Short Ship Stories

Showki

"Beast"

For some folks it sounded like a legend, a children's tale. So it was told as one for centuries that came.

There is a kingdom- a powerful one, with the strongest stones, that held the castle; with the most reliable men, that protected the nation and ,always, with the wisest leader- a king, who with grace and glory leads his kingdom the right way.

But as the legend traveled over 7 seas and 9 mountains.. only the rarest of the people knew, that it was real. A real curse.

Long time ago, a prince fell in love with a beautiful witch from the kingdom. Their love blossomed and the prince promised to marry her and make her his queen. The witch was happy and accepted his proposal, wanting to just be with the love of her life.

Unfortunately, a dragon once attacked the kingdom. The witch was able to stop it with her powers, but in the process, half of her face got burned. So burned, even her magic couldn't help it. The king was repelled. "You hideous creature," he said, banning her from his castle and never wanting so see her again.

The witch as heartbroken, miserable and very... very mad. She couldn't see any other person stand next to the prince, who she still loved. Neither could she see the one who hurt her live peacefully. And it took a toll on her, as her spirit started to slowly perish, leading to her death.

The prince was set to be married to a princess from a foreign land and to become a king. Not being able to take it anymore, on the day of the wedding, the witch stood on an edge of a cliff. Taking one last look at the kingdom, she mouthed the very words:

"In all the names of the demons above and underneath,
I put a spell upon this kingdom, as it is the reason for my grief;
No king from now on will be able to live in peace,
As their inner monster every year will be released;
For 5 days and 5 nights they will destroy, rogue and send death upon all,
And be invincible to every man, every woman and every wall;
But if someone ever will look pass the kings hideous behavior, casting the chance token,
With finding true love- the spell will be broken."

And her soul let her go. As she falled to her death in the freezing water, the kingdom erupted into shouts.

'A beast! A monster!' Could be heard from the castle grounds. The new king had turned into a human-wolf like creature, with red glowing eyes and foam coming out of his mouth. He was unstoppable- attacking like an animal, injuring and scarring everyone. Even killing his bride to be.

After 5 days and 5 nights, the king woke up in a dungeon, not remembering anything at all, until the guards came and told everything that had happened and how he had attacked the whole kingdom.

The king sat in silence of the basement, crying in realization of what he had done. The witches curse started to echo in the air, making the king be ashamed of himself- how could he done that. It was all his fault. He was a monster not from the outside, but from the inside aswell and didn't deserve the love he had, but selfishly rejected.

So every year, on the exact same time, for 5 days and 5 nights, the king turned into this horrendous monster, who knew no mercy at all. And anyone who saw the monsters appearance, was immidiately horrified by it.

Once king got a bright idea. He asked a wizard to create chains, that were strong enough to not break under any power. So they were made- made from a metal that's stronger than 100 horses and 100 lions combined. Another spell by the wizard was casted- once the curse, these chains hold, was broken- they will turn into shimmering dust.

The chains were put around a big, wide oak tree- so big, 10 men holding their hands together only could encircle it. The tree stood on a high hill, from where the whole kingdom could be overlooked. No one was allowed to go there, except the royals. So there the king chained himself every year, away from everyone, as he fought with the outter beast of his. It was painful, it was draining and it slowly killed him.