His Beautiful Swan

Prelude

Prelude

Penelope realized she had been walking for far too long as she wandered off of her usual path. She did not seem to recognize any of scene that was around her. Penelope felt her heart rate accelerate, thrumming loudly inside of her chest. She attempted to walk back the way she had come, hoping that she would soon find familiarity. Alas, another twenty minutes of walking and she found herself more lost than ever. True fear began to overcome her senses. In all of her hurry to find a safe way home, Penelope had yet to notice how dry her throat was. Once she finally did, she began searching for some sort of water source. Not too far away, she came across a beautiful lake. Its blue water was enticing and she heard whispers all about her, drawing her towards its crystal reflection.

Penelope bent down upon her knees at the shore. She dipped a finger into the water, causing the lake's glass surface to slowly crack as ripple by ripple was sent to all corners. She cupped her hands together in order to bring the water up to her mouth. As she did so, she noticed a reflection on the lake. A creature.

This creature was barely noticeable with its green camouflage skin that matched the nature around it. Its skin had scales scattered about it to make it look as if vines with small leaves grew upon it. It was about twice the size of any normal man and had muscles hidden underneath its thick skin. What was most frightening was the completely pitch black eyes. The way that they were cold and calculating caused her to gasp aloud.

She turned around to see the creature face to face, but there was no creature. In its place stood a handsome man. He was tall with dark features, tanned skin as well as black hair. This man had chocolate brown eyes, unlike the fearful black ones Penelope had been peering at only a moment ago.  He was dressed in purple clothing that resembled royalty. His shirt has a crest embedded into it. One she had never seen, a swan. A beautiful, innocent white swan.

The man took a step towards her from the underbrush. Alarmed, Penelope took a step backwards. The man held his hands up as if he was surrendering. "Wait, I mean you no harm." His voice was soft as silk and just as enchanting. Penelope felt herself drawn towards him. The longer she stared into his eyes, the harder she found it to look away from them. The longer she peered into his eyes, the faster her worry melted away until she trusted the man completely. The longer she gazed into his eyes, the more mesmerized she felt. Penelope did not even know that he had been walking towards her until he stopped when they were only a few inches away.

"I am Von Rothbart of Chantels." The man bowed to her. She was almost too enticed to remember her manors and to curtsy. "And you are?" He asked her, extending out his palm towards her.

"Penelope." She spoke breathlessly, forgetting to breath. She took his hand and suddenly she was pulled against him. They were chest to chest touching with no space between them. Penelope tried as hard as she could to separate them, but found that one of the man's arms were locked around her waist, while the other hand snaked itself up around the back of her neck. She was trapped.

He brought his face down near hers and she felt his breath fan across her face and down her neck. Penelope suddenly didn't feel so well. She felt odd, abnormal. Her skin crawled and she had goosebumps all over. She was having trouble breathing. Her head pounded as if someone was inside of it. The sun was too bright. She sealed her eyes shut as her stomach lurched. Every muscle inside of her body was flexing and releasing rapidly. It felt as if something was inside of her, longing to break free of its shell.

She needed to get away. Thinking that she could fool the man, she abruptly stopped struggling. The man believed the trick that she had played on him, that she had truly given up all hope and his stance relaxed only the slightest. This was her only chance, she attempted to running away. She didn't even make it a foot before she was pulled backwards against a hard as rock chest. The man assumed the same position with his arms locked around her, only this time her back was against him.

His face was at her ear whispering peculiar words. His breath was warm and caused her to shiver and shudder. She could not understand what the man was saying to her, she was afraid, and she could not explain how she was feeling or what was happening to her.

It felt as if something was growing out of her skin, stretching itself out. Her bones were shattering into a million pieces and reassembling themselves. Penelope no longer felt her fingers or toes, but instead wings and webbed feet. She realized that feathers had grow out from under her skin and she had shrank down to a fourth of her size.

She felt herself slipping away as she cried to herself. The arms that held her were no longer the same strong hands, but green callused ones. Familiarity struck her as she recognized those green arms. The last thought to appear before she was gone from this world was, The monster.