The Secret of the Flutterby

A Lost Boy

The wind blew the girls long black hair as a tear fell from her eye. There was no escape. She was trapped here...forever!

Her name was Ashaleigha (Ash-a-lay-a) and she was no ordinary girl. She was a flutterby. What is a flutterby you ask? It is a magical creature that has the body of a human and the wings of a butterfly. They look like life-sized faeries, only they are not faeries at all. Faeries are gifted with magical dances. The flutterby's gift is its magical voice. When a flutterby sings, it stops any creature that hears it, cold in its tracks, and they are entranced by its beautiful song. That is how they escape from predators...or a hunter. Let me start where the story really begins...

A long long time ago there lived a young boy named Artem. Little Artem was fascinated by animals, large and small alike. One day when he was off playing in the woods, chasing a rabbit back to its hole, his village was raided by blood thirsty bandits. When he returned home from his little mini-adventure, he was devastated to find his mother and father both dead. He had nothing left. He was now alone. On his own.

The boy gathered up what was left of his belongings after the raid, and took off into the woods. He had to kill these animals that he was so fascinated by, to live, to eat, to survive. As he got older, his hunting turned into an obsession and he began hunting for pure sport. His heart grew colder with each kill and his fame spread throughout the land. He would often stop by the nearest village's pub and boast of his adventures over a few tall pitchers of beer. He traveled far and wide and killed every prize animal he saw, from giant moose to ferocious lions. "Yes, I am indeed the best." he thought to himself as he boasted about his latest hunt. He acted out every detail and changed the inflection in his voice to emphasize the dramatic effect it had on his listeners. All the people in the pub were on edge as he reached the climax of his story. All but one.

The Masked Stranger

In a dark corner of the pub sat a man draped with a black robe. A hood covered his head and a crimson red mask covered his face.

"That is nothing." he spoke from the shadows, interrupting the hunters story-telling. Artem glanced over at the masked stranger with a shocked look upon his face. He gathered his thoughts and spoke.

"And who are you, to talk to me, Artem, The best hunter in the world, like that?" 

"The best in the world..ha!" the stranger laughed. "I highly doubt that you are the best in the world. Have you captured a unicorn? A dragon? A flutterby perhaps?" said the hooded stranger with a twisted grin from under his mask. 

Artem, for the first time in a long time, was speechless. 

"Ah no, I didn't think so." said the masked man in his old raspy voice. 

"Where can I find these animals of which you speak?" questioned Artem. 

"The forest of Magicia." the stranger replied, with a mysterious tone in his voice.

"Tell me more!" Artem demanded.

The masked stranger sat quietly and did not speak. He refused to be demanded to do anything. The hunter lowered his voice to a whisper and asked in a forced but nicer tone 

"Where do I find such a place?"

The masked stranger drew closer to Artem. He told him all about the dangerous path that led to this magical place. Artem''s eyes filled with the same look of fascination he'd had as a boy. The stranger went on to tell him about the great creatures he would see and about the magical sorceress that lived in the deepest part of the forest. The next day, Artem packed up all of his prized possessions including his animal trophy heads and began his journey to this "promised land" the stranger spoke of. Along the way, there were rivers of hot molten lava and dry deserts endless sand, that he had to cross. Although the long trip was exhausting, it was no real challenge for him, for he laughed in the face of danger. He'd finally reached the forest of Magicia.

The Elusive Flutterby

He built a cabin in the eastern part of the forest. The cabin had many rooms. One room in particular that he spent the most time building was his trophy room. He hung all of his prized animal heads on the walls around the room. Lions, tigers, moose, bears. They were a sight to see. He had mounted them in the most lifelike way he could. But it wasn't the same as hearing the lion's roar or watching a grizzly tear into the flesh of one of its own kills. He decided from now on he'd do things differently. He'd keep the creatures he would catch in this magical forest, alive. 

"Yes, much more entertaining, alive." he said to himself deep in thought.

He would have his own personal zoo of assorted magical creatures that he could look at whenever he wanted. So he built cages for each strange new creature and finally set out out on his hunt. He captured one of every alluring and magical creature this enchanted forest had to offer. Each time a new capture. Each time a new prize.

