(13th June, 19:10, New Moon)
Beast and the Beast
Chapter One – The Occurrence
(Please note this story has vast similarities to Beauty and the Beast, yet I claim no ownership over Beauty and the Beast, only my inspiration is stolen from the movie/book.)
x.X.x
She looked around the outskirts of her house, it was all quiet and that is the way she preferred it! Why would she need to be involved in the petty occurrences of life? Human life was dim-witted and almost always disappointing, she preferred to keep to herself and people preferred it when she did.
She had no trouble looking after herself; she grew her own vegetables, milked her own cows and had her own poultry and livestock to butcher when she required meat. She could make her own clothes and had her own well for water. So why did she need company? She had built her own house and had ALWAYS looked after herself.
Her name was Sakai Vikira, aged 24 and living alone just outside of Lut Gholeim, a place known to be surrounded by arid desert, but beyond the arid desert was a lush and healthy forest, which is where she lived and she was happy there.
She needed no one and no one needed her.
That was, of course, until one night someone knocked on her door.
She was surprised at the company she would soon see; very few people ever came this far out of Lut Gholeim, unless it was a traveler on the way to Lut Gholeim, in which case she had little time for them, regardless of purpose.
She tried to ignore the knocking, but it persisted non-the-less; irritated Sakai stood up and flung open the door, staring at the person with a hatred that could scorch ice. Standing before her was an old woman, dressed in rags and walking with a cane, her back was hunched and she looked tired. "What do you want?" Sakai hissed out at the elderly woman, who looked up at her in confusion.
"Why are you so angry?" The woman asked and this caused Sakai's anger to skyrocket, who gave this woman the right to talk to her like this? To ask HER questions about herself? It was a bloody privacy invasion. The old woman saw the anger growing in the young woman before her and spoke to calm her. "Sorry for the question." She said and the words did not seem to calm Sakai.
"Begone from my dwelling; we have no reason to talk." She said as she slammed the door shut, walking back to her armchair to relax in front of her fireplace, Sakai knew she had an anger management problem, but it had brought her no harm so far and she had no intention to change.
"You are evil at heart." She suddenly heard from her left and was shocked when she saw the old woman standing to her left, her shock soon turned to anger as she stood up and grabbed a machete from the side of the armchair, holding it to her side protectively.
"Get out of my house or you will leave in fewer pieces than you arrived." Sakai warned, her eyes boring into the woman's like that of a serpent, eyes full of hatred with no place for another emotion. The woman was a monster.
"I came to seek a place to stay for the night…" The old woman started, but before she could get much of her sentence out Sakai interrupted her.
"You shall find none here, leave my house or I will have to take action against you." She hissed out as her hand gripped the machete so tightly that her knuckled turned white, the look of hatred in Sakai's eyes did not diminish as she stared down at the haggard old woman.
"It is I who will be taking action against you." She said and Sakai hissed as she flung the machete at the old woman, with the intention to hurt or kill, but the old woman simply vanished and reappeared once the machete had hit the wooden wall behind her. "My name is Mara and I am the Witch of the East." She said and the name meant nothing to Sakai.
"Get out of my house or I won't give you time to blink next time." She threatened as she took a piece of wood leaning against the wall and held it up offensively. There wasn't a sign of love or patience within the woman standing before the witch.
"You shall stop speaking to me like that!" The witch yelled as she held her hand out to Sakai, who immediately got flung against the wall, held there by an unseen telekinetic force. Sakai could do nothing but stare at the witch as she walked to in front of Sakai.
"Let me go." Sakai said, her voice held a tad of fear as she realized she was defenseless if the woman tried to harm her. She couldn't even move her arm! The only thing she could move was her face and glaring daggers at the old woman wouldn't help either.
"Giving you a chance to repent for your deeds and hatred will do you no good; you will never change unless you are put in a situation where you will want to change!" The witch yelled towards Sakai in obvious irritation.
"What are you going to do to me?" Sakai asked now, the question was itching to be answered and she had to ask what was going to happen, she knew the witch planned to do something to her and she needed to know! How could she get out of this situation! If she did she would kill the bloody witch for taking over her privacy like this!
Mara looked at Sakai sternly. "I will transform you into something that will match your soul, you're beauty as a human is remarkable, but your soul is the shade of a demon's, you are hideous inside and I will make you hideous outside!" She said towards Sakai, whose eyes turned to shock.
"Forever?" She asked in shock, not even trying to argue the fact that she would be changed into a beast, she saw the woman wasn't joking with her, she was dead serious about the upcoming transformation.
Mara shook her head. "No, not forever, your soul will be the reflection of your appearance. So the timeline depends on you." She said and Sakai got annoyed immediately, WHO was this woman to decide how she should be?
"What the hell is that supposed to mean you hag!" Sakai snorted at the witch and Mara stared at her in disappointment and shook her head.
"The meaner and viler you are, the uglier you will become, the day your heart is pure and your soul is kind will you return to your beautiful appearance, the day you learn to love others." She said and Sakai pulled a disgusted face.
"What do I look like to you, a charity? That will take forever!" She yelled at the woman, who didn't take any offense at the screaming.
"That is your choice, because you will also be immortal while this curse is upon you." She said and then disappeared with a few lingering words. "Only on the full moon will you be able to enjoy your previous beauty, from dusk till dawn."
Sakai growled in frustration as she fell down on the ground. "I will kill you!" She yelled towards the emptiness and immediately she felt something change on her.
She looked down at her skin and screamed in shock, it was bubbling and turning into scales! Her hands were becoming elongated and long nails stretched from her fingers, making claws. She fell back as another scream escaped her throat, but it came out sounding like a growl; making her scream again.
"No, NO, NO!" She yelled as she ran towards a mirror, the moment she saw herself in the mirror she hit it with her reptile like fist, it shattered on impact and she yelled as she saw her blood flowed green. She shot back against the wall as she put her hands in her hair.
With a shock she saw how lumps of her black hair started to come out until she felt a bald head instead of her usual long curly hair, now lying in a pile on the ground.
She fell to the ground and for the first time since she could remember she cried, putting her head in her hands as her entire body racked with sobs.
What had she become?