Key To A Goblin's Heart

Victoria's POV 

A shrill deafening noise blew through my ears, as if someone was screaming their hearts out, and try as I might, I couldn't stop it. I tried to cover my ears, willing to muffle the sound of the horrible scream, but my hands were paralysed. They were no longer under my will and I had to fight every urge to give in to despair myself. 

I felt like crying, an overwhelming nausea shot through my body but I couldn't vomit. I couldn't speak, nor could I move my body. It was as if I was suspended in oblivion, paralysed and debilitated, the motor functions of my body completely out of control and the sensory functions acutely perceptible. 

A jolt of electric current blew through my body, and I was shaken awake. It was a nightmare, a very bad one, I tried to explain myself. My palms were still sweaty, and I realised that I was shivering. This wasn't a shiver that one normally experiences, it was of a more crude kind where my hands shook as I held them infront of my eyes. 

My mind was blank, and it took me a while to realise where I am. The immediate memory seemed so far away, as of decades have passed between now and then, and as the flashes began to return to my mind, my anxiety grew multifold. We were attempting to open a portal to the Enchanted Forests, and we had succeeded! Did we? It seemed so at that moment when a bright flash of light overwhelmed my senses and drew me into it's own void. 

Was a portal opened then? I tried to scan my surroundings and search for Mike and others, they should be with me right? We were sucked into the portal together, but now there was absolutely no sign of them! This was strange. I rubbed my eyes, and shook my head vigorously, as if trying to clear my brain off the dreadful nightmare, but when I opened my eyes again, I still lay alone….in a deserted patch of strangely familiar forest. 

It was the same one that Magnus had taken me to meet Donald! As I realised the fact, new questions began to prop up in my mind. Why was I here, and not in the Enchanted Forests? Can….can this be the Enchanted Forests then? Did Donald play some trick on us, letting us believe that the forest was elsewhere while it lingered right in front of our eyes? Are we all a part of some crude joke then?

No no, the idea seemed ludicrous and the logic didn't quite fit. The Ancestors had clearly said that the Enchanted Forests are dangerous, and that no one had stepped foot in there other than it's creators. Donald's forest, on the other hand, is quite well known among the Dark Magicians, many of whom frequented it in fact. My mother, The Queen came here, Magnus came here on his own and so did I. No, this can't be the Enchanted Forests. 

Can our experiment have failed then? I decided to take a walk, and have a closer look before deciding further. My head still felt light, but I tried to locate the hut where Donald had stayed. It was a little way inside the Forest, and as I started towards it, something seemed strange. The trees had all shed their leaves, and it appeared to be autumn while I distinctly remember that the season is actually summer! In fact, when I had last visited this place, the leaves were well intact. 

As I approached Donald's hut, it looked a bit different too. It was….smaller and looked relatively new. I saw the short statured Magician standing infront of his hut, kneeled down in a prayer position and chanting something. He looked younger and the beard that had adorned his face was gone. Everything was suspicions, so I hid behind the bush and saw the proceedings. 

Suddenly, thunder cracked out of nowhere, and the sky that was previously clear was suddenly overcast with dark clouds. A Dark Figure apparated infront of Donald, appearing out of thin air. He was wearing a black cloak that covered every inch of flesh on his body. There was a Black hood that hid his face out of view, but a dark aura emanated from every aspect of his body. 

"Tell me, what is it that you want?" The Dark Figure said in a raspy voice. 

"My Lord! You have come! My prayers have been heard, my lord!" Donald cried in euphoria. 

"I am Darkness himself, and I can sense the same darkness when I see one. You are one such, you have malice inside you and I appreciate your devotion! Tell me, why do you call me? But beware, my blessings almost always come with a price!" The dark figure said ominously. 

"Anything, my lord!" Donald shrieked, "I want the Elixir of Life! I want immortality, and I will give you any price! Just name it."

"The Elixir of Life? That's a heavy demand!" The dark figure laughed in a metallic voice, "Are you sure? The price maybe too heavy though."

"Anything!" Donald said fervently. 

"Very well!" said the Dark Figure, "I demand life!"

"Life?" Donald shrunk a bit, "but my lord... I ask for immortality. How can I give you my life and be immortal at the same time?"

The Dark Figure laughed again, "Not your life. I need another life, a fresh one…. preferably a newborn! Can you do that?"

Donald looked horrified and gulped, "A newborn….my lord? I.. I'll try."

"Call me when you can procure the results!" The dark figure roared and then disappeared as suddenly as it had come. 

Before I could make out anything further, the scene rapidly shifted before my eyes. 

The Autumn air was replaced by a biting cold wind, and the trees were suddenly covered with a thick mesh of snow. The change had happened so suddenly, that I had no time to adjust to it. My feet sunk in a foot of snow, and I somehow managed to pull my flimsy jacket closer to prevent myself from the dreadful cold. 

I squinted at the distance, and could make out a figure that was standing in front of the hut and talking to Donald. The figure looked distantly familiar, and as I sneaked closer, my eyes were opened in awe! It was the Queen herself, heavily pregnant and shivering, looking atleast twenty years younger and much more full of life. 

I strained my ears to listen to their conversation. 

"This is a very Dark spell...mmmmm…" Donald was saying, "It'll take a lot to reverse it. In fact, I am not fully sure that I can reverse the spell, but I can definitely halt it's progress. But, there will be consequences….dreary consequences!"

"I will pay any price! Just do it. I have to live, for the sake of my country. I can't let them down now." The Queen was saying frantically. 

"Are you sure? You won't blame me after the consequences." Donald said in a menacing voice. 

"What price can be more than my death? I will die if you don't reverse the curse, and I think any price will fall short in comparison to my life." My mother replied haughtily. 

Oh no! I thought with a shiver, she doesn't quite understand what she is getting into. My mother, the Queen...in all her pride and self confidence is going to make the biggest mistake of her life, and there was absolutely nothing that I could do to stop it now. I clutched to the branches tightly, clattering my teeth against each other and tried to shout, but no voice left my throat. In fact, I found myself immovable, and I was reduced to a mere spectator of my own death!

What unfold before my eyes was immensely painful. I saw Donald performing a series of spells on the Queen, all of which seemed to cause immense physical discomfort to her, but she still strived to stifle her scream. At one point of time, my mother shrunk to the floor, tears straining her eyes but she still refused to scream. 

The pain must have been unbearable, because she was one of the strongest women I knew. I couldn't bear to see the Queen in such a deplorable state, but I couldn't even close my eyes shut. It was as if the Forest wanted me to experience this moment, wanted me to feel the pain that she went through right till the end. 

At last, something happened. The Queen suddenly clutched her belly and started screaming. It was the horrible sound I had heard before, and now I could understand that it was her. 

"NO!NO!" She screamed, "STOP IT! You are killing my child! I had not agreed to this, this can't be the price!"

Her face was distorted in pain and fury. 

Donald looked at her calmly, "I had warned you. You said any price. This is it then, your life in exchange of your daughter's...a very fair deal!"

I saw my mother helplessly go into labour, as she writhed in pain and begged Donald to stop it. She pleaded and plaeded, but all her pleas fell into deaf ears. She cried, howled, screamed and demanded death, she tore at her hair and cried for her child to be kept alive. She fell down to Donald's feet, and screamed for mercy. But all in vain. 

At last, when the screams had all stopped and the Queen lay unconscious in a pool of blood, I could finally see the tiny figure that had emerged from her womb. Bluish and pale, showing no sign of life, as Donald held my infant body up as a trophy.