One by one he'd caught one of every kind of mythological creature, until there was only one kind left that he didn't have a prize from. He had not caught a flutterby. They were creatures of such mystery and beauty. He had to have one. He tried everything he could think of but everytime he got close to one, it would sing. Their song was beautiful yet mysterious...

"Inside of me is a secret you see..and the secret you'll never know..I change my disguise right before your very eyes...underneath the moonlight glow..."

Their song put him into a trance until they flew out of sight. Their song didn't make sense to him. He'd tried catching them at night as well as during the day but they'd always sing to get away. Then he remembered the stranger in the red mask at the pub. He had mentioned a magic sorceress who lived in the deepest part of the forest. Maybe she could help him.

The Magic Sorceress

Artem brought some unicorn oil as a possible trade for her help. She was a sorceress after all and unicorn oil had a lot of magical uses. He made his way to the deepest part of the forest. There he saw a little old cottage almost completely hidden by trees and overgrown shrubbery. He knocked once and heard an old raspy yet somehow familiar voice from an old woman come from behind the door. It was the sorceress. 

"Come in my precious child, come in." 

Artem hesitated for a moment and then opened the door and stepped inside. The old woman was sitting in her rocking chair stroking the fur of her feline companion. The black cat hissed as Artem stepped closer, and then scurried underneath a wooden table. The hunter made a face of horror as he'd never seen anything so hideous as the sorceress. She was so old. 

"Seconds from being dead" he thought to himself. "Or already dead and decaying with some strange force keeping her corpse alive. I must hurry and get what I came here to get."

Artem opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, the sorceress waved her hand in the air, magically forcing the door shut. The sorceress spoke 

"I already know what it is you seek my child. I know all and see all. You want me to help you catch the uncatchable flutterby." 

Artem looked at the sorceress in amazement. 

"Yes, I brought unicorn oil as payment." he said.

"Unicorn oil? Do you not think an all-knowing and powerful sorceress such as I, do not have my OWN well stocked supply of unicorn oil? You're lucky this one's on the house."

"On the house...I..I don't understand." said Artem in bewilderment.

"Do I have to spell it out for you? On the house. Free. It means no money down and no payments til never. Get it now?" she said in an aggravated tone.

"Yes, I think so, but why?" asked the puzzled hunter. 

"You get the first one free, but the next one...the COST will be great. Do you understand?" the sorceress said with a crooked smile and a fire burning in her eyes

."Next one...ohhh I see." Artem said. "You are going to give me a fake potion that doesn't work and then when I come back, you will charge me an arm and a leg for one that does work." The old ladies voice changed to a voice that sounded like it came from the depths of hell. 

"FOOL! HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF SUCH TRICKERY, YOU PATHETIC LITTLE WORM!" She realized she'd lost control and steadied herself once more back to a more gentle sounding old ladies voice. "I have half a mind not to help you." she said calmly. "But you will be back." she muttered to herself under her breath. "I will tell you the secret you long so much to know. Sit down" she said as she pointed to a chair at the wooden table. She lit some candles and began to share with him a secret that no one else knew but the flutterbies.

The Secret of the Flutterby

"Every full moon, all the pillacatters (creatures that are human sized caterpillars) that are ready to reach mature adulthood gather in the center of the forest and climb the trees in unison. They hang upside down from the branches and form magical cocoons around their bodies." explained the sorceress. 

"What are you babbling about? How come I've never seen this? And why are we talking about pillacatters? I'm here for the secret of the Flutterby. I could case less about any fat ugly pillacatters!" 

Artem was all too familiar with the pillacatters. They were slimy, green disgusting looking creatures that the forest of Magicia seemed to have an abundance of. He had no interest in these fat, gelatinous creatures. Not even for his collection. The catch would be too easy because of how slow they are and it would be just a waste of time to him. They were not special. He only wanted the most amazing creatures for his collection and these ugly things did not qualify. The sorceress was growing impatient, but she continued as if she were never interrupted. 

