Chapter Text
There once was a man and a woman living in beautiful kingdom named Solaris, which provided them comfortable and peaceful life. The only thing they wished upon anything else was to have a child. No matter how many prayers were sent to the archon, the woman never got pregnant. As if the suffering wasn’t bad enough, the woman got very sick. The husband called many doctors even outside of the kingdom, but there wasn’t any cure. The more days went by, the more desperate he grew, the fear of losing his wife was too great. Even more prayers were sent asking for help but to no avail. Or was it? The grace of the archon was inscrutable, and one never knew, when his wishes will be heard and if they’ll be fulfilled.
It happened one morning, when he was walking around the markets. Not paying attention to the surroundings, he accidentally bumped into elderly woman, which resulted in her basket falling to the ground, things spilling out. Reacting quickly, he kneeled, collecting everything, and putting it back into the basket, offering it back to the woman.
“Thank you very much, young man,” the woman said, her voice coming out raspy.
“I apologize, it’s my fault, I didn’t pay attention,” the man said, out of curiosity trying to see the woman’s face which was covered by a dark cape but failing.
“I can see there’s something troubling you,” said the woman. The man only nodded but didn’t try to explain anything. “Do tell me what it is… I might be able to help if you desire so.”
“It’s my wife. She’s sick and there seems to be no cure for her,” the man answered.
“Have you ever heard about the witch in the forest?” no answer came from the man, implying for the women to continue. “There’s a witch living in the deep forest outside of the kingdom. I’ve been around for some time and heard many rumors. And I know one, that could interest even you. People are saying she owns certain flower, that can cure any sickness. You only need to make a drink out of the flower, drink it and you’ll be cured instantly,”
“Where do I find the witch?!” asked the man, despair dripping from his voice.
“It’s not that simple,” the woman almost laughed over the man’s impatience. “As I said, she lives deep in the forest. You need to go after the clock struck midnight. Cross the bridge and go into the forest. When you are deep enough, you’ll see light between trees. That light is coming from the cottage the witch lives in. You need to be careful, so she doesn’t hear when you are coming. The flower will be in plain sight, you can’t miss it,”
“How will I recognize the flower?”
“When you see the flower, you’ll know, believe me. You need to take the flower out of the ground carefully and then run as fast as you can. Don’t turn around until you are back out of the forest and can see the kingdom,” the man nodded. He didn’t know how much he could believe her, but he also didn’t have other options. He must try it, even if it’s going to cost his life. He muttered thanks and turned around, deep in thoughts trying to recall everything the woman just said, and was about to leave, when he was stopped by hand of that elderly woman.
“Before you leave, listen to my words one last time. Only few people were brave enough to go look for the witch and her secrets… but none of them came back from that place. If you listen to my advice, you’ll survive,” the hand let go and when he properly turned back around, the woman was walking away from him. He could only see the back and cape over her head. He didn’t know why he was so confused before he realized, why he wasn’t sure if it was truly the same person. Because this figures back looked like someone much younger, judging by the walk and posture. Still little lost, he went back home to take care of his sick wife.
The rest of the day went by in haze for the man. He took care of his wife like always, helping her eat at least the little she could and other necessities. When he gave his wife evening medicine and took her in bed to go sleep, he sat by the window and anxiously waited for the clock to hit midnight. There were no second thoughts anymore. He didn’t know how many days his dearest has left and didn’t plan to find out. He’ll get the flower and cure his dying spouse.
He jumped when the clock hit midnight but got out of the shock quickly. It was time… It was time to save his wife. He did as he was told, crossing the bridge, and entering the forest, the darkness engulfed him. He felt like he was walking for hours, didn’t know which direction he came from and where he was going. This night felt darker than it usually was. When he felt like he had no more energy to continue, he finally saw it. Bright yellow light between the trees, coming from what looked like window. He started walking faster, new energy flowing through his body. When he was close enough to see the whole cottage, he slowed down, creeping closer and closer. When his eyes started to scan the surroundings, that’s when he saw it. Golden flower still open for the world to see, even if it was such late into the night.
