Hi everyone! I have finally found enough time to update so here I am gracing you all with a new chapter. I hope you won't be disappointed!
Beauty and the Beast
Chapter Four
A New Experience
Rath found himself impulsively following the strange man he had seen in Cesia's mansion, instinctively disappearing into the trees when the guy turned around.
They covered quite a distance, the man never stopping except to turn around every once in a while, to which Rath would nimbly leap away, and Rath never wavering in his desire to pursue this mysterious man.
At last, after a rather brisk walk, they came to a stop. Before them stood a lake reflecting of the sunset, causing the lake to take on a reddish color, similar to blood. This seemed normal enough, but something was out of place.
As Rath looked around, he realized that the lake was actually red, not reflecting off of anything, and that sunsets were supposed to appear enchanting and romantic, not horribly evil.
Before Rath had enough time to mull over this new fact, the bizarre man started to talk to himself, something most people would see as a sign of craziness.
"Let it be known that the curse to which I have spoken of years since will now be in effect.
Let it be known that the castle of a thousand riddles will now house this curse, for it is a cursed place itself.
Let it be known that all who reach this place and enter will never return.
Let it be known to all that I have found a new test subject!"
As the apparently crazy man finished his speech, he turned around and Rath was a little slow in realizing that there were no trees near the lake.
He saw the man's eyes widen in surprise for a second before melting into a disposition of tenderness and sympathy, to which Rath was the victim.
The deep, soothing tones came quickly and without hesitation. "My dear boy, are you lost? It is dangerous around here, at this time. It's best if you run along now and go home."
As he turned to leave, he sniffed most pityingly at Rath, and then stopped.
His eyes took on a strange glint and he smiled a strange, disturbing smile at Rath.
"Please step closer, child, I only want to see if I know you," the man said, but Rath was now sure the man was demented so he was wavering on whether to run like the hounds of hell were chasing him, or to kill the guy.
This guy may not be a demon, but he was crazy enough to die like one.
The man took Rath's moment hesitation as a bad sign and roughly threw Rath into the lake, and as Rath had been unbalanced on whether to step forward or back Rath could do nothing but brace himself as he fell headfirst into the water.
Cesia hummed to herself as she walked up the fairly long flight of rickety steps that led to her room.
The steps might have been seen as a nuisance at some time in her life, but she had learned to see them as a blessing.
After all, they gave her an excuse to take a long time before serving Tupet. Tupet was scared of anything taller than three feet, and sometimes things shorter than that.
Tupet probably would have liked Cesia to go faster, but it was either wait or risk her well being on something high and unbalanced.
When Cesia finally reached her room it was simple to collect her meager belongings and put them into a ripped piece of cloth, her only bag available.
She had not always been so poor. Cesia remembered a time when she had a meal three times a day, with an ample amount of clothing and cash.
It was so long ago that she could never really remember how her parents looked or where she lived, but she knew the people around her had always been kind and her room had not been a closet, as was the case where she lived now.
Although, if she were going to reside at a new place, as she suspected, anything had to be bigger than what she was living in now.
Cesia had a small, but growing hope that wherever she was going would be better than her life here, but with Tupet being happy over Cesia leaving, that was probably not the case.
Of course, the reason Tupet was happy could just be that Cesia was leaving, not to mention she got a bag of gold for it.
Even though it was obvious Tupet held the power in Cesia's household, that didn't mean Cesia couldn't be obstinate just to frustrate Tupet.
Naturally, Tupet would always retaliate, but Cesia held the power over those types of skirmishes, even though Cesia usually paid for her disobedience with extra chores.
Tupet would have liked to beat Cesia, but that was illegal and Cesia was much stronger than Tupet.
But, today would be the end of endless slavery, or so Cesia hoped.
As Cesia stepped out onto the front lawn of Tupet's mansion, she noticed a strange carriage that had not been there before.
The carriage was large, grey, and had standard sized dappled grey horses tethered to it.
The horses looked young but acted as slow and handicapped as any old horse would.
Cesia knew a bit about animals thanks to her alterations when going into Bertha's Forest, and these horses were not sick.
The only thing wrong with the animals Cesia saw was a severe case of depression.
In fact, the whole outlook of the carriage was gloominess.
As Cesia stepped into the carriage, she saw Tupet's wicked grin and could only hope for something good to happen where she was going.
The water was cold, but not freezing, and Rath didn't feel wet at all, even though he was fully submerged in a large body of water.
The lake was deep, and Rath could not even see the surface when he finally decided to open his eyes.
Everything was red around him, and when Rath tried to swim to the top of the lake the water strangely slid out of his grasp.
Instead of going higher, Rath seemed to be sinking, and the water evaded his every attempt to claw his way to the top.
As Rath began to lose his consciousness due to the lack of air, he thought that he saw a glimmer in the distance.
Everything, no matter how deep he fell, always stayed the same hue of red, so it was hard to tell where the top and the bottom were, but Rath dimly noted that the glimmer was not red, and that was why he had seen it at all.
The glimmer looked inviting and warm, even pleasant in so awful a situation, but Rath could not help but feel uneasy around it, for reasons he could not explain.
As he was sinking he was vaguely aware that the glimmer was moving towards him, as though to intercept him, and then—Rath fainted.
Now there's a sort of long chapter. Didn't you all like that? It's the least I can do for all the people who so faithfully review.
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