"They are made invisible by the magic of the moonlight. Then when the sun rises, the light from the morning sun dissolves their cocoons and they emerge as beautiful flutterbies." 

"What?" exclaimed the hunter in disbelief. He thought to himself. "How could something so ugly turn into something so beautiful? And if there's an invisible force field hiding them from sight, then how will I see them to capture one?" 

As if the sorceress read his mind she said, "Drink this potion underneath the full moon and it will give you the gift of sight beyond all magic." She handed him a steamy green potion that bubbled inside its glass bottle. She continued, "Remember, you must do it before the mornings first light touches their cocoons. After that the magic will be done and their song will protect them from there."

"So how do you know so much about flutterbies?" Artem asked out of curiosity. 

The sorceress was taken aback by the question she was asked by the hunter. She decided she would answer. After all, someone needed to hear her story, why not him? 

"I was one." the sorceress said with a hint of sadness and longing in her voice. "I was once...a flutterby."

The Sorceress's Tragic Tale

His thoughts trailed, "How could something so beautiful become so ugly?" He listened as the sorceress told her sad story.

"I was in love with a man, who told me he loved me too. I wanted to be with him, be his wife, bear his children. A flutterby never ages, and I wanted to grow old with him. I traded my wings to be human, so we could start a normal happy family." she said in a semi-mocking tone. "I became just a normal human with no mysterious song. No beautiful wings. Just an ordinary human girl in love. And he was an ordinary man who only wanted extraordinary for himself. A typical selfish man." she said as she glared at Artem and continued. "He soon grew bored of me. I did everything I could to try to make him happy, but it was never enough. I was never enough. One day I caught him sharing his love with another and I ran as fast and as far as my human legs would take me. I saw an old abandoned cottage and I made it my new home. Far from him. Far from love.

The hunter didn't feel sorry for the sorceress one bit. "It was her fault for falling in love in the first place. That is why I will never fall for something as ridiculous as love." he thought to himself as she continued her story. 

"I didn't eat. I didn't sleep. I just cried. I cried all of my tears. I cried away years of my life. My heart was in so much pain. How could the one I gave up everything to be with, betray me like that? Then one day I took a look in the mirror and saw that I had cried away most of my human life. I was no longer vibrant and young but the hideous hag you see before you today. My face had been overtaken by wrinkles and age spots. My heart grew cold and bitter and I swore I'd have my revenge on love. Love would give me back what it had taken from me. Love would make me young and beautiful again." 

The hunter couldn't dream of anyone who could love something so grotesque looking as the sorceress. "Good luck with that" he thought to himself and then apologized in his head just in case she was reading his thoughts.

The last thing he needed was for her to take her anger out on him and turn him into a frog or a pig. He quickly thanked the sorceress for the potion and headed back for his cabin. The sorceress grinned an evil grin and said to her feline friend "Don't worry, he will be back. He will be back and I will be young and beautiful again."

The Night of the Full Moon

When Artem reached his cabin he realized he only had three days before the next full moon. He immediately went to work on his plans for his capture of a flutterby. It was the 3rd day and his cage trap was complete. As day turned to night, he walked to the center of the moonlit forest, dragging his cage trap behind him. He took the potion and fell to the ground at its potency. He slowly stood back up and opened his eyes. He could not believe what he was seeing. In the same place where he had just seen nothing but trees, there were cocoons as far as the eye could see all glowing bright into the night, illuminating his vision with a magical presence. His eyes drew him to one cocoon that seemed to be glowing brighter than all the others. 

"That one will be mine." he said to himself as he climbed the tree and positioned the cage trap around the glowing cocoon. He sat patiently and watched the spectacular luminescent show all night, waiting until morning.

The sun rose into the sky and the sunlight slowly crept across the trees. And just as the sorceress had said the sunlight touched the cocoons and they magically vanished revealing their contents, one by one. He looked on in amazement as he saw the creatures metamorphosises take place. Each spreading their vividly detailed wings. He watched as colors collided like a kaleidoscope broken. This was the most phenomenal event he'd ever witnessed. Seeing the hunter the flutterbies all took flight, fleeing for their lives. And just as quickly as the magic had happened, they were all gone. All but his flutterby. His chosen prize.

