Darkness engulfed the lady as she hurriedly moved along the empty path, as if afraid to be seen, although she is not in broad daylight. In fact, it is just past midnight. The streets are empty and dead, lacking of the lively noises from the day.

Was it always so quiet at night?

The lady shuddered as a chill ran down her spine. She assured herself that no one was watching, and definitely no one was chasing after her. She did do a pretty good job at sneaking out. No one noticed that she left the palace. Or at least, she hoped so.

Another chill ran down her spine. Is someone looking at her?

The trees surrounding her seem to be looking at her, staring and observing. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking in a few deep breathes to steady herself. It is not entirely impossible that those trees are staring at her right now. There is nothing that is impossible right here.

Well, since she was blessed by fairies when she was a baby, and then cursed by a witch soon after. Apparently, magic/witchcraft seems to be quite a trend here, because she is currently on her way to do something about her curse (which obviously has something to do with witchcraft/magic as well).

She is going to break her curse.

The curse that is going to make her fall asleep for a hundred years, if she ever ate an apple after she turned eighteen (which happens to be the next day).

She wants to break the curse.

And she is determined to.

~★★★~

The lady soon arrives at a shack near the outskirts, and she simply stood outside, as if bracing for whatever that the tiny shack holds. She had heard of all kinds of stories from the librarian back in the palace, about the outskirts, and the mysterious shack. Of course, she did extra research on the shack itself, and many people had said that it held nothing, but a clear mirror.

They call it The Mirror of Fate/Wishes.

According to stories that had been written down into a book, the mirror grants anyone any wish, even if it seems impossible. This mirror has been said to solve many people's problems, and even revived someone in the past.

However, the risk of losing one's life or just simply disappearing into a totally different world is quite high. More than half of the people who tried had ended up vanishing into thin air overnight, never appearing again.

None of this would change the lady's decision to give the Mirror of Fate/Wishes a shot, though. She would rather end up somewhere else and not sleep for a hundred years than to sit in her room, awaiting the deep sleep (since she is quite sure that somehow, she would get a bite of that evil apple which causes her to sleep).

Softly, and gently, she pushed the door to the shack open, stepping in warily. Just like what was written by others, the shack is empty, and the only object in it was a standing mirror.

The mirror pretty much looks like any other mirror - almost as fancy as the one she had in her own room.

She took another step forward, but immediately jumped back to her original position when a huge gush of wind slammed the door behind her close, and blown off the hood that she had on. Her beautiful face was highlighted by the moonlight streaming through a small window, and her brown locks shone under the lights.

Taking a few steps forward to the mirror, she could see herself reflected in the mirror. She looks the same. A little chubby around her cheeks and her eyes were big and beautiful, like a puppy's.

Those eyes...

Always curious, always seeking.

Maybe just a little too curious.