The Dreadful Nightmare of Snow White

by Scarlet Danae

  I did not say a thing and taking off the mask, I let it get charged with oxygen. I sat down on the ground and watched it thoroughly: it looked quite odd. It was made of iron and black latex; on the right side, there was a rose with some spiky petals, whereas, on the left side, it had a sort of sharp-cornered wing. I started thinking.

  «Why did that thin’ harassed me? Snow White said my location can’t be revealed. So, what did he want from me?», I questioned doubtfully.

  «She can sense your presence, any way. Your location may not appear on the global maps, but she can always catch your scent», explained Cogito. When I asked him whom he was referring to, he answered: Queen Vain.

  «Vain? »

  «Yes. She’s one of the seven Queens Sisters: the most feared of them all. But I’m not going to tell you the story. We have to set forth, now », reiterated Cogito and then I put him on.

  «I guess it'll be like lookin’ for a needle in a haystack! My head hurts and I'm exhausted!», I complained whilst walking towards the forest, «no one has told me anythin’, I don't know where I am, nor I know who I am an’ … », suddenly, I shivered with a hand on my chest.

  «What’s wrong?», asked Cogito alarmed.

  «Nothin’», I reassured him by walking again. To tell the truth, I began to feel the symptoms of the abstinence. I could not ask to that artificial intelligence for a place, in that world, where I could find someone who sold drugs; provided that drugs existed, and drugs were the name.

  «Who’s that Darknight, tho?», I questioned whilst we continued aimlessly throughout the dark forest.

  «Snow White’s partner in war», clarified Cogito, but when I asked him if they were just “partners” he chose to skip the answer.

  «I’ll have to clear up I’m not his lover, huh!?», I realized sighing and then I heard a shuffling.

  «Did you hear that?», I warned, «This sound... Like hooves! »

  «It may be the guide!», exclaimed enthusiastically Cogito.

  «Listen! It goes nearer and nearer …», with a hand to my ear, I could hear that clattering growing fast. «…It’s moving closer and in great haste… », that sound got clear, more and more. I turned pale when, somehow, I realised a skittish deer was about to assail me.

  It ran over me in a flash. I found myself clinging to the antlers of the speeding deer, with my face glued to his snout. Relentlessly, I shouted loud and Cogito as well, until, the latter regained his composure trying to calm me down. I held tightly the antlers in my hands as with my legs I grabbed on to the enormous neck of the deer.

  I tried to look back. «We’re gonna craaash!», I shouted frightened, «We’ll end up squished against somethin’!», added I, whining, «Cogito! What’s our move? », I asked him panicked.

  «Chill out!», he tried to reassure me. My voice, however, turned into an evil sound and, with my bloodshot eyes, I conceived that chill out was something I couldn’t do, at that very moment.

  «You scare me!», said Cogito terrified.

  I turned around and saw we were approaching a rock wall. I had my eyes popping out of my head, and so I screamed again for I was sure that I would die. Nevertheless, the deer slowed down to halt, and then he gently let me slip to the ground.

  Spell-bound I watched the creature. I had my arms dangling paralysed along my hips.

  «Follow me», said he shortly: he had a deep, guttural voice.

  Still astonished, I followed him with my eye as he moved towards a wall of stone; he began to hit the rock with his stumpy hooves, rhythmically. The earth quivered under my feet, making me jump, and a blanket of soil almost engulfed me. With my arms I covered the face and, moving backwards, I tripped over something. I fell on the ground. When the soiled cape disappeared, I saw a passage had opened through the rocks.

  The creature entered the cave, telling me again to go after him.

  «What are you waiting for?», urged Cogito abruptly.

  «I’ve just been tossed along the whole forest hung on two horns! Cut me some slack! », I moaned almost growling. Cogito muttered something, whereupon he hushed. I was delighted by his silence, then I took a deep breath. After having plucked up my courage, I stood up getting closer to that passageway studying it suspiciously.

  « Don’t be scared », said the echo of a voice from within the cave. I swallowed, my heart as a drum that rolled loudly in a dance that I would call anxiety.

  « Here we are. It’s do or die », I sighed.