He looked at his capture. She was the most breathtakingly beautiful thing his eyes had ever seen. To him, far more beautiful than all the others. She was special, and she was all his. She had long raven hair that flowed down her back like a black waterfall in between her delicate wings ornate with swirls of colors still wet and not yet set into its permanent design. Her skin looked as if it were made of porcelain, and her eyes were bright pools of green with strands of gold in them. When he looked into her eyes, it took him to a place he'd never been before. A peaceful place full of warmth, unlike anything he'd ever felt. 

He told her as a tear fell from her eye, "I am your master. You belong to me now, and I will take care of you."

A Cage Made of Glass

Ashaleigha was so frightened. All she knew to do was sing when faced with danger, but she couldn't even speak. Singing wouldn't have done her any good though. She was trapped. She didn't know what to do, for this had never happened to a flutterby before. So she sat in her cage quietly in obedience to her new master. Artem slowly lowered her cage from the tree as he climbed down. He made his way back to his cabin with his new prize catch, dragging behind him in a cage. The smile on his face was that of a little boy about to open a birthday gift. 

When he got home, he showed his flutteerby to her new cage. A cage made of glass that he had built especially for her. He spent every waking second of every day standing outside her cage, staring at her beauty and looking into her eyes. Ashaleigha slowly began to accept her fate and one day spoke. 

"Why do you have all the other creatures of Magicia locked up if you spend all of your time here with me?"

He did not answer for he was enraptured by the sound of her voice. This was the first time he'd ever heard her speak, and he was mesmerized. 

She spoke again, "Master, if you let them all go, I will sing my song for you." said Ashaleigha with a voice as soothing as the sea. 

Artem retorted "I am no fool. If I let them all free at once, you will only give me one song. Instead, I will set a different creature free everyday and you will sing for me upon each ones release. Everyday you will sing for me." the hunter demanded.

Ashaleigha spoke softly from inside her cage, "Yes, master." And so each day a creature was set free and each day Ashaleigha sang him her secret song. The hunter grew more and more in love with Ashaleigha with each passing day. His ice cold heart was beginning to thaw. Artem spent a lot of time talking to Ashaleigha about his life, not putting on a show and boasting as he'd normally done with other people, but really and truly opening up his heart.

This was different. She was different. She listened to his stories with compassion and understanding. He was slowly letting her in. This thought scared him, but he was still in control. He was her master. He didn't ever want to lose her. He loved her.

Ashaleigha's Request

"I love you, Ashaleigha." Artem said to her one morning as he slid her breakfast into her glass cage. 

"If you love me, sweet master, let me free. Let me spread my wings and fly, for you captured me before I even had my wings. Please master, if you love me, you will release me from this glass prison. I will come back to you. I promise." 

Artem was surprised by the nature of her request. After all, with the exception of her freedom, he'd given her anything she'd ever asked for. He took care of her as he'd promised. He just didn't understand why she wanted to leave. Did he not make her happy? He didn't care. She was his and he was never going to let her go. 

"How do I know that this is not a trick? You are all that I have left in this world. If I let you go, how do I know that I will ever see you again?" he asked. 

"I will return to you master, because...because I love you." 

Her words flowed into his heart. He let himself into her cage. Artem looked into Ashaleigha's eyes and asked, 

"You love me?"

"Yes" she replied reassuringly, "I love you, master." 

With this, he went to kiss her as he reached his hand out to caress her outstretched wing. She pulled back from him. 

"No master..I.." she stammered. 

"I knew it! It was a trick. You don't love me!" he yelled. 

Feeling rejected he left her cage and slammed the locked door behind him. He retreated back to his trophy room. A room that used to provide so much comfort. It's the place he'd go to think and plan out his next captures. All the mounted animal heads surrounded the room. He'd mounted them all with their mouths open to emphasize their powerful nature, but now it was as if his own trophies were mocking him. Laughing at his failure. Who could ever love a man with such a hideous heart at his? So cold and so dark. So alone. Like when he was a boy...his thoughts trailed.Everything he'd ever wanted he'd gotten because he'd taken it. He knew the animals he'd killed for food when he was just a boy, would have never walked right up to him and offered themselves so he could eat. He had to hunt them to survive. He had to take them. He had to take her.

