There was once a kingdom that had risen to be greater than any before it.

The king, Romulus, was well loved by his people and his queen possessed beauty that would make the gods green with envy.

Their love for one another was legendary and was surpassed only by the love they had for their sons, twin princes whom they showered with affection.

As a gift, Romulus had a great hall built to honor his sons on their sixteenth birthday. A place where wine flowed unending and warm laughter filled every corner before spilling out into the cold nights.

For a year, the hall was a place of comfort for everyone in the kingdom and they celebrated their wealth and the peace that abounded.

However, on the darkest night of the year, while the hall was lit and laughter, like a warm spiced aroma, drifted into the surrounding woods and found its way to the ear of a beast, waking it.

The beast had slept since the beginning of time, before music and laughter had ever sounded, before land had been touched by light; and now it had been roused from its slumber.

With a mighty roar that echoed through the night, the beast stretched its sinewy limbs and followed the noise that wafted from the hall.

So swift and silent was the movement of the beast that the people of the hall were caught by surprise when it tore down the great doors and snapped up the nearest drunken reveler.

There was a moment of shock...

Then everything erupted into chaos as everyone started to flee the hall.

In the confusion, the king grabbed his youngest son and pushed him from the hall to escape through the servants' passages before scanning the hall once more to see his wife with their eldest son.

The beast was closing in on them and his eldest, Lovino, had a sword gripped in his hand ready to fight the monster; though the sword trembled in his grasp and his stance was weak. The beast smelled his fear and lunged... Into the arms of Romulus's beautiful wife who had pushed Lovino back and come between her son and the beast in order to give him time to retreat.

With a cry of rage and grief at seeing this, Romulus charged with a torch, the closest weapon he could grab; and ground it into the monsters hide. There was the smell of charred flesh mixed with the heavy scent of mud as the beast gave a scream of pain and retreated into the night, leaving the mauled body of the queen where she lay.

The king ran to her, cradling her head as tears freely ran down his face. He shook his head, wondering how this could have happened, that he lost the love of his life.

His gold eyes found the red-rimmed eyes of his eldest, who stared in shock at the scene; sword fallen from numb fingers.

"No..."

It was barely a whisper.

Romulus's eyes went as cold as his grieving, shattered heart. He lifted a finger, covered in the queen's blood, and jabbed in Lovino's direction.

"This is your fault."

Those wide eyes filled with tears, understanding washing over the eldest prince as he saw his father, glaring at him over the corpse of his mother who had sacrificed herself for him because he couldn't be brave and face such a beast.

Because he had been a coward.

The king rose, carrying his wife tenderly with him as he left.

Lovino sank to his knees, guilt washing over him and sobs wracking his body, surrounded by the broken bodies of dead revelers and the blood of his own mother.

"It's my fault..."

Three years passed and even though the hall had been locked up since the first attack, the beast persisted.

He attacked towns bordering the forests and travelling merchants would go missing. Fear spread faster than any plague and the once prosperous kingdom fell into hard times.

No other kingdom would risk its citizens to trade with it over land. The only trade they got was from the seas but that wasn't nearly enough to sustain them.

Every so often, parties of men who had heard about the beast would try to hunt it, but none were successful.

Their terrified cries would ring out as the hunters turned into the hunted and any hope the kingdom had of their curse being lifted was extinguished.

During this time, rumor also spread of great men who could conquer giants and swim oceans.

They were champions to their people and brought hope in these troubled times where dark entities from the beginning of time seemed to rear their heads from the shadows at every turn.

Word of this beast traveled to these heroes and the decision was made to travel to those dark woods to rid it forever of its curse.