The moon usually bathed the forest in a soft glow but today, it was conspicuously absent among the clouds. The wind howled and the stars blinked, unusually dim. It was as if they knew what was going to happen and they wanted to stop it.

Ellise knew she should've listened to them, but as a young witch, she didn't know what the elements were saying--and her mind was already occupied elsewhere. So she just pulled her cloak tighter around herself, shivering as she waited. A blizzard was about to begin, she could feel it in the air. She clutched the potion tighter in her hand, waiting for her fellow witch.

'Greta better be here soon,' she thought.

And she was.

Soon, a figure clad in a red cloak emerged from the trees--a sure sign that it was a witch from Ellise's coven. As the woman came closer, Ellise could tell it was Greta. Ellise smiled, relieved.

"Do you have it?" Greta whispered.

Ellise lifted the flask containing the blood red potion in her hands.

"Can you tell me now what you want it for?"

"Patience Ellise, you'll see soon enough."

The young witch was in awe of the control her senior exuded, so without doubt, she handed the potion over. For a moment, Ellise thought Greta's cloak looked black--the cloak of Dark Witches.

'But Dark Witches are dead,' she reminded herself, 'they were killed after Helen, their Coven's leader caused the Trojan War.'

She couldn't, however shake the feeling of foreboding creeping up her spine. But Ellise told herself it would be okay and that Greta knew what she was doing. After all, Greta had been practicing witchcraft even during the Salem Trials and she was still alive. So Ellise pulled her cloak even tighter, hoping it would ward off the chills she was getting. Hoping it would keep the feeling of foreboding away.

Greta drank the potion, not sparing a glance at the younger witch who was supposed to be her mentee. Once more, the young witch thought her mentor's cloak looked black, but it had to be a trick of the eyes.

Unaware of the inner turmoil in the younger witch, Greta smiled encouragingly at her, "You did well."

Then Greta flew back to her home. Ellise followed her, wanting to reassure herself that nothing was wrong and that the chills creeping down her spine were just because of the light snow that had begun to fall.

She watched from the edge of the forest, concealed behind the trees, into Greta's house as her current husband came and pecked her on the cheek. After saying a few words to him, her senior took a ball of cotton and sat near the window where the spindle was kept.

Spinning, Greta is spinning. Nothing to worry about. Ellise thought, now confident nothing would go wrong. She turned around, wanting to leave, just when heard the outcry from Greta.

She'd pricked her finger.

Greta shook her hand outside the window and it didn't escape Ellise's notice that only three drops fell on the snow, colouring that area a light red.

But it was when she heard what Greta was murmuring that the horror struck Ellise.

"Blood red lips,
Snowy skin,
Ebony black hair,"

Ellise didn't stick around to hear the rest. She knew this spell well enough, everyone did. But it was because they were never supposed to use it, or hear someone use it.

'Bring back the one who doesn't care.'

Ellise was naive, as any young witch would be and she told the Coven. She thought she could prevent Greta from re-birthing Helen. But it was her word against Greta's, someone who'd proven herself time and again.

It was the biggest mistake she ever made.

Ellise was a wanted fugitive everywhere--that's how much influence the witches had. She knew she couldn't stand by and let Helen be reborn, the destruction the woman had caused the first time was terrible enough. Ellise knew she was inexperienced and she didn't know many destructive spells, 'unlike Greta,' she presumed. She took her time, planning, studying, practicing, all the while on the run.

She knew it wasn't possible to kill people with Light, the magic Ellise used, so she had to dabble into the Dark Arts. Little by little, she practiced, perfecting the spell so she would be ready soon--first on cats and dogs. She allowed herself just one test run and although she didn't want to kill anyone, she had no choice. Everything had to be perfect, she couldn't mess up on the final day. Or the devastation Helen would bring might just half the entire population of the world.

It took her nine months to plan and she was certain that it would go perfectly. It had to, the fate of the world rested on it. So she'd laid out false trails upon false trails, leading the Witches hunting her on a false goose chase that would be enough to hide her true location for years. Of course, she hadn't improved her magic that well in just nine months, it just wasn't possible when there were witches who'd been practicing for centuries. She'd had to lean on the dark arts again.

Ellise shook her head, she didn't have the time to think about how much her life had changed. Soon, the full moon would emerge, bathing the town in a white glow. She couldn't risk being recognised. She closed her eyes, changing her appearance. It was one of the only times she used Light now. Her cloak was now black and she had to conceal it by wearing a charm that allowed her to make it look red.

'Queen,' that was the name she gave her new persona. The past month, she'd worked on it, getting closer to the Coven as a new witch who'd just discovered her powers. She didn't want to betray the coven which had given her so much, but she told herself that she was doing it for them--so that they could be safe.

