Blood Crazed

Prologue FORGOTTEN DREAMS Once upon a time, in an enchanted land, there lived a beautiful princess. Merely a child, she lived a charmed life adored by all the kingdom: her parents, the King and Queen, and all the royal courts and commoners who bowed at her feet. On the eve of the princess’ birth, it was the grandest day of all in Erewhon. From as far as the azure sea, noblemen and noblewomen from all the four seasoned courts arrived in gilded carriages dressed in their fine, satin gowns and frockcoats, bringing precious gold and rare spices of cinnamon and saffron to honor a very special princess born of extraordinary abilities. Throughout the majestic kingdom, all the subjects, royal, and the masses revered the newborn princess. There was promise of eternal goodwill over all the enchanted land. Every night at bedtime, tucking the royal princess in her cozy bed, the Queen and King would share stories about a great privilege, a noble duty bestowed upon her young majesty. One day when the child was old enough, the princess would sit upon the golden throne and rule her father’s kingdom. And when the perfect time came, she’d give her hand in marriage to a handsome prince, and together they’d fill the castle with mirthful children and live happily ever after. There would never be any threat of war. Peace would prevail forever in Faeryland; precious dreams of a parent. And for a while, the dreams were bountiful. Peace and prosperity blanketed the enchanted land for five years. Then one night, happiness was ripped from the peaceful land. A storm blanketed the kingdom with vile resolve. Dark, brutal clouds gathered, devouring the night’s glistening stars. Hallowing gusts swept over the villages, destroying everything in its wake as thunder roared, sending violent bolts of lightning streaking the angry sky with fierce tenacity. At a frightening moment’s notice, the princess’ shutters burst open with a loud crash, and a looming silhouette of a man appeared on the window ledge, but an ordinary man, he was not. Mighty black wings cast dark shadows over the man’s face as evil slithered its way into the child’s room, poisoning the air with malevolence. Quiet as a mouse, the fair princess lay under the cover, shivering from the intruder, listening. Talons scraped the royal floor as the echoing sound of water dripping grew louder closer. Tap, tap, tap, the noise stilled the child’s breath. In a blink, the princess’ blanket disappeared and sharp claws snatched her up into the grim arms of a strange dark-winged man. The young child was so terrified, not a sound uttered from her delicate lips, not even a whimper escaped. With the royal princess tucked in iron arms, the strange winged man, in three long strides, climbed onto the window sill and unfurled his dark wings. Lightning streaked the ominous sky jolting the princess with forbidding. Ignoring the small child’s trembling, the dark winged stranger shoved off the ledge and ascended into the grim sky. Higher and higher, his black wings fluttered in a slow, powerful motion disappearing into the blackness. Rain and bitter wind slapped at the princess’ face as she squeezed her eyes closed, trembling beyond her imagination. The tiny princess prayed to the goddess that this strange winged man was merely a bad dream. But that stormy starless night, the child’s prayers went unheard. The princess’ mysterious disappearance left the land shattered. Sorrow spread over the magickal kingdom like the black plague. Mad with grief, the King ordered the Royal Guard to search the land from the emerald forest to the snowcapped mountains. Not a stone was to go unturned. After burdensome days and nights of searching, the Royal Guard, heavily shouldered and with grief-stricken faces, returned to the King and Queen, announcing their forlorn failure. The princess was lost forever. And since that stormy night, blight fell upon the enchanted kingdom, and the King died of a broken heart, and the Queen died of great grief.