The Beauty and the Beast (Seventeen Meanie story)

Prologue

In a realm enveloped by mists of enchantment and magic, there stood a majestic castle, surrounded by a huge forest. Within the walls of this timeless fortress, tales of knights, princes and princesses unfurled throughout centuries, each story written in the ink of destiny.

(As for our story, we are being less dramatic here and this story is being... typed with the keyboard of destiny. Because we are being high-tech, you know.)

Once upon a time, centuries ago, in this realm of wonders, fate began writing a new story, which was about to change lives.

Because in this castle lived a young prince. He was the only resident of the castle, other than his crew of servants. The prince was a tall, handsome young man with radiant smile, face and body that was definitely sculpted by gods... but he was also very selfish and rude. He was well-known for his arrogance and cruelty, and no one really liked him.

The prince didn't care about anyone else other than himself. He never had any friends, despite always having his servants on his side. He wasn't capable of loving someone, and he never showed kindness towards anyone.

Then one time, it was a dark and cold night. The wind was whistling between the trees, moving their branches left and right. Lightning flashed the sky from time to time, and the rain was pouring as if it was never going to stop.

Someone knocked on the castle's door then. It was an old lady. She seemed to be in a horrible condition. Her back was bent, she was using a stick to walk, her skin was full of wrinkles and her eyes looked tired and a bit scary even. Her cape was sticky with mud and she was shivering from being soaked in the rain from head to toe. She was asking for the master of the castle and the servants led her to the prince.

She asked the prince to let her stay the night in his castle. She was cold and tired from walking in the rain for so long. All she could offer as a payment was a single rose. That was everything she owned.

The prince looked at the miserable lady and said no almost immediately. He didn't want anyone in his household, especially not old witches who can't even pay properly. He didn't care where she sleeps.

The lady spoke again, her voice a bit more stern this time. She warned the prince to watch his back. Beauty isn't only about looks, it radiates from the inside.

The prince then called for his servants to throw the woman out.

But before anything could've happened, the witch suddenly disappeared and turned into a beautiful glowing fairy. The prince gasped, kneeled down and begged for her forgiveness, but by this time the fairy knew that on the inside the prince is rotten and cruel.

As a punishment, she swung her magic wand and to that, and to the horror of the castle's crew, the prince began transforming, slowly turning into something terrifying. Thick brown fur grew on this whole skin in the matter of seconds, he grew twice as big and buff as he was before. His teeth changed, his fangs continued growing until they were so sharp that they could easily tear anyone apart. His eyes changed into yellow and his piercing glare would scare anyone away who dared to approach him. Two horns grew on his head, the progress making him cry out in pain - but instead of his usual voice, a loud growl could be heard from him, making all the servants back away a few steps in fear.

That's right: the witch turned the prince into a huge, horrible, terrifying monster that would threaten anyone's life. The curse didn't only affect him, it didn't let the servants get out of it either.

The castle became dark from that day. Shrouded by eternal mist, the fortress emerged from the shadows like a forgotten remnant. The ominous obsidian sky was covered in thick dark clouds, surrounding the castle and the forest in dark mysterious aura, making everyone want to avoid the place. Nobody ever liked the prince, nobody missed him, not even questioning what happened to him. It seemed like the castle, along with its residents was left to decay and to be forgotten.

And the rose, the witch's gift, was placed under a glass cover in the western wing of the castle, blossoming, but petals slowly falling one by one. And the witch's words said,

if the prince manages to find true love as a beast by his 21st birthday, the curse will be broken.

If not, he remains a beast forever.

But who would love a monster anyways...?

.

A/N: I hope you liked the prologue, it took me an eternity to rewrite it to sound a bit more dramatic than what I usually write. There will be an extra update next Wednesday, after that I'll go back to only updating on Sundays - uni starts again next week, eh... See you on Wednesday!