iamaakhan Presents Gothel: The Unfinished Retelling

Hello there all you beautiful people! I'm Khan and I'm blessed to be part of this amazing event again—thanks to @KellyAnneBlount and of course, you guys for your tremendous support. I owe you guys a lot, so thank you!

Today I have something very different from my last Wattpad Block Party post, because this piece of work is actually my first ever fairytale retelling. It took me months to get the plot ready but guess what? It never went online because I feel that the writing and the characters needs more work.

So here I present you the prologue of Gothel which is raw and unedited, so beware of the horrible mistakes that I'll be making and I hope you'll enjoy it!

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Prologue

Mid Snowfall, 1482

Gothel took another glance at the small mirror on the wooden wall of her cottage. Frowning, she touched her face with the tips of her finger. Wrinkles were everywhere and large dark half-moons were formed under her eyes. She looked like someone who didn't sleep for a hundred years. But, it was true. She has lived the land for almost a century.

Gothel focused again and found a long, jagged line running down from the bottom of her left eye to her cheek. The scar looked horrible, weathered by age and had blackened. She frowned angrily and memories of how it all started flashed through her mind.

She saw a golden dagger with a purple gem on the hilt, thick snow, blood and screams of innocent people. She took a step back from the mirror as her memories grew darker and darker—and she came back to reality. She exhaled heavily and took her cloak, shielding herself from the cold as she walked out of her cottage. Snow was falling, carpeting the thick grass with a layer of white.

Gothel took every step with full care and walked slowly. She held the wooden basket in her hands tightly and continued into the forest. Tall pine trees loomed over her as she walked deeper and deeper into the woods. The wind was howling like a pack of wolves and it was extremely cold. With a flick of her finger, faint auburn smoke became visible on the palm of her hands. She touched the smoke onto her cloak and she felt instantly warm.

She took off her heels now as she didn't bother about the cold anymore. She half-jogged, half-ran across the woods, not bothering the snow that was falling and the cold wind that was blowing. She stopped and looked ahead. Gothel was now at the edge of the woods—at the cliff. Far below, a dark cavern was at place and far ahead, she could see the faint shapes of the jagged mountains of Corona.

At the foot on one of the mountains, Gothel saw light—faint, yellow lights scattered across the land as if a dozen of fallen stars had fallen from the sky. The night sky was in the colour of midnight blue, decorated with stars which looked like tiny silver needles, twinkling at her. She grinned and spread her hands—vibrant emerald light shot out from the ground and into the night sky above. Slowly, a rippling image formed in the ray of the emerald light, like a puddle of water.

There, she could see a faint image of an elegant castle capped with snow with a small pathway leading into the woods. Carefully, she set her foot into the image and walked through it. Strong wind blew in and she set foot on the brick pavement of the pathway. Gothel smiled as she passed though the portal and stared at the elegant castle in front of her.

The castle was magnificent. Two lean, circular tower rose from the east and west side of the castle. They loomed over her like a giant from the Ancient Times of the kingdom. The walls of the castle were made of amber bricks painted in ivory. Little snowflakes begin to fall not like the woods near her cottage, where thick snow had already layered the soft ground in white. She took a step closer to the castle and saw a small iron gate with wired spikes coiled around the top. And it was slightly open.

Without hesitation, she walked past the gate and into the castle.

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The hallways were empty except for the pale lights from the scones. The walls were decorated with various paintings that were too beautiful to be true. The sceneries depicted in those paintings were realistic and much colourful. Gothel walked slowly, counting on every step she took. She looked around, hoping that no one had seen her.

She walked further into the hallway and into an opening. There, she saw a flight of stairs leading to floor above. She ran across the spacious room slowly, without having time to admire to beauty of the castle. Even it wasn't her first time here; she still couldn't stop admiring the beauty of the castle. She had longed to live in a castle for ages and it could be her chance if the poison she chanted upon the Queen a week ago had worked.

She climbed up the stairs and on the last landing; she took to her left and walked through the dim-lit corridor. The King's bedroom was located at the end of the corridor, still a few feet away from her. Gothel kept walking and she stopped in front of a large door decorated with lush gold paint and ceramic-like material that made the door.

