Once upon a time, ten years ago, in a world called Perrault, a man lost himself to his work, along with his assistant, and on his table laid a monstrosity that they were working on. The monstrosity was their latest work, lying over a table of gold, and the table was so beautifully wrought that it must have been of immense value. The curtains and upholstery of the chairs, sofas, and even the hangings of the room were made of the costliest and most beautiful of fabrics and must have been of fabulous value when they were made, for they were centuries old, though in excellent order. There were red banners hanging from the walls with a golden Dragon Head that was the very symbol of the Dragon Empire, a vast empire that stretched its very reach throughout the universe, all thanks to adopting human technology and spaceship travel. It was then that the doors to the man’s laboratory opened and another stepped in.
“My lords, we’ve loaded the cargo into your carriages as you’ve instructed and we’ve sent it on its way to Blackwood.”, one of the castle’s stewards spoke to the two. “Let me see the list…”, the man he addressed was Victor Frankenstein, who was dressed in his brown attire at the time, that was bloody due to the many corpses he finished sowing together for days.
His brother, William, wore white attire and it was all bloody as well. He, however, wore what appeared to be a welding mask and this is because he welded all the metal pieces together. In fact, he was still welding and his brother was there to hold his tools and the body at bay. Victor Frankenstein raised his left hand while his head gazed forth towards the creature on the table and the steward then nodded before he would step forth to present the list to the lord that would take a look at it while one of his hands remained on the creature’s body.
“Clothing, jewelry, dresses, toy swords and shields…”, Victor read it while the servant would observe the monstrosity they had built with great mechanical augmentations to the creature’s own shoulders, legs, hips, wrists, feet, the top of his body and even his head.
All the mechanical augmentations served to hold the creature together and it seems that they were finishing at welding the creature’s right leg. The steward also noticed a couple of books of black magic, of necromancy, and then he turned only to see the gaze of Lord Victor. The man gazed into the servant eyes and he wasn’t pleased that the servant was gazing at their creation.
“You need not worry, my lords, we made sure we prepared the finest dresses for the little orphan girls that I am certain will be overjoyed by our charitable gifts once they receive them.”, the steward explained, hoping that the lord’s gaze would shift to something better or that his mind would be distracted but the lord remained displeased and emotionlessly gazed at the steward.
“Thank you, Mr. Clerval. That will do.”, the lord said to the servant and then just turned to look away before he would add. “You’re dismissed.”, he ordered and the castle steward then took a bow before he would leave the room, leaving the men to their work and their thoughts.
“I think we’re ready.”, said the welder. “Then it is time, William, begin the reanimation.”, Victor said to his brother, the welder, than then bowed his head before he opened his spell book. “Seven souls for seven vital parts bound and twisted together by our will!”, the brother raised his voice and his eyes began to glow purple while his hands began to glow with dark magic of the void.
It was then that the door opened once again but Victor did not hear it for his brother’s spells and chanting had distracted him. A bloody red claw reached in for the handle of the second door and then a little elf, a gorgon, stepped into the room that walked quietly and nearly toppled over due to the blood she was losing. It seemed she was harmed and yet the two men faced away from her.
“Pull the lever, Victor, let us make history!”, Victor would then do as his brother asked after they both put earmuffs over their heads, and he pulled the lever while the little elf called his name.
The elf’s words drowned into the sounds that the now new electrical currents were making that spread all across the room as the creature shook rapidly. William took joy, laughing maniacally like a mad scientist would, while Victor was the opposite. He was very cautious, very observant and waited patiently for the end result. He took no chances and every single precaution while his brother, like always, was a wild man who was a risk taker. The body of the creature shook as if it was being electrocuted and the little elf with three tails, whom were as much as part of her as she was a part of them, hit a nearby wall as she saw flashes of light before her eyes that blinded her.
“Father…”, she called for her father and looked back frightened towards the door, it seems that something was unsettling her and her ears were lowered as a result before she kicked the door to close behind her, intending to get their attention in any way that she could but it was pointless.
The electrical currents coursed through the creature and William shook his brother’s shoulders with joy before the power suddenly shut down. The brothers then stood there confused and William was the first to approach the creature’s body, gazing towards it and grabbing his head.
“Where’s the power? What happened?!”, William questioned everything as he walked over to the other side of the table and looked through the controls. “Maybe the breakers had fried.”, the man speculated at what could possibly go wrong before the little elven gorgon then dropped to the ground, her fall sent small vibrations on the ground that Victor stood upon.
“Bellindia!”, the man said her name and took his earmuffs immediately off as he crouched down to reach for his daughter, thinking it was her who caused the blackout.
