Beastly Beauty

Prologue

The pale haired human walked along the old dirt path. A chilled feeling filled their body, the early darkness of the day unsettling their usually cold nerves.

Lightly, they brushed their hand against a small, old dagger... A family heirloom that was almost usually from how dull it was by now. Like the dagger, they weren't any real fighter, they were a scout... Sent to see if the forest was as dangerous and evil as the ancient stories had been told of it.

The forest felt alone. Dead and silent... Many plants being skeletons of what they use to be... Animal corpses near their dens or tangled in thorny bushes... The only things that they could say were still alive, were the crickets and the distant sound of wolves.

The human hurried their steps of an ancient path, the dirt having dead and dying weeds within it. The dirt felt rough under their soles. Compacted into a rocky, gravel like feeling. Even the dirt wasn't untouched by the forest's darkness.

They slowed down again, their breathing coming out heavier. They hated how the forest felt to them... Like danger was ever so close to swallowing them up alive.

A fog slowly wrapped around their legs, crawling further up the longer they walked in. The fog grabbing and holding them together, blinding them.

Their hand tightly gripped their dagger. Something felt wrong with the forest... More than wrong actually... Like the forest was cursed...

Gulping back their fear, they pushed forward, squinting their eyes to try and see pass the thick fog. Yet it was too thick to see anything, not even their familiar hand they held out for a moment. Not even when said hand smacked their button nose.

Soon, the fog parted, revealing an old, dying castle surrounded by a brick wall.

The wall looked gross, covered in cracks, twisting vines and dark mold. It was like no one had taken care of it in years... Maybe longer... A wince formed on the human's face as they scanned the breaking wall... Noticing the large, elder gates. They were tall, rusty metal bars with once beautiful designs of apples and apple blossoms that now looked rotten and vile. At the top were once sweet designs of plant vines with peaceful flowers, but because of the rust and dark sky, the vines looked demented and the flowers poisonous. The whole gate reeked of evil...

Gulping lightly, the pale haired human pushed forward, pressing their gloved hand onto the gate. Carefully, they pushed it open, a squealing cry leaving the old thing. The sound was horrid on their ears. Shaking their head lightly, they pushed forward, wincing at the sight beyond the gates.

Where a once beautiful garden stood, was a horde of rotted trees, weeping flowers and skeletons of some old bushes. The pots that once housed a flower or seed of some kind now were either broken or sun paled and tipped over with useless dirt flowing from it.

They walked further to the abandon castle. It looked worse now they were closer... More dead... Falling down even...

There were bits of the old towers bashed into the ground, having shattered plenty of trees and balconies on their way to the ground. The walls held large cracks, moss and mold growing on it with too much ease. The peaceful colors, if there were any, had long since faded into a dull grey.

Taking a deep breath, the human carefully climbed the stone steps of the massive building, the steps holding large chips and cracks within it. If they fell, they doubted they would actually live to return to their village.

Soon, they came to the large doors that held pictures of twin skeleton monsters. One with wings of doves and the other the wings of ravens. The dove holding a thriving flower in the sun and the raven holding a weeping flower in the moon light.

It was such a pretty door design... But creepy in the dark atmosphere that it now laid in.

Taking another deep breath, they pushed open the old doors, the hinges screaming in agony of being in use after so long of resting.

Again, the short human winced at the rough sound, but they didn't sway from their work. Instead, they pushed forward wanting to see the ruins of the once grand home of some King or Noblemen.

The grand foyer held a moth eaten carpet that once was blood red with  gold lining. The carpet traveled to the middle of a large staircase that had two sides to go up. The sides then met up a large platform before separating into two different halls.

Stepping further into the home, the human saw long tables with candle holders and old leathered books littering long, ratty tables.

Dust and cobwebs covered many things, no mattered what it was...

Shivering, the human traveled to the left, wrapping their arms around them. The castle felt darker, more dead and cold, than the outside... Like this was the source of the darkness, of the evil that tainted the forest around it... The very source of the curse.

Taking a deep breath they traveled further, exploring rooms they came across.

A shadow followed them... They couldn't see it, but they could feel it... It was a heavy, dread like feeling they had never felt before. They felt scared to look at it, to really see what was following them.

Then, they met the monster... They turned around too quick for the monster to hide. The human's breath became ragged and heavy. Fear in their reddish eyes.

The beast sneered tiredly, a sad-ish look in their glowing eye.

"Mortals..." It hissed. "Such pitiful creatures."

The human turned around, making the motion of running away, but darkness was all they saw the second their back was turned.