Swan Lake. Dragon Empire

Translator Natalia Lilienthal

© Natalie Yacobson, 2021

© Natalia Lilienthal, translation, 2021

ISBN 978-5-0053-2083-4

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

The secret of my love

Pandemonium reigned in the palace, people were overtaken by evil spells. The courtiers turned into statues, blinded, turned to stone, someone’s skin was covered with plants, someone’s ice. Nobody understood what was happening to them.

Diana lunged forward, making her way through the noise and crowd. She alone remained untouched by magic.

The spirit of evil crept into the palace, and now everything here was in his power. Everything merged in murky darkness, only the insane cries of people doomed to become victims of evil were heard.

It all happened because of her. She fell in love with two at once. One of them was light, and the other was darkness, but which of them did she love more: the one who was the beautiful prince of her dreams, or the other, gloomy angel. They were all chained together by the secret of witchcraft, and now not only their souls perished, but also the lives of everyone who were at the royal court.

«Diana,» a dull voice whispered to her, and, as if waking up from some terrible dream, she looked around, but everywhere the same nightmare reigned.

People fled in different directions, trying to survive, but they could not be saved from their death, as well as from the new ruthless ruler of the world.

Diana knew one thing, she had to get out of here at any cost to help the one she loved.

The scarlet velvet curtains flew open in front of her, and she found herself in the dark passage to the throne room. Diana stepped uncertainly forward, to where everything previously belonged to her, but now became the possession of death.

Everything in the hall seemed to stand still, not a sound, not a step in the deathly silence.

The golden crown shone on the red velvet of the throne, as if drawn there by the hand of fate itself. Now it meant only one fate for those who wore it – death.

Diana noticed how a black shadow flashed near the throne, and her eyes were filled with horror, she tried to follow with her eyes the rapid movement of an obscure figure and suddenly met her gaze with a small elevation, he had not been here before.

She looked closely, and, indeed, there was something that looked like a golden goblet, but what could it mean. Another moment, and Diana cried out in fright, a trickle of blood flowed along the edges of the goblet, and it mingled with the scarlet rivulets flowing from the lips of the young king.

The royal crown did not become his life, it became his curse, and now he lay on the marble floor, his hair scattered over the cold slabs. How young and beautiful he was, but the embrace of death thickened over him, as over the flame of a loving heart, and his last word was:

«Diana.»

She bent over the chilling corpse.

«No, don’t die,» she whispered, «don’t leave me.»

A bolt of lightning cut through the darkness around them, before Diana stood the dark figure of a tall and sinister man.

«You killed him,» burst out from Diana.

«He had to die,» came the cold answer, «remember, Diana, you were supposed to become my love, we were betrothed to each other by my and your birth where the forces of light met the power of darkness, a distant star said that in my life there will be only one love, and I really fell in love.»

She knew that the genius of evil, the lord of the night, the ruler of the dark forces, or the devil himself stood before her, but he became so because of her, only she was to blame for everything, but no love could save his heart from falling to the forces evil.

Darkness could not kill his beauty, but nothing truly beautiful remained in his soul, a pale face, black long clothes, like the dress of a sorcerer – a warlock, but not the prince of her dreams, and only his eyes, yes, it was eyes, expressed so much witchcraft and alluring beauty, how many were not in the whole world. What kind of person stood in front of her? What terrible secret was his heart hiding? Only she knew about it. She alone loved him, although she hated the bloodthirsty spirit of his dark power. She alone was the love of an evil genius, but no one knew about it, it was the secret of her love.

The queen stood next to the shadow of former love, but this shadow, this genius of darkness was now stronger than ever.

A malevolent smile shone on his face, but it was the bitter smile of lost love.

He knew everything, all the secrets of the world and shadows, the earth and the seabed, love and sorrow, but the beauty’s pride ruined him, he was powerless in front of her imperious and sad look. A ruthless killer, an insidious devil, an omnipotent lord of evil, he stood before her, but she was not afraid of him, the only one of all.