Ellise walked to the edge of the forest, standing guard over Greta's house--the coven had requested Greta be protected--from Ellise. Little did they know, Ellise was right under their noses. And she wasn't the one they needed to protect themselves from.

There was a traitor in their midst and they had no idea. She'd been born into an ideal world, Ellise realised, a world with no major conflict and no dark forces.

But now she knew that there needed to be a balance, that neither darkness nor light could be eradicated completely. And she took comfort in that fact that darkness couldn't complete overcome the light.

It was now up to her to make sure the darkness didn't upend the balance their world had found.

Slowly, she built her spell, infusing Light into the Dark magic to prevent it from hitting anyone but her target. But she'd timed it wrong. She could already hear the cries of a baby when everyone screamed at Greta's death. As the Coven expected of her and the various other protectors stationed in the forest, they rushed into the birthing room in Greta's house, seeing the midwives covering their mouths in shock at Greta's now lifeless body.

But to Ellise's horror, one of them was holding a baby.

She could see the midwife was about to drop the baby--and she should've let her do it, but Ellise was charmed by the beautiful young creature. She took the baby from the midwife, promising to divert the beauty to the Light.

But how would she do that? Ellise pondered upon a way to protect the innocent soul that had just come into the world. The only way to do that, she realized, was to get closer to the girl--as her new mother. Greta had apparently named the girl already; a name Ellise despised--Snow White. She knew it was Greta's way of showing how innocent the girl was. Of subconsciously making everyone love the girl.

Ellise had read that the spell to bring Helen back didn't work immediately. When the subject used the Dark Arts, Helen would slowly takeover the body--until one day the child would disappear.

Ellise couldn't bring herself out into the open to keep a check on the girl. So she charmed a mirror in way that it could detect the usage of Dark arts. She kept the mirror beside her bed, anxiously doing her best to teach Snow.

"Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" She would ask, hoping that she was the only one who the mirror would talk about. After all, she--other than Greta, was the only person who used the Dark Arts in millennials.

Everything was going well, until Snow's 7th birthday.

As she would do for every birthday, Ellise was baking a cake for Snow in her favorite flavor--blueberry; when she heard the shouts. Dropping everything in her hands, Ellise ran out into the porch of their little cottage, scared that Snow had been hurt. But her daughter was lying on the ground, perfectly fine, wearing her cloak. But it didn't escape Ellise's notice that the cloak was an onyx black--the same color as her hair. There were three other witches standing behind Snow, all of whom Ellise recognized as her seniors, Greta's friends.

She should've known, she should've guessed that Greta wasn't working alone. That Greta had accomplices.

And now her time had run out.

The oldest witch smiled at her, a smile that spoke volumes.

But before they could do anything, Ellise summoned her magic and in her haste, it was just Dark magic. Snow saw her kill all three of them. That day, Ellise swore off Dark Magic.

And that's when everything Ellise was fighting for crumbled. Snow began using Dark magic subconsciously, but she wouldn't let Ellise help or talk to her anymore. Ellise tried everything, but the influence of Dark Magic on Snow kept growing, until one day Snow's personality faded completely into Helen's. And then there was no way to get her daughter back. Helen knew that Ellise wouldn't let her live. So she ran away, once more accusing Ellise of being a muderer.

Ellise was called the Evil Queen, courtesy of Helen. Ellise just couldn't accept the fact that her daughter was now gone. In protecting for the innocent soul, she'd also loved and raised Snow White as her own.

She searched far and wide, in every spellbook, asked every witch, but to no avail. There was now no way to bring her daughter back.

She was dead for good.

Ellise had become numb, but she knew that she couldn't let her love for her daughter destroy the world. She had to kill Helen. And although her heart was aching, she pushed her feeling away, numbly brewing a poison for Helen.

She'd found out that Helen was living with the seven dwarfs in the forest and disguised, Ellise went there when she was sure the dwarfs had gone mining.

With a heavy heart, she gave Helen the apple.

She tried very hard not to think about the fact that it was her daughter she was poisoning.

And when the body fell to the floor, Ellise did too, crying her heart out for the child that she had loved and raised. She left only when the dwarfs came. And she returned each day, watching over the girl with the black and blood red lips.

To her horror, a prince came, taking the body in his arms, causing Helen to come alive once more.

And this time, there was nothing Ellise could do. Helen had seen her and got the Prince's guards to capture the so called 'evil queen.'

Ellise tried, for the last time, to explain, but Helen smiled at her, sticking her lips together with Dark Magic.

And Ellise could only watch Helen charm everyone as she took her last breaths.