Steely breaths and the crunch of fallen leaves and twigs cut through the silence of the woods at night. Your legs ache, your lungs burn and your arms sting from running past thorn bushes almost as tall as you. For what seems like hours, you've been running through the woods in no clear direction but forward. The thing or whatever creature it was that was chasing you hadn't caught you yet and in the pit of your stomach, you feared it was just toying you, a predator enjoying the rush of a challenge before feasting on its prey. Yet, without looking back you continue to run with more than just the full moon as witness.

Until, you see a path. Your eyes barely make it out but with the little visibility the moon gives you, you're sure it's there and it might just be your way out. Your sleeve gets caught against a thorn bush but with your newfound sense of hope, you tear your arm free, not caring for the blood the warms your skin. You barely register when your cheek gets scraped by a thin branch, barely missing your eye.

At the end of the path, you almost run into a tall hedge. The pounding in your ears is so loud, you wonder if you have two hearts instead of one as a new wave of panic washes over you. You risk a look behind you, back into the darkness of the woods and without a second thought you follow the hedge until you come to a set of metal gates covered vines.

They loom over you as you crane your head upwards and see the spikes on top. You grab onto the gates, desperate as you try to pull them open. Tears run down your cheeks, stinging the cut below your eye.

Behind the gates, you see...a castle? A castle so great you wonder how you'd never saw it before. Even in the dead of night, you can make out all the high points of the castle. Perhaps it is just a mere trick of the eye but it looks like the moon has cast her light only for this castle. Illuminated, almost unnaturally compared to the rest of the world. A shiver runs down your spine as you see a single room lit up in the whole castle.

Then you hear it. A low growl behind you and your hairs stand on end as you whisk around to see a pair of glowing eyes staring directly at you from the woods. Your hand desperately clings to the gate but with all your energy waned, your legs finally give out beneath you.

You only watch, paralyzed in fear as the eyes grow closer and bigger until they stop and they no longer look at you but are settled on something behind you. For a single moment, you think you see fear flash in them before the eyes retreat back into the darkness.

"Are you alright?" you hear the voice of a male behind you. You let out a gasp from fright, almost jumping out of your bones as you scurry away from the gate. You hadn't even heard his footsteps as the stranger appeared behind you.

On the other side of the metal gate, you see the most beautiful man you'd ever laid your eyes on. His hair, icy under the light of the moon, the very same moon that illuminates his cheek bones and sharp jaw. The loose strings on his blouse give you a sneak at his strong chest but it's his eyes that entrance you, his glowing red eyes.

Your breathing slows but you can still feel the pounding of your heart as the stranger keeps you under his gaze. He unlocks the gate but that's when you realize there was never a lock on it nor does the stranger use keys of any kind. It's like they just unlocked under his touch.

"It's going to rain soon. I'm not a fan of the rain. You're welcome to come in". He approaches you slowly, bends down to get on his knee in front of you and holds out his hand. When he's closer to you, you realize that his hair isn't the color of ice, but more golden and his eyes have lost the red. Like many other things, perhaps it was just another trick of the mind.

"It'll be bad if the others found out I let you try to get back to the village in the rain and by yourself so late at night." He tells you, voice smooth and comforting as a faint smile appears on his lips.

"Please, I won't hurt you."

You take his hand and it's cold as ice.

"Sorry." He apologizes, sheepish.

"What's your name, love?"

"It's (y/n)"

"Well, (y/n). Don't you think it's far too late for you to be out in the woods? I'm sure the villagers are out looking for you." The stranger doesn't let go of your hand as he leads you up the path towards the castle.

"You're right. I- I should go back-"

Before you finish your sentence, a bolt of lightening comes down, frightening you into the stranger's arms. Thunder and rain immediately follow and you're being rushed into the great hall of the stranger's castle.