Once upon a time...

The white knight rode his white stallion up a grassy hill and smiled in awe as he finally saw the magical castle where his princess awaited him in the top tower. For four years, he'd been completing quest after quest in search of his bride to be. Slaying dragons, fighting hordes of ogres, mucking through swamp forests, retreiving king's treasures...you name it, he did it...all in the name of a fairy tale ending. Hundreds of men had tried, but failed. And now...beaten and scarred...and still very much alive...he was only a few miles away from rescuing his true love.

The champion kicked at his horse's sides...but instead of galloping, his horse reared up on his back legs, and began snorting...as if something was wrong - indeed it was. The ground beneath immediately began to quake, and what sounded like thunder (which was really just millions of roots and tree limbs snapping) clapped deafeningly - ringing his ears. To his complete amazement, the castle over the hills began to tear from the earth and rise from the ground! His mouth opened in disbelief as his entire life floated away. Squinting...he could see the princess in the tower window. She was waving and laughing! And she even spit at him!

"Umm..." the knight said to himself softly. He was stunned...

"WHAT....the....FUCK!?!?!"

"WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF FUCKED UP FAIRY TALE IS THIS!?!?"

"YOU! Yeah...YOU...the asshole writing this...what the shit is this?!? You fucking have me waste FOUR years of my life, completing all these bullshit quests that nearly get me killed...and right when I'm a few miles away from living happily ever after...you make the stupidass castle fly away!?!? And have the princess laugh and wave to me?!? Like she's enjoying watching me get fucked over?!? Is this a fucking joke to you!?! Don't look at me like I'm crazy, I'm talking to you dickhead!!"

The white knight rips through the pages of the book...and punches the storyteller in the head. He then grabs the feathered pen, and starts to write...

The princess admired the amazing view from the tower in the sky as she floated away. She waved mockingly at her knight in shining armor down below, then decided she was hungry, and wanted some fruit. She stopped by the mirror in her room, and blew herself a kiss.

"Silly white knight...I can't believe he actually thought *I* would be interested in loving him! Me! The princess! I have guys all over the land pining for me! Why would I be interested in true love, when I could get everything else I want from everyone else!? What a sap! He's so predictable," the princess laughed again as she admired herself some more. "God you're gorgeous. Will you marry me? Hah, I wish! I'm the prettiest princess in all the land! I know what I'll do! I'll call the castle artist, and have him come paint my portrait a thousand times so I can distribute them all throughout the land for everyone to see. Now that's a grand idea! Then everyone can wish they had me as a bride! You really are beautiful," she kept telling herself. After 20 minutes in front of the mirror, she opened the door...and to her amazement...the white knight stood glaring at her. She opened her mouth to speak...but nothing came out.

"Hello," he greeted her with...along with a quick stab with his sword into her pelvic bone.

The princess cried out in pain and crumped to the floor. Without pausing...the white knight grabbed her hair, and pulled her across the room...leaving a bloody trail. As he passed the mirror, he stopped and made her look at herself.

"So this is the infamous vanity mirror. It's nice. Is this where you admire yourself all day long? Why don't you give yourself a kiss!" he said...as he shoved her face into the glass, shattering the mirror into a cobweb of broken lines.

"Happy to see your prince charming? Yes? No? Aww...tears of joy...I'm happy too," the knight laughed hysterically.

He threw her against the window sill, and pushed her head over the ledge. "Nice view, hey" Do you like that? Did you like fucking seeing me ride up to the castle, and then blasting off? You're a funny fucker, aren't you? Did you really think I'd just turn around quietly and go back to where I came from? Did you, you fucking selfish cunt?! Oh...look at Prince Charming waste half a decade of his life chasing me...I think I'll wait until he's right outside the castle gates before spitting on him! Do I fucking look like all the rest of the wanna be heros?? There's a REASON I beat all the tests I had to take. There's a REASON I'm the only one who made it out alive. Because I actually cared! But now I don't. Now I'm just pissed off, and need a little payback before I can get on with my life. This is just closure..."

The princess was choking on her tears, but the knight didn't care. He put his foot on her head, and held her in place as he came down hard with his sword. He didn't even think twice. Thinking rationally just wasn't a top priority anymore. Maybe later. Her lopped off head bounced off the stone ledge and fell below.

"Adios Devi...err....Princess," the knight laughed, and waved....and after the head became a dot falling into the trees far below...he spit at it...remembering she had done the same thing to him.

He thought about keeping her body around to fuck as a souvenier...but decided he didn't need to be reminded anymore of this day...so he pulled her limp body up, and kicked her ass over the ledge too.

He dusted off his hands, and went to go find the pilot of the castle, so he could kill him, and fly himself back home and live happily ever after...

The fucking end



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Okay...first of all, I want to thank everyone who helped me on this piece with suggestions on how to make it better. You guys are totally supportive, creative, and invaluable I realize I could still do a lot more, and I might in the future, but for now, I'm happy with it. I'm not a painter...so everything in this image are stock images (about 10 or so).

The reason I did this manipulation...is because I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do a landscape, because I don't see any landscape manips on DA. I also wanted to challenge myself to see how much emotion and life I could give it. Although it still has flaws, I'm proud of myself for having the patience to stick with this...because for weeks, I couldn't even get the castle and mountains to blend even semi decently or look good because of the colors in the original photos. So many times I just wanted to scrap the whole idea, and start on something new. I also wanted to prove to myself I could create something soft and romantic, despite feeling angry and sad the past few weeks.

Like all my pieces...this is a lot more than eye candy and a trademark fucked up story (Turel, here's the "message" lol) It's about perservering in friendships and relationships through difficult times. Fighting, misunderstandings, never giving up despite hard times...etc etc...yet still making the friendship work by understanding each other...and just when you think you've been through everything possible, and still have a close bond with someone...something happens beyond your control to end it. In my case, I don't react too well after investing so much time and emotion into a friendship

I realize the story might be too much for people because I just had fun venting out the last of my emotions, or they might not "get it"...that's okay...just look at the pretty castle and say "nice colors".

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Music listened to while designing: Nightwish, Iron Maiden, Solefald, Cyndi Lauper, Demons and Wizards, Slayer (can you guess which part I was listening to Slayer on? lol)

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Special stock:

Flames: sugarmagnolia420 - [link]

Castle: annlo13 - [link]

Enjoy