Heart Of Darkness

Heart Of Darkness Chapter 1 - Prologue

They whispered in town about him. They called him a beast. They called him cruel. They called him ugly.

People were repulsed by his face. They treated him like a deadly disease, avoiding him like the plague. They didn't dare talk to or in front of him, but behind closed doors, they would tell scary tales about him; some would send chills down your spine, and others were outrageous and couldn't be true.

Parents would use stories about him to scare their children into doing what they wanted.

"Don't make me call the beast," they would threaten.

But the children didn't call him a beast. They called him 'monster face'.

Others called him the Dark Lord.

Lord Rayven.

He lived in a dark castle at the top of the highest hill in town. People called it the cursed castle. It had been abandoned for a very long time until Lord Rayven arrived in the kingdom as the new King's guard a few months ago. Everyone was shocked when he moved into the abandoned castle.

"A cursed man in a cursed castle," people whispered about him.

It was also upon his arrival that a few deaths occurred in town. Everyone said that it was him. Everything wrong after his appearance was blamed on him, but no one dared to confront him. He was a powerful man, after all. He was close to the King, and false accusations could lead to death.

But how much was true, and how much was only rumours? No one knew.

Angelica looked ahead at the dark castle. It looked even more frightening under the gloomy night sky. Dark clouds hovered over the tallest tower, blocking the moon and stars. The clouds looked like ghosts trying to scare her away, but ghosts didn't scare Angelica anymore.

Humans did.

She climbed the hill, her bare feet bleeding after the long walk on the stones. The pain and cold numbed her feet, but she still had a long distance to walk, so she kept going.

The castle seemed further away than it appeared, and Angelica soon became tired. She stopped and glanced behind her to ensure no one followed her. Who would dare to follow her up here at night? No one would even suspect that she ran off to the creepy castle. It wasn't a place to run to but a place to run from.

Angelica wondered if she was sane to run from monsters to hide in the beast's den. What made her think the dark Lord would keep her safe or accept her offer? She must think highly of herself.

Despite the horrible names people gave him, he was still considered far more honourable in people's eyes than she was. He was a nobleman; she was a traitor's daughter, and now she was something worse. She was a...

She shook her head and couldn't even bring herself to say the word.

Clenching her hands into fists, she let the anger motivate her to climb the rest of the hill, but the weather was against her decision. A storm broke out, the cold wind pushing her back down the mountain with all its force.

Was this a warning?

A sign from above?

The sky responded with a deep rumbling sound, and rain poured heavily. Angelica hesitated, but she didn't have much of a choice. It was either this or going back to where she came from.

Gathering more strength and courage, she proceeded toward the cursed castle. Once she reached the top of the hill, fighting the wind and rain on her way up, she took a moment to catch her breath.

She looked at the castle in front of her. It had a monumental structure. It loomed over her with its rectangular shape and had four round towers on each corner at different heights. The walls were chunky and obsidian, and the unlit windows were scattered around the walls in a symmetrical pattern.