The Monster Within

He went back to her cage and before she could say anything to him, he let himself in and closed the door behind him. He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her to him to fulfill all of his lustful desires. He could not bear to hear her screams and be reminded of how much she didn't want this, so he covered her mouth with his hand. He forced himself onto her, ravaging her body with his. He dominated her. Controlled her. He admired her beauty as he stroked her beautiful wings and ran his fingers all over her body. She was his. His to dominate. His to control. He released his hand from her mouth just as he was finishing what he'd come here to do. She let out a blood curdling scream of agonizing pain, that shattered the glass cage around them. He had done it. He had taken her. He let his tight grip on her body go and she collapsed to the ground. 

"Oh God! No, what have I done? I'm a...a monster." he felt so empty and cold. He longed for that warm feeling again, the one that he felt when he looked into her soft green eyes.

Something was wrong.

He looked and saw she was barely breathing. Had he done this? Had he been so wrapped up in his selfish desires that he put her through more pain than her fragile little body could handle? He knelt down beside her limp body and put her hand in his. She used all the energy she had left in her body to speak. 

"I do love you, master, with all my heart. I tried to tell you..." she took a deep breath "I pulled back because my wings must never be touched by human hands. It kills a flutterby." she said sadly. 

"YOU'RE DYING?" Artem screamed in disbelief.

"I love you, Artem." she said with her very last breath. 

He could feel the life slowly draining from her body. Her eyes fading into empty pools of green and gold. There was nothing he could do. He thought he was in control of her, but he could not control this. He felt helpless. Her eyes closed. She was gone. 

"NOOOO!" he cried out, tears cascading down his face.

He'd never let himself cry before. He'd always kept everything inside, buried deep. And now it all came out at once as if the floodgates of his heart had burst open. His parents death, his childhood being stripped from him, losing someone he had cared for so deeply, everything. It all came out as he cried tears of pain and suffering, sorrow and remorse. He cried all the tears inside of him as if somehow they'd bring her back like a happy ending to a fairy tale. But she just laid there, lifeless and cold, like his dead heart. He had hurt the only one in this world he'd truly loved. The only one who had ever loved him. 

"I don't deserve her love" he thought "Its all my fault! Its my fault she's gone!" He had been so scared to let her free, afraid he'd never see her again. "I had taken her." he said disgusted with himself. He had taken her. And in doing so, taken her from this world. He had taken her from his own life. And now he realized his worst fear had become a reality.

He would never see her again and there was nothing he could do about it... Or was there?

The Price of Love

He remembered the old sorceress. "Maybe she could help. Maybe she could bring her back." he thought aloud. He kissed his beloveds lips and took off running to the deepest reaches of the forest. The door to the sorceress's cottage was open and she was already waiting with another potion in her hand. He tried to explain what he needed from the sorceress but he couldn't catch his breath. Before he could speak, the sorceress spoke first. 

"I already know what you came back here for." she said as she held up the potion in her hands. 

"How did you..?" he asked puzzled but finally being able to speak having caught his breath.

"I see all! I know all! Haven't you learned by now? Ha! I told you, you'd be back." she said with her eyes slightly squinted at Artem, as if she were sizing him up for something. "This potion that I have will bring her back to life, but I told you when you returned that the cost would be great." she said in a cunning tone.

"Anything! Anything I have, Anything I own, you can have. Her life is worth so much more to me than that. Please, just help me get her back!" Artem  exclaimed. There was a short pause and the sorceress spoke, her voice now more evil than ever.

"Is it worth your life?" asked the sorceress with a devilish twinkle in her eyes. 

"My life?" said Artem somewhat confused. He wasn't quite sure he'd heard her correctly. 

