At this moment, I became Maleficent. I was her as she left her son with a woman from the village, as she walked the path to the castle. Maleficent was determined to kill me the moment she saw me, her power seemed to heighten in anticipation of it. When she saw how small I was, however, she hesitated. The baby before her was helpless, innocent. The king and queen begged for their daughter's life, despite it not being able to inherit the throne. It moved Maleficent's heart so that she wanted to grant them time with me; and so she cursed me to 16 years, and death by pricking my finger on a spindle.
The green god had shown her this vision. The thread of destiny put in place by the red god could only be controlled by this cursed spindle. When Maleficent placed the curse, the magic within her dried up, but left her with her beauty. She returned to her cottage with her son, and the next day was met by a kind and wealthy man. A gift from the green god. He married her, and she and her son left the cottage and moved to a large fortress in the countryside. As I grew and was adored by all who knew me, stories began to spread that Maleficent had acted out of malice.
She loved her son more than life itself; but too late realized that she had spoiled him out of guilt. Herald was a stubborn child who had become a willful young man. He listened to no one, and was ambitious enough to do anything to get what he wanted. Her husband also could not stop Herald from behaving as he wished.
On the day of my sixteenth birthday, Maleficent awoke feeling as though her skin were on fire. She instinctively knew that the power had returned to her to complete the curse. She once again made the trek towards the castle, only to find that the drawbridge had been drawn and the walls manned by dozens of guards. The power within her surged. The roots of the trees in the forest began to rise from the ground and create a bridge towards the top of the castle walls. The guards were terrified, but attempted to cut the roots. The roots were too thick for their swords to cause damage.
Maleficent walked over the tree bridge as soldiers fired arrows towards her. She used the wind itself to block their blows. When she had reached the top of the castle walls, the roots to bound the soldiers. The world itself seemed to bend at her will, and she couldn't believe how the power flowed through her. It threatened to consume her. Closing her eyes, she thought of me: the little baby that had been cursed. When she opened her eyes, she was in my mother's chambers, and I saw myself through someone else's lens for the first time.
I was beautiful and pale, aside from my rosy cheeks, and so, so young. Regret tugged at Maleficent's heart as she recalled all the stories she'd heard about my family taking care of the people; but the words of the green god reverberated in her mind, and she resolved to finish her task. She somehow made herself invisible to my family by simply wishing that they didn't see her. I saw her and walked to her. A thought passed through her mind without prompting: I was a little younger than her son. In another life, we could have been a fine match. My blonde hair contrasting his almost black, my bright blue eyes to his brown. Perhaps my gentleness and love for the people would curb her son's wild ambition and teach him charity. She shook the thought aside. Where the spindle came from, she didn't know; but she couldn't stop the tears from coming to her eyes as she forced herself to prick my finger. The power immediately left her, but her body felt withered and empty now. She felt her hands shriveling and, when she looked at them, they were rotting. She screamed in terror until the world went dark.