I promised people to explain the curse from my last Friday Flash, which had turned the warrior woman into a 'princess' aka the proverbial damsel in distress. Since "Maiden's Resolve" had to be a flash, a lot of what I wanted to say had to be cut and I had to assume that readers would trust me and accept the curse as it is. But Stephen asked so many questions in the comments that couldn't resist and show you some of the behind the scenes.
"Maiden's Resolve" does not have a long creative history. When I read the challenge was to go and make an overused trope fresh, my mind instantly flew to the princesses, who could never ever save themselves. How they relied on the princes to come and rescue them, because they would have no other alternative. I decided to work with the antithesis, a warrior woman, who has chosen to be saved, chosen to be captive.
The 'how' and the 'why' were tricky, so I went for the obvious.
The warrior would take on a job, whose objective is to kill a witch in the woods, but the warrior is not told that the term ‘witch’ is mildly put [demonic demigod here serves better]. The enemy proves to be immensely powerful, but even outmatched the heroine is a formidable match. As punishment, after the witch seizes control over the warrior's body, she erects the prison disguised as a castle and fills it with all the monsters the heroine has slain.
The actual curse is powerful magic. It digs through the heroine's memories and identifies all the people the warrior has ever helped [villages, towns, etc.] Think of her as Sword and Sorcery diva by way of Red Sonja. When the heroine holds a weapon and strikes with it with an intention to kill, the curse is triggered. It targets 100 people from her memory and when the blow lands, the 100 people fall down dead on the ground. The curse also projects the last seconds of the slain one hundred in her mind and body, so that the warrior knows the witch means business.
And that's it. The curse also has side functions as in puppeteering the warrior to clad for battle and taunting her to go berserk and start killing.
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I've also featured the artwork 'Evil Curse' by Kaohu, which I simply adore.
"Maiden's Resolve" does not have a long creative history. When I read the challenge was to go and make an overused trope fresh, my mind instantly flew to the princesses, who could never ever save themselves. How they relied on the princes to come and rescue them, because they would have no other alternative. I decided to work with the antithesis, a warrior woman, who has chosen to be saved, chosen to be captive.
The 'how' and the 'why' were tricky, so I went for the obvious.
[Side-track Alert]
The warrior would take on a job, whose objective is to kill a witch in the woods, but the warrior is not told that the term ‘witch’ is mildly put [demonic demigod here serves better]. The enemy proves to be immensely powerful, but even outmatched the heroine is a formidable match. As punishment, after the witch seizes control over the warrior's body, she erects the prison disguised as a castle and fills it with all the monsters the heroine has slain.
The actual curse is powerful magic. It digs through the heroine's memories and identifies all the people the warrior has ever helped [villages, towns, etc.] Think of her as Sword and Sorcery diva by way of Red Sonja. When the heroine holds a weapon and strikes with it with an intention to kill, the curse is triggered. It targets 100 people from her memory and when the blow lands, the 100 people fall down dead on the ground. The curse also projects the last seconds of the slain one hundred in her mind and body, so that the warrior knows the witch means business.
And that's it. The curse also has side functions as in puppeteering the warrior to clad for battle and taunting her to go berserk and start killing.
---
I've also featured the artwork 'Evil Curse' by Kaohu, which I simply adore.