“When you see the flower, you’ll know,” he whispered to himself, repeating the words older woman said to him this morning. “Thank you, our merciful archon, for hearing out my wishes,” he looked up even when the sky was hidden by the trees and tear of gratitude fell from his eye. He went to the flower as quietly as possible, crouching down no to pass by the window and risk being seen. When he stopped before the flower, he had to look at it for a while in awe. There was faint golden glow coming out of the flower pulling him in. He shook his head, getting out of trance, and started to dig out the flower. The moment he was about to pull out the flower carefully from the ground, door of the cottage opened with loud BANG!
“How dare you come to my garden and steal my flowers like a thief! I’ll make you suffer for your impudence!” screamed furious witch and the man knew he was in trouble. He let go of the flower and got on knees in front of the witch hands clasped in front of him.
“Please, have mercy on me! I’m only doing this because I must! My wife is deadly sick, and I heard only your flower can cure her!” he pleaded the witch.
The witch stayed silent for a while, looking down at the trembling man kneeling in front of her. Then she smirked devilishly. “Very well then. I’ll let you go, but only under one condition,”
“Anything, please! I’ll give you anything if it means I can take the flower back home to my wife. What do you need? We aren’t the wealthiest, but we still can give you gold, just please let me go to save my dearest.”
“I don’t need gold!” she smirked. “Listen to me carefully. You can take the flower if you give me most precious thing you own,” before the man could answer, she cut him off with a glare. “You don’t have it yet. When the right time comes, we’ll both know I’ll be coming soon. Now get out of my sight!” the man gulped loudly, before processing the witches last words, scurrying back to flower, pulling it out of the ground and running away, out of the witches’ sight, not turning back once as he was told by the old woman. Ice cold sweat was running down his face and back when he got out of the forest, the sunrise slowly creeping up on the sky. Was he out for so long? He didn’t give himself long time to think, running again all the way to his house to his wife, slowly pushing the trip to the witch out of his mind. When he arrived home, he yet again followed the old lady’s words and made drink out of the flower. When his wife woke up, he made her drink it all.
That morning people from the surrounding houses could hear laughter of two people in love. ‘It’s like magic! His wife is suddenly cured!’ could be heard for the next few days from people on streets before it slowly died down. The pair was happier than ever, but the wife was worried what her husband did. Questions about what the drink she drank was or where he was the night before, were quickly swept off the table with words to not let her worry about it and that it was just new medicine from far away. So, she stopped asking and suppressed her curiosity, until she truly didn’t care.
Only few months have passed after the trip to the which, when the wife came home with news. They finally knew why she was so sick in the morning. She’s expecting baby. Newfound happiness overtook the house of the two, preparation for new family member in full swing. Soon to be parents couldn’t wait for the baby to come and the dad naively ignored the worry that was surfacing from when it was repressed that night. That was the biggest mistake he could do.
When the time came, the mother gave birth to beautiful boy with big golden eyes and blond hair. The parents decided to call the child Aether, because his bright eyes felt as if they made their world brighter. They could never expect how fast the light would fade out of their world, when they woke up to loud cry of a child in the middle of the night and then silence. Sudden dread engulfed the father yet again, and he felt the same cold sweat on his back as that fatal night. His wife got out of the bed first running up to other room to check on their son. Bloodcurdling scream finally woke up the father out of the trance and he ran after his wife. Because of what he saw, he thought for a few seconds, he’s still dreaming and it’s just cruel nightmare. The cradle was empty, no signs of their beloved son. And at that moment, he finally realized the words the witch said all those months ago. He fell to his knees, and he felt as if he was back to that night, kneeling before the witch, that was laughing in his face.
“You can take the flower if you give me your most precious thing you own. You don’t have it yet. When the right time comes, we’ll both know I’ll be coming soon.”
Meanwhile, somewhere in the castle, which stood proudly in the center of Solaris, little prince Xiao woke up his mother crying. After she calmed the prince down, he told her about nightmare he had. It was about a newborn baby being taken away by scary lady and now he’s too scared to go sleep again. The queen led her son back to his chamber and tucked him in bed. She sang him lullaby for calm sleep and stayed next to his bed holding his hand a bit longer just in case Xiao wakes up again. She would never imagine how shocked she’s going to be in the morning after finding out such a crime as disappearance of a child happened in their peaceful kingdom, eerily similar to the dream her son had that night before.