But not only the memory of evil was hidden in him, there was also a moment of light, the only clear moment in his life, he ruled over the world of shadows, but memories ruled over them, and this was their grim victory.

Now he was a winner, but this did not please him, because he himself was defeated by an earthly beauty.

Their eyes met for just a moment, but this moment seemed to them an eternity, his dark gaze and the clear eyes of the queen, like a dark union of an angel and a demon. The darkness no longer separated them, nor did the difference between them. Diana resigned herself to the fact that there were two loves in her life: dark and light, insidious and noble, witchcraft and beautiful, and who knew which of them was stronger than the other.

Diana stood motionless. Nothing mattered anymore: not the corpse lying in front of her, not the torment of the people, not the danger awaiting in the distance. Demon and beauty, oddly enough, were brought together by a feeling above life and death. What a pity that his heart belonged to the darkness. And her soul was torn between a dark angel and another, stronger and lighter love.

A witch’s wind rushed into the hall and, blowing into her beautiful face, open to his feelings, pulled her blonde hair from her shoulders, but now their hands joined, and no longer the voice of the devil, but the voice of an unhappy lover whispered:

«Diana.»

«Diana,» this sound, like the sound of some kind of witchcraft, echoed in her thoughts, and she cursed her name, which became a symbol of love and death for two unfortunate souls, and then a completely different and sad voice of the one who died just a few minutes ago, uttered her name.

Diana’s eyes opened instantly, and now there was not even a shadow of witchcraft in them, her will was stronger than the deceptions of darkness, and if this night was ready to become the moment of her death, she had to boldly accept her.

«Rothbert is the king of a dark country, the king of violent power,» she said, trying to drown out the pain with loud words as well as the tears that came to her eyes, «what people could choose you as their ruler, what lonely soul could love the dark heart of the king of evil…»

«Do you remember, Diana,» he said, «you forgot everything, but I remember the only bright moment in my life, and I will never forget it.»

«You have become the ruler of darkness, the whole world trembles before your name, there is nothing to hide, you are the cause of the horror that settled here, but why, because of what did you become like that?»

She waited for an answer, but he only sadly raised his gaze and looked straight into her eyes, enveloped in a sad and unsolved mystery.

«Because of you,» he said.

«No,» she turned away, and a tear rolled down her snow-white face.

«From now on, I will own this country,» were heard his fatal words, «but my power will not be here. Everything around me, whether I like it or not, must become dark and terrible. Malice and death will reign here, and I must become their king. I should not listen to human cries, feel their suffering, regret their fate. My fate has prepared such a fate for me, it is as cruel to me as to everyone else, but the more pain in my heart, the stronger the shackles of passion and death, so share this with me, be my queen!»

Diana turned to look into the dark pool of his eyes. Where did man come from in the sinister world of the prince of darkness? The proposal was more like a dream.

«I can’t,» Diana whispered, and at the same moment the gold wedding ring slipped out of her hand.

«Then whatever happens,» he said, and as soon as it fell to the floor and hit the marble slabs, like a broken love, a thunderclap thundered in the distance, and it seemed, in her very heart. The sky above the palace turned dim, turning into a blue hell and bursting with a terrible thunderstorm, bright lightning split the green tall tree even in the darkness, and its fragments caught fire with a burning fire, this ring of lost love wooed the end of the world with the dark horror of hellish, otherworldly life.

Boulders of rocks burst out of the ground, everything groaned and roared, as in a nightmare, everything sobbed and cried for its former beauty and met its new ruthless master with streams of tears.

Waves of silvery radiance ran along the walls and darkened the beauty of the palace, and now – this was the world of stone monsters and bats. The bright face of the palace became the darkness of an eternal, merciless curse. Marble slabs and ornaments became in an instant the gloomy stones of a huge castle – the lair of the king of darkness. His last hope did not come true. Now he was suffering, although the shadow of the cruel ruler had already crept into his heart. He was the master of evil, and nothing could stop him on his difficult and dangerous path in the conquest of the world, but he needed only one of all this nightmare of eternal life, the one and only and therefore even more dear, beloved heart.

