Down…down…into swirling blackness! It seemed like ages before the dark curtain lifted…
"Ow, the back of my head hurts…" Haruna groaned, slowly sitting up. Then glanced around, this certainly wasn't her room. There were no warm walls or art noveau frames to greet her. She was in a rather old fashioned bedroom, sitting on a quilted bed.
At first she was confused, before the events came rushing back like the tide. Oh no, she was kidnapped!
Stay calm, think. First thing's first she had to get out of here. Haruna leapt off the bed and rushed to the door, only for it to open and a complete stranger walked in.
He was taller than her, a thin but well-toned figure. Ashen brownish gold hair and faint stubble, light grey eyes and deathly pale skin.
Utterly dumbfounded, she'd tried to be polite knowing first impressions were sometimes misleading.
"I beg your pardon sir, but who are you? What am I doing here?"
So she didn't recognize him at first glance, this new form the Mad Artist had so graciously gifted him worked favorably.
"Through countless centuries, I've had so many names. Old names that only the wind and the trees can pronounce. Herne the Hunter, Scandinavian Nøkken, Der Erlkönig – the Germanic Alder King, and Celtic Cernunnos."
Odd, his voice sounded familiar.
"Er, I see…" She tried to walk around him but was unsuccessful.
"Come, let us have a long talk."
Haruna shook her head. "You don't understand, there's something I've lost and must recover if I'm ever to return home to my family. They must be terribly worried right now."
"I'm afraid there is nothing I can do. I could not find a way to lead you out of here," His words attempt to sound woeful, though it didn't match his eyes. "But perhaps this way you can find a better purpose. Wouldn't you wish to be remembered doing something far more meaningful?"
Yet there was something about his eyes that seemed terribly off. At first they flickered a sort of ring of colors until she noticed that she couldn't see her reflection in his eyes…only a dark forest. Why?
Wait a minute. No sign of her reflection in the eyes, ones of at least three different colors, and that voice… there was only individual who had those characteristics. No… it was him! The Beast!
Haruna began to back away. "Why are you doing this to me? Why have you brought me here if you don't plan on using me to preserve your immortal existence?"
"Why else?" He echoed then took her hand in a languid but strong grip. "I've intended to have you, no matter what had to be done."
She shivered under his touch. "I never imagined you had romantic notions concerning me."
"I have never wanted anything so much before, and quite certain I never will again. I had to make you mine."
"No…No! It's Bastion I love!" She shook her head.
Rejection; A concept he does not take well. Nevertheless, she will learn reciprocate his emotions. He'll keep her close until she forgets the urchin.
"No maiden knows her own mind at your youthful age. However in time, old memories shall fade and they will be replaced with new ones."
By then the young woman had backed up against the wall, holding a poker. "I'm going to scream!"
Her declaration didn't faze him in the least! She was truly frightened at that very moment!
"You're welcome to try and you shall, but no one will heed you." He replied mordantly with a cold smirk.
For days, the police asked questions, but no one has seen or heard anything. But Haruna's friends and family refused to give up. Especially Bastion, he feels partially responsible. If only he'd offered to accompany her that night, if only they hadn't arranged that small meeting in the first place…
"That poor boy's simply lost ever since Haruna disappeared."
Bastion's writing: How dark, how cruel seems to me…to us now. A world that once seemed bright and full of so opportunities and dreams…
That was when the nightmares began. "No—stop! Don't take her from me!"
He writhed and twisted as the dream tore at his heartstrings and he wakes drenched in sweat.
What if she becomes one of the few missing that die alone, scared and in pain?
"No! Try not to think that!" He'd find her some way or another, otherwise he might never live with himself.
It was a lovely place but as far as Haruna was concerned it was a prison. And if the Beast of the unknown was going to keep her from everything she loved, she would hate him forever.
But as she woke up after a rest one day close to dusk, she noticed she wasn't in the same clothes she'd put on that day. Instead she was garbed in a Celtic white dress with tailored hanging sleeves, the inside of them and the ribbon holding it a forest green. "Where'd this come from?!"
Furthermore, whoever had must've been the one to have changed her while she unconscious… she shivered, hugging her knees at the thought.
Just then she heard the Beast singing out in the forest.
Alright, this has gone far enough. The young Earth guardian decided she was going to give him a good talking to and demand to know what he's done with the amulet.
There she found him in the middle of a forest clearing, he was once more in that human shape that almost deceived her.
"I thought that was you." Haruna said coolly.
The Beast turned his gaze on her. "That is to be expected, my rose. My voice calls, it lures anyone willing to listen."
She was even more beautiful than she seemed from afar. Soon she'll be his – and spend the long years of eternity together.
Except Haruna then saw that he wasn't entirely alone, there were at least two others present. The first was a druid in his deep earth brown robes, he looked rather forlorn at the circumstances while the second was a woman. She was dressed in a deep purple gown with a dark feathery cloak. From her Haruna could sense sheer wickedness and calculation.
"So here is the blushing bride, and right on time for the Autumnal Equinox." The woman smiled coldly.
The Earth guardian blanched, it WAS September 21. He'd been planning this from the start. She felt like a lamb let to slaughter.
