𝘾𝙊𝙍𝙍𝙄𝙉𝙀
It was a perfect day to break the rules. The sun shining down through the leaves overhead with a cooling breeze blowing through the warm air. Corrine felt her feet pounding the ground as her long, blonde hair blew behind her. She gripped the daggers in her hands tightly and built up her speed from a jog to a sprint. Corrine jumped up into the air, pushed off a boulder, spun around and smashed one of her daggers into a nearby tree.
"Bullseye," the princess chuckled to herself.
Corrine continued to run through the forbidden woods. She whipped her second dagger into another tree then drew her sword from her waist, slashing her way through the thick branches and leaves. Corrine ducked under a branch that snapped back towards and cut it down. Finally, with one more powerful swing, Corrine lodged her sword into a thick tree trunk. She let out a sharp exhale of satisfaction and sunk into the soft grass. As she rolled onto her back she sprawled her arms out on the ground.
"How could they keep me from such a beautiful place," Corrine muttered to herself. She plucked a small white flower from the ground and twirled it between her thumb and index finger.
Corrine's peaceful thoughts were interrupted by the sound of branches snapping. She immediately sat up and went to unsheathe her sword, only to realize it wasn't there. The girl quietly, yet quickly scrambled to the tree where she had left her sword. She propped her foot on the trunk and yanked the blade out of the wood. While remaining light on her feet, Corrine shuffled her way to her dagger, which was still stuck in a tree to her left.
The atmosphere darkened around her and the warm air chilled. A black shadow flashed by then disappeared into the trees.
Corrine gripped the handles of her blades harder. "What the hell."
In a split second, the dark shape raced by again. Corrine sent her dagger flying at the shadow but it disappeared just before the blade could pierce its figure. Corrine was shocked, but that didn't stop her from chasing after it. She rounded a corner and found the shadow hovering over a trunk. She swung at it, but once again, it disappeared, leaving her with her sword stuck in the tree.
"I don't think the trees like that," a voice mocked behind her.
Corrine's heart leaped out of her chest as she ripped her sword out of the tree and held it to the man's throat. She found a familiar face, it was a royal guardsman.
"Peter!" she exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing?! You scared the shit out of me!" Corrine sheathed her sword in an annoyed manner.
"Fairy Godmother would like to speak with you."
Corrine threw her hands in the air. "If this is about those mice and that weird, magical cheese just tell her I'm sorry!"
Peter proceeded calmly. "It's something else, something far more important."
The princess rolled her eyes. "Fine, but you owe me some new daggers."
Corrine resentfully turned to the direction of the kingdom and followed Peter out of the woods. The beautiful castle towered over the land, but the big wall that wrapped around the entire castle easily stripped that beauty away.
"Ya know that wall ruins like...everything," Corrine sighed.
"Your highness, you know why it is there. It is for your—."
"Safety. Yeah, I know."
Silence fell between the two as the gates were raised to enter the kingdom. Peter escorted her down the grand halls to a pair of doors that lead out to the balcony and pushed them open. There, glowing in the evening sun, was Fairy Godmother leaning on the balcony rail.
"Thank you, Peter," the woman said. "That will be all."
Peter bowed and left the room.
"You've been up to trouble, haven't you child?"
"I'd hardly call it trouble," Corrine protested. "The forests aren't even dangerous. Nothing has happened to me and I go out there all the time."
"You saw something today."
"Yeah, some shadow."
Corrine recalled the stories her parents had told her about Morana. "It's her isn't it?"
Fairy Godmother waved her over. "Come."
Corrine walked over to the balcony and leaned over the railing with her. In Fairy Godmother's hands was a deep blue amulet that hung from a silver chain.
"What is that," she asked, pointing at the necklace.
"It is an amulet to which I have transferred all of my magic in to," she explained as she placed the necklace in the palm of Corrine's hand. "All of my enchantments."
"Why are you giving this to me?"
Fairy Godmother closed her hand over the stone. "It's time."
•>~~~~~~~~~~~~~<•
𝘽𝘼𝙄
"Shang, have you seen Bai?" Mulan asked as she entered the dining hall. "It seems too quiet around here."
General Shang picked his eyes up from his map. "Last time I checked he was at the alters praying."
A shocked expression crossed Mulan's face. "He's not getting into any trouble with his fellow soldiers or harassing the emperor's servants?"
"Well, I haven't seen any chickens in the palace yet which gives me the impression that he might actually be behaving today."
"Strange," Mulan laughed to herself. "Mushu is supposed to be talking with Bai about Morana, but I haven't located him either."
"I wish you the best of luck with that," Shang laughed.
Mulan started her way to the door that lead out to the courtyard. "Psh I saved China...I can handle a little dragon."
As soon as Mulan stepped outside, she scanned the grounds for any sign of Mushu.
"Where could that stubborn dragon be?"
Just as her eyes passed that alters, she spotted a familiar shade of red of his dragon form. Sure enough, Mushu was standing on top of the pedestal where the old dragon statue used to stand, the one Mushu broke all those years ago. Mushu held the head of the decapitated stone dragon over his, standing as still as stone.
Mulan chuckled and walked over to the pedestal. She lifted the head off of his, but before she could say anything, Mushu cut her off.