The knob was made of sparkling gold and was cold to touch. She turned the knob and with a click, the door creaked open. The room was wide and was breathtakingly beautiful—on the center of the ceiling, there was a big, shiny chandelier hanging down with a few other smaller chandeliers hanging on the sides. The room was dimly lit and a large bed was placed against the wall in front of her.

The mattress was thick and covered in shiny midnight green sheet with stuffed pillows of the same colour at the head of the bed. Dark satin cloth hanged over it from the head poles that rose from the heading of the mahogany bed. If only Gothel could rest on it—she would feel like a queen.

Lying on the bed was the Queen. The Queen looked pale with her white face and baggy eyes. She looked like someone from the dead. Her eyes were wide open and Gothel could see her chest rising up and down slowly. She was dying.

Gothel grinned as she approached the Queen slowly. My poison worked, she thought as she stood beside her, smiling wickedly.

"You shall pay for this," said the Queen, turning her head.

"I thought you should've been dead by now, Your Majesty."

The Queen smiled warily. "You can never have this kingdom, sister. You shall rot in hell."

"Well, I'm almost there, my dear Queen," Gothel walked around the bed slowly as if she was thinking of something. "When you die, I'll take over the throne."

"You cannot succeed in your plans, Gothel. You never will." The Queen—Gothel's sister said with her slumberous tone.

Gothel looked at her sister, the Queen of Corona. "And why is that so?"

"Hmmph, did you not know of the news, Gothel?" The Queen raised an eyebrow.

"What news?" Gothel looked at her sister in confusion.

"I have a child—my little princess," the Queen frowned, her face turning sorrow. "She shall take over the throne as the Queen of Corona as soon as she turns twenty."

"Twenty? Hah!" Gothel walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window. "That is two decades from now, sister! I have ample of time to take over the throne. And as for your little princess, I'll take her away from you—from this kingdom!"

Gothel turned around, furious, "She shall never be found by anyone. Not even from your husband, Ariana!"

"Enough!" Queen Ariana cried, "You shall not have my child!"

Gothel chuckled. "Oh, I will take her from you." Gothel stormed out of the room, leaving her dying sister in screams and tears. Ignoring her sister, Gothel took off her heels and checked every room for the princess. She heard the guards from the floor below, so she walked faster. She climbed up the stairs again, leading her to another corridor filled with a row of rooms.

Then, she stopped.

She heard a cry—the cry of a baby.

Gothel walked slowly, ignoring the guards that were after her. She could just take them down with just a flick of her fingers. She scanned each room to her left and to no avail, she couldn't find the baby. She turned to her right and checked every room. She stopped in front of a small room where the sound came from.

She pushed open the door and found a lady servant carrying a baby wrapped in blanket in her hands. The servant's eyes filled with horror as Gothel pushed her aside, taking the baby with her. She cursed under her breath when she saw the servant running out of the room, screaming and calling for help. Gothel chanted a spell and with just a soft blow, the servant fell limp to the ground.

Gothel held the crying baby close to her chest and ran out of the room, running through corridors and out of the castle. She looked behind her and saw a dozen guards dressed in silver armours with long swords in their hands—they were after her and the baby princess.

Gothel took off into the woods and ran further, deeper into the world of trees. Without looking back, she kept on running until she was sure that they'd lost her. She exhaled heavily and heard the rustle of bushes. With anger, she spread her right hand in front of her and glowing emerald light rose from the ground, hovering above her.

She then saw the guards, closing in. With a smile plastered on her face, she said to the guards. "You shall never see your princess ever again!" With the speed of lightning, she disappeared into a puff of smoke with an evil laugh just as she touched the emerald light, bringing the baby with her.

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So, can you all guess what retelling was I writing? How was the writing? It was very plain and boring to me—that's why it never made it to Wattpad and I already have half of the book written so long ago, and I don't plan to publish this yet because I think I need to revamp this.

What do you think? Your opinions matter! So yeah, I really hope you enjoyed that piece of writing and thank you for reading! Catch y'all at my profile!

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