literature

CINDERS - draft - Cinderella goes to the Ball

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The ball was held in the Royal Courtyard at the South end of the castle. The circular perimeter was bordered by rectangular stone pillars, the space between them being where the walls there once stood, but time had crumbled to dust. Now all that stood were these pillars, now covered in vines and honeysuckles. From these, lanterns were hung, and in the vacant spaces between them were placed torches implanted into the soil. And just outside of this border was the wild forest, which, in the dark night with only these candles and torches giving small illumination, seemed enchanting, and terrifying.
It was thanks to this darkness that Ella arrived, striding the back of her trusted wolf compatriot. She stepped off as soon as she saw the glow of the distant lanterns through the trees.

"I have to leave you now," she told him with a light wistful air as she scratched the backs of his ears then smoothed the top of his head. She turned to him one last time, curtseying low before saying, "Until we see each other again, Friend." Thence she turned to approach the party while her Friend retreated back into the wood.

She walked with extra care and softness that her feet might not make any sound to alert the people of the party. She would have preferred to spare herself the humiliation of being seen arriving so late, and seen coming from the woods and through the back entrance, no less.

She stopped at one of the vine-covered pillars to peak around the side. It was everything Ella hoped it might be. People in the most dazzling and awe-striking masked costumes in the richest of colors; blue, purple, yellow, gold, white; costumes of the highest quality that only the higher classes could afford. Ella only hoped that they would all see her dress to be even close to being as marvelous as all of theirs. But she knew that it was. Perhaps even more so, for who amongst them were blessed as she was to be given a dress, mask, and slippers of glass?

There came a loud BOOM that caused every person to fall silent and turned to the castle doors that had just been pushed open. Ella used their distraction as an opportunity to slip amongst the crowd and get a look for herself as a chorus of trumpets sang a chord announcing the arrival of their Prince and host.

Out from the shadows of the dim lit corridor he came forth like a beast emerging from his cave. And like a beast, he indeed appeared, nothing at all like a Prince, save for the crown on top of his head, but even that appeared monstrous as the rest of him.
Around his shoulders he wore a heavy cloak of dark brown fur flecked with gray, the pelt of a wolf. Underneath, he wore a suit entirely of dark brown leather that fit tautly over his large, heavily muscled frame. On his hands, he wore gloves of black leather, with the tips of the fingers pointed to give the illusion of claws. His mask was the face of a wolf, taken from perhaps the very same he got his cloak from, covering his whole face but his mouth, with teeth protruding from under the wolf's lip. The ears were pressed by the Prince's crown, causing them to curve upwards against it, looking like horns.

His costume was grotesque, especially for Ella. She first began to mourn for the wolf who was sacrificed for the Prince to wear now. Yet, all the same, by dressing in the animal's skin, he seemed to wear its ferocious beauty as his own. To others, he looked like a monster. To her, he seemed like one of the deities the heathens would have once worshipped, like a fearsome king of the wilds of nature itself.

Even at her distance, she could see the line that was his mouth, pressed hard together, framed by a square, smooth jaw, and his eyes, shining with the light of the lanterns through the mask, much like a wolf's. It was then that she realized that those same wolf eyes were now fixed on her.

The Prince shed his cloak, tossing it into the arms of his closeby steward, a man far smaller than the Prince who nearly toppled under the cloak's weight, then folded his arms behind his back as he stepped through the crowd. The mass parted to make way for the Prince, all lowering their heads out of both respect and fear of looking him in the face, as he made his way past them towards the girl.

It was her dress that caught his eye. It was a deep scarlet red, the color of a rose, and imbued with beads of glass. Her mask was the same, framing her eyes scarlet red with the edges laced with glass beads. The bodice was cut low, exposing the top half of her breasts, the puff shoulders frayed, same for her skirt, which was made of overlapping layers of fabric, very much like petals on a rose. Those frayed edges were, however, pointed with glass tips. In her hair, she wore coils, also made of glass, on which were spikes like thorns as small and fine as sewing needles. The same glass that covered her reflected the lights from the flames that surrounded her, making her dress appear as if it were either glittering, or smoldering with hot embers. Altogether, it was a costume that was beautiful yet fierce, soft yet daring. It made the Prince curious as to which side she truly possessed. Not only that, but whether she would accept his hand, or simply turn away in fright or disgust. He would now find out.

When the Prince at last approached her, she took a deep breath to steady herself (after all, she had never been in the presence of royalty before), then curtseyed, taking up the edges of her skirt with the upmost delicacy and inclining her head low. The Prince himself brought his left hand forward and placed it in a fist over his chest as he bowed, his eyes remaining fixed on Ella.

As close as he was to her now, he could now see her much more clearly than from a distance. Her flesh was the palest of all the women present, perhaps in the whole kingdom, smooth and without blemish, save for a few freckles across her arms and shoulders. Her hair, which was the blackest of black, like charred ebony wood, was not dyed, but was naturally so, as he could tell by the consistency of her roots. Her lips, which were the same color of red as her dress, was not colored to be so either, with not the smallest touch of rouge. She reminded him of the porcelain dolls of China, an icon of fair beauty itself.

When the Prince arose, so did Ella.

The Prince's hand then extended forward, his palm up and open to her. "My lady," he spoke. His voice was low and deep and sounded with a soft rumble from within his chest, sounding like soft thunder that comes before a storm burst. "Will you share this dance with me?"

Ella could not believe herself in this moment. Of all the beautifully dressed women present at the Ball, it was she the Prince had chosen, she who he had moved through the entire crowd of guests to approach, and she who he was now asking to dance with. All she ever hoped for was to be included in the festivities tonight, to be welcomed amongst these honored guests, but now, now she was living a dream come true.

She took another cooling breath before lifting her eyes to meet his, which she could now see were crystal blue behind the mask. She smiled up at him as she nodded her head twice.

"If it pleases you, my lord," she answered.
here is a quick draft for a new story in the works, "CINDERS", I wrote just last night, being of the scene when Ella (aka "Cinderella") arrives at the Ball and meets the Prince (aka "the Beast")

for those not up to speed, CINDERS is a fairy-tale adaptation I have recently begun formulating. what at first began as a simple re-adaptation of Cinderella has evolved into a fairy-tale mix-and-mashup, featuring Cinderella + Beauty And The Beast + Red Riding Hood + Snow White + Rapunzel... and that's just what I have decided to include thus far. in this story, Ella (who we all know as "Cinderella") is an orphan who longs for acceptance, while at the same time there is the also-orphaned Prince who lives in seclusion after being marked (quite hideously) with the curse of the Werewolf by a vindictive Faery with his only hope being to find one who can love him for who he truly is and whom he can love for who she is, for "only love has the power to transform", so every year, the Prince hosts a masquerade ball in hopes of finding true love.

there are several other key plot twists that will present themselves (such as Ella's "wolf friend", Ella's dress, and the Prince's curse) that needless to say will COMPLETELY turn these most beloved classic and ancient of tales right on their fucking heads, though sadly as much as Id love to share so that y'all can have a better understanding of this, there's no way I can just give it all away now. I will say however, WATCH OUT!

PS, if you'd like to actually see Cinderella's red glass gown, I did a sketch of it, here--->horror-lover.deviantart.com/ar…
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