  I walked through the darkness of that passage and I heard my own footsteps resounding almost with a metallic clang. Slowly following the path, I found myself before an iron door upon which I lay my hands, but its surface was so cold that I had to pull them back. I looked at the palms, black and blue, then I clenched my fists watching my knuckles tinted with red. Without waiting any further, I opened the door: the cold injected into my veins stiffening them; I was shivering with cold, almost paralysed. I soon forgot about that feeling because of what appeared before my eyes: a huge lounge whose both ceiling and walls were dressed in cyanotic and glass-like right-angled stones, which shone brightly. On each gem-like rock, there were engraved signs whose meaning was a mystery to me, obviously, and despite the fact I was fascinated, that sight left me so speechless that I couldn’t even articulate a question to that Mr know-it-all of Cogito.

  «Get on the stone that’s in the centre, my dear», said the voice. I got used to all that secrecy, by now, that I obeyed without thinking twice.

  As I put my feet on the big central stone, with floral ornaments engraved on the surface, it began to sink whilst I kept on looking around filled with astonishment. The platform climbed us down in a burrow whose crystal-like walls had been chiselled to create some arches; inside them, someone had placed vases with powders or coloured liquids, which made everything shine through opalescent reflections. We went down until the very the end, down in a ring-shaped room. Sticking my head out, I saw some of crystal coffins placed along the immaculate walls, like a row of ornamental pillars.

  After the platform had touched the bottom the stone swayed treacherously, daring me to keep my balance. Getting back on my feet, I got off and felt my heart quivering in my chest when my eyes fixed on coffin in front of me: there, a body like mine rested.

  «How many other me are there?», I whispered, getting near the coffin until I could touch it with my fingers. In that moment, I realised that every single crystal-like sarcophagus, which filled the room enlightened by diaphanous light alone, contained lots of my doubles; twins. Despite the face was always the same, each me released a different aura and had different looks. There was a wide selection there, starting with a chic version of me to reach the gothic one; from the leanest me, to the plumpest me.

  «As many as the worlds are», said a voice from behind. I turned and saw the deer: at first sight, I believed he had a silvery fur, but then I realised that his was an iron cuirass, whereas his eyes were two bolts of an intense blue.

  « What does that mean? Does this have something to do with that skill whose Cogito talked me about? »

  «Precisely. This is a hideout built in the unreal world. Kind of a dream. One of the several dimensions created by Snow White herself», explained the guide.

  «Where’s my body now?»

  «Your body is in many places, worlds…»

  Then I espied that there were lots of me sleeping inside those coffins, but amongst them all, only one caught my attention: that one that had my real appearance. I ran towards that motionless body, asleep, it was totally me: my wavy and platinum-dyed hair, those shabby and sloppy clothes; that piercing in the mid of my lip and those three teardrop-shaped microdermal implants aligned under the right eye.

  « What’s happenin’? », asked I confused. «It looks like my head’s about to explode!» I ground my teeth; «I need some explanations! Speak to me!», I shouted turning towards the deer. I Just lost my self-control. «This is me! », said I, pointing out my own build, « what am I doing outside? »

 
«Your soul has been engrafted in Snow White’s body. You are the chosen one.»

  «The chosen one? What the hell it means?»

  « Once she fell asleep, Snow White dreamt a lot. And each one of her dreams gave birth to a new herself, another identity which lived in a parallel world. Each coffin, here, in this room, was took up by a new identity all the times she dreamt of a different world until she died. I have been the keeper of this place for so many years, waiting for the strongest twin to take her place...»

  « So, you’re tellin’ me I’m just one of the several reincarnations of Snow White an’ the winner an’ all? »

  « Precisely ».

  « Aye! I won! », I cheered motionlessly. «I have never, ever, won a goddman thin’ my whole life, an’ da first time I do, I get a bucket full ov shit! », I grumbled pretending to be victorious.

  «I guess you’re speaking the language of your world».

  «Yes. A world where I was a real mess, but I see things are even worse here! I don’t know what has come, but all this secrecy, that monster, all of this makes me think that Snow White has somethin’ left to settle, somethin’ very serious, isn’t it?».

  «Precisely».

  «Nice!», said I, clapping my hands with a big smile. «Take me back home!» and pointed my sleepy body inside the coffin.

