Two roses from two different lands: A letter sent (Storyline with Jasmine)
Blog Location: https://www.realmroleplay.com/view_blog.php?id=0000000858
Some added background
Malantha Sultan, an Ottoman Princess who was kept hidden for most of her life. She is the twin of Mihrimah Sultan and daughter of Hurrem and Sulieman Sultan. One would think that would give her everything in the world and she would be able to go anywhere that she wanted. That wasn’t not the case for her or any of her sisters, for females in the Islamic culture especially those of status had to act and follow certain ways. In any case, Malantha enjoyed her life for how it was, though at times she wished that she had a little more freedom. Those on the outside would think that the Sultan family was perfect, but like most families had a dark secret that had been kept for centuries. The secret dated back to Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire and the ancestor of all.
Even still it did not just fall upon him, for one cannot choose who they love. He fell hard for a Desert Rose with witchy heritage. Their union would cause a ripple effect throughout the Sultan family line, and some would gain special abilities from the witch side of the family. The others would be normal mortals and would take place out in public keeping a strong family image. This did not mean that the ones with magical abilities were left out, they were simply kept in the shadows to push forward the power of the Ottomans.
A letter sent
Under the reign of Suleiman Sultan, known as Suleiman the Magnificent. The Ottoman Empire had entered a Golden Age through his reign and conquest. The royal family had grown stretching into other kingdoms which became political allies. It was because of how large the family had become that Malantha had so many relatives that at times it could be said that it was hard to keep up with everyone.
One such relative lived so far away the only way that Malantha could keep in touch with her was through letters. The land of Agrabah held within it a relative that the Imperial Rose held dear to her heart. Malantha wrote to her as often as she could to keep her updated on what was going on with the empire and to see how things were with her.
This day was no different as the Shadow Witch sat down at her desk, picked up a quill, grabbed the finest ink, and the best paper she had. Once everything was gathered, Malantha began to write.
” En sevdiğim kuzenim” (My dearest Cousin),
” I hope this letter finds you well and your father as well. I have missed you so much. Mother says hello and Mahidevran, well to be more exact Antigone Tenebris-Aurelius-Antoninus sends her best wishes as well. I hope soon that I can go to Agrabah, and we can spend some time together once more. It will be a chance to get away from court life well as much court life as I am able to have been a witch in an Islamic country. I know I should be thankful for my position in this land, just wish I had some time not being hidden away.
I know this may be an odd time to send this letter, but I felt that I should reach out to you. I am not sure why, but something told me that it would be a good thing. Perhaps the shadows are speaking to me again, who knows really. They always seem to know something before I do.
Hope to hear from you soon. Love you my dearest cousin.
Many blessings,
Malantha Sultan I”
She knew the letter was short, but she did not want to write so much that it could bore Jasmine to death. Allowing the ink to dry for a moment, Malantha looked outside the window to watch the people within the Empire go about their lives. Turning back to the paper, Malantha touched a small of one of the letters to see if everything was dried. Once she felt that it was dry enough, the Shadow Witch put into an envelope, took a necklace that she had made for her, put the necklace within the envelope along with the letter, then sealed it with a wax seal that was made just for her with her symbol, and called one of the eunuchs that was just out her study door. As he came through the door, Malantha wrote Jasmine’s name upon the front of the envelope then looked up at him with a smile upon her face.
” Sümbül Ağa lütfen buraya gelir misin?” (Sümbül Ağa, Will you please come here?), she said making sure everything was sealed well. “Evet Sultanım? Nasıl hizmetinizde olabilirim?” (Yes, my Sultana? How may I be at your service?) Sümbül Ağa replied bowing his head. “Bu mektubun Agrabahlı Prenses Jasmine Sultan-Ababwa'ya ulaşmasını sağlar mısın? Lütfen bunu benim için olabildiğince çabuk yapın, bunun ona ulaşması gerekiyor” (Will you make sure that this letter gets to Princess Jasmine Sultan-Ababwa of Agrabah? Please do this for me as quickly as possible this needs to get to her).
The Shadow Witch asked with a slight smile upon her face looking at the eunuch who became a good friend to her mother when she was first brought to the country and who became a close friend to her as well. She held out the letter for Jasmine and Sümbül Ağa bowed his head gently taking it from her hand. “Evet Sultanım. Elimizdeki en hızlı haberciyle oraya hızla ulaşmasını sağlayacağım.” (Yes, My Sultana. I will make sure it gets there quickly with the fastest messenger we have.) He bowed once more, backed out the door, then quickly closed the door, and went to go do as she ordered.
The Shadow Witch sat back down in her chair, took a deep breath, then felt a shadow slither up her left arm and around her neck. She smiled looking down as another slithered around her left hand while the other around her neck settled around it and yet did not tighten. The shadows would never do anything to harm Malantha for she had become long ago the Shadow Witch. As she sat rubbing her thumb around the one who was slithering around her left palm, Malantha looked out the window once more almost trying to see Agrabah from her window in the Ottoman Empire, Turkey. A smile slowly went across her face as she saw a messenger riding in the direction of the Agrabah and a portal opening allowing the messenger to go through.
Being a twin, one feels they are just two
sides of a coin, not of any value. That is especially true for Malantha Sultan,
who had to remain hidden for most of her life. She was not what one would call
the "normal" twin. She had been marked since her conception, which
was something no one could hide. One could not hide something that came from
the blood that flowed inside her veins. Her twin Mihriham Sultan was beloved of
Hurrem and Suleiman as well as all of the Kingdom. She was allowed to go wherever
she pleased because she did not have the mark or gift Malantha had. Where her
twin was just a person with no advantage, Malantha could speak to the shadows
as if they were her friends.
