Hortensia - Tumblr Posts
Do you have your own F/E (fictional enemy)?
I do! For Fallen Magic, the main villain is the Queen, Hortensia. However, I’ve added some twists to her, because “evil Queen” on its own is kinda boring.
If you want to hear about her, scroll down! If you don’t want to be majorly spoiled, don’t read below the cut.
Hortensia is the eldest daughter of King Rown and Queen Melan, and has a younger sister Brigitta. The family was happy and the King and Queen were beloved, but soon after Brigitta turned eight, she became ill. Rown and Melan reached out to every healing in and out of Elubeth, finding only the best, exploring every option, but nothing worked. At nine years old Brigitta was bedridden and hardly ever conscious, and no one expected her to live much longer. The family was devastated, but Hortensia (fourteen) wasn‘t about to give up. The royal advisor and trusted family friend Weland assisted Hortensia in her search for a cure, and with his help she found an old book that had been forgotten in the library. It held countless cures within it, things she‘d never seen before, and she brought it to her parents immediately. However, they were not so excited about her finding.
They were struck when they saw the book, taking it away and asking where she found such a thing. They explain that the book contains dark magic, a magic no longer practiced because of its unnatural, unstable abilities. Dark magic is like a parasite that latches onto the user, corrupting them, and bringing out their worst emotions until thats all thats left of the person. Melan has the book destroyed and tries to comfort Hortensia, saying its just Brigitta‘s time, but Hortensia runs away.
Weland finds her and tells her about a place called the Klanstin Ruins, saying that an entity there might be able to assist her. He covers for her while she rides to the ruins, finding a destroyed and abandoned city lost to time in the middle of a beautiful meadow. It is here she makes contact with a strange entity, something she can hear, but not see. She explains why she‘s there and the entity agrees to help, but says she must help it escape the ruins it is trapped in. She agrees, allowing the entity to attach itself to her, and rides back to the castle. There, the entity explains the steps she must take to preform different spells, and she follows them. Within a week Brigitta is awake and even speaking more, and Rown and Melan consider it a miracle, as does all of Elubeth when the news gets out. Hortensia is ecstatic, but she feels like something is… wrong. She feels weaker, drained, and her skin is pale. As she continues to complete the spells from the entity, she feels worse, while Brigitta gets better. Its not until black veins appear across her face that she realizes how bad it is. She talks to the entity, saying she doesn‘t want to follow the spells anymore, but the entity refuses to give her up. It takes control of her, using her as a puppet whenever it chooses, Hortensia powerless to stop it. She becomes withdrawn and sickly, and as the entity no longer preforms the spells to heal Brigitta, she gets worse as well.
Rown and Melan are heartbroken as both of their daughters seem to be pulled away from them. Brigitta falls into a coma, and Hortensia is acting… different. She‘s more hostile, easy to anger, yet also quiet and withdrawn. They try to help, but she won‘t let them, and they don‘t know what to do. Weland says he has no idea what caused this, but he‘ll do his best to help. Then, one night, under the control of the entity, Hortensia enters her parents bedchambers and attempts to kill them both. She succeeds with her father and tries to cut her mothers throat, but Melan escapes out of the window. It is believed she died later on. With both parents gone, “Hortensia“ is next in line for Queen. It is a sad day when she it crowned, and the beginning of a deadly rule. She places laws against magic usage, eventually banning it altogether in certain areas, and begins having books on magic and its history destroyed. Some mages join her side, fighting alongside her mostly because they are given more rights and are allowed to practice magic under heavy restrictions, though they can only use magic to assist the Queen. Radical anti-mage groups rise, mages are imprisoned for no reason at all, while others are killed in the streets like wild dogs. Panic breaks out, which the new Queen stamps down on by issuing raids, having mages either killed, arrested, or pledging themselves to the Queen. Mages are wiped out by the thousands, those who survived going into hiding, fearful of their friends, family, and neighbors. Anyone can rat you out if your a mage. Others pledge their allegiance with the Queen and move to the Royal City. Mages in the Royal City are not allowed to practice magic, but they are somewhat protected, though those who are out as mages still face heavy prejudice from non-mages. Within only a year the kingdom has been devastated and divided, and still Brigitta sleeps. Hortensia, the part of her that hasn‘t yet been destroyed by the dark entity, continues to do what she can for her sister. Hortensia‘s eyes have turned an unsettling black, her hair limp and lifeless, but she doesn‘t feel as drained as before. The entity, which refers to itself as The Darkness, grows stronger as time goes on.
A rebellion is formed right under the Queen‘s nose, small at first but growing larger and stronger and including people from the Royal City, and even people from within the castle. One man, a cadet named Ekward, is working for the Rebellion and gives them whatever information he can. He‘s surrounded by hateful mages who feel as though they‘ve been forced to work for the Queen, and they take out much of their aggression on him. Despite being unevenly matched against people who have magic, Ekward wins every fight, and catches the attention of the Queen. Suddenly he finds himself being made her personal guard, constantly under supervision and heavy question. This position does allow him access to crucial information for the Rebellion, though he must tread carefully lest he be found out to be treasonous.
This is the time my story Fallen Magic takes place, though the main characters don‘t know about the Darkness or Hortensia‘s backstory.
I like her
This time I tried to depict beautiful flowers of Hydrangea paniculata Siebold, in other words one species of Hortensia, that are native to Asia and America.
Some of the interesting facts about it:
- The flowers are used for ornamental purposes
- Sometimes is smoked although it can be dangerous and even lead to death
- the name Hyrangea origins from Greece and means "water vessel" because of the shape of the flowers.
Midcentury Landscape - Container Garden