  «What?», cried Cogito, «how can you do that?»

  «How can I?», reiterated I, snarling, «What about waking’ up one day, in a different world tied up like a sausage and with a muzzle on your face; then, meeting two freaks that talks about skills, parallel dimensions, a prisoner who used to be prince charming, and much more! Try it! Then, we’ll talk about it! »

  There dropped a fleeting silence, the deer sighed and bowing his head he told me he would have done what I asked for.

  «Hurry up! Make me come back! », I replied concisely.

  « Place yourself before your body and ask it », said the deer.

  Slowly, I turned toward him, « what!? Do I have to ask my body if I can come back? »

  «Precisely.», he confirmed and, then, with a nod of his head he urged me what I was told to.

  I twisted an eyebrow and then I turned towards my sleeping body. Cogito started to speak, trying to induce me to stay, but after that I pronounced the words: «Dectorade face off », I pulled the mask off and threw it to the ground, disrespectfully. « Bye! Bye! », said I, sneering in a singsong voice

  I stood in front of my body. I swallowed, I felt oddly nervous. I cleared my throat: « … May I come back? », I asked quietly, almost with a trembling voice.

  Few moments of silence. The body stiffened and suddenly opened her eyes, whose empty orbits held the strongest darkness. I took a step back jumping whilst the other me opened her mouth to say a short and vibrating: « No! ». Then she relaxed her muscles and closed her eyes again.

  That scene left me speechless. A whistle led the rhythm of my breath: it rose and then lowered. I turned to the deer and asked him what was going on, my voice was deaf, choked.

  «Something keeps you from going back. Something happened to you on the other side. That’s why you’re here, now».

  I couldn’t find an answer, for in my head there was just the apple I had bitten before I got in that world.

  « Am I dead? », I murmured, my eyes wide open and a hand to my mouth.

  «You’re not. I guarantee. If you had died your body would be disappeared and you wouldn't be here, now», he explained in a gruff voice, and yet calm. I turned to him. I was sweating cold but the deer’s calm eyes, though they were false, managed to peg the beat of my heart and that whistle, that struck my chest, faded away.

  « So, I’m forced to stay », I said overcome. Once again, I looked at my sleeping body. At that moment, I found myself thinking about a new life: a life with no humiliation, pain, loss or indecision.

  Slowly, I moved towards the mask and picked it up. Cogito did not say a thing, he hushed. I couldn’t tell if he was watching me or less, even though I had turned him off.

  « If I agree to stay in this world… », I turned to the deer, «… What should I expect? »

  « In order to give you an answer, I’ll have to tell you the whole story», said he and I sighed shrugging.

  « I am all ears and ready to get bored. » I answered yawning and looking at him unmoved.

  Once upon a time, there was a well where people washed away their sins but, one day, it happened that a pregnant and young woman, after a hard work in the fields, had a sip from that source to quench her thirst.

  A few months later, that woman gave birth to seven daughters.

  « All in a row? », asked I staggered.

  « All in a row ».

  « Poor thin’ ».

  At first, they grew up, normally, but it was in their seventh year that they began to unveil their evil nature.

  «Seventh year, huh!? », I giggled, « what a coincidence! », said I mockingly. « why didn’t they start at their fifth or eighth year? Why didn’t they do that at ten!? »

  « Seven », reiterated curtly the deer.

  « Fine. Got it! », I raised my arms, « please, go on…», I encouraged him to continue.

  The Seven sisters were the reincarnation of the seven most perverse and ruthless sins! One of those little girls ate too much, another had already indulged herself in the pleasure of sex…

  « She was just seven years old! », said I upset, « are you kiddin’ me!? »

  The deer sighed annoyed, so I had to apologize and then asked him to go on.

  Another sister had no interest of any sort; the other got angry easily, another one was envious, whilst another one was selfish and wanted everything to herself. The last one was beautiful, indeed, so beautiful she wanted to be the only one in the whole world.

  « Vain », I whispered, « Cogito mentioned her, previously. What did she do? »

  Legend has it that a powerful sorcerer who plundered and oppressed many kingdoms with his magic. One day, he was defeated by a white sorcerer who wounded him to death. Despite this, the sorcerer managed to take flight and found an abandoned mirror, where he transferred all his evil spirit.

