Chapter Text
Maximilian Cryoso was the unwanted daughter, the stuttering fool she saw looking out of her bedroom window after she was beaten by her father. As she lay on her bed, tearing, her eyes were red from the warm tears running down her face, her voice was sore from crying, and her rib cage felt like it was on fire. That was the one part of her body her father asked the priest not to heal just to make her suffer even more.
But she wished she was like her half-sister, the beautiful Rosetta. Her name describes everything about her; beautiful, elegant, as magnificent as a red rose compared to Maximilian.
“At the end of it all, Maximilian was nothing to her sister who had the beautiful gowns the town could've seen and a room grander than most."
Her sister had everything that she desired and had the most gorgeous dresses she'd ever seen, and one of the best rooms in the castle, compared to Maxi's life, Rosetta's was a perfect life. Maxi realized day by day that no matter how hard she tried, her father would never love her, which made her more determined to finally flee. As her opal-coloured eyes closed as sleep took over her body, she knew at midnight was the only chance for her to escape this hell hole of a
castle after months of fighting and planning.
As soon as Maxi opened her eyes and stayed out of bed, she realized that it was finally time to leave the nightmare of a place. She went into her closet and found the only dress that was hanging there, a simple sunset-colored gown embellished with flowers, the only dress in her possession. She put on the only hood she had and grabbed her leather bag filled with supplies, which she had filled up over time. After getting dressed, she put on her shoes and left her dark and gloomy bedroom. Slowly walking down the castle corridors her heart beating as hard as a wall drum, breathing heavily trying her best not to make a sound fear that she would get caught by the maids or fear that her father was trailing behind her to grab her by the hair and take her to that room to beat Maxi like a wild animal.
Once Maxi made it down the main staircase in the corner of her eye she saw her. Rosetta. Rosetta stood at the top of the staircase, the pale-blue frigid gaze similar to her expression, and her platinum blonde hair glistened in the moonlight tied up into a low ponytail as she gazed down at Maximillan with no responsive emotion.
“This was going to be the end”.
I'm going to die.
But at that moment there was nothing, Rosetta was standing there doing absolutely nothing and though the fear lingered, it was met by confusion.
"Thinking about running, you've never surprised me, sister." With an icy tone, Rosetta made Maxi shiver like a mouse
“But this would probably be the last day of her life Rosetta will certainly tell her father and finally the day she was going to die”.
Rosetta tries to act as primly and as quietly as possible without making a fuss. Otherwise, if father discovered both of them awake at this time of the night, the repercussions would be immense. Not even Rosetta would come out unscathed.
“Do what you wish, I won't bother telling father but if you do come back I will tell you, you will not be safe from fathers wrath”. As the two sisters stood still for a few more moments, Maxi, feeling like time had stopped for a moment as so many emotions ran through Maxi's head, looked down at the floor with shame and embarrassment.
Rosetta retired to her chambers for the evening, leaving Maxi alone. It wasn't long after Maxi snapped back into reality that she began making her way down to the kitchen near the servant's door leading to the gardens from the kitchen.
Once outside, her heart was beating like fireworks as she walked through the forest. After stopping to catch her breath, she took a closer look at the surroundings. At night, the sounds of the forest were alive as crickets chirped melodiously, frogs called and fireflies flourished like a thousand stars as they glowed like a thousand stars, and Maxi calmed down at the beautiful sight of them.
The fear remains as she glances over her shoulder, worried her father might suddenly appear, but looking at the trail of fireflies, she finds a new sense of hope and confidence as she turns away from the path behind her."
Maxi had been walking in the forest for hours all she could see was an ocean of trees that never ended. The feeling of the forest was new and refreshing compared to the grim castle. She thought she would be out of the forest by now, unaware that forests can go for miles and miles.
"Uh ... how far have I walked". In her mind, Maxi pondered.
It was the first time Maxi had been so far away from Croix castle that she felt exhausted and excused her feet feeling like they were standing on broken glass.
The decision to run away from home felt like a mistake because she didn't know what it took to survive in the wild, only from reading novels about characters surviving in the wilderness. She didn't realize it was going to be this hard, but it was too late to turn back.
Rosetta was right that she would have to deal with her father's wrath and might even have to die. She thought that dying peacefully in the forest was better than being murdered by her father.
A small clearing filled with colorful flowers made Maxi's heart flutter early in the morning before sunrise.
She started picking flowers, the soft petals touching her delicate hands as she started making a flower crown, a warm feeling in her heart as a few happy memories of her childhood flashed in her head as she gently smiled.
After a while, Maxi's eyes started to feel heavy as she started to feel tired. It felt like a good idea for her to lie in the sweet-smelling flowers for a bit as she started to lie down as sleep started to take over her body.
As he sat on a branch deep in the trees, he could sense the mana infinity of the earth flowing through this girl's veins. A giant owl was sitting there, bigger than any other owl and with red beady eyes looking down at the half-asleep red-haired woman. Upon seeing the woman, he knew that she was the one that the prophecy foretold would defeat everything evil and protect all the magic of the forest. His wicked grin could be seen across his face knowing exactly what he had to do to eliminate the threat that came from her.
The sun slowly started to rise over the groves, the purples, oranges and reds felt like a magical ribbon soaring across the sky, Maxi started to toss and turn and slowly started to wake up the smell of flowers filling her nose as she stretched out her arms once she was fully awake she could feel something didn't feel right, it felt like someone one was watching her another shiver went down her spine as she head turned around fear that her father found her hiding in the woods to drag her back to Croix castle to kill her in cold blood.
Maxi searched and searched for the source of her worries but found nothing. What if she was just hallucinating the fear of her father getting the better of her?
When she opened her eyes in terror, the relief she felt quickly faded away as her eyes were opened by the creature that kind of resembled a man, with two massive dragon-like horns, dressed in red and black from head to toe, and whose huge cape was draped and decorated with feathers that looked like the wings of a flaming dragon.
“Well, well isn't it the legendary little wizard alone in the forest”. In a deep voice, the Beast spoke.
Maxi was frozen like a statue at the sight of the creature.
He was so tall and so terrifying like a monster she had never seen anything like it. The one thing that stood out to her was his dragon wing-like cape that opened to reveal his red and black feathers as he snarled.
“W-who a-are you” Maxi tried to speak but was not able to finish her sentence which made the creature
“Oh, do be silent, you stupid and a stuttering fool I see.”
The creature approached Maxi as she stood there, petrified and timid, slowly circling her like a vulture with searching eyes. The more he circled her, the more his smirk grew in size, mockingly vile on his face as he shook his head as though in disbelief. Maxi tried to stubbornly say something but the red like creature began to laugh at the thought of this or any prophetic so-called wizard ever taking him on.
“So, you’re the one.” He chuckled, clicking his tongue as though bored.
"Uh...I'm sorry, what one? I-I don't know you? If I'm in your way I can leave-'' Maxi” tried to push away from the creature in front of her, attempting to run away as the creature's eyes and mouth flared with pure rage. Maxi tumbled on the ground from the pressure of the raging flames coming out of the creature's body as he smirked evilly.
"Oh please, do not lie to me as of now. I know why you are here. You're the one foretold in that ridiculous prophecy. The one they say that YOU would dare destroy me and save your precious little forest.“ He laughed like he was delighted by a humorous tale but his eyes glinted with destructive fire that promised evil.
Maxi stared at the dragon with fear and awe on her face, slowly taking in his words and gaping in confusion like a fish caught in a fishing line. “Earth wizard, prophecy, saving the forest, what on earth is he talking about? There must be some big misunderstanding? Maxi thought to herself.
“Please s-sir, I b-beg of you…I know y-you are angry but there m-must be a misunderstanding! I'm not the wizard you are talking about”. Maxi tried to convince the creature but it only made him boil with rage.
“Silence!” He bellowed. Much to Maxi's horror, steam escaped through his flaring nostrils as his body started to glow eerily. The feathers fluttered with a life of their own as they burst into havocking flames which began to expand from the immensity of his anger. And as his anger grew, so did his form, growing slowly in sheer size much to Maxi's terror. Sparks started to fly around him, circling him and burning in their path, the true expanse of power made Maxi freeze unable to move, her silver eyes tearing up from pure terror and shock.
