Fairytale Gone Cale

Sleeping Cale, Beauty Got Evicted

Once upon a time, there lived a king and queen who were very unhappy because they had no children. But at last, a little daughter was born, and their sorrow was turned to joy. All the bells in the land were rung to tell the glad tidings.

A great feast was celebrated to praise the birth of the supposedly extremely pretty as well as above-average intelligent princess.

Cale called bullshit.

Every newborn looks like a potato that was boiled for too long. Wrinkles and pink skin on every single one. How can anyone tell how she'll end up looking in a few years? But sure. Pretty. Also, how intelligent could a tiny newborn be? Did she scream as soon as she saw her parents? A good intuition then as Cale didn't hear many worthy stories, especially concerning the 'new' parents. They were your typical rulers after all.

To summarize, whoever wrote tales about the princess was either drunk or got a heavy paycheck. Maybe even both.

Why is Cale bringing this up?

It wasn't that he was on his way to chat with the princess or anything. While his station as the son of a duke and ex-commander of a far too large army certainly would make him eligible. That wasn't his aim at all.

He didn't care about the princess and didn't even bother learning her name.

The greatest factor was the fact that she was born a century before Cale Henituse was born and should normally have lived a long life a while ago.

It didn't matter to him as well that the so-called 'Sleeping Beauty' is from a kingdom far from the past with only the small castle remaining of what has previously been deemed an average dynasty. Almost no records remain of anything worth talking about. Every single note only speaks about the princess, her beauty, the 'dangerous' trial- Cale wants them to try an put a pouting dragon plus his two highly competent beast tribe siblings to bed when all three disagreed with his intention, that is living a dangerous life, all right?-, and the castle that is supposedly still housing the princess.

Accompanying Cale with a deadpan frown was his resident puppy and loyal knight, Choi Han. Raon was naturally also with them as the kid was harder to separate from Cale than Choi Han finally learning how to act.

The band of three merrily made their way through the northern kingdoms, dodging a wayward Clopeh Sekka in the process, until they finally arrived before a giant construct maybe half of the size of Sheritt's castle, covered in vines. The castle structure was mostly frozen over.

It was a beautiful sight with glittering ice shards illuminated by the gentle sun as well as the soft specks of green vines, gently winding around some higher towers. The castle was mostly intact with no clear signs of time and elements, yet it was obvious to anyone that nobody lived in it.

The entrance appeared gloomy with no guards. Something that Cale was glad about.

The tales told about an ancient curse and something about no stranger will be able to gain access to the castle. Unluckily for whatever witch/ mage cast that one, Cale had a swordmaster with him that can smash through about anything with his physical strength alone and if that doesn't work, which mage is able to overpower a literal dragon?

Cale merrily walked across the frozen ground. His boots left deep imprints in the snow. Choi Han followed after Cale with lighter steps. They didn't encounter any wild animals but Cale thought it was obvious as only stupid humans couldn't detect the overwhelming presence of a dragon and avoid it accordingly.

Raon was also in a merry mood, chatting on without any breaks. Cale was even doubting whether the small dragon took his time to take a deep breath.

- Mommy's castle is prettier. Human, why is nothing in my color? The great and mighty me has such a pretty color, why is the castle not?