However, it was then that he would turn her over and notice that his hands were soaked in her blood. Victor would then raise his head and hear the screaming of men, women and children from beyond the doors of his laboratory. In that moment, his adopted daughter reached for his arm and he turned back to call for his brother.
“William!”, he called for him and they both didn’t notice the hand of the creature twitch all of a sudden. “William!”, he called for his brother again that took his earmuffs off only to shout.
“What?!”, before William then noticed his brother was out of sight and moved to the other side of the table only to see Bellindia lying over on the ground. “Belle is hurt!”, Victor shouted back and then William heard the moaning, groaning of people that sounded like were being killed beyond the doors of their laboratory that frightened him to the very core of his being.
“White…”, the elf could barely muster her sentence as she was bleeding out. “Lycan…”, she was trying to desperately finish her sentence and she was unable to as she passed out in her father’s very own arms as the brothers then looked at each other before gazing once again at the doors.
They heard furniture breaking, people screaming, gunshots firing, and steel clashing as well as falling. They knew that whatever was happening beyond the doors of their laboratory spelled disaster for them Victor had already placed the rich silk cloth over his daughter’s wounds to soak the blood, to attempt to close the wound from bleeding any further while the brother opened their emergency reserve closet where he reached for his rifle and revolvers. Both men rushed through the doors of their laboratory that was located in the basement level off Castle Perrault only to see the dead bodies of men, women and children everywhere over the floor.
“Merry mother of god…”, William whispered under his breath as they approached the staircase that lead to another which would take them to the main hallway that lead them to safety only for a lycanthrope to leap down over a man that tried to run up the stairs himself.
The lycanthrope bit and chewed at the man’s neck, ripping his jugular veins out and even the flesh from his very own neck. William immediately signaled for his brother to hide behind a column with his daughter and so they did. The black lycanthrope had its meal but then another stepped forth that was visible to both men and William shot at it immediately that signaled the other. Petrified and terrified for the life of his family, William took out a revolver and shot it at the white lycanthrope that leaped over to one of the columns and then he turned to successfully shoot the other lycanthrope directly into its forehead that caused the creature to topple over, roll and hit William that dropped to the ground off balance. The white lycanthrope then leaped its way back towards Victor while William laid beneath the dead lycanthrope’s corpse, and upon a sudden a miracle happened as the doors of the laboratory broke open and a hand reached out that grabbed the white lycanthrope by its neck before pushing the creature into a column as a ceiling collapses above them while they both went through a wall. It was then that Victor knew that the creature he sought to animate to life did, indeed, come to life and then he rushed over to William with his daughter still in his arms only to see his brother’s eyes opened, his body crushed under the weight of the black lycanthrope he had killed. Victor then turned the opposite way and ran up the stairs only to feel massive vibrations before he turned to see the creature he had created. The monstrosity had a burning skeletal-like face with burning eyes and teeth, its chip that was its very core built to control the creature was in the center of its forehead and its burning heart was just beneath the creature’s large thick neck. The creature then raised its hand towards Victor, as if a child desperately clinging for the attention of its parent, and suddenly Victor stepped back as he pulled the elven gorgon’s head to his chest. It was then that the creature had lowered its hand and looked down to the elf that Victor was carrying before gazing back into its creator’s eyes. It then saw what Victor saw in the creature; a hideous and repulsive creature with thick demon-hide skin and despite it saving Victor and his own daughter, the professor fled and the creature’s eyes widened sank after what it had witnessed. It then heard the roar of the white lycanthrope that leaped out of the room and over the creature, pushing it back and hurling it through the laboratory doors where both of them would crash into the room. Victor ran up the stairs until he got to the main hall where he saw dwarven riflemen fire towards lycanthrope that easily burst through their ranks like they were bowling pins. There were knights that waved their cybernetic saw-blades that succeeded to cut some of the flesh from the creature but did not last long when they quickly overwhelmed them in packs. Victor gazed towards the doors that could take them to their freedom and despite the danger he ran through the battle raging all around them. The castle steward, Clerval, was lying on the floor against a column at the door with his head split in half like a watermelon. Victor looked away and burst through the doors as he then saw lycanthropes feasting upon the flesh of knights and marksmen alike. Victor then saw a horse and quickly ran to it as he immediately mounted over top of it. He then whipped the horse that neighed and then raised its front hoofs that nearly caused Victor to fall off balance only for the horse to kick one of the lycanthropes in the head that sent it flying forth. It was then the horse’s front hoofs landed on the ground and its back hoofs then kicked another lycanthrope in the head from the rear. Victor then looked down at his daughter and saw that her eyes were open while her three tails snarled and growled, they spoke to the horse and commanded it what to do before she passed out. The horse then neighed once again and rode off through the harsh winter cold as Victor held on.