"Now, now, now, nothing worse than a bride crying on her wedding day," The woman chuckled, stroking her full lips with her forefinger that was encased in a silver, talon like sheath. "Or better, in this case. But this is purely a business transaction, dear. Nothing personal against you, just the forces of evil trying to gain a foot over the light side."
"Who are you?" Haruna asked in disbelief.
"I am the she who must be obeyed, the maiden of malice, queen of darkness, Lady Despair." The woman said twirling around, stretching out her arm to hold out her cloak in a fancy curtsy. "And our mutual acquaintance has asked ME to oversee and BLESS this most, auspicious occasion."
The druid looked horrified and argued in his native tongue glaring daggers at the Beast. "Feicfidh mé a dhéanamh aon rud den sórt! Is léir nach bhfuil an bhean óg ar mian chun pósadh tú, agus ní bheidh mé bhfeidhm aici."
Just to be precise the druid was saying: 'I'll do no such thing! This poor girl doesn't wish to marry you and I will not force her.'
"My dear Druid, have you ever heard of the Kingdom of D'or?" Lady Despair asked casually.
The Druid looked at her in confusion.
"No, I suppose not...it has been a thousand years after all. It's located where the Lake Of Tears is now," Lady Despair said. "The one with the monster in it, surrounded by dead trees and barren wasteland?"
Her face broke into a smile as the Druid's face warped into horrified realization.
"Yes...it was once such a glittering kingdom," Lady Despair waved her hand in the air bored. "Full of kind people, gold buildings, fountains and other wonders."
"And one day, purely on a whim, I cursed the entire kingdom into the Lake of Tears. Its inhabitants became worms, slugs, fish and other blind, deaf and mute creatures. Their leader into the monster soldeen and his Queen into a rock in the center of the lake, shaped like a bowing, crying figure."
She reaches out her hand, letting her curved, black, sharp talons extend as they spark with black lightning.
"Now, if I can do THAT to a kingdom on a mere whim..." She leans forward, her eyes glowing red and voice becoming distorted. "Imagine what I can do to your clan, if you frustrate me with your defiance!?"
Looking terribly conflicted, the druid looked to Haruna, who whispered miserably: "I'm so sorry, I know you have no choice."
Solemnly, the Druid hung his head, which was all the confirmation Lady Despair needed.
"We are gathered here today to marry 'Good to Evil.'" Lady Despair declared. "As long as good and evil, exist side by side, we maintain a reasonable balance." She proudly stated, making weighing gestures with her hands, representing the balance she spoke of. "And there will ALWAYS be a need for us and our services."
Next she gave a pointed look to the druid to proceed with the ceremony. He began saying the following words in his native tongue:
"Let each person gathered here now call into this sacred rite, in this consecrated place, the powers that we know to be sources of love and inspiration."
With a heavy heart he held up selected cord for the hand-fasting – the colors were red for passion, gold for unit/longevity and green for fertility.
The Beast took Haruna's hand in his, so that the Druid began binding their hands together.
"As your essence runs together, flowing and mixing, joining and bonding one with the other, so too do your life forces, becoming as one."
Once the cord was tightened, something began to happen. To Haruna's shock, she could what looked to be some inky tendrils – and yet they looked more like living lifelike tattoos- slithering from the rope right to wrap around her wrist. On the hand of the Beasts they looked more like shimmering green vines forming on his wrist.
Instead of rings the Bonding ceremony both parties would possess visible yet distinctive markings as proof of said marital binding.
"All things in nature are circular. Night becomes day, day leads into night which again gives way to day. This sacred Earth is our home. It offers us the power of life, nourishing us, body and soul, holding us from birth until we let go once more into the worlds of spirit. Each rock and stone, each pebble and gem contains within it the stories of all time."
As the final intoned words for the hand-fasting ceremony were spoken, she was continually filled with dread. Haruna's fear wasn't exactly hard to understand – after all how many maidens were kidnapped and forced into marriage with a callous monster?
"The rite of Marriage is complete. Let it be sealed with a kiss." The Druid finished gloomily.
In that same moment, the Beast held Haruna close and forced his now human mouth upon hers. It was long and passionate, to the point where she was desperately gasping for much needed air when it was done.
That will be all, now you may leave. Lady Despair, said to the druid, sending him away. She then turned to the Beast. "Be Careful, Dear Beast. Because the love you hold for her, will blind you when she steals your heart," Lady Despair disappears as a cyclone of red mist envelopes her body. "And your soul..."
Perhaps in the ancient days of history it was an old custom for a woman to marry a complete stranger
But this is a horrible mistake. This wasn't for her. They had the wrong girl. There was nowhere to run or hide from her fate. She tried. It was out of her hands. Whatever unwritten law of magickery that controlled her future had erased all chance of ever regaining her happiness. Invisible vines strangled and choked her heart.
Once it sank in what would happen next, she began struggling and sobbing.
Strong arms wrapped around Haruna, held her in place before leading her away. "You need not fear me. I don't wish to harm you, but I shall not be denied."
She didn't want to be anywhere near him, but some strange compelling force stronger than she kept her frozen in her steps. The next thing she knew, she was gazing into those glowing pink, yellow and blue eyes, being drawn deeper into the depths…becoming lost in them…so lost…
To be continued…