Sleeping Beauty: Danger Within
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Lightning flashed with a dramatic flair apropos to such a scene.
A colossal foot moved to crush Maleficent like an insect. Her normally greenish complexion turned to a near-cadaver-pale as she watched the talons descend toward her.
Thinking almost-not-quite-quick-enough, she managed to teleport herself clear of the compound. Unfortunately, this technique was designed for travel, not for stealth. The Aurora-beast thing noticed the spectacle of blue fire swirling in the bushes and turned to attack. As she charged, the remainder of the compound was obliterated with the exception of the tower.
Maleficent continued teleporting just out of the dragon’s reach, sometimes behind and sometimes simply further away. But she could never quite do so fast enough to pin point an appropriate line of attack. Aurora-zilla, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly frustrated, as teenage girls are wont to do, and began incinerating the landscape with pillars of fire with every breath.
This needed to end. Soon. The majority of the neighboring town had been wiped out in a recent Elementary school science fair project that had gone horrifyingly awry, but there were still a few innocent lives at stake. Like, ten or twelve, maybe.
Whatever, it didn’t matter. The point is this thing had to be stopped. But how?
Suddenly, inspiration came to Maleficent as it often does at a convenient point in the plot. She couldn’t beat this dragon physically, what with it towering over her and she being a mere morsel to such a behemoth. Even her impressive use of pyro kinetic powers was no match for the nuclear flame-thrower that thing breathed from its face.
No, she’d have to take the fight… elsewhere. They’d have to meet on the Astral Plane – an alternate reality tied to our existence. On it, you’ll find a person’s psyche and mind in its natural state. The Astral Plane operated on a completely different scale from this world. You can travel great distances in seconds, people who are mighty in our world may be small and meek over there, and the general laws of physics as we know them apparently get plastered on a regular basis as nothing seems to make logical sense.
It was her only hope. Teleporting herself once more far enough away that the dragon couldn’t stomp her into six feet into the ground, but still staying close enough that it wouldn’t lose interest, Maleficent sat cross-legged on the ground to meditate and transcend the barrier between this plane and the next.
Sitting crossed-legged when you’re wearing a robe that’s practically spot welded to your figure is no easy feat, by the way. Her knees could snap together with enough force to decapitate an adult moose at any moment.
She concentrated, boiling her mind down to its center until there was naught a stray thought in her consciousness. The dragon raged and bellowed as it charged. It shoved aside the last of the remaining ashes and embers of the compound and its surrounding shrubbery. The jaws of doom opened wide. Fangs longer than the typical human body descended on Maleficent’s prone body.
The dragon froze.
Indeed, time in our world stopped for both the sorceress and the mighty lizard on steroids that had been a beautiful teenage girl about five minutes ago. The two sat there, perfectly statuesque like a living photograph.
But on the Astral Plane…
Maleficent scanned the horizon. Everything was an odd hue of lavender and magenta. Different shades of purple, basically. She heard the bellow from behind her. Turning her glowing eyes, her discorporate body expanded its electric mass to match the size of the goliath creature that charged her.
Its strength was unparalleled in our world, but here on the plane of the mind she had no equal. Before those ripping teeth could tear into her, she struck it in the neck with her cane and cast it to the ground. There she pinned it with a column of purple fire from the ball of the cane. As the monster writhed and screamed in impotent rage, it didn’t notice that the material of the earth it laid upon was also being affected by Maleficent’s magic. On her command, it liquefied from the heat of her flames, wrapped itself like a molten blanket around the dragon, and held it fast in place as it suddenly solidified.
The neck was the only thing free as the over-sized gecko thrashed and roared. Fire spewed to the heavens as it struggled to free itself. Suddenly, all movement and commotion stopped: Maleficent had driven the handle of her cane into its heart like the point of a spear.
The dragon began to fade and wither, its form being sucked into the earth that wrapped around its body.
The image of a young woman took shape in the mist of blue light that emanated from the chasm. She reached out her hand to Maleficent and opened her mouth to plead for help, to cry, to scream, but no sound escaped her lips. The mist fulminating from the hole that gave her shape also formed bonds that wrapped around her and pulled her down to the place where the vanquished dragon slept.
Maleficent opened her eyes. She could feel the heat from the fire, smell the scent of burning sulfur in the evening air, feel the rain as it began to softly fall upon her and the field of battle.
The dragon was all at once unfrozen. The fire in its eyes faded. With a moan, the mighty titan fell to its side. Slowly at first, and then faster, the scales and wings and claws melted away and left in their place a beautiful young girl who slept as only a happy dreamer can.
Maleficent spent all but the very last reserves of her strength carrying the girl up the stairs of the tower and back to her bed chamber. The curse and the battle had taken a lot out of her already. This time, however, the curse didn’t have an expiration date. This one would remain in effect as long as she lived and breathed. Or, at least, until the day they could find a way to kill the dragon while saving the girl it lived in.
She had just tucked the angelic girl into the bed when she felt a sudden sharp pain radiating through her core. Looking down, she saw bright red blood flowing from a hole in her abdomen.
Turning slowly toward the door, Maleficent had just enough time to lay eyes on her shooter. Prince Charming had apparently come for the girl. He put another bullet in Maleficent’s heart.
With that, the powerful sorceress fell to the ground.
“Did you think we’d let you get away with it?” Prince Charming sneered down at the woman. “We saw your little experiment. What happened? Did the princess try to escape so you had to turn into a giant monster to try and kill her? It doesn’t matter. PC is here to save the day. And you won’t be hurting anyone else.”
He turned his snide gaze upon the princess on the bed and smiled. “My sweet flower… I have the answer to free you from the curse.”
His heavy boots made a sickening thud as they squished through the lake of vomit Aurora had left earlier on the floor near the bed. Maleficent felt her body growing cold. She couldn’t move. With everything she had, she tried desperately to hang on and, more importantly, keep that curse in check for the good of the world, in spite of this idiot.
But it was a fight she couldn’t win. At last, she said… goodbye. Even in sacrificing herself she couldn’t undo the mistakes of her past.
When color came back to Aurora’s cheeks, Prince Charming probably thought it was due to the power of his hormone infused kiss. In reality, the timing had just been perfect. He kissed her at the very moment Maleficent’s heart stopped.
The girl’s eyes opened. There was fire in her pupils.
He never had a chance to scream as she ripped out his heart and then ate his body shortly after growing to the size of a high-rise building.
The countryside burns to this very day.
A Word From the Author
Also, if you’d like to support my work, feel free to check out the first two books of my series The Hollowstone Chronicles. These are full-length novels with a rich cast of characters and more zombie-butt kicking than you can shake a stick made of rabid gophers at. They’re a steal at only $2.50. You can buy books one and two here and here, respectively.
I also have another book about my adventures in Korea called A Life Less Ordinary. I took my sardonic sense of hu
mor and turned it loose in a land where I had to get used to the fact that I was the alien for a change!
Last but not least, if you have the time and means to do so, please stop by the page for St. Jude Children’s Hospital and drop off a donation. This is such a worthy cause and one that touches so many lives. It’s very near and dear to my heart for a number of reasons.
Thanks for your time and support! God bless you and have a great day! -Chris