"Yes Fool! Your petty little insignificant life! Are you willing to save the one you love with the price of your very own existence?" asked the sorceress. 

He took a moment to think about it. He loved Ashaleigha with all his heart. He had hurt her...killed her, and now was his chance to make up for all of his wrongdoing. He owed his life to her. His life for hers. 

"Yes, saving her is worth my life!" he said feeling as though he'd made a deal with the devil himself.

"Good, take this potion and kiss her lips breathing the air from your lungs into her body. The payment of course, will not be collected until after her life is fully restored. As payment I will take all but one single second of your life...spend that second however you wish." she chuckled and continued. "Your life force energy will be transferred to me and I will be young and beautiful once again." she said with a growing smile. His eyes caught something red across the room. It was the mask from the hooded stranger at the pub. 

"You..it was you all along. You planned this? he asked walking backwards in disillusionment. The room seemed to be spinning around him, faster and faster. The sorceress spoke 

"Ah No different than when you would plan your captures, my dear. Tell me hunter..how does it feel to be hunted?" she asked followed by a menacing laugh. "You are a lot like your father was...you even look like him too. You are selfish like he was. Having me wasn't enough for him.  He had to keep searching for something more special. I wasn't special enough for him! I thought by killing him that I would feel better, but I still had to look at this hideous face you see before you in the mirror. And I saw you...I did not know that when I went to the village to destroy it that he even had a child. So imagine my surprise when I saw you return to your village as I wasn't far off in the distance, and I saw you mourning your beloved parents. I thought this was too perfect. I had another chance to get revenge. You spent your whole life trying to capture beauty and keep it for yourself. You had the most amazing creatures at your fingertips as you kept searching for things more extraordinary. Hunting them. They were never enough. You had to search for more creatures to satisfy your insatiable hunger for something more special, and all along you were my prey. My very own prize. Your father took my life from me, and I took his life, but he also stole my youth and now you will pay with yours. Or you could choose not to save Ashaleigha...and live out the rest of your normal human life, without love. Weren't you the one who thought you'd never fall for something so ridiculous as love. Ha ha! Who's the fool now?" she said as she looked into his eyes.

He wanted to be angry. He wanted to hate her. But he just couldn't. After all that he'd done, he deserved this horrible ironic fate. All that mattered now was saving Ashaleigha and giving the world back what he had so wrongfully taken from it. Her life. 

Heaven in His Angel's Eyes

He had to get back to Ashaleigha. The whole way back he was thinking of how he would spend his last second of life. He wished he had more time, but he knew he had to make that one second count. He reached the spot where Ashaleigha's body lay, and without hesitation, he drank the potion. His breath turned into a bright yellow mystical vapor. He leaned over Ashaleigha's lifeless body, running his fingers through her soft black hair one last time. 

"I'm sorry, Ashaleigha. I love you. And now you shall be free. Now you will be able to fly. Goodbye, my love." he whispered into her ear, hoping her spirit heard him. 

He placed his lips on top of hers and kissed her with the kiss of true love. He breathed the breath of life into her soul. The bright yellow vapor from his breath went into her lungs and spread throughout her entire body. He felt the warmth coming back into her skin. This was it. One second is all he would have when her life energy was fully restored.

He positioned himself so that when her eyes opened he could use his last second to stare deeply into them. Maybe she was his angel sent down from heaven to teach him what it meant to love. He saw love in her heart and heaven in her eyes. She was his sanctuary from the storm of his own heart. She was his safe haven, his comfort. She was exactly where he wanted to be, and her eyes were his heaven that he knew he didn't deserve.

She gasped for air and her eyes suddenly opened. And for that one second in time, he was taken to that peaceful place of warmth and love. A place of comfort and understanding. That one second would last him an eternity.... 

A loud cackle could be heard throughout the forest. The deep raspy old voice slowly transformed into a young womans maniacal laughter. It was the sorceress. She was young and beautiful again.

"The price some people will pay for love. ha!" she said to her black cat as she stared at her undeniable beauty in the mirror with a sinister smile and a heart that was still black as night. An ending far from a storybook happily ever after!