The First Rose

• Aastha Prasad, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2018

Thousands of years ago, there lived a King and a Queen, King Rosendo and Queen Alyana. They ruled their Kingdom happily and were beloved by their people. One day, something terrible happened. The war bells rang and Rosendo and his brother, Elvin, knew…they had to go to war. Queen Alyana gave Rosendo a single, white flower as a sign of her love and to bid him farewell. They were both nervous as they knew, if King Rosendo died in the war, Elvin, who was not worthy, would become King.
Some weeks passed and both Rosendo and Elvin were well, but scarred, as they had seen things that no human should have to see. As usual, Rosendo was in his section of the tent (that he and Elvin shared) admiring the flawless flower he was given. There was one problem though. Elvin always had malice towards Rosendo as he was King, (Rosendo was wary of it) but the war had increased that malice… It had driven Elvin crazy. His urge to become King was uncontrollable.
So, one evening whilst Rosendo was admiring the flower, Elvin menacingly stood behind him, holding a terrible object. An object that shone like the sun. He held a sword. With a swift but powerful movement of the sword, King Rosendo was dead.
His blood stained the flower with the darkest shade of red ever thought to exist.
One day later, Elvin sent a royal messenger with the blood-stained flower with a letter saying that Rosendo was killed during battle, holding the flower to the end. Alyana was absolutely distraught, her tears gave the flower a sweet scent. She knew Elvin was lying. She knew all his secrets. Her anger was so great, that on the flower she clutched, grew thorns. Alyana immediately ran to the royal garden to plant the flower. Being a sorceress, she cast a spell on the flower and out sprouted more of its type. She carefully picked a flower and summoned Elvin to the garden with her magic. Bewildered and confused, Elvin didn’t even get a chance to speak before Alyana trapped him in a thorn of the flower for evermore.
Alyana lovingly named the new flower 'Rose' in memory of her late husband. That is how the rose came to be.