People believe beauty is something that needs to be admired, I say otherwise, it is not something to be admired, it is something that is addictive enough to consume you, and mesmerize you, it is more like a drug, the more you deny it, the greater the greed grows for it.

I am going to narrate a story, well it is not a fairy tale, but it is a tale as old as time. This is the story of the firstborn witch in the history of humankind.

The story is thousands of centuries old. As beautiful as she was, the darker her powers were, unaware of her true nature of existence, she lived in a kingdom of a very kind ruler. The king believed in harmony and peace, and so his belief was reflected in his kingdom.

Oh! You might think now, that the prince saw the witch unaware of her true identity, he fell in love with her and married her, and later found out about her true colors. But my darlings, let me burst your bubble, it is the other way around. It was the witch who fell in love with the prince. Oh did I mention the name of this beautiful and magnificent witch? Her name was ALANI, meaning FRAGRANCE, she was admired and adorned by all the men in the kingdom, and why wouldn’t she?

Her powers and magic were harmless as she knew what she possessed but hadn’t discovered its dark uses. Oh! She was such a darling, she used her powers to heal the broken wings of birds and wounded animals and revive dead plants. After all, she was the first-born witch, she had all those amazing powers, so good and so dark.

She was madly in love with the prince, and so was the prince. He reciprocated her feelings beautifully. The prince was a man any woman would die for his desires. They were so deeply in love and no one was to oppose it. She was loved. Everything was beautiful. The prince enjoyed her presence, her chirpiness, her beauty, her giggles, her wholesome laugh, but every season is not SPRING, you see my dear.

The prince was not bad, if that’s what you are thinking, he was just fragile, not because he was born like that, but he chose it. Alani opened up about her most hidden secret, the secret she was herself afraid of, but she loved the prince so beyond that, she wanted it to be a secret for no long. She had faith in her love. She wanted to offer the prince all of her.

One very fine evening, the prince and witch were having some time alone in the garden, when a broken butterfly fell into her feet. ‘Can I show you something, your highness?’ Alani asked with all the courage, love, and respect she had in herself. The prince smiled and said, ‘You must never ask for my permission, for you are the one true love of my life and you are not someone lower to me, but very equal.’ Alani was filled with love and affection in her.

‘Here’, she said to the prince, pointing towards that broken butterfly. In a matter of seconds, she healed the broken wing of the butterfly, and it flew away. She was expecting a surprised face, or an embrace, or maybe a little appreciation for her kindness towards the butterfly, but all she got was a forced smile from the prince. She didn’t force him, but what she didn’t realise was the real feelings of the prince had changed.

You see my darlings, humans are fragile they are not bad, they are afraid sometimes of unusual things, and just to overcome their fear they choose to hurt and not accept. Humans are afraid of things that are beyond their imaginations and are incapable of understanding their true existence in the world, and name it MONSTER, while the real monster lies in them, the FEAR, and the UNACCEPTANCE.

The prince had never seen or heard anything Alani was capable of doing. He thought of it as a result of the devil’s worship. What he didn’t understand was, the people who worship the devil, don’t heal, they kill. And yes! Alani did possess powers, way beyond darker, but it was her choice to use them for the greater good. She chose to heal people and other natural entities, and not destruct them.

You see my darlings, that’s the difference. Alani possessed the most fearing and dark powers and yet chose to do good, and the prince, who thought of himself as a good person, the god-loving person, and yet was not able to see the good Alani embraced in her darkness. Now, don’t you call that a beauty? A dark beauty indeed! But it still is a beauty…

For days, Alani tried to pursue the prince for his estranged behavior, she tried to figure out the sudden change in the prince. And one day, while she was talking to her plants she heard an announcement going around in the kingdom. The Kingsmen were inviting the people of the monarch in the marriage ceremony of the prince, with the princess of the neighboring Kingdom.

Alani was shocked and devastated at this announcement. All she wanted was some answers. She decided to attend the prince’s nuptial celebrations. On the other hand, the prince was terrified of the outcome, when the news of his marriage will be exposed to Alani. You see my darlings, the prince had already made up his mind about Alani, that she was a monster and so he was terrified of her. Do you see the irony here loves? The monster lies in him and he declared the name to someone else. To avoid any further hindrances in his marriage he decided to speak to Alani in person.

An hour before his marriage rituals, he went to meet Alani at her house alone. He was about to knock on her door when he heard some voices from inside. He tried to sneak out the window. He saw Alani crying and all the other things in her house her plants, her books even the birds and animals she healed were there to console her. They were trying to calm her. You see loves, only the healed knows how painful it is to be wounded. Oh! Such a poor soul. Seeing all the scenarios in her house, the prince went back to his palace without having a word with Alani.

She kept crying for hours and finally decided not to be part of the prince’s marriage ceremony and leave the Kingdom. While she was packing her things and planning to leave, suddenly her house caught on fire. She picked up her plants, books and gathered her animals around her arms, and tried leaving in haste only to realize that door was locked from the outside. She tried screaming for help, but nothing helped and a man from outside the house said, ‘It is your fate you poor child, for it is the order by the kingdom to burn you alive, with your house.’ Alani broke into tears and asked, ‘You must fulfill my dying wish, for you are a gentleman, I wish to know who gave the orders?’ the man from outside said, ‘I respect your dying wish and as a true man I shall fulfill your last wish, it was ordered by The Prince himself’. He said and walked away.

Well see, here, Alani could have used her powers and saved herself, after all she was the firstborn witch and she possessed the power such as turning the direction of the wind, controlling the flames of the fire, the rain, and others. But instead, she used her powers to burn herself alive, and while she was burning, she put a curse on the entire humankind.

She said, ‘I Alani, the firstborn witch of this humankind, the daughter of mother nature, the protector of the good, is being burned down in ashes by the man I loved the most, the man I thought to be a gentleman, and understood me beyond my outer beauty, today with every burning flesh in my body I curse the entire humankind with THE CURSE OF BEAUTY. The beauty that is mesmerizing and breathtaking will be unwanted and undesired for you all, and the more you resist it the more you will crave it. It will be a drug that humankind will never be able to resist. And it is not entirely a curse, for if the admirer of the beauty accepts it and understands it will be fortunate to relish it for their entire life as a god’s gift, and for those who only crave for its outer appearance, shall be fed the fruits that were sowed by the devil himself.‘

She cursed and turned in ashes, and despite all those burns and smoke, her ashes were smelling like fresh orange, only like her name ALANI… the firstborn witch.

– Madhu