard and cruel. Thus, Jayesh was able to escape his hellish prison with the help of his magical sword which led him safely through the dangerous sea to a deserted island. Jayesh spent a month on the island recuperating as he knew he had to battle Dalia and free her. She seemed to be tormented as to whether she wanted to be the wizard’s evil daughter or the loving caring person that had been betrayed by Jayesh. Thus, in the two long years that Jayesh was imprisoned Dalia had fought her inner loving nature and won. The Dalia Jayesh had loved was gone forever. Dalia had become Bianca and Jayesh was wracked with guilt.

Fortunately his crew found him on the deserted island and convinced him that he needed to battle with Dalia and kill if needs be because Dalia would be dangerous to the world if she no longer had her heart. So once again Jayesh found himself setting sail to Ice-city.

They soon reached the port but this time there was no warm welcome. Instead there was a coldness that had not only invaded the city, but also the people that defied the warm glow of the sun. The people looked bleak and cheerless and all seemed concerned about their own welfare, only. It was each one for him or herself, even the children.

Jayesh quickly made his way to Dalia’s formidable palace. His crew set up a distraction and while they valiantly fought Dalia’s demons, Jayesh went in search of Dalia. He found her in her chambers, fully clothed in her queen regalia, waiting for him.

For awhile they stared at each other caught in the memories of their short past and for a second Jayesh caught a flash of the old Dalia, the one he loved. However, with a toss of her silky hair Dalia broke the enchantment – she did not want a second chance because if Jayesh betrayed her again she would not be able to handle it. She could not trust him so she chose to fight him to the death, hers if she was lucky. Dalia, with her magic, began to fight Jayesh with bolts of thunder, fireballs and spears but to no avail. Jayesh’s sword kept him safe until finally Dalia was exhausted. Jayesh tried to kill her with his sword but his hand refuse to obey. Dalia, with a last act of love thrust her body onto his sword. As she fell to the ground Jayesh grabbed her and cradled her in his arms. She died saying: “I am sorry I ever doubted your love. Perhaps in another lifetime we will be more fortunate because I love you more than life itself.”

Jayesh was beside himself with grief. He had lost the only woman he could ever truly love. She may have been hard and tough, some may even say cruel but she was only human and she had only tried to protect herself from loss and pain. And it was he who had let her down, betrayed her with his enchantment with Bianca, an illusion which could never match the true heart that had beaten within the tough exterior that was Dalia.

Jayesh took over the kingdom of Ice-city and once again it began to bloom with friendly smile and loving laughter as Jayesh concentrated on the happy times he had spent with Dalia. Jayesh, after burying Dalia, found that the grave bloomed with the most exotic rose, as if in approval of his actions. The rose was pure white at the center while the edges of the petals were reddish-black. It reminded him of Dalia and humanity in general.

Click Here To Learn More

Popularity: 4% [?]

Technorati Tags: magic spells