The sacred souls

The sacred souls

There is a quite well known story that people know today about a princess killing hundreds of young children in her village to take their souls and bathe in their blood to keep herself young and pure. What the people don't know is that this story is true. Back in the depths of the early 1800s, there was a princess born named Katherine. When she was born, people cooed over how beautiful she was. She came out with pale white skin, raven black hair, and cherry red cheeks. Everyone in the village would talk about how beautiful she was during her youth. As she grew, her parent had a list of strict rules

she had to follow. She wasn't allowed to go out much during the summer so her pale skin wouldn't become darker, she was on a very restricting diet to keep her figure slim, she had to keep her raven hair long and healthy, and everyday her servants would cover her face in a pale powder, dip her cheeks in cherry juice to stain, and brush her long hair to perfection. She had to follow these rules for years just to keep the perfect complexion, and the more older she got, the more she started to resent them. "Why do I have to follow these stupid rules??" she would say. "Why do I have to be perfect

for everyone else?", "Why can't I just live for myself???". The more she grew, the angrier she got. She wished she would be beautiful no matter what she did, no more makeup, she could go outside in the summer for as long as she wanted without getting sun burnt, eat anything she desired without worrying about her figure, and so much more. She started to hate her parents for making her the way she is. "Why do you control my life just for the comforts of others???" she would scream, but her parents wouldn't have an answer. They would just pat her head and tell her it was for their own good.

Eventually, after a series of not so clear answers, she decided she was gonna stop following the rules. She knocked the makeup out of her servants hands when they would try to put it on her. She walked in town during the summer underneath the beaming sun to go buy pastries that she would eat whenever she liked without worrying about her figure. Despite her parents being furious, she finally felt free, like she wasn't a show pet, until this one day. As she was taking a stroll one evening, a villager looked at her and froze like he saw a ghost. He said "Princess, what in the loving father happened to

you??". She stopped before him and said "What do you mean?. The villager then went on rant describing how beautiful she was months prior to this shocking discovery, saying that she had completely let herself loose and how she needed to get herself together. He started going through every possible scenario of how she could become such a thing. Is she sick? Did she get possessed by a witch? Or the devil? Did something traumatizing happen to her? He just couldn't come to a straight answer. The princess then raised her hand to stop his rambling and said "Nothing is wrong, I just decided to stop

living for everyone else's comfort." "But don't you CARE about the comfort of everyone else??" the man asked demanded. "Not when it effects my life!" Katherine responded angrily. The man then said something Princess Katherine that would change everything. "Look princess, I can't imagine the horror your parents and the town might put you through, but they do it for a reason. Your image is everything, literally. People live just for you, they DIE just for you. You represent everything. So, next time you think about living for yourself, remember this.". "Please go back to your palace before anyone

sees you.". The man then walked away without any idea of what terrors his words would create. Princess Katherine stood there frozen, millions of thoughts running through her head about what the man had just told her. She started to begin thinking that her actions were selfish, and that she had destroyed everything that was built for her. She ran home in tears, never willing to show her face again. Eventually, months had passed by without anyone seeing the princess. Everyone she ever knew tried everything to get her out of the palace. Bribery, threats, even force, but no matter how hard they tried,

she refused to let anyone see her. Until one night. As her servant was bringing her dinner up, she tipped the princess with a little piece of information. "You know princess, there's a story of a witch that lives in the wild woods. I bet you could find exactly what you're looking there." she then winked at Katherine and walked out of the room. For the first time in months, Katherine's heart flickered with hope. That night, she took a carriage down a path into the wild woods. No one ever dared to step foot into the wild woods because of terrifying stories that elders would tell children in the

village. Despite her fears, she put on a brave face and went onward with her journey. After some time, the carriage came to a sudden stop. She peeked out of the window and saw that the path had came to an end. She had to walk the rest of the way. So, she stepped out of the carriage and continued on. She followed a map all the way to what it seemed an abandoned cabin. She started to turn around, thinking that her servant lied to her or that what she told her ended being a false rumor until she heard a loud creak from behind her. The cabin door was open. There was no wind. Katherine hesitantly