The wind rushed into the hall and ruffled her long hair, and the master of evil slowly, as if in a nightmare, extended his hand, white as snow, to her, but he did not order, he begged, and in front of her eyes, as if in reality, an ugly and spiteful face rose red-haired witch whispering:

«You can never be evil.»

«No,» she burst out, «never.»

She looked at the corpse, now everything in it was cold and dead, even the heart that she loved so much.

The eyelids of his beautiful eyes closed forever, and his hair fell to the floor. It was his love for her that ruined him.

Without even casting a glance at the dark figure in front of her, she rushed to him, but the marble face did not feel her last, farewell kiss. At that moment, the lord of darkness looked at her like a snow-white flower that grew in the kingdom of evil, he was in love with a white swan, and she became his curse.

«How could you,» she uttered through crying, but there was no answer in the dead silence, he had nothing to say, in her eyes he was a murderer and a villain, but he was guilty of only one thing, his love.

«You are a killer,» Diana whispered, «you took so many lives in just one night, and in just one moment you destroyed all my dreams.

«You will stay with me,» his eyes flashed with cold dazzling hope, «change your outfit for a black dress of the queen of evil, for a golden crown with a blood-red ruby, human wealth is nothing compared to the fabulous treasures of the world of darkness, you will be beautiful even as a black swan.»

She glanced at the royal crown. Its gold now shone as brightly as all the treasures of the earth could not shine, but now something dark appeared in it, the seeds of dark crimson, like blood, pomegranate shone where the pure tears of diamonds had flowed before, during the life of their love, and in the middle of the crown burned like the flame of hell itself, a fiery red ruby. Nearby lay a lush dress, everything in it was beautiful: jewelry, lace and sleeves that looked like swan feathers, except for one color, black as pitch. Everything foreshadowed her fabulous riches, this night called her to become the queen of darkness, but at the last moment she remembered the distant sunlight, the light of day, there was so much beauty in it, and the darkness was an eternal witchcraft secret. What could overpower good or evil? The rays of a clear dawn still stood before her eyes, and her eyes were blue, like the azure sky during the day, the day did not hide its beauty, and the night kept in her soul that which tormented her all her life.

Diana looked at the royal throne, now even its splendor seemed gloomy and dark, and fear crept into the soul of anyone who saw this room, but, no, she could not become evil, could not forget the light in her life, she was no longer a queen, she was an ordinary girl in love.

«How I wish I could die with him,» she whispered, and another bitter tear rolled from her eyes down her snow-white cheek.

«You must stay with me,» exclaimed the prince of darkness.

«Diana,» he shouted warningly, but she rushed to the dais, grabbed the golden goblet prepared by the red-haired witch, and when her white hands touched the sparkling gold, something inhuman appeared in them, in the union of gold and thin fingers of the beloved of the dark and damned demon.

«Goodbye,» she whispered and quickly raised the goblet to her lips, blood boiled in it, gold flashed like fire around her white hands.

«No,» he shouted, and it was the cry of a mad lover, not the prince of darkness, but he knew what this witchcraft ritual was fraught with.

She took the first sip, and that was enough, her head was spinning, the blood in her veins was boiling and seething, blazing with fire, she dropped the precious goblet from her hands, and the blood from it spread over the marble floor.

He rushed to Diana, but it was not he who hugged her, but death itself.

«No,» he whispered, and a crystal tear ran down the face of the lord of shadows, even he was only able to cry once in his life. He pressed her golden-haired head to him, and the last call of dying love made him pronounce, like an eternal damnation, only one name:

«Diana.»

But she fell to the floor, a crown of golden hair adorned her pale face, she was as dead as his love.

«Goodbye, Diana,» he said, and a cold mask of pain distorted his face, no one will ever read this secret in his eyes, he won’t hear her name, he won’t see the feelings of his heart, no one should ever know that love lived in his heart. evil genius.

