Heart of a Monster (Fraxus Fantasy AU)

Prologue

Once upon a time, a spirit was said to be lurking on the outskirts of the kingdom of Magnolia. The humans, frightened by this foreign presence, plead to their king for protection. When the king brushed aside their fears, they decided to take matters into their own hands. A group of villagers headed up the mountain with the intention of capturing the spirit's heart as a trophy and as a warning to other paranormal entities.

"Freed! They're coming!" Evergreen shouted, pointing at the mob ascending the mountain - a pulsing mass of fire and anger approaching the castle.

"My babies and I can take care of them," Bickslow announced, raising up the wooden dolls which contained the souls he controlled.

"Hold your attacks," Freed replied calmly.

With a loud bang, the door came down and the humans flooded into the castle. Freed remained seated, Bickslow and Evergreen on either side of him ready to spring into action if needed.

"Monsters!" a man yelled, stepping forward from the group with a sword in his hand.

"Rude," Evergreen muttered, earning a glare from Freed.

"This is your chance to get far away from here and never bother us again. Otherwise..." the man said, raising his sword, "we'll take matters into our own hands."

"Yeah! Tell them, Trevor!" The villagers cheered the man on.

"We have no quarrel with your people. We do not wish to fight you," Freed replied.

"What? I do!" Bickslow retaliated, his babies chanting "Fight! Fight!" as they floated around him.

The crowd gasped. One young man, in horrified disbelief, said, "It's true! A soul-stealing demon!"

"Bickslow!" Freed reprimanded. Bickslow replied with a nervous laugh, realizing that he had made the situation worse.

"A-and I hear the woman is a witch!" the young man continued.

"Witch?" Evergreen gasped. "Who's going around calling me a witch?! I'm clearly a beautiful fairy!"

"That leader must be really terrifying to be able to give orders to a demon and a witch."

"I'm not a witch!"

"Then let's cut off the head of the snake!" The first man, Trevor, cheered. He charged into battle with the rest of the mob quickly following suit.

Freed sighed. "Please, we do not want to hurt you. We only wish to continue on with our lives here in peace." He was drowned out by the commotion. The mob was on them in full force and Evergreen and Bickslow were beginning to fight back. "Evergreen, Bickslow, do not kill or maim anyone. Do only what you must to survive. Don't let them turn us into monst-" his words were cut short by a dagger plunging into his chest. He looked down to see the same terrified young man from earlier.

"Take its heart as a prize, Michael!" someone called to the boy. The young human reached into Freed's chest and pulled out his heart. He held up his prize hesitantly to the rest of the mob, who cheered violently. Bickslow and Evergreen screamed and tried to run to Freed through the mob.

Thunder rumbled. The castle shook. Instead of dying, Freed began to transform. He let out a guttural scream as he grew in size and sprouted giant horns. The hole where his heart had been glowed, the pulsing light mimicking the lost heartbeat.

"Freed!" Evergreen finally reached her friend; however, the greeting she received was not friendly by any means. The newly transformed Freed reached out and mercilessly plucked the fairy's wings. As Evergreen screeched in pain, she was covered in glowing purple runes. When the glowing subsided, she was gone.

The mob looked around in terror. "Up there!" someone shouted, pointing at a window. Evergreen was trapped in the stained glass, her magic separated from her and secured in a second window.

"Freed... what did you do?" Bickslow's horrified shock quickly turned into anger and he charged. Freed picked each of the flying dolls out of the air. "My babies!" Before Bickslow could transfer the souls or do anything else to fight back, he too was covered in those glowing purple runes. On the wall facing Evergreen's windows, Bickslow and his babies occupied two more.

The humans fled the castle as quickly as they could, trampling over each other in panic. Some of them were captured by the monster. Those who made it out ran back home without a look back at the castle. Their mission was a success, but had an unexpected outcome. Instead of dying, the spirit was transformed into a terrible monster.

The young man who had wrenched the spirit's heart from his chest went to the king for help. He described truthfully what had happened and what he had done, not sparing any gruesome details of the ensuing transformation and violence.

The king instructed his subject to bury the heart and to not spread his story. The monarch's worst fears were coming true and he wished to sweep everything under the rug as quickly as possible. So, to fix the mess, he decided to call in the local magical knight to quickly dispose of the demon.