The Rose Queens Curse 🥀

 

The castle seemingly beautiful and inviting from afar, is nothing but an illusion. Draped in thorny roses, many speak of a curse that lingers over the castle. Should one dare to step foot in its haunting decayed halls, a tragic tale, a drifting shadow, and a mysterious, somber queen dwells there. 


Long ago when the castle was alive with song, gardens vibrant and rich with colour, the kingdom kissed by sunlight. There was an old king who loved his daughter so much, that on her coronation he gifted her a magical climbing rose. Once planted the magic decreed that they would only bloom under the touch of true love. The king wished that this rose may show her the truth in others hearts and allow her to trust in loves strength.

Over the years, many suitors called upon her, from lords, knights and princes from far off lands, to profess their love and to ask for her hand. But the roses never bloomed, all sought wealth, position or power. And so she became known as the Rose Queen. 


One day, while walking in the gardens, she found herself lost in thought, pondering on the meaning of love, when a young man, a stranger to nobility, stumbled into her sanctuary. He had come to the castle to offer his skills as a carpenter, but upon seeing the young queen, he stopped, struck by how beautiful she was. He felt his heart whell up and become so full he feared it would burst, his senses blind to everything else but her. As if he had been holding his breath all this time without knowing it and now he could breathe, truely breathe deep into his soul, gravity no longer held him to the earth, he felt as if he was floating and all that held him to this world where her amber eyes staring back at him. He didn't know who she truly was. But he had to know, learn what would bring her happiness, what made her sad, he had to know. Because if he walked away now, with that thought, he felt a deep pain as if a piece of him had been cut out and was left to bleed out and wither away. 

He approached her, drawn to the kindness in her eyes and the overwhelming unexplainable love. Shyly made his way towards her stepping forth through the enchanted roses, his shoulder snagged on one of its thorns, fumbling, he lifted his hand to free his coat, one of the closed flower heads brushed over his hand. The petals quivered and began to open, unfurling to his fingertips, bathing the garden in a soft light. The queen, startled, realized that the roses, dormant for so long, had responded to the touch of this humble stranger, her true love, just as her father had hoped.


In that moment, their fates intertwined, and the rose queen saw, for the first time, the man she had dreamed of. Rugged and strong, devotion in his eyes, which looked at her, not at the wealth of her castle, or lands, but looked at her, as if he could see into her heart, joy across his face. 

The kingdom rejoiced and celebrated in their union. The news of the blooming roses spread quickly across the land, all came to visit and see the marvel of the roses and wish happiness and good fortunes to the new King and Queen. 


One fateful night, a jilted sorcerer, heard of the Queens happy news. Angry and bitter he still felt the sting of her rejection in marriage. He was so filled with jealousy, he sought vengeance upon them, in which he cast a truely dispicaple spell. That very night, he transformed the new king into a shadow, a silent imitation of a man, left to despair and drift ghostly through the castle. But that was not all. He tyed their souls to the blooming roses, each petal holding a fragment of her heart. Their souls trapped within a single rose, locked away forever, it's location shifting every hour. They where now bound to the very flowers that once symbolised their love. His bewitchmemt to the roses inflicted a sickening rot, that weaved down the roots to its very core. 

Their sweet intoxicating fragrance released a poisen, clouding the mind, laced with forgetfulness, stripping away memories, leaving only a lingering sense of sorrow.

The roses would now weave a fog of despair that would slowly erode the memories of anyone who wanders into the queen’s domain. 


The longer anyone stayed, the more they lost themselves, their thoughts unraveling like the petals of the roses. Eventually, the enchantment would overwhelm them, trapping them in eternal sorrow, bound forever to the castle’s dark magic.



Centuries passed over this forgotten kingdom, stood frozen under a sky of eternal twilight. The moon hanging full and motionless in the starless sky, as the eternal night stretches on. Time does not move, daylight never reaches the castle walls. Those trapped inside slowly fall victim to the castle’s enchantment, wandering in despair until they become part of the castle’s lost souls. The vines of roses wind through the castle’s ancient stone, twisting around columns and doors, reaching out as if they too long for release of the curse. 


The forever young queen, wanders the halls, a lost soul in the castles collection. she has forgotten everything, her name, her past, and how she came to be here. Lost within the castle's decaying grandeur, her mind clouded by the magic of the roses. 

Her love, the king, now more of a shadow than a man, watches over her in silence as the roses reflect his own tormented soul. The rose queen unknowingly wanders closer to him, as the roses continue to erase the fragments of her memory. 

She may have forgotten everything, but he still remembers. He knows the only way to break the curse is for her to find the rose that holds their souls. The sprawling labrynth of vine choked roses twitch at his thoughts, as if the curse itself, is determined to keep them apart. As long as the soul rose remains hidden, the curse holds way, and they will never be free. 


And yet, hope still flickered.

Plucking one of the roses, the queen gazed up at the glow of the moon. Her only friend and companion all these lonely years, the haunting shadow, blacker than night that tarried behind her.

The scent of that rose filled her lungs then it wilted and crumbled to papery ash, a part of her heart lost forever.

Faint longing stirred and writhed within her, a distant, unspoken connection, a memory of something precious and lost.

In the deepest part of her mind, she could feel that truth must be found. But the fog of the curse always drew her back like a the warm inviting bed that begs for us to stay there. 

Her true love shrouded in darkness must find a way to help her remember. He continues to watch, standing guard from the shadows, waiting for the day when she might remember their love. 

He waits for the day they can be together again, for the night that she picks the soul rose and free them both of this thorned prison of roses.

If only she could just remember. 

🥀


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