  Years later, Vain came across the sorcerer’s skeleton and, on one side, she noticed the enchanting mirror. As she stared at her own beauty there reflected, Vain acted gently: « Magic mirror of my lusts, who’s the fairest of them all? ». When the mirror replied she was the fairest one, the woman was so pleased about that she decided to take the item with her, striking a deal: he would have made of her the most beautiful and powerful lady of all the ten realms, but in return she should have helped him to become again a mighty wizard.

  A year later, Vain married a wealthy man. He already had a lovely daughter whose name was Snow White. Three years away from their wedding, Vain poisoned her husband who threw up, in a second, all his innards and guts, so that she could say that a dark beast had assailed him in the night. After the burial, Vain took care of Snow White, nevertheless, when the mirror told her the little girl was growing more beautiful than she would ever have been, the woman went off her head: she gave the order to her most faithful servant, the Hunter, to kill her stepdaughter and to come back with her heart. Snow White tried to escape but the Hunter caught her and flung her on the ground: he opened up her chest and tore her heart out with his bare hands.

  « what the fuck!? », I burst with a hand onto my chest, as I felt my heart beating I started to question things.

  The Hunter placed Snow White’s dead body in a hollow tree and brought the heart to Vain. There, she cooked it with spices and aromas of any sort. She had it for dinner with a side of broad beans and...

  « Can you just skip over this, please? I… I just don’t care about what’s on the Queen’s special board.», I stopped him with a fake smile.

  Many years passed by and Snow White still lay inside that tree. She could not move, nor speak, nor breathe. Yet, there was something that kept her alive, although she was fully-fledged dead. A man found he
r, one day, and he noticed that deep desire of revenge in her eyes, so he decided to the take that girl away with him; the man implanted a brand-new heart made of steel, as a replacement for the one that had been torn.

  The man turned out to be the Prince of one of the ten kingdoms, whose father, the King, had married Vain by making her his queen. Barely a year later, this latter murdered the King, then placed the blame on the Prince who had to leave for he’d been exiled. Vain took the throne as her sisters: Wrath, Avarice, Sloth, Gluttony, Lust and Envy. They conquered the surrounding realms becoming queens.

  The Seven sisters sowed misery and suffering until, bored by their lives, they decided to fight each other.

  This had the consequence that many wars broke out: lots of innocents were slaughtered or imprisoned, whole cities wiped out; they set flames to forests and razed the plains to the ground. All this, in the name of those seven witches, who had put a spell on their subjects so that they followed them faithfully. It seemed that no one could stop them, but it happened that, during one of the many genocides, from the corpses of some victims, whose pure heart had not ceased to hope until the very end, seven creatures come into the world: Modesty, Castyria, Generalda, Altroisio, Diliux, Kalmat and Xena. These beings, unaware of their powers, wandered through the war fields until they reached an arid and now dead forest. They went through it and, at every step, the trees, the bushes, the soil, everything relived vigorously.

  Among the green of that revitalised forest, they found an abandoned house in which they hid. Gradually they became aware of their powers, but still, they were terrified by what they had seen along the battlefields. Therefore, they agreed to raise a fence all around the forest: that banned any being from seeing it or entering. In the meantime, the wars and the exterminations persisted, but secretly lots of insurgent groups started to come to life.

  Their purpose was to defeat the queens, but the power of this latter was too strong they achieved in winning their opponents by finding and killing them. Snow White and the Prince were both members of these groups, as they were both ready to die in order to have their revenge: down the battlefields, they made their way to the sound of axes and gunshot, throwing down anyone who stood in their way. They freed lots of small towns dominated by the witches, but then it became increasingly tough as they approached the great metropolises; there ruled powerful demons and sorcerers who, tyrannical, served the seven Queens. It was during one of those fights, that the group of Snow White and the Prince was crushed: they were forced to flee, mortally wounded, and by the chaos, their ways were parted. They look for each other relentlessly, but it was in this way that Snow White, after hours of walking, crashed to the floor. Right at the threshold of the forest where the seven creatures lived.