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“Hold on, Belle, hold on…”, Victor’s eyes began to tear as the horse rode down the mountain and there were soldiers dead along the main road leading to the castle.
That is when Victor would take one last glance at the castle that was at the very edge of a terrific precipice and one of the human bodies was then hurled through a window along with one of the savage creatures that chased after it. Victor knew that both the human and the lycanthrope would die together for they could fall a thousand feet without touching anything. Victor knew that what lay before him were the Grimm Woodlands as far as the eyes can reach for it was a sea of green tree tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Victor could hear the rushing waters of the nearby rivers, the wind of the deep gorges throughout the forests. The horse then galloped its way into the forests that became misty and foggy the moment he had entered, and for him this was an ominous bad omen and he was right for he would soon discover why. There were elven malfhi, creatures that resembled modern elves of human fiction, that leaped out from the forests on all fours like cougars that growled and snarled at them. This caused the horse to raise its hoofs only to once again neigh but this time the neigh was not that off a brave horse but a terrified one. The horse backed up and the elves surrounded the father, the daughter and their horse like a pack of wolves happily waiting to devour their prey only for one elf to then step out of the woods. Victor noticed that she was not like the rest who wore simple loincloths and vests of leather and that walked like feral animals. This elf, this malfhi, had her face painted in blood and she wore blood, dark red attire consisting of a vest, two golden pendants imbued in a bead of elven and lycanthrope teeth she had collected, a small dark choker and a crown, a tiara, of razor sharp fero’saur, that the humans also called dinosaur, teeth. There were vines and branches growing from around her arms that seemed to be overgrown flora and fauna of nature. When the elf approached, the other elves took a few steps back with their ears lowered and their voices getting quiet with each second that passed. Victor noticed the blood in the snow and a few bodies that were lying face down in it, realizing that these elves could have been potentially responsible for this invasion for they are able to communicate to the beasts much like Belle was able to speak with the horse that he rides. This elven malfhi approached Victor with a smile while she held on to what appeared to be a blood red rose that she seemed to be loving much to her delight, which left Victor puzzled as to why. Victor then went to reach for his back pouch for his revolver and one of the elves then roared from the nearby walls that it held onto.
“My, my…”, said the malfhi. “What a lovely elfling you have…”, who then observed Bellindia and commented only for Victor to stare at her defiantly. “The one that makes me a better man with every passing day and that I will not allow you to take from me.”, Victor replied and the malfhi looked into his eyes, seemingly with passion before she smelled the rose yet again.
All types of elves had something in common and that was their tails. The gorgon was a pure-blood of the elven species and therefore she had three while the malfhi had a singular tail that could eat, drink and breathe as well as consume. Each elf had a natural Glasgow-like smile and once they smiled they could spread their cheeks open to reveal the horror that lay beneath the very beauty of their appearance; the razor sharp teeth drenched in blood off their victims. While the ears of a gorgon were cat-like or bunny-like in nature, the ears of a malfhi were human-like as well as very long and slender like that of a bunny with natural human-like skin.
“Goodness, what a loving father you are…”, the malfhi commented as she began to encircle him and the other elves surrounding the horse began to cackle like hyenas. “Then you know better that I will fight to the bitter end.”, replied Victor and the elves, who naturally had seismic senses, felt that his heart beat fast but that he did not quiver with fear, instead he faced them bravely.
“And what a brave spirit you have.”, the malfhi commented and continued to smell the rose and then Victor looked down to Belle, his mind sharp as ever as he realized what had to be done. “If you’re going to kill me then kill me…”, this time he spoke not defiantly but in desperation and hope that he had lost. “But please, save my little beauty…”, he then looked down to the little elf and began to shed tears as he saw her getting pale due to the cold environment they were in.
“Please, I beg off you, save my little girl.”, the father then broke into tears and this only caused for the malfhi to smile as she lowered the rose down. “And then suddenly the spirit submits, gives in just like that?”, the malfhi pack leader smirked and Victor then nodded his head.
“I would die a thousand times over if it means that she can be saved. She is not of my blood, she is of yours, but she is family to me, like kin, and I love her. I will pay anything or any price if it means I can save her life. This I swear.”, this comment intrigued all the elves, especially the pack leader, that then smiled with a grin on her face before she turned to face him.
“Is that so?”, the pack leader asked and Victor nodded. “Did I stutter?”, he bravely responded and the elf gazed deep into his eyes, studying his emotions. “No, you did not, and this is rare indeed…”, she commented before she once again took one last sniff of the rose before raising it and placing it over the body of the gorgon that Victor held in his arms.
Victor then noticed something about this rose for it was unlike any other. It had a glow that was unique and yet otherworldly. The rose carried warmth that even he could feel and it began to heal Bellindia’s wounds, warming her body and then she suddenly began to cough.
