In the forests of Lima, there was a castle. It was named McKinley Castle after its first king, William McKinley the Third. Many generations passed, and soon the castle came into the ownership of another royal family by the name of Karofsky. King Paul and Queen Lisa ruled fairly, but their son, David - better known to his few counterparts as Prince Dave - was a spoiled, hot-tempered child with no love in his heart, his ribcage as hollow as the tin soldiers he played with.
One stormy night, King Paul and Queen Lisa's carriage was led off a cliff. On the same night, a strange hooded old woman, her face twisted and bent from old age, visited Prince Dave. She introduced herself as Widow Holiday, and offered him a simple rose as a token in exchange for his hospitality from the raging storm.
Prince Dave fuelled both by anger from learning the loss of his parents and pure selfishness from deep within his empty chest ordered her to be banished from the grounds, never to return. In a flash, Widow Holiday revealed herself as the famed enchantress, Holly, and he fell to her feet begging for forgiveness. But the enchantress Holly had none of it - she cast a spell over him, the castle and its inhabitants that transformed them into unrecognizable forms, taking away Prince Dave's handsome appearance and revealing his inner self - a beast. The castle's staff was transformed into household objects, and the castle itself turned from a welcoming abode into a tortured contraption.
The enchantress Holly handed the beast - from then on only known as Karofsky - the rose, which was revealed to be enchanted itself. Its petals would fall, counting down time, waiting for Karofsky to find someone he could love who would love him in return, but if the last petal fell with no love in the beast's heart, the transformations would be permanent.
And so, we begin our story in the village of Dalton, where a certain book-loving young man was about to change everything...