Cursed by darkness

Cliffs stretched far beyond the sea, like the wings of a white swan, but they were not part of wildlife, they breathed and whispered in the night, no one dared to climb them, no one dared to come closer to their spreading shadow, they became part of the cursed land and deserted the beauty of the dead splendor of darkness.

They said that at night witches and sorcerers gather there, and the devil himself visits them, that they rage and scream until morning and kill anyone who enters their dark domain. No one knew another, more beautiful legend that the devil himself of these rocks and the dark sea was once a man, like everyone else, but this was the secret of his love.

The night was deaf and dark, even the dim light of the moon in the distant gloomy skies could not dispel the darkness. Here he was too weak and helpless to illuminate the possessions of evil forces, and not far from the rocks, there was a beautiful palace, but its beauty was too weak to attract people in comparison with the devilish legends about the eternal heaps of rocks and swan lakes beyond the borders of the kingdom.

Everyone knew that the legends tell the truth, and they have no reason to lie. Everything was true: witches, demons, beautiful captives of evil, the very girls turned into swans by the black demon of darkness, all heard the sad songs that were heard at night. There, far beyond the rocks, the hostages of darkness at night took on their real appearance and sang and danced all night, but no one dared to approach them, to the beauties who were so careless that they went to the rocks, and then the devil’s revenge found them. No one knew why he was taking revenge on this world and all those girls in whom at least a drop of deceptive and enchanting beauty was preserved.

A piercing wind blew and carried the dry leaves from place to place like a round dance of night shadows. Odette shrank from the cold, she didn’t know how she got here. What ghost brought her into this enchanted world? The only thing she remembered was the tale of her maids of her beautiful mother and the spirit of evil that killed her. Everyone tried to hide this story from the little princess, but still one day she heard it, and she remained an eternal imprint of horror in her heart.

The rocks filled everything around them with a blue-bluish color, he was beautiful and cold, like the endless kiss of the wind, only the wind flew into these gloomy possessions, until Odette herself stepped here.

She was wearing a light, light dress, but even it was luxurious, like a princess’s outfit, her long wavy hair fell in a light cover over her shoulders, her face was beautiful, she herself was a worthy daughter of Diana. Although no one dared to pronounce this name since the moment of death of the graceful queen.

Odette did not want to seek adventure at all, but some evil fate drew her here along with him, some voice called her, breaking through the veil of her dreams.

Suddenly, a shadow flickered around the bend in the maze of rocks, and Odette froze in place, as if a ghost was showing her the way. She did not think long and decided to go to the call.

As soon as she moved forward, a black bird flew right over her head, it was a gloomy eagle, but what he did here, it was the first bird that flew to the witch’s rocks and how unusual it was, how bold was the look of shining eyes, as if they were full of human hatred and mysterious pain.

Odette turned her head, wanting to follow the bird’s flight. Suddenly, in the distance, there was a sound like a quiet, ominous laugh. There was something dark and triumphant about it. Fear seized Odette, but she slowly moved forward. Her journey was long and dangerous. Some kind of indistinct burning flame blew into her face and burned her eyes so that she involuntarily closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she saw what was behind the bend of the rock.

The rocks were a real labyrinth, it was impossible to predict what was hidden behind the next turn, and there could be any danger, although even the robbers did not look here, because they were also people who were afraid of ghosts, only witches gathered here at night, and Odette believed in this legend, like everyone who lived in the country.

She plucked up the courage to bend over to see what was happening there, beyond the rock, and saw a burning bonfire, a huge cauldron with some kind of scalding brew, and three figures standing around it.

They were dark, almost indistinguishable, but Odette could see their dirty black robes and long hair falling almost to the ground, and the gnarled nails on their bony hands, barely covered with dark skin like ash from a fire.

Odette pressed herself against the rock and looked closely, their faces lit up by the glare of fire, and the terrible deformities of the three witches were barely discernible in them. It was difficult to describe their ugliness, but besides that, each of them had their own terrible flaw, and Odette shuddered when faced with it. Her eyes darted from one witch to another, each of them turned out to be even more unpleasant than the last.

