Book Feature: Beauty Redeemed- A Spring Equinox Chronicle (Book 2 in The Solstice Chronicles)
Beauty Redeemed is the second book in my Solstice Chronicles series and takes place in the spring realm. It is based on the Greek myth Hades and Persephone and has elements of Swan Lake woven into it. I will probably say this about every story, but this story was special for me to write. There are elements of myself in the main character again but I wanted to capture the struggle all of us have with light and dark in this world and hopefully it will be an encouragement to any who struggle with darkness.
Hades and Persephone is an interesting story and probably not a very well known one, but it was the perfect premise for my spring tale. Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of nature. Hades noticed Persephone one day and wanted her for his wife, so, he tempted her with a beautiful flower and when she took it, he captured her and took her to his realm of darkness and death. When Demeter found out, she was overwhelmed with grief and begged Zeus to let her daughter free from the realm of death, but she had eaten a pomegranate and when you ate the food of the enemy that had captured you, you gave up your right to freedom and resigned yourself to dwell with your captor the rest of your days. So, Persephone was forever bound to Hades realm. They did however grant her permission to leave the realm of the dead to live with her mother on the earth 6 months out of the year. Every time Persephone returned to the land of the living, Demeter would fill the world with blossoms and beautiful plants and flowers–Spring– and then when her daughter returned to the realm of death, she would ignore her duties as goddess of nature and the earth would shrivel and die–Winter. Intriguing correlation for my story.
This story focuses a lot on the struggle between light and darkness. The battle between dark and light has been a battle in our world since time began. My Satan character, Luscian, who was briefly introduced in the prologue of my first book, Beauty Restored, has always had a vengeance towards the Mage and the light and beauty in the world. Like Lucifer, the morning star and the most beautiful creature, Luscian desires to be greater than the Great Mage and fell in his beauty. He is now the ruler of the dark realm and desires to spread his darkness throughout the realms and ultimately destroy the light and life that exists outside of his realm. Though it seems like he is in control and able to spread his darkness wherever he wishes, he has limitations to his power and the Great Mage is ultimately in control. Much like Satan, Luscian twists people’s minds and fills them with lies and deceit and makes them believe that they are creatures of darkness and not worthy to live in the kingdom of light or be loved by the King of Light. The one person he desires most to entrap in his realm is Princess Julianna, the daughter of the sun king and princess of the spring realm. She has always struggled with darkness and struggles with feeling worthy of being a princess of light because of her struggle with darkness. Princess Julianna meets a mysterious young man, Darien, who is from the dark realm. Darien has always longed to live in a world outside the dark realm and now he finally has the chance to fulfill his mother’s dying wish to find a better life in a better world. Though he was born and bred in darkness and has deep ties to the Lord of Darkness, Luscian, he is drawn to the light and beauty of Princess Julianna. He also struggles with his unworthiness to be in the kingdom of light and thinks it is impossible to ever be granted the opportunity to be with Julianna.
This story is significant because it shares my own struggle with darkness but it also shows how those who are children of light and believers in God aren’t exempt from struggles with sin and darkness. And on the flip side, those who are still trapped in the world of darkness are never unable to be saved. The idea of redemption is a buying back of someone who is unable to save/ free themselves. We see stories of redemption all throughout the Scriptures and that is in fact why Jesus came and died a horrible death on a cross and was raised again. He paid the price we could not pay. He conquered death and gave us an unworthy opportunity to be bought out of death’s hand. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. We all have the same choice to become children of light or dwell in our worlds of darkness. We all stumble and struggle and fall. And He always comes after us and loves us and wants us no matter what we’ve done or how far we’ve gone.
My prayer as you read this book is that you will find the beauty and freedom of redemption in your life. Yes, Satan tempts us and twists our thoughts and hearts and makes us feel ashamed and unworthy and guilty, or he blinds us to our sin completely, but the power and love of Christ is so much greater than all those things and He is able to do far greater than anything Satan can do. His power is greater. His love is greater. He is greater. I hope you find the power of His love in this story and know that you are never too far gone that He can’t reach you. He loves you regardless of decisions or things you’ve done or what others have done to you. Believer, non-believer, child of light, child of darkness–we all fail, we all struggle, we ALL can be redeemed.
May you find the beauty of redemption within your own story.
Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller 