Chapter Text
Once upon a time, in a land called Castrum Kremnos, there lived a prince. The prince grew up without knowing love. His mother, the queen, had died when he was very young; his father, the king, had been cruel and selfish. Now, as the last living member of the monarchy, he was expected to be crowned when he came of age.
The prince was quite handsome. Each day it felt like there was a new suitor lined up for him. But he refused them all, believing he did not need to waste his time with such frivolities as love and marriage.
On his sixteenth birthday, the castle held a grand ball to mark the occasion. When the prince tried to escape the festivities, he found himself opening a door outside the castle only to be greeted by an elderly woman.
The winter storms raged on, and brought a chill that no person could ever dream of surviving in. She begged for the prince to let her inside. All she asked for was a bath and a piece of bread while she waited out the worst of the storm.
But the prince refused. He said that it was the old woman’s fault for being out in the storm, and that she should have stayed home if she didn’t wish to be caught in the snow.
The woman pleaded with the prince and offered to serve him until she had sufficiently repaid him for her burdens. Yet he still refused. He did not see why he should have to suffer for the sake of other people, when he could just ignore them and continue his life as usual. It was surely what his father would have done, and perhaps even his mother, although he couldn’t be sure. What he did know was that the royal family of Kremnos did not bow down to the likes of an old haggard woman who was too stupid to sit by her own fireplace.
The old woman sighed. She said the prince was clearly incapable of feeling love or compassion. Suddenly, a golden light shone through the tears in her rags, and when the prince could finally see her again, the old woman was no more. In her place stood a beautiful enchantress, adorned in white and gold. The wind from the storm picked up and blew snow and ice into the castle, surrounding the prince in a small twister, but the enchantress was unaffected by the wind as she neared closer to the prince.
He demanded that the enchantress release him at once, but she would not. He begged for her to give him another chance, to prove he wasn’t as cold-hearted as he seemed. She shook her head. Producing a blood-red rose, she pressed it to the prince’s chest, directly over his heart.
“I am Mnestia, protector of love and romance. You, young prince, have not known how to feel love. However, I find there is yearning in your cold heart, and I have hope.”
The prince was swept up into the twister of snow, and he felt his whole body shiver. Not from the cold, but from the power he felt pulsing through his veins as she spoke.
“From now on, you shall live as a hideous beast, one that only someone truly compassionate could ever love. If you can fall in love with someone, and they with you, you will return to your human form.”
She held the head of the rose between her cupped hands, and the golden light returned and was sucked into the flower.
“But, you must do so by the time the last petal falls from this rose, or you will be cursed to stay a beast for all eternity.”
He felt himself grow taller. He felt goosebumps crawl all over his skin, his teeth sharpened, as his body morphed into an ugly monster.