The first had one eye missing on her swarthy face, but not in the same way as in people, as if it shouldn’t have been on her face at all by nature. Dirty skin had grown there, as if from birth, the second eye was mobile and vicious, like some ominous light of a cursed swamp, it sparkled and shimmered with its red, almost bloody fire and burned brighter than the flame of a fire.

Her long hand reached out to her friend, the next witch. The one was much worse than the first. Both eyes were missing on her face, but they were not gouged out – such was the eerie nature of the creation of the night. She seemed to see everything without eyes. She did not need them to have her evil power over the world and to frighten all people. Her face expressed too much. Large nostrils felt everything around them and slowly inhaled the rotten smoke of the fire, scarlet lips were thicker than those of a common man, and yellow, huge and rather rare teeth peeped out from under them.

Odette looked at the third witch, her face was as disgusting as her two sisters, there was no mouth on her face, it was overgrown with smooth and gray skin, there was no nose either, only two small specks shone in the place where he should was to be located. But she spoke, like everyone else, and her voice was raspy and disgusting, it sounded like the sound of a flowing water or the sound of a falling tree, although it was not clear how she could speak without lips, probably it was another mystery of witchcraft…

The hair of the witches was prohibitively long, they were stuck with mud and dirt, and they themselves were of a resinous color and curled at the ends like snakes, but the fire did not touch them, although they fluttered next to the flame, as if it were an unspoken agreement of witchcraft and lords of bitter fires. Suddenly Odette thought that she knew what the mistress of all this nightmare looked like and that her hair was red like fire.

Odette watched the three witches for a long time and did not even notice how they began to talk among themselves. Their voices rang out in the valley between the rocks. It seemed that the fire itself flames in time with them and merges with their even more burning flame.

«Today is that night,» one of them hissed, «a sacred night, and we must meet her with a new victim, I hope you have lured someone to the rock today.»

«Yes, our new victim will come soon, we have completely bewitched her,» the second remarked mockingly.

«I hope she’s attractive?» croaked the impassible witch, although it was not clear where her voice was coming from; from the depths of her grim figure or hell itself.

«Of course,» the second answered her, «it is such a pleasure to kill beautiful and young.»

She smiled longingly in anticipation of diabolical delight, which made her face even more terrible and disgusting. Odette clung to the rock in horror to see if they were talking about her. They lured her to a rock and now wanted to kill her. She wanted to run away from here as soon as possible, but her legs did not obey her, they were completely numb, as if in a dream, and she could neither walk nor run, she seemed to be rooted to a rock.

«You remember what happened on the same night many years ago,» meanwhile the witch said.

«Yes,» her friend responded, and a fiery eye flashed with a wild light, «exactly so many years ago the beautiful queen died, she should have gotten to us, but this scoundrel took her soul from us.»

«It’s right that the mistress killed her. Diana was just an angel of strife, so many lovers suffered because of her, she ruined her beloved king and she herself had to die.»

«She was too young, but it is the souls of the young that give immortality.»

«Her daughter is to be queen tonight, but we’ll intervene, don’t we?»

They all laughed deafeningly, their laughter filled the entire space between the rocks..

«And Rothbert’s daughter,» meanwhile, they said, «she must also be with us.

«He himself will consecrate her, besides, it is better not to have anything to do with him, because he can destroy us all, and then we will cease to exist.»

«No,» said the other, «this will never happen, at least as long as our mistress is alive, we are under her dark protection.»

«Odile is a real beauty, but her soul is dark, and woe to those who fall in love with the curls of her dazzling black hair.»

«Yes, such a person died, because she is the daughter of the king of darkness, but when will she join us.»

«I would like to kill her,» the one-eyed witch remarked with hatred and fury, «a girl of such beauty has nothing to do in this world, let her live with angels, not with people.»

«But she is… a dark angel, and she is Diana’s daughter, although she has forgotten her mother, she has the beauty of a dead queen and the evil heart of her father, her hair curls like snakes of death, that will be fun when the young prince gets to us from- for the love of her.»