"Nuh uh, sister. We are not gettin' involved with all this crazy, evil lady nonsense."
Mulan shook her head and pointed to the red stone that dangled from his neck on a gold chain. "You have to give up the magic, Mushu. Bai needs it. I know he has trained with us for the majority of his life, but that isn't enough in this circumstance and I know you would never want him to get hurt."
Mushu's eyes fell to the ground. "Alright alright alright, I'll go talk to the kid."
Mushu took the amulet off and changed back into a man. He dragged his feet up the alter stairs to find Bai kneeling before the great stones covered in Chinese writing.
"Whatcha doing?" He sang as he kneeled next to Bai.
"Looking for answers," Bai stated.
"What's the question?"
Bai paused for a moment. "I've felt something dark, like some dark spirit or something. I want to ask the ancestors if it is what I think it is."
"It is," Mushu sighed.
Just as those words escaped Mushu's mouth, the Chinese writing on the stones glowed with a blue light.
"Maybe they heard me," Bai smiled.
All of a sudden, the blue light that flickered within the engravings turned to ink and dripped down the stone. Then, a shade of darkness floated out of the markings and passed through Bai and Mushu's bodies.
Mushu shoved the necklace into Bai's hand. "All yours, champ."
•>~~~~~~~~~~~~~<•
𝘼𝙐𝙍𝙀𝙇𝙄𝘼
The vibrant colors of blooming flowers covered the interior of the royal greenhouse. Aurelia gladly skipped over to her new empty flowerbed. She shoved her trowel into the soil and scooped out enough dirt to make the holes needed for her to plant her petunia seeds. After plopping all the seeds in their own divots in the earth, she smoothed the dirt over and went searching for her watering can.
Aurelia rose to her feet and started making her way down the rows of flowers and other plants. As she looked for her watering can, something else caught her eye. One of her flower beds was full of dead flowers. She kneeled down to examen what was left of the plants.
"How is this possible? I watered you every day."
She heard something rustle the tall sunflower plants. She grabbed a gardening hoe that was propped up against one of the glass walls. In a matter of seconds, Aurelia's sunflowers shriveled up and withered to the ground. A shadow shot up from the plant and out of the greenhouse, out from Aurelia's sight.
"Aurelia?"
Aurelia snapped herself around and whipped the gardening hoe out of her hand towards the mention of her name. Orion, her personal guard, snatched the hoe out of the air before it could hit him.
Her hands cupped over her mouth. "Oh my goodness, Orion! I'm so so so sorry. Y-You scared me."
He raised his hand up, motioning for her to stop rambling. "It's okay. I should've been more careful, especially after what you just saw, plus it means I trained you well."
"The evil mistress, she's here?"
"Yes, Lia," Orion exhaled.
"I know what you're gonna say," Aurelia began. "You're gonna say that it's too dangerous and I need to stay here behind these walls.
Orion tried to say something but Aurelia kept going.
"As much as I love this greenhouse, I want to explore and save the nature beyond these walls, along with protecting our people and home."
"I know," Orion smiled. He put a silver chain with an emerald jewel around her neck. "You're ready."
•>~~~~~~~~~~~~~<•
𝙉𝙄𝙕𝙃𝙊𝙉𝙄
"Pocahontas!" Grandfather Powhatan called out.
Pocahontas ducked out from under her teepee. "Yes, father?"
"Where on earth is your daughter?"
Pocahontas chuckled. "You know her."
Grandfather Powhatan started to pace slightly. "No, she knows you. You're the reason this child disappears almost every hour!"
"But I always came back."
A mere smile curled across his face. "Yes, my dear, you're right. You always returned, but we are living in much darker times."
"She has a good head on her shoulders. She will be okay and will be home soon."
About a quarter of a mile down the river, the chief's granddaughter, Nizhoni, calmly paddled her way back home. She hummed a soft tune to herself as she listened to the sound of the water lapping against her canoe. To her left, two otters playfully swam through the water and squeaked at Nizhoni.
A big grin spread across her face. "Good evening to you too."
One of the otters leapt out of the water and made a splash on the way down. As she watched the otter swim down the river, Nizhoni felt her boat jerk aggressively. She stopped paddling and looked over the edge of the boat. A silhouette rippled in the water.
"What are you?" She mumbled to herself.
Suddenly, she felt a powerful force collide with the bottom of the boat, sending her into the air and into the water. She slowly opened her eyes while she was underwater just in time to watch the shadow scurry away and disappear into the blue of the river.
She rose to the surface, coughing for a breath of air and climbed back into the canoe. Nizhoni found her ore and frantically paddled home. Once she got home, she pulled the canoe up onto the shore and raced to find her family.
The first person she found was John. "Father!"
"Nizhoni!" He wrapped his arms around her. "Are you alright? Why are you all wet? Where have you been?"
"There's s-something in the river. Where is Grandfather?" she said through breaths.
She heard her Grandfather's voice say, "I am here."
She picked up her sight and looked ahead to find the Great Chief. She quickly approached him and pointed at the river. "She's here."
"All of your preparation is coming to an end." Grandfather Powhatan let a tawny brown stone with a gold chain trickled down into Nizhoni's hand. "It is time to put it to use."