The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 28
How long had I been out? The last thing I remembered was being shocked with lightning, certain I was about to die, and I’d woken up in some sort of cave, across a fire from a woman in dark clothes and
Fairy tales are real.
Rose Briar is a diabetic college student without insurance. She’s been scraping by through a combination of maxing out credit cards and relying upon the kindness of strangers.
Unfortunately, she’s spent every dollar at her disposal. There’s no money left to buy her life-saving insulin.
Without her medication, Rose falls into a diabetic coma. She tumbles into a deep slumber and wakes up in a fantastical place called the Dream Realm, where fairy tales and legends of old are still very much alive.
She has one chance to wake up.
She must trek across the world, visit the most powerful object in the land, the Obsidian Spindle, and entreat with the fates; the only beings powerful enough to send her soul back to Earth.
But evil forces don’t want her to leave. They will stop at nothing to capture her and make sure she never goes home again.
Now, with the help of her half-gorgon girlfriend and a mysterious red rider, Rose must race across the land fighting dragons, monsters, and the forces of the Wicked Witch, Nimue, in order to reach the Obsidian Spindle before her body dies on Earth and she’s trapped in the Dream Realm forever.
Will she be able to wake up? Can she survive? Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.
How long had I been out? The last thing I remembered was being shocked with lightning, certain I was about to die, and I’d woken up in some sort of cave, across a fire from a woman in dark clothes and a red cape. And there was my darling Chelle, staring into the flames, lost in silence.
“What happened?” I asked groggily, sitting up from the dirt which had been my bed.
“You’re up!” Chelle said. She ran over and hugged me tightly. “I thought we had lost you.”
“I knew we hadn’t,” the woman wearing a long, flowing, red cape said. “Welcome back, Rose.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“You can call me Red. I think that is the preferred nomenclature of your friend here, and I quite like it, too.”
Chelle kissed my cheek, and then my lips. “I’m so happy you’re awake. How do you feel?”
“Fine.” I stroked my face where she had kissed me. “Where are we? How did we get here?”
The Red Rider stood. “We’re in a cave, obviously. As for where we are, I don’t think it would be of any interest to you. Just know we’re on a path to the Obsidian Spindle.”
“That’s good news,” I said, turning to Chelle. “Isn’t that good news?”
Chelle leaned back. “No. Not really. Getting to the Obsidian Spindle is going to be harder than we thought.”
“Well, I already thought it was going to be really hard. How much harder could it possibly be?”
“There are only two ways to the Obsidian Spindle. One is to cross the dangerous Cursed Sea, full of monsters of the deep, and the other is through the throne room—the Wicked Witch’s throne room, right in the heart of Oz.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
Chelle gulped. “There’s more.”
“Of course there is.”
“The castle is guarded by hundreds of troops and enchantments,” Red said. “And Hera is always watching. When Ozma ruled the throne, she would have helped us. She was kind to the Fates, and in turn they opened their doors to her. The Wicked Witch is not so kind. Even if we make it through the throne room against the will of Hera, the spindle is guarded by a seven-headed hydra which bends only to the rightful heir’s will.”
“Then we’ll go across the sea,” I replied. “That sounds like an easy choice.”
“That would be easier, but not by much. There is another option, though.”
“You’re not going to like this,” Chelle muttered.
“Help us bring Ozma back to the throne,” the Red Rider said. “Help us right the wrong that Nimue brought about, and then we can go to the Obsidian Spindle together, with Ozma’s blessing.”
“Like I told you,” Chelle said. “We can’t do that. We have to get to the Spindle before Rose’s body gives out. We don’t have time to fight your wars.”
Red came over to me and knelt by my side. “This is about more than just you. There hasn’t been another dreamer in Urgu in a hundred years. I believe you may be the secret to stopping Hera and bringing peace to our land. More than that, I believe you could bring dreamers back to this world and tip the balance of sanity in yours.”
“Excuse me,” Chelle said. “I made it here, too.”
“Yes, yes,” The Red Rider said. “But you didn’t come here like Rose did. She is the key.”
“I—I can’t,” I said after a long moment. “This has been fun, but I’m no action hero. Look at me. I’ve been here one day and already almost died multiple times. It’s safer if I just go home.”
“And damn all of Urgu in the process?”
Chelle nodded. “That’s right.”
The Red Rider stood. “That is disappointing. I thought you were made of sterner stuff.”
“I don’t know why,” I said, scratching my head. “You only just met me, and I’ve been unconscious until just now.”
