Darkness consumed the sky as lightning striked , followed by a rumble. Tonight, the sky looked especially dark, with no light of stars and moon, but only vicious lightning angrily crossed the night.

"Dominic, just go do what father said."his brother said calmly, before he leaned down to him," You actually scared, isn't it?" his brother asked with eyes wide,feigning shock before laughing with other brothers.

Dominic's face turned sour, as he glared at his older brothers.

"Big brother, you shouldn't tease him. He's the youngest, of course he is scared. " his second brother snickered,"It's okay if you're scared, little baby Dominic, I'm here for you~" he said dramatically, opening both his arms affectionately to him.

The small kitchen roared with laughter, making Dominic expression turned uglier.

He didn't like his brothers when they teasing him. He is already 12,he is not a kid anymore.

"I'm not scared!" he shouted, stomping his feet as he went to grab the rain coat, putting it on him.

"I'm gonna go now!" he shouted again as he walked out, banging the kitchen back door on the way.

Today is his turn to close the barn door, making sure their goats and chicken do not go out, especially in this weather.

"Hey, who banged the door?!" his mother's angered voice sounded from distance, followed by his brothers answer, "Dominic!"

His face turned even solemn.

The wind blow hard, making the trees swaying aggressively. The rain poured heavily on him, blurring his sight as he put his palm against his forehead as a shield to the rain.

After a seconds struggling, he arrived at their barn, only behind their small, wooden house. He looked at the door, indeed it was open, maybe because of the wind.

Earlier, when his father asked him to check the barn door again, he refused with the excuse that he have do it that evening. And then his brothers started to tease him, assuming he is scared to go out of their house at midnight.

Actually, what his brothers say is true, he is obviously scared. But to protect his ego, he denied strongly to his brothers accusation.

He walked to the barn to close the open door. But then, he heard a cry in the barn.

What...he froze. He suddenly remembered his brother's story about a ghost who loves to eat kids, and always waiting in the dark after midnight to devour them. He shivered. No, the story is not true. Brother was just kidding.

But between his war with brain and heart, he unconsciously glanced down at his handwatch, before gulping when he saw the time. Past midnight.

His thoughts was interrupted with another cry came from the barn, and his head snapped to the open door as he stared in the darkness.

In the amidst of the rain and wind, he could hear clearly something shuffling in there, and the sound of flesh being ripped?

His hands started to tremble, as he mustered up his courage to check what is going on in the barn.

"Hello?" he pushed the door slowly, and it creaked, making all the sounds of shuffling and flesh ripping stopped instantly.

Dominic gulped again, his heart beating furiously, as he holded his breath in anticipation.

But he saw nothing.

He let one leg stepped in the barn, as he slowly inspecting the inside. As soon as he near, the putrid smell of blood wafted his nostrils, as he instantly covered it with her sleeve.

He walked in the barn fully, and stayed silent for a while.

After a few minutes, he started to doubt his hearing before. Maybe there was a wolf before. But it was gone now.

He waited for a couple of seconds more, before decided to clicked open the bulb.

But before he could clicked open the bulb, he saw a pair of golden eyes, staring down at something beneath it in the dark.

His breath hitched, before he quickly make a hide behind hay in the barn. As if to give him a chance to satisfy his curiosity, the moonlight shone on the creature with golden eyes in front of him, and he saw it razor sharp claws, it arms covered with black veins.

What is this creature?

Before he could work his brain out, the creature got up from floor, and it body slowly changing.

There stood tall a man with his head hung low, looking at something at his feet. He turned around to walk out of the barn, and Dominic get a glimpse of his face.

Dominic gasped. He is a incredibly handsome young lad. With his silky black hair and fair skin. Especially his golden eyes, shining brighter than the stars.

If he could ignore the stains of blood on his shirt, he maybe would be amazed and awed of his features.

He got a chance to satisfy his curiosity again, when he finally saw what is the thing beside the man feet earlier.

A man.

A dead man.

He gasped loudly.

As if sensing his presence, the golden eyes man turned to his direction, and Dominic cupped his mouth with both his hands, scolding himself for doing something stupid inwardly.

The man turned back, and sighed deeply.

Just then, a black Mercedes car stopped on the side of the road near the barn, and came out an elderly man, bowing at the man politely.

The man walked to the car, and get in the car.

But what makes Dominic to nearly have a heart attack was what the old man said afterwards to the man.

"Careful, Your Highness."

______________________________

The light of the sun slipping through his red wine curtain, landing straight on his chiselled face. He slightly frowned, as he brought his muscular arm to his face, covering his sight from the too bright sun. There's a knock on the door, before came the voice of his personal butler.

"Your Royal Highness, are you awake?"the prince groaned.

"Yeah, come in." he said." I'm awake".he got up and sit. While he move, the cozy blanket slipped down, exposing his torso. The butler came in, and the sight of his royal prince rubbing his eyes while the sun shining on his face is so beautiful that he couldn't deny. The prince looked like a god, just woke up from his deep sleep on his throne.

No wonder his prince got rid of any female maids.

The butler lower his head, expressionless.

"Your Highness, the thing you asked me to do before, I have everything done . You can rest assured." the butler reported.

"Good, William. I know I can trust you.Then, you may go." he ordered, his voice laced with authority. Even though he didn't have the royal blood, as his biological mother and father weren't a royal, but the prince attitude was more like a king than the rest of his siblings who have the blood of the Great King flowing in their. Its as if the young prince was destinated to rule the entire world, not only England.

"Yes, Prince Arksna." the butler responded. 'Arksna' is the name that was given to him by the Great King, which means darkness. It is because of the black mist or smoke that always surrounding him whenever he was in certain situation. Nobody knows, but the name suited him perfectly because of the curse he had. He didn't even know about it before, but since his mother died, black veins started to trace the skin of his arm. What is more terrifying, whenever he was angry, the black veins started to show more obviously, and he will become unconscious, unaware of what he did afterwards until he get a hold of himself again. The moment he blinked back, he found corpse before him.

It was as if there's another side of him that he never aware of, and that dark side of him growing as days passed, until finally it became a part of him. Only his butler know about his 'illness' and as he grew up, he learnt how to control his 'power' through his temper.That's why whenever there's any event or ball in the castle, he always wore his signature mask and gloves. Thank God, he can control that darkness but he still have to be careful when the moment the matter out of his hand arrives.

As the butler excused himself out,he climbed out of his king size bed and started to get ready for another boring day. He sighed. When will he get the chance to live a life as he was meant to be? This life of a prince is not for him.

'My love, when will you came to colour my boring life?' he thought sadly as he headed to the bathroom.