At times, at least, that is what she felt,
which was the illusion of the shadows. The shadows took pleasure in taking one
to total darkness and building them right back up. Their gift or curse of them
was to make one feel alone at the youngest age of one's life so they could
reshape the person who would soon use them. That was what Malantha had to
figure out, along with the truth of her abilities. None of that changed of the
fact that she loved her family or would die for her family, for blood is
thicker than water. Family is everything to her.
The Gardens:
One summer’s afternoon, Malantha took a
stroll into the large garden of the Sultan’s located in Istanbul. She enjoyed
the smell of the flower come into her senses. It seemed like every other day
which was a boring day. There was nothing out of the norm at least to Malantha
as she walked through the beautiful garden. A smile appeared upon her face when
she thought that she would get a peaceful day to herself without any issues.
She took a deep breath as she picked a blood red rose and did not mind feeling
a thorn prick soft flesh. It was interesting to her for normally she would have
felt something, yet Malantha felt nothing.
The Imperial Rose should have known that
something was off, however, Malantha felt safe within the castle wall. The
garden was peace and the place she went when she wanted to feel at peace. What
she should have been was more alert, for what was happening was slowly dark
shadows was creeping around her from all sides. There was guards of course but
none could help what was going to happen. The shadows could smell the princess
and they knew that she was marked. “Sultana” she heard one of them scream from
behind her. Malantha’s pearl white eyes scanned around her and for a saw
nothing.
Again she heard, “SULTANA!” but again saw
nothing as if the guards were playing again, “What is going on?” she asked with
a confused look upon her face. “Malantha!” she could hear her mother scream in
the distance now far beyond on the balcony overlooking the garden. She could not understand what was going
on. “Mother?” she said looking up to see
her face looking ghost like. Her heart race as if something was surrounding her
or she was running. She looked around once more. At last, Malantha could see the
shadows surrounding her. She couldn’t
move nor would her body work with her to move for her. They were just shadows
and yet they felt like a threat. “What do I do? What do I do?” she began to say
to herself over and over again.
Her fears and the fears of those around her
began seemed to feed them. Fear only seemed to make them grown stronger. They
may look like normal shadows, but they were far from it. “What do you want?”
She finally asked with a thick Turkish accent seemly to know that they were
fully after her and her alone.
Continuation of Becoming
the Shadow Witch:
Suffocation, a feeling that the Imperial
Rose had never felt. Something she never wanted to feel in any format, yet she
started to feel right at home with the feeling. The shadows began to tighten
around her body like a snake about to devour its prey. There was no way to move
from the grasp of the shadows. “We want you?” they said in unison. She could
hear them in her mind and yet felt they were speaking loudly enough for others
to hear.
“You have been chosen since birth. There is
no way to escape what was foretold long ago.” The shadows said as if an old
friend was speaking to her. Malantha’s mind raced as she attempted to control
her breathing as best, she could. Every breath was strained as the suffocation
increased more and more with each passing second.
The Imperial Rose, felt as if her mind was
becoming cloudy with every passing moment as the shadows surrounded her. Like
two eels around her neck, she felt choking increasing suffication. “Great power
shall be yours.” She heard them say. It was never power that Malantha wanted in
her life. In fact, Malantha always seemed to wish to be hidden almost like a
shadow herself. Either way, Malantha could feel her body begin to break under
the pressure of the tightening shadows.
One might think that shadows did not have
such strength, but they have minds of their own as well as strength that comes
from the deepest parts of hell. {Crack} went her left arm being broken into
multiple pieces at the bone. Trying to gasp for whatever air she could,
Malantha could see that if she did not give in soon than every part of her
would be ripped to shreds. Was she to give up her soul to gain power? It was
forbidden to think of such in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire followed a
strict religion that even dictated how one was to dress.
Her mind became blank as the oxygen that
goes to it began to be cut off. The tightening around her neck became almost
too much for her to bare. But could she give up everything that she knew to go
into the unknown. She always knew in the back of her mind that she was quicker
to want to destroy someone’s lives for the littlest things. Furthermore,
Malantha knew that she had a darker personality than her own twin who seemed to
always get the praise of the family.
For what seemed like hours, Malantha was
being consumed by shadows and darkness. Though it might have been light
outside, to Malantha it was completely dark. Her eyes began to gaze over as her
breathing slowed. “Just accept your fate. All will be well.” A haunting voice
spoke in a demonic tone. She tried to look around only to see above her a
hooded figure. The figure was neither human nor of this world.
The figure slowly walked towards Malantha
repeating the words, “Accept your fate.” The words pierced her mind like
knives. Being lifted into the air, Malantha was met with the eyes of the
figured and a smirk slowly spreading across its face. Those were the only
features that Malantha could make out at the current time for she was in too
much pain and attempted to keep her focus on breathing. The figure stared down
into Malantha’s eyes and reached out its hand towards her forehead.
Placing a long, thin, boney finger on the
middle of her forehead the figure said once more, “Accept your fate. Accept who
you were born to be.” The Imperial Rose wanted to have the suffocation to stop.
She wanted to breath, and she wanted her mind to be cleared to be able to
think. The Ottoman Princess knew that
the only way she could be able to breath, not have pain, and be able to think
without voices in her mind was to give in. However, to give in meant having to
become consumed.
Feeling the shadows losen around her neck,
Malantha took a deep breath choosing to give into, and spoke the words,
“obumbratio Consume” or “Shadows Consume.” These words leaving her mouth caused
a small form of a contract to begin to form between her and the figure that
still held its finger in the middle of her forehead as well as the shadows
themselves. A laugh came from the figure’s mouth, one that caused fear to form
within Malantha’s stomach. Taking another deep breath, Malantha felt the
shadows move towards her mouth and finally within it.The consuming of the
Imperial Rose has begun and the Shadow Witch would be born.
