The sky darkened under the fury of a storm that seemed unnatural. Intense red clouds intertwined with black shadows, as if hell itself had opened its doors upon the world. The wind howled with supernatural violence, spreading the scent of damp earth and the foreboding of death.
Suddenly, a heart-wrenching scream shattered the chaos of the storm, travelling across continents like an invisible wave that froze the soul of every living being. That voice, laden with profound pain, was not just the echo of a heartbroken mother; it was the prelude to a vengeance that would change the fate of the world.
It was the cry of Isolde, a sorceress whose ancient and powerful magic had remained in the shadows for years. Her daughter, Aveline, the light of her life, lay dead. She had taken her own life upon discovering that Dragan, the troll she loved with unwavering devotion, had been brutally murdered.
Isolde, consumed by rage and sorrow, felt her magic unleash with every tear that fell to the ground. The reddened sky was only the beginning of her wrath, and the curse of the blood moon would soon fall upon the world.
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The tragedy that sealed the fate of Dragan and Aveline occurred in a single fateful day when the worst of the human world and the troll world came together in a despicable act. What began as a manifestation of hatred would soon turn into a cruel chain of events that would destroy not only two lives but also the fragile hope of reconciliation between two species.
Among the trolls, there were those who looked upon the relationship between Dragan and Aveline with disgust. They considered it unthinkable for one of their own to become involved with a human. For them, that union was an affront to ancestral traditions, something unnatural that needed to be punished. One night, under the dark mantle of the sky, as Dragan returned from a secret visit to Aveline, a group of trolls intercepted him. They attacked him mercilessly, delivering brutal blows with the intention of making it clear that he should not continue that relationship. They did not want his death, but rather a punishment that would mark him, that would subjugate him.
When the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, illuminating the vast landscape, Dragan lay unconscious in front of the entrance to his cave, where the shadow still protected him from the sun beginning to bathe the lands. It was at that moment that a group of young humans found him. They did not see Dragan as a living being, but as a monster with which they could have fun. They were well aware of the trolls' vulnerability to the sun, and in their cruel minds, that vulnerability was a perfect opportunity for macabre entertainment.
Without any compassion, they dragged Dragan away from the protective shadow, taking him to a vast open field where the sun loomed with all its power. There, there was no refuge, no shadow, only the harsh light of day that promised to be lethal for an injured troll. When Dragan awoke, he did so under an unrelenting sun that slowly burned his skin. Weak and in pain, he tried to stand up, but his legs failed him. The beating he had received had left him almost powerless, and the intensity of the sun rapidly consumed what little strength he had left.
With every movement, he felt his life slipping away. He knew he wouldn't get far, but still, he crawled toward a forest he could see in the distance. The heat of the sun was like torture, each inch he covered tore groans of pain from him. The human boys followed closely, laughing, mocking his agony. For them, watching Dragan struggle for his life was a game, a monstrous mockery of what they did not understand.
For almost an hour, Dragan tried to move forward, searching for the shadow that could have saved him, but the forest was too far, unreachable for his dying body. His breathing became heavier, his strength fading with every second. In his mind, only one thought accompanied him: Aveline. He wished with all his heart that she would continue her life, that she would not lose the joy that had always characterized her. His last wish was for her, hoping she would never find out what had happened to him.
And so, under the cruel sun, Dragan exhaled his last breath. The young humans walked away, leaving his body scorched by the sun, oblivious to the pain that their actions would unleash.
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That night, Aveline could not meet with Dragan as usual. Since she opened her eyes that morning, an unusual unease had consumed her. Despite her attempts to distract herself, a dark shadow seemed to envelop her heart, making every second that passed without news of him feel like an eternity. The night before, after saying goodbye to Dragan, terrible nightmares had invaded her sleep, tormenting her mind and leaving her restless.
Dragan had not appeared, and his absence intensified the fears that had been haunting her throughout the day. She felt that something was wrong, as if fate was whispering to her from the shadows that something terrible had happened. The whispers of the wind, the creaks in the old castle, all seemed to announce tragedy.
Aveline was not an ordinary young woman; she was the daughter of Isolde, a witch whose magical arts were among the most powerful in the world. Although Aveline did not possess the same strength as her mother, she had learned the ways of the spiritual world, the rituals that opened forbidden doors to most mortals. Desperate to know what had happened to Dragan, she decided to delve into that dark knowledge.
