1. Prey of the Beasts

PREY OF THE BEASTS

~

Edge of the wild woods,

Skirts of the Village of Drift-combe,

Kingdom of Velicia,

Mid-night reigned by a full moon,

The Seventh Night of the Month of November,

Thirty Third Year of the Reign of King Jesse Cresting

~

The darkness that shaded the Velician skies was ignited by a full moon, which watched over the contents that strewed the earth's face, as they farriaged through towards the heart of the frightful night.

At the edge of the woods that were spread around the eastern rim of the Kingdom of Velicia, a young damsel of about two decades in age, Amelia Lunadynn, stood by the banks of a river. She lifted her dark eyes to gaze at the beautiful night sky that was spread over the heavens. It was like she was memorising their colours and the very placement of each star...

~The full moon~

The complete presence of the crystal ball that reigned over the night always attracted much terror to the skirts of the village of Drift-combe that composed a part of the Kingdom, closest the ravine woods that were sprawling with wild creatures.

~Lupine beasts~

Large ravenous monsters that bore the exaggerated countenance of sabre fanged wolves would storm into the ends of the village and bring chaos to their victims. It was nearly practice that on the event of every full-mooned night or on every night without a moon at all, such monstrous beasts would afflict the edge of the woods, and the quaint human dwellings that neighboured it.

There were even rumours of mysterious vigilantes that challenged the gigantic wolves in the dead of the night, but Amelia had not believed them. After all, there was no official news thereof.

The advent of the monsters was fortnightly. However, such ravages had not been so since the beginning of time. They had only begun occurring since a few months then.

Before that, it was about a decade ago when the beasts had rampaged and caused a fatal incident of grave magnitude. And that very event had been the reason why her life had taken a completely diverse turn that she had never thought it would.

Now, Amelia stood there upon the banks of the river of Pristin that flowed through the heart of the woods, hesitant to disrobe herself, for the night was frigid. If by some means, she could evade the performance of the ritual she was about to invest herself in, she would seize the opportunity.

However, what needed to be done needed to be done.

The pudgy damsel cast hurried glances all around to ensure that there was no one about that was wandering into the woods. Then, when Amelia was certain that she was the sole human standing there in the forsaken wildwoods, she began:

She slowly removed her capes and cast them on the ground. Then, unfastening her corset, she laid it down upon the cloaks. Quietly, she peeled her dress off till only the slim fit of her petticoat stayed over her voluptuous figure.

The damsel wrapped a towel over herself before casting every shred of her remaining garments on the lush grass of the floor by the banks of the river that awaited her. The cold breeze of the night whispered, hush, against her soft, exposed skin and she shivered.

There were strange marks of dark cerulean blue spreading over her shoulders and down her back, looking like a moonless night sky had been painted on her body. In order to cover them and also to shield herself from the chilly winds, she loosened the upsweep at the top of her head and her lovely brown tresses of long, curly hair cascaded down her back.

Then, she bent down and collected her clothes from the ground. Dusting the shreds of grass and imaginary lint off the fabric, she cast them over a low branch of one of the tall trees nearby. In such case, after she was finished with her work there at the river, she could dress herself behind the tree's hiding and then return home.

After leaving her attire in the safe custody of the timber branch, Amelia slowly walked towards the waiting waters and dipped the tip of her toe.

It was frigid.

She could not bear the cold that crept up her whole body just from the thought of getting into it. Amelia shuddered visibly. She was surprised that it had not turned into a rink of ice from just the absent temperature of the night.

But she had no choice other than to commit herself into the rivers. Further, this was not the first time the damsel was going to take a dip in freezing water at the middle of the night.

She had had to do it every fortnight since she had turned twenty, in order to remove the marks and guard the secret of her appearance and identity.

Amelia sat down by the edge of the ground and let her feet soak in the water till she was used to the chill thereof. Then, taking a deep breath, she slowly descended into the river, leaving the towel behind her.

Her brown hair floated over the surface of the waters like lush ripples until she dived beneath into the river's heart. A few splutters and bubbles of her exhaled air later, she resurfaced from beneath for a sharp gasp of breath.

The brown haired damsel held her hands over herself, feeling cold, shivering ceaselessly. She glanced over behind her to see the dark blue markings on her shoulders slowly fading. With a sigh, she stayed there, swimming for a few minutes more, waiting for all the signs to completely disappear from her skin.

Her body was fast numbing under the cruelty of the cold.

That very night, it was taking much longer than it usually did when she came for a dip. Perhaps, it was because she had not come by for a month until that night to bathe at the sacred river and relieve her body of the strange swirling shapes upon it.

Amelia lifted her eyes to gaze at the skies with their large full moon levitating in the midst. She imbibed every shade of dark colour that the heavens showed.

As she stayed in the cold and divine waters of the wild river, the signs on her body slowly, but surely, began to fade until she looked like she had never had them. Feeling most relieved, she moved towards the banks.

Now that the first of her concerns had been cleansed from her body, the second and more frightening problem surfaced in her mind:

The ravenous beasts.

Just like every night of late, where there was either a full moon or no moon, the large hounds would come by to rampage the area any hour soon. The pudgy, young damsel wished to escape the woods and reach home safely before they arrived.

She leaned forward and grabbed the towel and quickly wrapping it around her body.

She lifted herself out of the waters, feeling her hair heavily against her back. The severe, chilly air that touched her caused her to feel cold and she shivered, hurrying to go towards the tree that held her clothes. She irrationally wished for heat in that frigid ambience.

Just then, Amelia stilled when she heard the sound of low, but deep growls from the woods around her, like the snarls of those bloodshot hounds.

~