I spread my haze and zigzagged out the hall in hopes to avoid the water scythes. Something pinched my ankle. I looked down, but the fog and my movements made it too hard to see anything in great detail. I took another stride, but my ankle no longer pivoted. I tripped over my foot, and I fell face-first into the hallway’s ebony boards. This darkness, the feel of this wood, it resembled the forest.

I pushed against the floor and rolled aside till my back hugged the wall. I continued to exude black haze. Wind grazed my skin, something twirled midair, it thinned my haze. I continued to produce more and more haze until we reached an equilibrium. I didn’t know how long I could last, especially since I felt blood drain down my foot. I could only hope the wound wasn’t too severe.

Something boomed. A wind tunnel formed and cleared most of the haze. I met Diane’s red eyes, but before she could direct her attacks to me, a flash tore through the opened space. I followed the blur. The king stood blade in hand where Diane had been. A small thud echoed, and a large crash followed. Diane’s head rolled onto the hall’s marbled floor, and her body lay slumped against the corridor wall.

“Julian! Where are you? Are you alright,” yelled the king?

I dispelled the haze. “Here,” I called out.

The king bolted to me and looked me over. We looked at the lesion on my ankle. I was cut to the bone. Although grave, it wasn’t mortal. The King let out a sigh and carried me away.

#

Warmth enveloped my ankle. It was one of the healers who had healed me back in the forest.

“The bitch,” yelled the king. “This is what happens when you put a modicum of trust in a retainer.”

I rubbed my hands around my ankle and foot. It felt great. All seemed good. I pulled my foot off the medical table and rested it back on the floorboards. The mage had his head downcast. Something felt off. “Fath—” However, once again I was cut off.

The clinic’s door burst open. Knights flooded the room.

“Julian, stand aside.”

I didn’t move, instead I kept my eyes locked on the healer.

The king turned to face the intruders. “Who’s behind this?” As he asked the question, the healer pulled a blade from under his white robe. Ready, I dodged to the right. “The healer’s an assassin,” I called out. The king turned and a wooden spike exploded out the floor and impaled the healer through his ass, out his mouth. Blood flooded the man’s mouth and trickled down his lips.

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The king created a wooden pad and pushed me onto it. “Jerome. Why?” He called out once again facing the crowd of knights.

A man with long grey hair and emerald eyes walked through the crowd of swords. “Yesterday, Sir Richard came and asked me what could lead to black eyes. I thought it was an innocent question but.” He pulled out a crystal. “A second ago, Albert sent me a message.”

Jerome, Julian’s glasses accidentally fell off, and I saw that his eyes were black. Now Father’s chasing after me. Something isn’t right. I fear that a beast has infiltrated the castle. The message ended, and a picture of me, glasses, in the air, appeared. I looked at my pitch-black eyes, blacker than the darkest night. How anyone ignored this was incredible.

“Not only that,” continued Jerome. “You sent away all the knights who rescued him on a mission. The castle has been quiet recently. Your Highness. I don’t want to kill you. I’d want to forget about this if you let us dispose of that beast, however, now that you’ve killed the late Queen’s sister and Prince Albert, you must turn yourself in and pass the crown to the next in line before you ruin us like the mad king of Bolivari.”

My father looked back to me and then Jerome. “What is that beast called?”

I started to back away, however, the wooden platform bound my arms and legs with roots.

“A Rav—” Thunder resounded. Jerome crashed into the hallway’s stone wall, and an oversized carpet which decorated the wall fell on top of him. The knights encircled the king. “How arrogant. To be so direct.” He spat. “How much did the Lilies pay for your hands? You must be cheap if the positions and honours I granted you weren’t enough. To think a spirit would contract oneself with such a selfish man.”

Another man spoke up, this time a knight. “You may be king and a great mage; however, our kingdom extends beyond your nails. You insulted the god of chastity by having intercourse out of wedlock, you insulted the god of truth by ignoring the fact your son has been replaced with a beast, you insulted the god of virtue by killing Diane. It is only a matter of time a beast comes here to fulfill a mission. Enough is eno—”

“Oh, stop with your pretenses,” interrupted the King.

The one who had spoken wore a purple and white lily emblem. He did not let the King’s word discourage him. “Encircle.” The men were about to reach the king’s back, however, a wall of solid wood rose and cut the room in half with only one slit in the centre where he stood. The floorboards were no more, only gravel and earth remained.

The king looked back and nodded to me. A wind spear tore through the air and broke the castle wall. Rocks nearly crushed my legs. The wooden platform on which I sat expanded and blocked the rubble.

I ran out. Bushes and flower petals reflected the moonlight’s dim glow. My home would always be the forest. Or at least it was supposed to be so.

I had never liked when others looked with envy at my meals, but I could ignore that. Stealing it was another issue. What had been Julian’s, was now mine. The crown, the kingdom, the authority–this all belonged to Julian’s heart, and Julian’s heart was now mine and the heart cannot be ignored.

#

The night breeze blew through my tight attire. I looked back. The castle was now the size of a pebble.

I could see the dim yellow glow of the luminescent pulp locked in jars which hung along the castle wall and interior.

I was just a baby beast; I wasn’t a match for a fully matured human. I needed a break from all of this. I could increase my level in the forest, killing rats and mice, like I did in the old days. There was just one small problem. All that blood…I wiped my mouth. My stomach rumbled, and my tongue itched. I had the taste of heart in my mouth.