Introduction

The rain fell hard onto the rocky cliffside, with the dark clouds above blocking the night sky view.

The kingdom above that sat along the coastline was in upheaval, as they desperately searched all the surrounding areas nearby for someone…

"The prince has escaped!"

"Kill that monster as soon as you find him!"

"Make sure to search every building nearby for him! he couldn't have gotten that far from the castle!"

As the chaos unfolded above, two people stood on a pier. One of them was a woman who wore a cloak over herself. She was trying her best to console the crying child before her.

"N-NO! NO!" the boy yelled between gasps as he cried uncontrollably. "I don't want to escape alone!"

"My prince, please keep your voice down."

"But if I leave now, you won't come with me! I won't have anyone else!"

The prince wept and rubbed his arm against his face, getting tears and snot all over it. He felt a warmth against his cheek, as his head was moved with loving care to make eye contact with the woman in front of him.

"My prince, I promise you, that no matter where in this world you may end up, you will never be alone."

He gained a slight control of himself for a bit. Then out of impulse he ran and hugged the woman tightly and cried into her bosom. She, out of her own love, hugged him back.

"Please," she said in a quiet voice, but one that he heard over the harsh rain that poured over their bodies. "Can you promise me that you will live your life to the fullest? That no matter what perils you endure, you will strive to live your life the best you can?"

With light sobs, the boy managed to get his words out.

"I p-promise." He stammered.

"Thank you."

She put both her hands on the prince's shoulders and separated him from her, because she knew their time was short.

"You have to trust me, okay?"

The prince finally regained most of his composure.

"Okay, I… I will."

She smiled at the boy, she knew that his bravery was great and that there was a chance he may not survive the journey across the unruly sea. But, it was the only option she had, since she was sure if she tried to take the prince outside of the kingdom by land, the knights would definitely catch up to them. She knew that there would be no way of getting past the guards that constantly patrol the border. The kingdom itself was small, making it easier to cover the border.

She took a hammer and popped open the lid of the wine barrel. She picked up the prince and placed him inside.

He looked at her with hesitation. She held herself together, and made sure tears didn't fall from her face, otherwise, it would show the lack of faith she had of this plan.

"Everything will be alright." She continued to smile to conceal her doubt.

She then placed the lid over the wine barrel, then popped the barrel head on as best as she could, so that it may prevent any sea water from getting in.

She then pushed it off the pier, and watched the barrel drift away into the cold night, with the rain as her only comfort. The tears that threatened to shed earlier now did, as the boy who felt so close to a son she never had, drifted away forever from her. His survival was left up to fate itself, and therefore, there was nothing she could do except pray to the Lord for his safety.

"Goodbye, my prince."

I'm sorry Rosa, but you lied to me.

I am alone.

The snow crunched under my feet with each step I took, as I contemplated that final memory I had of her. I held no anger or hate in my heart towards her, I could never even think of doing something like that. It wasn't her fault that I was this way.

I looked upwards to the sky, to see the night settling in place. The transformation had worn off only minutes ago. I was now traveling the snow covered road with icy white pastures on both sides.

It was the season of winter in the lands of Britain. The place I had come to when I was just the age of nine.

The freezing wind bit into the surface of my flesh, as my outstretched tunic and ripped trousers offered no protection against the cold in these lands.

I recalled the actions of… my day-self… and what he did.

I remember coming across a village that was near a river. I think it was called Danum. I saw that it was under attack by a large band of raiders, I believe they were the Saxons based on what I heard they looked like. I came across them a couple of times and had to evade them at night, when my curse wasn't active. I saw that almost all the village guards had been killed and no one was left to protect the village folk. The raiders plundered the village, looting everything they could. They did horrible things to the people who live there, especially… the women.

A great anger swelled inside me, an uncomfortable fire that I had no rein over. I killed them. All of them. I did it with a slightly twisted smile on my face as I enjoyed the act.

After I was finished with my rampage, I looked to the village folk who I had saved. Their eyes told me enough, I could sense the fear that was behind them. I heard what some of them called me under their breath, even if they thought I didn't hear it. It was a word I was all too familiar with…

Monster.

I didn't blame them of course. What else would you call something that looked like an abomination and would kill without a second thought.

I wish people would give me a chance so they can get to know the real me. I'm not that monster who I become in the morning, he had no correlation to who I truly am at night. I just like everybody else want to fully experience life. I want to be able to feel things like love and happiness.

Unfortunately, my day-self was way too proud and he wouldn't let anyone he deemed weak get close to him. But, even if he didn't want to let people in, I at least did!

A weary sigh came out of me.

I felt exhausted from the lack of food, and I could barely keep my self up against this weather. During the day, I felt no need for food or water, I was always In peak form. It was one of the few postives this curse gave me. However, I was a normal man at night and I needed to consume something to effectively keep me going. Otherwise, I would die.

The thought of death has crossed my mind many times, and… I have even thought of ending it all. But, I was too much of a coward to ever follow through. I thought of the peace it would bring me. I would no longer have to worry about hurting anyone, I would no longer have to keep my distance from towns or cities, and I would no longer have to bear being called a monster every where I went.

