The Magic of Colour

The Angel stared into the mirror and let out a long, sad sigh. Something looked wrong.
She fluttered her eyelashes and plumped up her hair but nothing did the trick.

"I'm just not as colourful anymore" she thought to herself.

It was true. The whole of the land had noticed that her colours were fading. The red of her hair didn't shine the way it used to, even in the brightest of sunshine. Her lips no longer blossomed crimson into a smile that lit up her face. Even her technicolour wardrobe was looking faded, as if it had been through the wash too many times. And her eyes. Her eyes looked sad.

She continued her duties as normal, bringing colour to the world. The leaves on the trees were magnificently green. The lake continued to glisten a deep blue. The birds were still as colourful as a rainbow. But her own colours seemed to be fading. The people of the land were growing greatly concerned, why was her light going out? And what would happen if her colours disappeared?

She twisted and turned in the mirror. She remembered this happening before, a long time ago she'd had no colour. It had been cruelly taken away from her by an evil monster. A shadow. She shuddered when she remembered that shadow, looming over her. That shadow had taken so much and left her light so weak that she'd thought she might never glow again. She remembered how she had been so sad for so long, she had seen no colour in the world, no colour in people.

Then bit by bit her colour had been restored. Fairies and pixies had shown her beauty in the world again, they'd shown her the lake as she'd never seen it before, she heard the birds singing again. A fair prince had taken her to see castles and palaces bigger than she could ever had dreamed. He had even taken her to beaches and she had felt the sand between her toes. With every new sight, every new person she collected a new colour until she was glowing stronger than anyone had ever seen an Angel glow before. She was colourful and beautiful and the people of the land admired her very much.

Eventually she had collected enough colours that she had some to spare. She started to share the colours, giving colour back to people who had lost it. People who had also been victims of Shadows, Monsters or even Angels. Because not all Angels are nice. But Angels are very good at tricking people and a lot of the girls in the village had fallen under an evil Angels spell.

Every time she helped someone to see colour they begun to glow, they became and Angel too. And this made her glow too. She enjoyed the cycle of colour for it kept the world magical and wonderful, and lovely to look at. She enjoyed meeting new people, who could show her knew colours.

She had never seen so much colour in the world as when she was with the Mystical Knight. This Knight had visited from another Realm, bringing with him many fresh colours. Blues deeper than she had ever known, Greens that would make even the proudest tree feel jealous, Yellows that shone brighter than the Sun in a cloudless sky. The Knights colours made her happy, he showed her places the Fair Prince couldn't have dreamed about. Magical, mystical places. Waterfalls that hid towers of Gold and Palaces made of Ice! She marvelled at this world, a look of wonder in her eyes. But most of all, she marvelled at him. He told stories from another world. If there was one thing she loved more than colours it was stories. And his stories were full of colour and full of life! He told her tales of Pyramids and Great Walls built by Emperors long ago. He spoke of buildings so tall they touched the sky and pure white beaches that stretched out further than the eye could see. He told her stories while they laid on a colourful blanket under a black nights sky, lit with thousands of stars that she would swear were shining only for them.

The Knights visits brought her great joy, but also great sadness for she knew that he could never stay for long, he had duties in the other Realm. For he was a Brave Knight, possibly the greatest Knight his world had ever seen, he had rescued many Damsels and won many Battles. His greatest task of all was saving a beautiful Princess from a Wicked Witch. A Princess whose colour rivalled that of the Angel. And a Witch whose darkness was so overwhelming that it made even the Brave Knight sad. The Angel knew that once the Knight rescued the Princess he would never return, for everyone knows that a Princess is only ever rescued by her One True Love.

On his last visit the Knight had told her that he must rescue the Princess. He could not stay for the Angel as she did not need saving. And he had kissed her Goodbye. It was that kiss that had sucked some of the colour out of her. In that kiss she had realised that the person she saw the most colour in, could never share all of his colours with her.

"And he had the most amazing colours." She thought to herself, with a sigh. And she continued to stare at the mirror. It had been a week since he'd said goodbye. She had heard rumours spreading through the villages that the Princess had been rescued and she supposed that they would soon be married.

She turned to walk away when suddenly, something in the mirror changed. She looked closer and could see new colours, she now longer saw her dull reflection, she saw the outline of her Brave Knight looking back at her. She remembered a story he had told her about a Wizard he had met who could create portals within reflections, this must be how he appeared before her now. She marvelled once again at his brilliance!

He spoke,
"My love, it was all a trick! The Princess did not need rescuing for she was the Witch."

The Angel stared. Half processing what he had just told her and half still marvelling at this figure in her mirror.

"The Princess has spent her time with many Princes and dismissed them all. She knew that she would not gain my attention unless she was in danger. I had told many fairies in my Realm that I had met my soul mate and the news had reached her ears. A colourful Princess she was but that day she turned Green with Envy and hatched a Wicked plan! She was never in need of saving, except from herself!"

"Soul mate?" The Angel whispered.

"My Darling. I was never in love with the Princess, in love with an illusion maybe. But I knew, I knew after that kiss that it was you that I wanted. I was always going to come back to you." The Knight spoke with so much passion that she couldn't help but let a wide grin spread across her face.

"Soul mates." She said again, with more confidence.

"Will you wait for me?" The Knight asked her. "I promise it will be worth the wait."

She nodded. And placed her fingertips up to the mirror, the Knight brought his up and matched them to hers, as they connected through the mirror the room lit up around her and she was sure she felt his skin, for just a second. And then his reflection was gone. She was left looking at herself in the mirror, she looked at her mouth, her crimson lips blossoming in a smile that lit up her face. And she looked at her eyes, they shone back at her. She spun around with glee and the room sparkled around her. Her colour was back.