started walking slowly but surely into the cabin. When she got inside, she shut the door behind her and yelled "Hello, is anyone in here?". After she called out, all of the candles in the cabin lit at once, revealing all of the objects on the wall around her. And standing beyond her was an little old lady, flipping through a book and muttering to herself. "Um, hello ma'am, are you the witch of the wild woods?". The old lady ignored her, still occupied. "Please answer me, I really need your help.". Her plead bounced around the walls, but still no answer. "I'll give you 10 gold coins!".

Everything around her suddenly stopped, and the old lady slowly turned halfway to face her. "10 gold coins you say..", "That's what I love to hear". The little old lady then faced Katherine completely, ran over to her, grabbed her hand and said "Me and you will get along great!". The little old lady then directed Katherine over to her cauldron, pulling a chair over behind her. "Sit down, sit down my dear!". "I am the witch of the wild woods!" she said as she threw off her hood. "People from the village come to me when they need help and have run out of options". "I'm guessing your in a similar

situation my dear." says the witch. "Yes ma'am, my life has completely fallen apart.". "What ever could make you say this dear?" "Well, if you don't already know, I am princess Katherine. Up until a couple of months ago I was so sick and tired of living for everyone else's pleasure, so I started rebelling. One day as I was taking a walk, a random man told me that everyone in the village lives for me and under my image. I represent everything everyone stands for and as soon as I let myself go, I let everyone go. I just wanna be free while keeping everyone else satisfied.

Can you help me?". Katherine looked at the witch with helplessly pleading eyes hoping that the witch had an solution. The witch stared at the princess long and hard, processing everything she had just told her. Suddenly, the witch's eyes lit up, remembering something. She then got up and started tearing apart the whole entire cabin, frantically searching for something. Just as it seemed she was giving up, the witch's eyes went wide and she ran across the room to a hidden chest. She swiped off the dust and slowly opened it. A cold breeze came across the room. She opened the chest and pulled out a journal that looked about

100 years old. She held up the journal in front of her and looked at as if it was her most prized possession. She slowly walked back to her chair and sat down. She gently lowered the journal on the table and ran her fingers across it until they found a lock on the side. She unlocked the journal and when she opened it a loud screech filled the room. Katherine and the witch quickly covered their ears until the screech went away. "What was that???" asked Katherine. "It's angry, it hates being disturbed" replied the witch as she was flipping through pages. "I keep all major spells and

rituals in this journal. No one can open it except for me." "How come?" asks Katherine. "Because they have the power to change people's lives." says the witch. "It is not to be taunted with." Katherine went from being so desperate, to doubting whether or not it was it was a good idea going there. But it was too late to turn back. The witch did one last flip through the pages of the book and stopped, finally finding what she was looking for. "Here it is" she said "The answer that you are so desperately looking for". She spun the open page over to face Katherine, showing her what appeared on the inside.

"Wow" Katherine remarked "It's beautiful, I've never seen anything like it". "Nothing is a beautiful as magic." the witch replied, turning the journal back to herself. "But as beautiful as it is, it can be twice as dangerous. Are you sure you want to do this, dear?" The question ran across Katherine's head going through every single scenario she could think of but despite everything she stubbornly told the witch yes. "Then we shall begin". The witch then got up and started collecting everything she needed to begin. "A little bit of this, and a little bit of that." she muttered. When she got everything,

she started throwing all of it into the cauldron. A big "BOOM!" erupted as everything started to sizzle and pop, the potion brewing perfectly. At the end, the witch took a spoon and carefully scooped a generous amount into an elixir bottle. The witch presented the bottle to the princess, and started explaining in great detail exactly what she needed to do. "Now princess, what I am about to tell you will make and break everything. In order for you to remain young and beautiful, you have to kill an young sacred soul.". Katherine stopped breathing. She stared at the witch with such disbelief.

