Beauty and the Giant

Prologue

There once was a giant who lived in a far off land, where only giants resided and giants reigned. He was the crown prince to a large, growing kingdom. A spoiled prince. While the kingdom starved and wasted away, he was given immense riches beyond anyone's wildest dreams. The kingdom hated him for this, and men, women, and children began planning a revolt against the kingdom. Rumors of this revolt spread throughout the kingdom and far beyond the reaches of the kingdom, which led the prince to demand for more guards to stifle any dissenting voices who spoke of this revolt.

But the prince couldn't quiet down all of the voices in the kingdom. Rumors spread, and they happened to spread to a lone enchantress residing in the woods with only animals for company. When news spread to her, she knew she could not make any rash judgments about the crown prince nor of the kingdom he reigned. Instead, she decided to journey to the kingdom before making a careful decision.

Upon arriving at the kingdom, dressed as an old beggar woman, she discovered far more about the kingdom than if she had been dressed in riches. Chaos erupted on the streets, mostly initiated by the guards. When inquiring about the crown prince, it was said that he was preparing for a ball to occur in two weeks' time, in search of a princess to accompany him in ruling the kingdom.

She prepared for the ball upon receiving this news. She arrived back at her home in the woods and promptly prepared a ballgown, which she adorned with various rare jewels and gems. Then she proceeded to form spells, which would lead everyone in the kingdom to believe she was a princess from a distant, foreign kingdom. The spells would wear out once she left the kingdom, and no one would remember who she was nor what she looked like.

When the day of the ball came, she arranged for a carriage to take her to the palace. Everyone was so dazzled and awed at the appearance of the enchantress, and everyone believed her to be a princess from a distant, unknown kingdom. The prince's eye quickly caught hers, and he took to impressing her. Yet when she inquired about the status of the kingdom, he scoffed and implicitly blamed the peasants. She was unsettled by such a reply. She needed a direct response, and she carefully prodded him about the matter. He attempted to shrug it off until finally, annoyed, he cursed the peasants.

The enchantress then knew what ought to be done.

Although he invited her to the next ball--his twentieth birthday--set for two weeks' time, she politely declined. Instead, she returned to her home in the woods and prepared for the next upcoming ball, this time wearing the lowliest of rags. When she arrived at the next ball, no one recognized her. Instead everyone was repulsed by her appearance, and the prince called for the guards to throw her out. But she spoke up, and the guards found themselves halting in their steps, wondering why they had stopped in their pursuit. She then offered the prince a bouquet of wilting flowers in exchange for a place to stay the night. The prince laughed aloud and approached her. He tore the flowers from her hands and scoffed at her request, rebuking her and commanding her to leave. To emphasize his words, he thrust the flowers to the ground and squashed them under the heel of his foot.

But she didn't heed his words. Instead, a gust of wind erupted around the woman and overtook both him and the woman. They were quickly wrapped in darkness, alone. The prince was frozen to his spot. He witnessed the woman transform into her true appearance as an enchantress, and only he was allowed to see her true self.

The prince grew frightened and begged for mercy. But she, in her rarely seen appearance, refused his request. Just as he saw her in her true form, in all of its splendor and frightening power, he would also face a similar end. But instead of being able to hide his true form, as she was able to, he would be made vulnerable and forced to wear his true appearance before all.

He continued to plead for mercy while his appearance quickly changed, allowing the darkness and sins of his heart to be exposed for all to see. The transformation pained him deeply and he found himself begging to have his princely appearance returned to him.

The enchantress replied, "If you can find love in your heart, you will be freed." She also added that if he couldn't fulfill this simple task in three years' time, he would be doomed to remain this way for the rest of his mortal life.

When she vanished, he cried out in pain and fear. He was suddenly thrust back into the room of the ball, but the room was slowly comsumed by his darkness. Every touch of his allowed darkness to appear, revealing a part of himself and of his sins. From the places he touched, lions made of shadow and darkness appeared, growling at the attendees of his ball. The crowd shrieked in fear and everyone scattered as far as they could from him and his shadows. He, too, panicked and sprinted out of the room. Every room he entered was consumed by his darkness. When he ran out of his palace, the darkness and the lion shadows chased him. Darkness spread everywhere around him, and he was surrounded by every bit of it. It was only when he approached the gardens that he found a mild relief, for nature could be touched by his darkness, but the flowers still bloomed, untouched by his all-encompassing despair and spared from his lion shadows who had begun to rampage the kingdom.

He had no love.

How could he be expected to find love in his heart if he had none?