Labyrinth is another story with a long history. I penned (okay, typed) the original version in 2001 with the title “Dybbuk” as that’s how I envisioned its primary antagonist. It went through four rewrites in 2001 and it’s title changed from Dybbuk to Labyrinth, now due to the topography of the island where the majority of the action takes place. There were two rewrites in 2015 and I touched it once in 2019. It never left my mind, though.
I still like “Dybbuk” (from Jewish folklore, a demon that enters the body of a living person and controls that body’s behavior) and will probably work the word into the story somehow (never give up on a good thing), but do recognize “Labyrinth” is more fitting to the stories theme and primary conflict.
This piece is currently penned (typed? entered?) as a prologue, and I don’t like prologues. One of my writing mentors told me prologues are only necessary when there’s information the reader needs to understand/accept the story but which doesn’t logically fit anywhere in the story. Otherwise, put that information in the story somewhere because if it’s necessary and can fit somewhere, put it there.
This piece’s story sets the tone for two main but not primary characters, basically catalysts in the primary character’s life. Let me know what you think.
The Labyrinth – Witch and Warrior (Prologue?)
Have you ever heard the story about the witch and the warrior?
No.
A while ago, neither long ago nor far away, two people loved each other and made a pact that they would always be together, always find each other, would never let the other be alone. One was a witch, the other was a warrior.
They stood together, side by side, always listening, always sharing. Everyone knew who they were but not what, they only shared with others when there was need. They lived quietly and peacefully.
At one point, something happened, not because of them but to them, not because of something they did, purely because of what they were.
The people changed. They grew concerned and worried. The witch and the warrior, who had never harmed others, became the focus of harm. It started small and grew over time. Rumors began. Strange things, people said.
But the things weren’t strange, they were the same things they came for in months and years past.
Fear is a fickle thing. One person may bond to you because they fear you but ten people will bond to each other in their fear of you and ten will act where one would not.
So it was with the witch and the warrior. The people came against them.
We knew the warrior died from a wound to the side, and the witch burning in a fire. For the longest time we thought the warrior received the wound protecting the witch. Then we learned the witch died protecting the warrior.
The truth is the woundings go back and forth, sometimes one protects the other, sometimes the other protects the one. Sometimes it’s witch and warrior, other times it’s warrior and witch.
But they made a pact, so they travel through time, finding each other, making lives together, seeking a place where they can be alone, rest, at peace.
Be careful what you say to your aunt. Even I don’t know when she is witch or warrior. I do know we’ve come here to be alone.
(header image by google gemini)
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