My weak body couldn't no longer keep me standing, my legs gave away and I collapsed onto the snow beneath my feet.

The winter was overpowering, and I could not fight against it.

What if…

I let nature just run its course, that way this nightmare would end and I would be free. I was too much of a craven to do it myself anyway.

Again, I'm sorry Rosa. That you saved such a weak and spineless person like me. I never deserved someone as brilliant as you.

The snow flakes that fell from the sky tickled my face, as I accepted my coming fate. A weak chuckle came out as I felt my eyes getting heavier and heavier, until I could no longer open them.

"It's cold as bollocks." I heard the voice beside me ring out.

I sighed.

"Pay attention, we have to make sure Powys kept to their word and withdrew their forces away from our lands."

Me and Sir Herry, along with a group of low-ranking knights numbering fifteen in total, were patrolling the perimeter of the city Eboracum. We were under the orders of our King, Einion ap Mor, to patrol the south outskirts and make sure that none of King Cygen's soldiers were still within our lands.

"None of this would have happened anyway, if our King wasn't so conceited as to take a joke from King Cygen." he said with a hint of spite

"You don't understand." I told him.

"Really? What don't I understand Sir Rufus?" He drawled out.

I looked behind as I rode atop my horse. The other knights who were dispatched with us were far enough behind that they couldn't overhear what was being said.

"King Cygen openly disrespected our King whilst in the presence of the other lords, especially that of our High-King, King Arthur. He was never gonna let a slight like that slide without showing force."

"Yeah, but look at what we were forced to endure because of it. My best mate that I ended up growing up with, lost his life just because of the king's pride. I… I saw it happen right in front of me too. He was impaled by calvary…"

I looked at him for a bit before continuing to face forward.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"... it's fine… I got over it. It was more painful for me to announce his death to his family than anything else."

The war with the kingdom of Powys was a short lived one. It only lasted for around two months, before our King was finally forced to negotiate things over. I could say with no pause, that we weren't winning that war. Even then, I was surprised to see the King actually consider talking things over with Cygen. If I knew the King well enough, he would have rather waited till Cygen's forces arrived at the walls of our capital city then talked things over. He was a man that held too much pride in his heart. Too proud of the lineage he descended from.

Our kingdom's resources were low, and many lives were lost. It would be pretty hard to determine whether or not we'll be fine this winter season. This unfortunately meant that our settlements were under threat of Saxon Raiders from the far southeast of England.

I wonder—

"There's a body up ahead." Sir Herry's voice disrupted his thoughts.

"What? Where?"

"What do you mean where? There's a body up ahead on the road."

I squinted my eyes to see if I can see anything up ahead

"I don't see nothing."

"Have you actually gone blind?! you can't fucking see the corpse that's a few feet away!"

"Watch your tone boy. No matter what age I am, I'll still toss you on your arse!"

"Whatever, I'm going to go on ahead and check it out. You should probably consider retirement."

Tch… bastard.

I halted my horse to signal the knights behind me that we came across something ahead of us. They nodded and let the others behind them know as well.

I gave a slight squeeze to my horse, Breena, to command her forward, so that I may catch up to Sir Herry who chose to disembark as soon as he got close to the body.

As I got closer, I got a better look at the corpse. I could see that it looked to be a male with ginger colored hair. The clothes he wore was a ruined brown tunic and trousers that were ripped in some areas at the seams. The body was just about the average size of a man, however it was scrawny looking. Snow was caked on every place of his body.

I soon arrived right beside his horse.

"You shouldn't have unmounted. You don't know if this could be a trap of some kind."

"Do you see anywhere our enemies could hide in these vast plains of white?"

"..."

"Good, then allow me to continue investigating."

I felt a small migrain start to form in the back of mind.

Truly a bastard Sir Herry could be.

He finally turned the body over after looking at the back for Lord knows how long. I was finally able to see the face of the body.

They looked pretty young, and had boyish features to their face. It caused a slight sadness in my heart, as I myself had a son who passed away when he was only just eighteen years of age. I remembered the pain it put my family under. This boy looked to be around the same age as him.

"No way…" I heard Sir Herry murmured in astonishment

"What is it?"

"He's alive!" He shouted to me.

"Impossible!" I quickly got off my horse to look at the body of the boy who was apparently still alive.

"He's breathing in shallow breaths, but yeah, he's still kicking."

"How could someone still remain alive in weather like this! Especially when they are only wearing rags as clothes!"

I couldn't believe the thought of someone still being alive with no winter equipment or garments to wear. It's impossible. No one could survive in these conditions unless they were knights of King Arthur himself.

"It doesn't matter. if he doesn't get help now, then he'll die eventually from the cold!"

The boy's eyes started to open slowly.

"I think he's waking up!"

The boy looked a bit surprised to see us, probably thinking no one would have found him.

"What's your name?"

"My… Name…" he weakly said.

"Yes boy! Your name! Tell us your name!" I urged him.

"My… name… is…

Escanor."