" From the day she was born, her mother cried. Not because she was weak, but she knew the world would fear her".
In a magical world where perfection and supremacy was judged by the skin. A girl with dark patterns on her skin was born. And she was named Zulai which meant rejection.
Zulai's eyes filled with dark tears as she walked pass her fellow people, who were known as maisais as they threw stones at her and spat on the ground she stepped on.
Zulai, as a young girl who was born with a rare skin with dark patterns all over, unlike the rest who had the perfect golden skin. She was treated as an outcast, she lived alone behind the valleys where no one visited or cared to check. Many believed Zulai was cursed and so they attacked her severally, wanting to take her life. Every seventh night Zulai always found food and water at door step but didn't know who it was from or who was helping her. Although Zulai was very beautiful endowed with thick curves and curly hair, but her dark thick patterns always made her feel less of herself. She cried and hoped for her "supposed" curse could be lifted f om her, little did she know that a skin they all called a curse, would be a saviour to them, but some never lived long enough to see what it could do.
As if life had not given Zulai enough, it decided to strike again but this time more harder. The royal palace was having a yearly magical celebrations where all the Maisais gathered to present their beautiful magic tricks to the King and the royal judges.
Zulai always wanted to attend the celebration but they'd never let her take a step without reminding her of the dark patterns.But this year Zulai was very eager to witness the magic tricks, but all she could do was to cry it all out, her tears moved the earth, silent but innocent and suddenly a voice echoed " Cry no more, I am here with a solution" the voice sounded strange but gave Zulai a very good plan but with the condition that she'd have to...She climbed up the golden tree, she took the brightly sparkling golden leaves and used it to paint her body. This made her look like the rest. She was very happy and very emotional looking at her reflection through the pot of water. But what she thought was just a disguise for a day, might become the worst mistake she may have made.
As Zulai walked down the path which led to the royal palace, for the first time she wasn't ashamed,scared, or intimidated rather she felt a sense of peace, happiness and love. The same persons who mocked the girl beneath the golden disguise,now spoke lovingly to the new character they knew nothing about. As she reached the royal palace, she was amazed and felt very privileged to be able to step on the royal floor for the first time. Everyone was so marvelled at her beauty, she was the definition of perfection in the magical world. Zulai could only but have a feeling of grief because she knew surely that these moments could only last a while. Few moments later, the King, his queens and princesses all graced the events alongside the royal judges. But the King noticed the beauty amongst the crowd and guess who? It was the disguise Zulai. Zulai who was innocently watching from the crowd feeling herself, didn't know what was about to hit her.
Soon the event started, it was a sight to behold, pleasant and enchanting. Zulai didn't pay much attention to the people around, all she cared about was the moment she was living not letting any worry or thought spoil her mood. Just as the event was going on, the prince arrived he was very dashing and good looking,he must have been the "prince charming" every girl was searching for. He was illail which meant saviour. All the girls and women both young and old all wished in their widest imaginations to be illail's wife and future queen when he takes down his father the king. Illail was also stunned when he saw Zulai, but this time even Zulai had butterflies in her belly. They gazed at each other for a while untill a girl noticed and decided to distract Zulai from gaining illail's attention. But illail had already fallen for the disguise.
After the whole event, everyone gathered to drink, eat and dance. Zulai made sure she had a lot to eat, because she was not sure if life would give her such opportunities ever again. Illail on the other hand was busy looking for the beauty he saw, he searched through the crowd but couldn't find her untill he decided to give up, he left to his room in a sad mood, for once in his life he didn't get what he wanted at the snap of his fingers. But just as he stood close to his window, he saw Zulai walking majestically out of the royal palace. He knew he needed to stop her and get her so he jumped off the window to the dusty ground which caused Zulai to turn to see and before she knew it, illail took her by her hand and led her his room.
"I must have done a magic spell which made me witness such a beauty today", said illail. Zulai was flattered that she couldn't even say anything, she just stood there looking into his eyes. But suddenly they heard footsteps which meant that Zulai had to leave, but illail wasn't ready to let her go so he whispered into her ears "Meet me at the magic forest tonight" and with a smile on her face Zulai left. When Zulai got home, she twirled around her little hut in happiness and amazement, untill she suddenly remembered that it was the disguise that the prince fell in love with, it was the disguise that was the spotlight not the curse wearing it. Zulai had to continue with her lie and disguise especially now that she had the prince in her arms. " What if he finds out" the strange voice echoed and that was when it struck zulai, the horrible truth she would be doomed if she was caught.
As she was still thinking in her room about the trouble she had just gotten into, suddenly the clouds began to fall,the whole land was getting darker. Just after a celebration was chaos, many maisais tried to handle it but it seemed like their tricks and spells were too weak. They summoned the most powerful of them, whom they called dwarf magician. He also tried but it was like their world was planned to end just after an event. As Zulai looked out from her hut behind the valleys she became terrified as she saw the cloud descending over their heads, maisais running out of control and fear for their lives which they couldn't save obviously. But little did they know that the one whom they called a curse... Illail was the main target, a witch wanted him as her prince charming but she got the opportunity. Back at Zulai 's abode, her dark patterns began to shine in a mysterious and scary way, it was like the patterns were coming alive and like a spirit Zulai became very powerful.
The witch that wanted illail suddenly came down, she casted a spell on everyone and they all slept off, so she gently flew to the royal palace and grabbed illail who was also asleep. Just as she was about leaving Zulai appeared, not the shy, scared or rejected one but a fierce, and brave Zulai. After a lot of spells, magic and fights Zulai finally destroyed the witch and reversed the spell she casted on everyone and took illail home because he was injured and maybe because she had a little feeling inside of her. After a night of horror and saving. It was morning again, illail woke up close to Zulai but this time he was terrified of her not knowing she was the same old beauty he saw the night before. Zulai also woke up, she explained everything to him but illail didn't believe her. He took his clothes and left. At that point, it dawned at Zulai that once again she had returned to the world of rejection just when she finally found her love. Zulai wanted the patterns out of her life. She wanted answers to her questions. But she couldn't hold back her tears as she watched illail walked away from her. Now the question was How will she get the patterns out of her life for good?