Kael stood motionless in the clearing, his amber eyes locked on the figure before him. Aria. The healer. The one who dared to venture into his world, so untouched by time, so distant from the civilization that had long abandoned him.
She was small, almost fragile in comparison to his hulking form, her dark hair pulled loosely back as if to keep the weight of the forest's secrets from pulling it down. Her eyes, wide and unblinking, held no fear as they met his, only an unsettling calmness that was foreign to him. People feared him ran from him, hunted him but this woman... this woman was different.
Kael's claws twitched involuntarily, a reflex born of years of training, but his mind quickly overpowered the impulse. He would not attack her. There was something about Aria that intrigued him, something that made him hesitate. Something that pulled at him in ways he could not understand.
"You've come to slay me," Kael growled, his voice rough like the growl of a wolf. The words came out as a statement, more than a question. He could feel the weight of the night pressing down on him, but he also felt a strange, distant comfort in her presence.
Aria did not flinch. She stepped forward, her gaze unwavering. "No," she said softly. "I've come to understand you."
The words were simple, but they struck Kael with the force of a thunderclap. No one had ever dared to speak to him with such quiet certainty, as though she knew him or at least, as though she believed she could.
He took a slow, deliberate step back. "You understand nothing," he muttered. "Not of me, not of what I've become."
She shook her head, her expression filled with something he couldn't place. Pity? Sympathy? He could not be sure. "Maybe not," she admitted. "But I want to. I want to learn what happened to you. Why do you hide in these woods like a beast, when the man you were could have been so much more."
The weight of her words hung in the air between them, and for a brief moment, Kael felt a stirring in his chest a flicker of the man he used to be. Once, he had been a knight, a protector of the kingdom, loved by the people. Once, he had been someone they looked to for strength. Now, he was a monster, a shadow of that life, cursed to wander forever alone.
"Don't pity me," Kael snarled, his voice laced with bitterness. "There is nothing left of the man I was. The curse has taken that from me."
Aria took another step closer, her eyes softening as she spoke. "The curse may have changed you, but it doesn't define who you are. You're still in there, Kael. I can feel it."
The use of his name his true name struck him like a bolt of lightning. No one had spoken it aloud in years, not since the day of the betrayal. Not since the day the world had turned its back on him.
He turned his head, eyes flicking to the ground as memories he had long buried resurfaced. He had once been Kael the Valiant, a knight whose name had inspired songs and tales of bravery. Now, he was Kael the Beast, a creature feared and reviled by all.
"Why do you care?" he asked hoarsely, the words thick in his throat. "Why would you risk your life to understand a beast like me?"
Aria paused, her gaze never leaving his. "Because everyone deserves to be understood. Even you."
A long silence stretched between them, as Kael struggled to comprehend what she had said. Her words were soft, but they carried a weight he had never expected to hear from someone so... ordinary. She was not royalty. She was not a warrior. She was a healer, someone who dealt with the living, who saw the potential in people even when they could not see it in themselves.
Kael let out a deep sigh, his breath heavy with the burden of his years. The years spent running. The years spent hiding. The years spent believing that no one could ever understand him, let alone want to.
"I was once a man," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "A knight. A protector of the realm. I gave everything to the kingdom… and they betrayed me."
Aria's eyes softened further, and she took another tentative step toward him. She stopped just short of touching him, her hand outstretched as if testing the air between them.
"What happened?" she asked, her voice gentle but insistent.
Kael hesitated. There was a part of him that longed to tell her, to unload the burden he had carried in silence for so long. But the pain of that day, the sting of betrayal, was still too raw. The faces of those he had trusted, the faces of the men he had called brothers he could not forget them.
"It was… a spell," he finally said, his voice trembling with the weight of the memory. "An ancient magic, one I couldn't fight. The king's advisor, a man I trusted above all others, cast it upon me. I didn't see it coming."
Aria listened quietly, her gaze never leaving him. She did not interrupt, did not rush him. She simply waited for him to continue.
Kael's fists clenched, his nails digging into the thick skin of his palms. "I was cursed to become this... this thing," he spat, his voice rising in anger. "A beast. A monster. The man I was... he died that day, in that moment."
"And you?" Aria asked softly, stepping closer. "What do you think happened to you? Do you think that man is truly gone?"
Kael looked at her, his heart pounding in his chest. "I don't know. I don't know if I even care anymore. The world sees me as a monster. The world wants me dead."
Aria's voice was firm but kind as she responded, "Then let me help you change that. Let me help you see that there is more to you than just what you've become."
Kael's gaze faltered. For the first time in years, he felt the weight of her words, and with it, the faintest spark of hope, maybe... just maybe... there was a chance, a chance to heal, a chance to reclaim the parts of himself that he thought were lost forever.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke, The night around them was silent as if the forest itself held its breath. And in that silence, Kael realized something he hadn't felt in years, he was not alone, not anymore.