The young princess would be sent away to the moth's keep once she reached a certain age and she would wait in the highest room of the tallest tower for her true love and true love's first kiss.
"Yeah like that's ever gonna happen." Alastor laughed in a mocking tone when he finished re-reading the final paragraph of the storybook that he had been accustomed to reading for years.
There were times where he was almost tempted to burn the book but it was among the very few items that existed to remind him of his mother. Well at least, half of it reminded him of his mother. The other half reminded him of how naive, superficial, and foolish the world could be. Expecting honorable heroism, loyal friendship, and true love to conquer all. Once upon a time, he might have believed the notion that honor, friendship, and love would lead to happiness but sixteen years of living alone had taught him to know better.
"What a load of wacky nonsense!"
Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me,
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed.
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an "L" on her forehead.
The now adult Alastor placed the story book back on the shelf where it usually stood then exited his house to begin his day, following the usual schedule. First he would begin bathing in a nearby creek, after that he would get dressed and sharpen his antlers, then he would hunt for his breakfast and spend the lot of the day working on his latest project which would hopefully establish better privacy on his property which he very much cherished.
Now his property wasn't exactly what one would call a big, bright, beautiful world. In fact it was dark, gloomy, and terrifying. The trees were black and misshapen to resemble nightmarish demons from Hell. The ground lacked grass, substituting brambles and thorns in it's place. The creatures seen in these parts were nothing cute or fluffy or friendly; Frogs, toads, snakes, hornets, bats, crows, and wolves. Hard stones and sharp rocks were nearly everywhere you stepped in this area, not to mention the few bones and carcasses of dead animals scattered about. Yes indeedy, nothing bright or beautiful about this place at all.
Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming,
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running.
Didn't make sense not to live for fun,
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb.
So much to do, so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets?
You'll never know if you don't go,
You'll never shine if you don't glow.
But nevertheless this world was all Alastor's. His land. His home. The only thing that he could call his own and the only place where he could be tucked away, all alone...
Which was just the way he liked it.
Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play,
Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid.
And all that glitters is gold,
Only shooting stars break the mold.
Alastor had grown content with living by himself and away from all else who existed in the world. He learned to stay in the dark like his mother instructed and he learned to be happy in the dark. He learned to be happy that he was fated to be lonely and destined to be hated. After all, according to the story books, that's why he was created. And he figured that being liked was grossly overrated anyhow. Who needed friends and love? Friends were just enemies under false pretenses and love, he couldn't even think of love without going into a laughing fit. Why may you ask? Because as far he was concerned true love didn't exist.
It was nothing more than an illusion used to lure fools into a marriage for either money, power, or beauty. Vanity and greed in disguise, a sham, a fantasy. Something that only happened to beautiful people like lovely yet vain princesses who wanted a good-looking hero and handsome yet greedy princes who wanted to become king.
It's a cool place and they say it gets colder,
You're bundled up now, wait 'til you get older.
But the meteor men beg to differ,
Judging by the hole in the satellite picture.
The ice we skate is getting pretty thin,
The water's getting warm so you might as well swim.
My world's on fire, how about yours?
That's the way I like it and I'll never get bored.
So he reckoned without ever taking a mate or even seeking one out. He just kept to himself on his own land. Spending the days hunting and spending the nights reading or maybe listening to a little music.
"There we go." He said putting the finishing touches on his project for the day. "Now perhaps those ignorant villagers will finally leave me be."
What he had been working on was a sign to place near the edge that separated his land from all other areas of the forest. You see, Alastor's only complaint with his life was that some villagers were brave enough or what he thought, stupid enough, to actually try to kill him. So they would start an angry mob and hunt him down in hopes of freeing their village from what they believed to be a potential threat. However due to Alastor's advanced height, strength, and overall terrifying appearance, they only lasted for at most five minutes before running away like meek church mice.
Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play,
Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid.
All that glitters is gold,
Only shooting stars break the mold.
Since maturing into a full grown male wendigo, Alastor no longer had nothing to fear from human mobs or hunters. He only had to flash his demonic looking face at them and they were gone before he could even blink. But he was annoyed by the constant disturbance of their presence. Especially since they mostly came after him in the evenings when he was doing his reading. Like tonight for example.
He had just sat down to read one of his personal favorites when his hearing picked up the familiar noise of men giving cheers to motivate confidence. He closed his book and looked out the window of his house to see the usual crowd of arrogant humans carrying torches and pitchforks.
"Tsk, tsk." He chuckled with an eye roll. "This routine is becoming rather droll and repetitive."
He slipped out the back door and began to subtly creep over to where the mob had stopped. Per usual, they were discussing how exactly they intended to execute their attack on the creature.
"You think it's in there?" One hunter asked trying to get a glimpse of Alastor inside his house.
"Looks like it is but I can't be sure." Said the hunter standing next to him.
"Alright let's get it!" Said one who was especially brave.
"Hold on! Do you know what that thing could do to you?" The first hunter warned.
"Yeah." Added the second. "It'll beat you to a pulp and then swallow you whole."
"Ha-ha! Well actually gentlemen that would be a sasquatch."
At the sound of Alastor's voice correcting them, they all jumped back startled and became stiff to find the tall, crimson furred, menacing, wendigo standing behind them with his twisted and sadistic smile.
"Now wendigos." Alastor explained. "They don't usually take such an impulsive and Neanderthal-like approach, but they're much worse. First they'll kill you slowly by peeling the skin off your bones while you're still alive."
"No!" They gasped in terror.
"After that they pluck out your liver and squeeze all the blood from your heating heart. Which by the way, did you know human blood makes an excellent broth for stew?"
Suddenly the bravest hunter started waving his torch near Alastor's face.
"Back!" He demanded. "Get back beast! I warn ya!"
But the wendgio only looked at the torch unafraid and somewhat bored, then snuffed it out. Next thing he was take in a huge breath and release an ear-splitting, spine-tingling, heart-stopping howl that caused each everyone of the hunters to scream their heads off. They screamed, trembled, sweated, and after three minutes of this they suddenly turned stiff.
"Correct me if I'm wrong my good fellows." Alastor said pulling out his pocket watch to check the time. "But I do believe that this is the part where you run away."
There was no hesitation, they were barreling out there like Death had come for them. Tripping over themselves in desperation to get as far away from the beast as possible.
"And stay out." Alastor smirked once he saw the last one scurrying off. "Serves them right for disturbing the peace. Well disturbing my peace anyway."
He pulled a candle stick from his pocket and lit it with a match in order to see how much property damage they did this time.
"Well not as bad as before." He said looking over the ground. "But they trampled over my sign. Don't they have manners, at least?"
He picked up the broken remains of his sign and proceeded to gather up anything that the villagers had carelessly left behind in their haste. He found the usually snuffed out torches and discarded pitchforks but there was something new among the pile of dropped items. It was a wanted poster.
"Wanted Mythical Creatures." Alastor read. "By order of Lord Vox, all creatures of myth and lore are to be expelled from the Nine Kingdoms. Rich Reward for anyone who captures a mythical creature and turns it over to Captain Pentious."
Alastor gave the poster a disapproving look and continued to be about his business that night.