“Oh Great Spirits of the Fire, hear my words! Remove this foolish girl out of my sight and be banished from this world! Turn her body into ashes and destroy her like a lava spilling out of a volcano!" He said with a whisper as a circle of fire surrounded her. A sharp pain gnawed through Maxi's body and she screamed as her body felt like it was being burned alive. She begged and begged, wishing in her heart, praying to god that the pain would go away.
Then the pain soon turned into warmth as a spark of white light started filtering out of Maxi's body. She could hear her heart calling out to her; The earth spirits calling to her, telling her to embrace it, embrace the pain and fire for the new powers that were protecting her because Maxi's heart was pure. So pure, her soul was able to protect her from his raging magic.
But in the end, as the light and fire settled it still wasn't enough to protect her from the Red Creatures spell turning Maxi into a beautiful and majestic white swan reflecting her kind and pure heart.
The creature looked upon Maxi with horror and then fury at the sight before him. His powers were meant to destroy this foolish girl but instead, it turned her into a swan. He was reassured more than ever that this was the girl that was foretold in the prophecy. This girl, the Earth Wizard, was the one who was destined to one day defeat him.
Maxi soon opened her eyes -
Only to discover she had transformed into a majestic white swan. Unable to believe what was evident before her eyes, panic soon took over her at the sight of the angry dragon as he transformed into a large red owl flying up into the sky as she felt herself swept back with great gusts of its wings as it began to attack Maxi.
Maxi was able to dodge him by getting her body to roll to the side for him to miss her, hiding from his sight. Maxi reared up, trying to use her wings like arms to try and crawl to escape from the creature as he soon couldn't find her. Sighing in relief, trying to figure out her brand new swan body, she managed to drag herself a few feet behind a tree. Hiding behind the tree, Maxi tried to stand on her two webbed feet, wobbling awkwardly as her feet felt numb and unnatural, she collapsed on the floor like tumbling wooden blocks.
Maxi quickly remembered reading in a book about how animal bodies work and read something about swans and they were not all that good standing on land. It seemed her only chance to escape from the creature was to fly away from the forest and away from this monster. I can do this! Maxi reaffirmed to herself even if she was the useless Maximillian, she truly did not want to die.
Maxi quickly stepped on her webbed feet, trying to run as fast as she could, opening her wings and tail feathers, moving them up and down quickly, hard and fast as she soon flew up into the sky using her long neck to look down at the ground and a feeling of panic trailed down her feathers and bumped her head into a tree.
That caught the attention of the evil creature. Catching on to her, he rushed down towards her flailing form like lightning, talons open ready to catch her and his piercing screech echoed like a furious beast. Panicking, Maxi quickly regained her sense of balance in her newly formed swan wings and twisting away from the talons that almost snatched her up as she flew at bellowing speed trying her best to get away from the creature.
After some time flying, Maxi was eventually able to find a small lake with a cave of rocks in the forest. Remembering something she read about swans that could hold their breath underwater for about 20 minutes, this could be her only chance to escape. Spiraling down through the sky, she landed on the lake as she put her head underwater hiding behind a cave of rocks.
The creature soon flew around, trying his best to find and kill Maxi as he slowly flew like a vulture searching for his next meal as Maxi's heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to rip out her chest .
The creature soon screamed in frustration as he soon gave up finding the swan for the day and he soon turned away and took off.
After about 10 minutes, Maxi pulled her head out of the water trying to catch her breath as her heart continued to still beat erratically. Once her body had a chance to calm down and she gazed down at her reflection on the lake as a feeling of sadness and fear started to overflow.
“What had he done to her?”. Anxiety filled her head. She had run away from home, a creature accused her of being a part of some prophecy that she did not know and now she had been transformed into a swan. She now had no idea where she was. Her only opinion was to fly away as far as she could and realized she was still in Croyso lands and she had to get far away from here but did not know where exactly to go.
Once she was strong enough, she spread her majestic, long, white wings and gracefully flew up into the morning sky, circling higher and higher and flew for miles, her only form of navigation was to trust her own instincts.
End of chapter 1