The Red Rider turned to me. “Will you at least meet Ozma, and tell her to her face that you are a coward?”
“Hey!” Chelle said. “She’s not a coward. We just want to go home. This isn’t our war.”
“It’s everybody’s war!” Red was nearly shouting. “If you leave, you will doom not only us, but all of humanity as well.”
“Screw humanity,” Chelle said. “What have they ever done for me?”
“I’m a human.” I lowered my eyes to the ground.
Chelle turned to me. “Not you, though. You’re one of the good ones.”
“And you don’t think there are more good ones back on Earth? I’m sorry, but…I do.”
“I’m sure there are,” Chelle said, “but we don’t have to go risking our lives for them.”
“I would hope somebody would risk their life for me.” I gulped loudly. “Very well. I will meet your queen and tell her to her face that I will not help.”
“She’s just trying to guilt you,” Chelle said.
“I know,” I said, nodding. “However, I owe it to the universe, I suppose, to explain myself to this Ozma. I mean, can you believe Ozma is real? I used to read about her in stories. Look at this. A red rider just like Little Red Riding Hood. I mean, do you not want to meet her?”
“I don’t really care!”
“Really? Honestly, that’s kind of weird.”
“I never read fairy tales. I had my own monsters to deal with.”
“Still, it’s some kind of coincidence.”
“It’s not a coincidence,” the Red Rider said. “The Dream Realm seeps into every human on the planet. We here in this realm become the dreams for you on Earth.”
“That’s not what Ursa told me,” I replied. “She said that humans created the things in the Dream Realm.”
“Who’s Ursa?” Red said, confused.
“My bear friend.”
“A bear?” Red chuckled. “You’re going to trust a bear?”
My eyes drifted to the floor. “She was nice to me.”
“I’m sure she was, but she was also…a bear. Still, she’s not entirely wrong. The truth is that dreams are a two-way street. Yes, sometimes humans create things here, but more often than not, the things we created here get stolen by humans and used in their stories. For instance, have you heard of Oz?”
I nodded. “Of course. There’s like a thousand books and bunch of movies.”
“It is the greatest city in Urgu, forged by Hypnos himself to protect the Obsidian Spindle, and constructed more than ten thousand years ago. When the rightful ruler ascended to the throne, she took the name of the city as a tribute to Hypnos and the greatest city in all of Urgu.”
“Whoa,” Chelle said, and I agreed with the sentiment, even if all I did was smile at Red.
“The great city of Oz, also known as the Emerald City, is one of those things that seeped into your world, and there are hundreds, thousands more. Dreamers come and they see things in their dreams. Over centuries and generations dreams become memories and memories become ideas. Then, ideas are written into stories.”
“Why does it have two names?” Chelle asked, and I thought it a very good question, though not the one I would have asked.
“I don’t know, it just does. Don’t cities have two names back on Earth?”
“Like New York City and the Big Apple?” Chelle asked.
“Sure. If that is true, then yes exactly that. It probably also has something to do with Oz being the name of the city and the Land of Oz is the name of this province of Urgu.”
“Yup,” Chelle nodded. “Definitely like New York City then. New York is the city and the state.”
“Wonderful,” Red replied, rolling her eyes. “This has been truly fascinating. Can we move on now?”
“So everything in our dreams is true?” I asked. “All our ideas come from here?”
“Not all of it, but some of it. Ideas happen other ways. The muses work with many instruments. However, some of it comes from here as well.”
“That’s pretty cool.” I looked at Chelle. “I mean, this whole thing sucks, but that is pretty cool. Isn’t it, Chelle?”
She shook her head. “It’s fine, I guess. I just want to get you home.”
“We’ll go there, but maybe we’ll have an adventure along the way.”
“Adventurous get people killed,” Chelle said.
I couldn’t argue with her, but for once in my life, I was the one who was the subject of an adventure, and not Chelle. I hadn’t even known I wanted adventure until that moment, and the thought of it turned my stomach, but I liked the feeling of doing something like I’d always read about in stories.
The Red Rider looked at Chelle. “Do you have a way to conceal yourself? The people of Urgu do not like monsters. If they find us on the road, they will not like it.”
Chelle pulled an amulet out of her pocket. She placed it over her head. As she did, the gorgon I fell in love with disappeared, replaced by a beautiful, black women with nappy, wild hair and a bright, white smile. She looked over at me.
“How do I look?” Chelle asked.
I smiled. “Same as you always do. Beautiful.”
Fairy tales are real.
Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.