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edenfallingSummary: Sunbright has a complicated relationship to the prophecy that shaped her life. (425 words)
Note: More exploratory noodling for "Sunbright and Shadowfall." This is my initial attempt at Sunbright's POV, though it's not very tight; there are shades of third person omniscient around the edges. But it's kind of hard to write a story if you don't have a handle on one of the two main characters. *wry*
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The Queen in Waiting
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On the morning that Sunbright was born, a pillar of golden fire descended from the sky and a voice called her name, fierce and clear like the peal of a warning bell. And so she was marked as one of those who might, someday, become the promised Queen.
In all the years since the opening of the Gate, no girl or woman so marked had completed the answering sign, let alone driven the Shining Ones from the world. But people still hoped, hungrily.
Sunbright had no memory of a time before she knew what people wanted from her.
At first it was exciting. She would wake the world's magic and bind it to serve her, and she would save everyone everywhere. There would be great battles, and then there would be feasts and peace and nobody would need to lock their doors ever again.
When she was a little older, Sunbright realized those dreams had been childish: that war meant death, that people preyed on each other just as readily as the Shining Ones did, that the prophecy of the Queen held no hints for her to follow, that all those who came before had failed and she would fail as well. The town at the feet of her father's stronghold, at the riverbend, had grown nearly into a city, swelled by those seeking glory and revenge. In another generation, the Shining Ones would raze the walls and salt the earth, if the people didn't scatter of their own volition.
What was the use of hope if it never came to fruition?
She was angry, then, for some years.
When she met Shadowfall, Sunbright began to think there were other paths. She couldn't fight the Shining Ones, but that didn't make her life worthless. She didn't need to drown in anger, smother in despair. She could be more than a symbol of desperate, broken hope. She could find happiness along the edges of the world. Perhaps she could help other people find happiness too.
Then the curse caught her, and she slept for a long, long time.
When she woke, when she broke the spell at the cost of Shadowfall's life, a pillar of golden fire sprang skyward from the heart of the stronghold and a voice called her name, wild and ragged like the wings of a storm: the second sign. The Queen had come to lead the world to freedom, however faint and obscure the way.
In her empty room, Sunbright touched the shattered stones where her true love had stood, and wept.
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Inspired by the 1/18/15![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
15_minute_ficlets word #217: commitment
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Yay, I wrote a thing!
Note: More exploratory noodling for "Sunbright and Shadowfall." This is my initial attempt at Sunbright's POV, though it's not very tight; there are shades of third person omniscient around the edges. But it's kind of hard to write a story if you don't have a handle on one of the two main characters. *wry*
---------------------------------------------
The Queen in Waiting
---------------------------------------------
On the morning that Sunbright was born, a pillar of golden fire descended from the sky and a voice called her name, fierce and clear like the peal of a warning bell. And so she was marked as one of those who might, someday, become the promised Queen.
In all the years since the opening of the Gate, no girl or woman so marked had completed the answering sign, let alone driven the Shining Ones from the world. But people still hoped, hungrily.
Sunbright had no memory of a time before she knew what people wanted from her.
At first it was exciting. She would wake the world's magic and bind it to serve her, and she would save everyone everywhere. There would be great battles, and then there would be feasts and peace and nobody would need to lock their doors ever again.
When she was a little older, Sunbright realized those dreams had been childish: that war meant death, that people preyed on each other just as readily as the Shining Ones did, that the prophecy of the Queen held no hints for her to follow, that all those who came before had failed and she would fail as well. The town at the feet of her father's stronghold, at the riverbend, had grown nearly into a city, swelled by those seeking glory and revenge. In another generation, the Shining Ones would raze the walls and salt the earth, if the people didn't scatter of their own volition.
What was the use of hope if it never came to fruition?
She was angry, then, for some years.
When she met Shadowfall, Sunbright began to think there were other paths. She couldn't fight the Shining Ones, but that didn't make her life worthless. She didn't need to drown in anger, smother in despair. She could be more than a symbol of desperate, broken hope. She could find happiness along the edges of the world. Perhaps she could help other people find happiness too.
Then the curse caught her, and she slept for a long, long time.
When she woke, when she broke the spell at the cost of Shadowfall's life, a pillar of golden fire sprang skyward from the heart of the stronghold and a voice called her name, wild and ragged like the wings of a storm: the second sign. The Queen had come to lead the world to freedom, however faint and obscure the way.
In her empty room, Sunbright touched the shattered stones where her true love had stood, and wept.
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Inspired by the 1/18/15
15_minute_ficlets word #217: commitment---------------------------------------------
Yay, I wrote a thing!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-24 03:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-24 07:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-24 03:32 pm (UTC)*wry* And Sunbright sounds like she's going to be one of the "seriously racked off at all this idiocy" sort of protags.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-24 07:52 pm (UTC)The legend of the Queen is complicated because of... things that are kind of spoilery for the plot, so I think I'll sit on them. (Suffice to say, there is a part that got deliberately left out.) But the prophecy/incident it's based on is minimal and vague, and the story has been floating around for a thousand years or so, so time and distance and cultural shifts have led to varying reports of the initial incident, and to even more ideas about how, exactly, the prophecy will be fulfilled.
Sunbright is an idealist with a practical streak and a quick temper, and she really hates politics. (Which is bad for her but fun for me, because guess what she has to deal with extensively?) So yeah, she spends a lot of time in the first and last thirds of the story seriously annoyed at a lot of people. In the middle third, she has other things to worry about. *evil grin*
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-25 03:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-25 03:48 am (UTC)