“Remember this kindness, human, and remember it well…”, the pack leader said to Victor as she gently reached for the horse’s head and petted it, staring deep into its eyes. “For one day she will have to repay this kindness when death finally finds you.”, the pack leader then stared into the eyes of Victor before the pack leader’s tails then snarled and growled as the horse then neighed.
It raised its hoofs and the pack leader stood aside before the hoofs hit the ground only for the horse to gallop away deep into the woodlands. It kept galloping and galloping away as Victor held on for dear life for it was as if the horse had gone mad. The horse would not stop for anyone or anything, not even the master that grabbed and pulled desperately onto its reins. Victor then witnessed the savagery of the elves in full force as they devoured humans on the road. There were elves kissing each other’s mouths, sharing their blood. There were others who kept ripping and tearing deep into the organs of the deceased, devouring the meat with all their mouths, that off their tail and their jaw. There were elves that pulled on the flesh off humans from one end to the other and they enjoyed listening to them scream. There were those who set their gaze upon the rider and his daughter, growling and snarling as they prepared to charge only for a large roar to cause their ears to rise and their tails to lower. They backed down as the roar echoed through the mountainous pass that the horse fled through. The horse would gallop for an entire day and gallop its way towards the ‘River of Acheron’ that worried Victor for he, like all others, knew that horses were deadly afraid off deep waters. It was then that Victor witnessed a miracle as the river froze and every fisherman that helplessly found themselves in the water began to freeze along with it and every boat that found itself above the surface was frozen to the surface as well before large spires of ice erupted that penetrated through them. The horse then galloped upon the thick ice and made its way to the other side as Victor then looked back only to see a large storm, a blizzard of hailing ice and snow that engulfed Castle Perrault from afar, and then Victor felt the very touch off his daughter before he lowered his head, pushing the rose to her.
“It’s going to be okay…”, he said to her. “I promised you a rose, didn’t I?”, he was in tears of joy for she had survived. “All the others asked for earthly tethers but all you asked for is your father to be safe, remember?”, he caressed her cheek and raised his head as he looked on.
The horse was still far from its destination for the River of Acheron was long and wide…
“I had to insist, time and time again, to buy you a present…”, Victor talked and cried for he wanted to bring her home to safety, for this nightmare to be over and her to be safe.
All Victor wanted, however, was for his daughter to understand just how much he loves her and being nearly faced with death reminded him off that, off what life is and why to cherish it.
“You were the only one who wanted nothing but a rose as none grow in our part of the country.”, he reminded her off her wish and then looked down into her eyes that were barely open. “And now you have it.”, he nodded as he gazed towards his little beauty.
“Do you know what my greatest gift was in my life, little beauty?”, he caressed her cheek again and leaned his head down as he held onto the reins. “It was finding you in these dark and grim woodlands all those years ago. You are the greatest gift that fate has bestowed upon me just as it has bestowed this rose upon you.”, he assured her and wished to encourage her, and she listened to him as her ears were risen before they suddenly lowered down that caused him to doubt.
He grabbed the reins and raised his head, yelling and doing everything in his power to make the horse ride faster to the Town of Blackwood, the only human refugee off the world of Perrault. It was a pleasant and yet shady place under trees with many gardens surrounded by the woodlands. The walls themselves were black due to a history stained in blood and darkness that gave this place a gothic-like appearance after it survived a terrible forest fire. The guards patrolled the large walls until they spotted a horse in the distance in the darkness.
“Who goes there?!”, one guard shouted from the top of the town’s wall and then another raised a lantern that stood before the gates. “Open the gate!”, it sounded like he was roused by what he saw and the guards from within immediately opened the gates as others rushed forth.
The horse that rode for many nights ventured into the town and Victor, relieved, was finally held by the arms and hands of others who came forth with torches to help him off the horse. The man would finally fall down, starving and parched, along with his daughter that held the rose. A man with a black tuxedo that was richly embroidered approached and saw the rose being held in her hands to which he took immediate notice to. He then reached for the rose and took it from her.
“See them to one of the taverns and make way! Get these people medical supplies, fresh food and water immediately!”, the mayor ordered the guard to do so and so they did while he stood there, holding the rose and another stepped forth. “This rose, what is it?”, the men asked and then the mayor looked to the gate. “Seal the gate immediately!”, the mayor shouted and continued to observe the rose, noticing a dark and yet light magic about it unfamiliar to this world.
“I do not know, but whatever it is…”, the mayor said as he then looked to the environment “We must keep it safe and study it…”, he implied as the forest within and surrounding the town was renewed, blooming with new life, and the two men looked at one another.
It was then that they observed the rose and knew that it would have to be kept safe, forever…