Member-only story
Beauty’s Shadow
A retelling of Sleeping Beauty
This story was created based on a submission call by The Fairy Tale Magazine. The only criteria were that it must have a supernatural element and include transformation. This was my first attempt, but as I wasn’t sure it fully met the criteria I chose not to submit it. But as I liked the spin I used I decided to publish it here instead. Enjoy!
Beauty’s Shadow
A golden moon hung heavy in the night sky, its light streaming through the castle’s shattered windows, moving over the dead leaves and brittle sticks upon the floor until it came to the grand bed hung with silken drapes once expensive, now hanging in tatters from the tarnished rods. There the light pooled over the unmoving figure that lay there. Beauty, once the heart of the kingdom, lay ensnared in an enchanted slumber. Her auburn hair fanned out like rays of sunlight on the satin pillow, and her chest rose and fell with the faint rhythm of a dreamless sleep.
Once visited by family, friends and the villagers who revered her since her unanticipated birth, no one came any longer, ever since the darkness fell, reaching every corner of the kingdom, with the exception of where Beauty lay. For nothing could extinguish her light.
