Okay, I have a story started and it needs some work but I have two beginnings. One is more a history up to the point where the story begins. The other just starts at the beginning. Should I use one as a prologue or just start with one? Opinions are appreciated.
Beginning #1:
There were extremely rare occasions when a child with golden hair was born among the moon faeries. Before the Great War it would have been welcomed as a good omen. Now though, it was considered one of the greatest evils. The children were abandoned or became the lowest of slaves. Many times their mothers became outcasts for life, as if they had been responsible for the 'devil's child' they had birthed.
On one occasion a child was only banished with a nurse. Princess Gwyn was born on a clear, spring night. Her arrival was never announced the the moon faeries. The old mid-wife who aided the queen in her delivery handed her to a young, frightened maid after one glance at her patch of golden hair.
No one noticed the maid disappear into the shadows with an akwardly wrapped bundle on her back. They were to concerned in comforting the queen who became hysterical when told her baby was dead. At the funeral no one noticed how little the baby resembled the king or queen. Only a crying commoner and the mid-wife knew it wasn't the queen's daughter... and a maid who had just entered the 'Haunted Woods', hundreds of miles south of the capital city.
Beginning #2:
In the Old Times the sun and moon faeries lived in harmony. They met on the Isle of Happiness in an ancient temple to celebrate the light that they held in their hearts. In the temple were two stones, the moonstone was black with an inner fire burning inside of it that made it glow almost red. The sunstone was clear and shone with its blinding light. Their light had been placed in them in times lost even to the bards.
All went well until an evil faery, no one knew of what race, stole the heartlight from the stones and fled. In a moment chaos and war broke out. The bridge that had once connected the Isle of Happiness to the mainland vanished beneath the waves. Three guardians came awake from the depths of the sea and kept all away from the Isle.
Gradually everyone forgot where the Isle of Happiness was. The war between the sun and moon faeries raged on for years and the heartlight in their hearts began to dim. The war ended but the hatred remained along with the Great Stone Wall. It was built after the war and divided the Land of Light into the Land of Sunshine and the Land of Moonshine.
A prophesy was made the year the war ended. The old priest who had made it died days later. Rumors and whispers flitted through both kingdoms of how a royal sun faery and a royal moon faery. How they would fall in love and only they could restore the heartlight to the stones and to everyones heart. No one mentioned the missing part of the prophesy though... the part of how they would bee shunned because of their appearance... no, no one heard the last whispered part of the prophesy...
So... that's it. What do you think?
Beginning #1:
There were extremely rare occasions when a child with golden hair was born among the moon faeries. Before the Great War it would have been welcomed as a good omen. Now though, it was considered one of the greatest evils. The children were abandoned or became the lowest of slaves. Many times their mothers became outcasts for life, as if they had been responsible for the 'devil's child' they had birthed.
On one occasion a child was only banished with a nurse. Princess Gwyn was born on a clear, spring night. Her arrival was never announced the the moon faeries. The old mid-wife who aided the queen in her delivery handed her to a young, frightened maid after one glance at her patch of golden hair.
No one noticed the maid disappear into the shadows with an akwardly wrapped bundle on her back. They were to concerned in comforting the queen who became hysterical when told her baby was dead. At the funeral no one noticed how little the baby resembled the king or queen. Only a crying commoner and the mid-wife knew it wasn't the queen's daughter... and a maid who had just entered the 'Haunted Woods', hundreds of miles south of the capital city.
Beginning #2:
In the Old Times the sun and moon faeries lived in harmony. They met on the Isle of Happiness in an ancient temple to celebrate the light that they held in their hearts. In the temple were two stones, the moonstone was black with an inner fire burning inside of it that made it glow almost red. The sunstone was clear and shone with its blinding light. Their light had been placed in them in times lost even to the bards.
All went well until an evil faery, no one knew of what race, stole the heartlight from the stones and fled. In a moment chaos and war broke out. The bridge that had once connected the Isle of Happiness to the mainland vanished beneath the waves. Three guardians came awake from the depths of the sea and kept all away from the Isle.
Gradually everyone forgot where the Isle of Happiness was. The war between the sun and moon faeries raged on for years and the heartlight in their hearts began to dim. The war ended but the hatred remained along with the Great Stone Wall. It was built after the war and divided the Land of Light into the Land of Sunshine and the Land of Moonshine.
A prophesy was made the year the war ended. The old priest who had made it died days later. Rumors and whispers flitted through both kingdoms of how a royal sun faery and a royal moon faery. How they would fall in love and only they could restore the heartlight to the stones and to everyones heart. No one mentioned the missing part of the prophesy though... the part of how they would bee shunned because of their appearance... no, no one heard the last whispered part of the prophesy...
So... that's it. What do you think?