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In her room, located high in the castle's tower, she lit black beeswax candles and carefully traced the ancient symbols on the floor, surrounding herself with magical powders she had learned to handle under her mother’s strict tutelage. The cold wind of the night began to stir the curtains as she whispered the sacred words, invoking the spirits that guarded the secrets of the beyond.
Suddenly, her eyes clouded, and her consciousness was pulled into a dark realm. What Aveline saw in that spiritual plane hit her with devastating force. Before her unfolded the vision of her beloved Dragan, kneeling, wounded, and bleeding on the ground. She saw him being brutally attacked by those she considered his troll brothers, betrayed by his own kind simply for loving someone of another species.
Tears began to stream down Aveline's face as the vision continued, relentless. Now she witnessed the cruelty of humans. A group of young boys dragged him out of his cave, laughing and mocking him as they took him to the open field, condemning him to a slow, agonizing death under the unrelenting sun. The pain in Dragan's face, his struggle to survive everything was unbearable to watch. His last thought was of her, of Aveline, and that shattered her spirit completely.
When the vision ended, Aveline returned to reality, gasping and broken. Her body trembled, and her mind fought to process the brutal truth of what she had witnessed. Dragan was dead. There was no way to save him. The agony she felt was like a knife piercing her heart, bringing her to the brink of madness.
Desperate, with no strength left to endure the pain that now consumed every corner of her being, Aveline stepped out onto the balcony of her room. The night loomed over her, and high in the sky, the Blood Moon shone with a supernatural intensity, a dark omen that appeared only once every ten years. It was as if fate itself was mocking her pain.
With her gaze lost in the deep red of the moon, Aveline understood that she could not go on. The world without Dragan was meaningless. Amid tears and sobs, she whispered her beloved's name one last time before throwing her body into the void from the top of the tower. The wind embraced her as she fell, and in the final moments, her mind emptied of all suffering.
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Isolde felt Aveline's death the instant her life flickered out. The bond between mother and daughter, forged by love and magic, allowed her to perceive the last heartbeat of her heart. A sense of emptiness, more terrifying than any dark spell, seized her chest. Without wasting a second, she ran desperately through the castle corridors, searching for her daughter, knowing deep in her soul that something terrible had happened.
Upon reaching the courtyard, the world seemed to stop. There, on the cold stone, lay the lifeless body of Aveline. Her daughter, her light, her reason for living. The sight tore her soul apart. With trembling hands, Isolde knelt beside her daughter's lifeless form, gently lifting her into her arms. The warmth of life had already faded, and the coldness of death enveloped her. "No, no... this can't be happening...", Isolde whispered through sobs, her mind refusing to accept what her eyes showed her. "Why? Why?!", she cried to the sky, seeking an answer that would never come.
Desperate and filled with unbearable pain, Isolde made a swift magical gesture with her hands, invoking a spell that would reveal the truth to her. In the blink of an eye, images began to form in her mind, as if she were seeing through Aveline's eyes. She understood everything: the betrayal of the trolls, Dragan's brutal agony under the scorching sun, and the devastation in her daughter's heart as she witnessed it. She saw the moment when Aveline, unable to bear the pain, threw herself from the balcony, finding her end on the cold stones of the castle.
The vision faded, but the pain remained. At that precise moment, Isolde let out a scream so powerful that it resonated beyond the human realm. Her scream pierced the air like a sword, shaking the very foundations of reality. The sky, which had remained calm until then, transformed immediately. Storm clouds began to form, tinged with a devilish red and black, as if hell itself had broken loose upon the Earth. Isolde's fury was such that nature itself trembled under her power.
However, it was her second scream that unleashed the true nightmare. This scream was not just one of pain, but of hatred, of vengeance. It was a scream so chilling that every living being on the planet felt a shiver deep within their being. Animals, humans, trolls everyone felt the icy breath of death run down their spines, not knowing what had caused it, but instinctively understanding that something terrible was about to happen.
A gigantic lightning bolt tore through the sky, connecting the clouds with the earth. The lightning struck directly in the courtyard, at the exact spot where Isolde held her daughter's body. In that moment, she made her decision: trolls and humans would never be together again. The union between the two species, which had caused so much tragedy, had to be destroyed. Isolde would ensure that this curse lasted for all eternity.
The lightning extinguished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving the air charged with electricity. And when the light of the lightning faded, neither Isolde nor Aveline were there. They had vanished, consumed by the power of dark magic and the hatred that Isolde had unleashed.
Thus began the curse of the Blood Moon. A curse that would fall upon the world again and again, a cycle of revenge and pain that would repeat under each red moon, marking the fate of trolls and humans forever.