"Kill..?" she breathed, her voice raising is disbelief "An innocent child???" she couldn't believe her ears. "How could you want me to do such an horrible, vile thing" she gasped. " I can't believe you let that escape your lips!". "It is the only thing that will work princess, there is no other way!". Katherine was crying now, trying to think of how she could get herself out of this predicament. "I know it's crazy, but this ritual will assure you the results you need." the witch demanded. "But how, how in the world could killing an innocent child keep me young and beautiful like how everyone wants

me to be??" Katherine screamed. "Princess, thinking about it.". Katherine and the witch made eye contact, seemingly speaking to each other. After a moment, Katherine blinked and let out a small, sharp sigh. "Fine" she said "What do I have to do.". "Very good dear, very good. Every year, you will have to kill an amount of young sacred souls your age. As the years increase so does the killings but in order to actually stay young and beautiful, you have to take their souls.". Katherine looks up, puzzled on what the witch meant. "In order to do so, you have to pour a drop of this potion down their throat

and push out the souls by putting pressure on the children's chest." the witch explains. As bizarre all of this sounds to Katherine, she hesitantly agrees to do it, thinking of what would happen if she didn't. "But-" the witch starts "everything comes with a price." "I want you to give me some of the power the souls give you or the deal is off." she simply says. Katherine looks up, eyes big, nodding her head with accede. "Great!" the witch remarks. She then shoves the potion into the princesses hands and eagerly shoos her out of the cabin. "See you in a year!" she says with a wide smile on her face.

She then slammed the door in Katherine's face, leaving her with thoughts for days. Regardless of everything, Katherine followed the witch’s rules perfectly. Every single year after her birthday, she would pick a group of group of young sacred souls and murder them. She would lure them deep into her palace inside of an empty room. The children would follow her without a single second thought because they were convinced something beyond their wildest dreams were awaiting. After she got them into the room she proceeded to stab them to death with a long silver sword. as they would beg and scream

Katherine would pour a tiny drop of the potion down the children’s throats, then collect their souls in a jar. The room also had a drain so Katherine could collect the blood and make a very cozy bloodbath. She would then collect the souls deliver one to. This ritual continued for years and no one ever suspected the princess and or witch. The princess stayed young a beautiful just as the witch promised. Everything was going smoothly until one year. Miraculously, one of the children survived. It is found out that the princess somehow missed all vital organs on the girl. With all of her strength,

she forced herself to find a way out before the princess returned. Turns out, Katherine had gotta do used to the killings that she became so sure everyone in the room were dead, that she left the door open. The girl saw this and limped towards it. When she stepped out it lead to a long stair well. She remembered this. The top when an entry to the palace. She worked her way all the way up to the tippy top and finally made it to the door. When she opened it, she was in the ballroom. There was a maid cleaning. The maid turned and looked at the child bleeding out and said “There a door first thing

on your left when you walk out. You need to hurry because the princess could be back any moment now.”. She knew. And she helped her. “Thank you” the girl said helplessly. “Go” the maid ushered her out. The girl burst out of the palace doors, all eyes turning to look at her. The girl collapsed. One woman screamed. A group of people ran to go help the girl. With her last bit of consciousness, the girl mumbled “the princess”. She got rushed to a doctor who worked day and night ti assure her survival. By that point, the whole town now knew that the princess was behind all of the missing children over

the last decade. They formed into an angry mob and stormed to the palace. “GIVE US THE PRINCESS OR WE BURN THE WHOLE PALACE DOWN!” they yelled, overlapping chatter following the breeze. The princess attempted to escaped through the back but her servants captured her and threw her out to the furious villagers. They tortured her for weeks, looking for an answer on why she did what she did. Katherine would just laugh in their face and say “I did it for you.”. The villagers never understood. In the end, they burned her at the stake until she was nothing but ashes. Mysteries still hang around

about where the witch vanished off to. After the execution of the princess, the village went back to normal and so did the people and eventually evolution happened. The end!