Young Madeline Filles. If hierarchy were determined by beauty, she’d be the duchess second only to the king himself. Lush golden locks, a slim body akin to the perfect female figure, and beautiful plump lips that made any man lick their own. She was the perfect example of absolute beauty and because of that, the people of the rather large town loved her a great deal. She was the pride of her relatives, the scorn of the other women, and had the gaze of every man, married or not.

Even with all this attention, Madeline had yet to become conceited. She still maintained her elegance and pure nature from when she was a child. She was almost too good to be true as the men saw it. The women, understandably, were furious at even the mention of her name from the men in which they courted.

That young maiden lived her life the way she wished and spent many days walking to and from, here and there. She wasted her time, but she did not care. Nobody cared. They left her be and she let herself be.

The clacking of her shoes hit the smoothened road running through the town’s designated shopping region. Her hair lit up like the flaming sun above. Walking in front of her during her leisure was a rushing boy of white hair. He wore a cloak over his torso and the hood which should have been held over his head had been fluttering in the wind.

Even over the flat pavement, the boy still tripped over his own feet, falling face-first into the road. The young maiden exclaimed outward in the boy’s direction.

“Are you okay?”

The boy got up and turned to Madeline just enough to see her out the corner of his eye. He once again begins to run, but this time, Madeline gives chase. With little effort, the elegant, young woman caught up to the young boy.

With a step of her foot, she trips the boy and catches him in her arms. In the same breath, Her thin fingers reached to the boy’s chin and lifted his head upward. There, in the middle of his forehead, was a large, bruised bump.

“L-Let go!”

The boy jerked and squirmed while being held in Madeline’s arms. Her grip on him did not waver.

“You need treatment. I’ll treat you.”

The boy began to squirm even more at her command.

“I’ll be fine!”

Thwap!

“Gah!”

With just a flick of her nimble fingers, she was able to persuade the boy that he was, in fact, not fine.

…

“It hurts.”

The boy's pouting did not phase Madeline, who had decided to play doctor for the day. The boy squirmed despite her touch only now encompassing his forehead.

“Okay, that should help it get better.”

Madeline’s beautiful smile completely covered any lingering physical pain the boy had. The boy looked around the room. It was fairly simple. A couple of chairs, a table, some kitchen tools, and a singular painting mounted to the wall. Noticing his glances, Madeline began to look at the painting fondly.

“That painting was made by a local painter. My dad requested it. He was originally just gonna get a painting of me and him, but he still had a single portrait of my mother left, and so he got a painting done of all of us. The painter supposedly went crazy soon after.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Huh.”

The boy looked up at the painting sitting on the wall.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

The boy suddenly jolted at the young maiden’s tap on his shoulder. Without even realizing it, the painting had encapsulated him so that he hadn’t even realized that he had been staring for more than a minute.

“Huh-? Sorry, what did you ask?”

“I asked, what is your name?”

The boy paused for a second. His left hand lightly caressed his right. His body shook violently. His shivers were that of a naked cat in the middle of winter.

“M-My n-name i-is, uh-”

Some loud knocks at the door made the young boy jump in fright. His shivering was far beyond normal reactions.

“I’ll go see who it is.”

Madeline’s sweet smile that she had turned to the boy eased some of the uneasiness in his heart. As the door opened, the shadow that it made did not. The light that should have come through the doorway was blocked by a man of tree-like stature. His tank top had been torn through as if he had been in a fight with a bear.

“Hello?”

The young maiden’s head tilted to the side. This man did nothing but look down at her. With a single wave of his hand, Madeline’s frail body was sent flying toward the floor. She held onto her left cheek as the man barged into the home and grabbed the painting.

“You're three months late. You’ve had more than enough time.”

The young maiden attempted to beg, but the man exited the house as quickly as he entered. Madeline made haste after him. The boy, confused yet worried, followed close behind as well.

The giant man walked through the street holding onto the painting between his arm and side.

“Please! Just give me one more month! I swear on it!”

The man did not stop. He continued to walk forward as if he heard nothing.

Madeline repeated herself as she was beginning to lose her breath.

“Please! Please! Just give me one more month! I swear on it!”

The man stopped only for a moment before continuing. His mouth opened as he looked forward to the shopping district.

“You have had plenty of time. I’ve been plenty generous with you for the past few months. You need to understand that things won’t always go your way. You’re lucky this is all I’m taking.”

The boy, who had only barely been keeping up until now had now easily done so. Madeline stood there, long strings of water-like fluid flowing from her eyes.

“Please.”

Her shoulders quivered upward. She couldn’t see much past the tears that filled her vision. Only the young boy beside her was recognizable. Through her tears, she could see it. The young boy. He was smiling.

While she had just begun wiping her tears away, the boy had already run ahead of the burly man. His simple gaze had become fixed on the man. As the gaze became longer, the man became more uncomfortable.

Soon, the boy’s gaze wasn’t the only thing irritating him. The boy’s body also came to get in his way as the kid walked in just a way to keep him going at a slower pace than the previous second. The man eventually hit a boiling point and began to shout out.

“Get the hell out of the way already kid!”

But the boy continued with his antics. The man gritted his teeth in annoyance and completely ignored the slowing pace.

Just as the man’s large body made forceful contact with the boy’s body, the man began to float and so did the painting that was just previously in his arms. The boy had now stopped and turned to the large man.

“This is self-defense. Nothing more.”

The boy donned a devious smile.

The crowd surrounding the two began to stop and turn toward the action. Those in a hurry tried to ignore the two while stealing short glimpses. The people with more time on their hands stopped completely and watched.

With a single motion of the boy’s hand, the giant man crashed into the pavement below. The force of the blow left a small crater in the ground. The boy, now holding onto the painting, walked over to Madeline while pushing it outward.

“Here. This is thanks for treating my injury.”

The boy’s previously devious smile had turned into one of sincerity.

The boy began to run away quickly.

“I need to get out of here before any cops show up.”

Just as he went out of distance, he stopped and turned around.”

“Oh, and it really is a nice painting!”

As the boy looked at the painting, a reflection of the painting appeared in his eyes: A singular mask made of pure darkness surrounded by blinding light.