"Once there was a prince. His beauty was unrivalled and his heart was kind and just. They say that all who laid eyes on him were left in an immediate sense of awe, with his face like sculpted bronze and hair like fire. His eyes were like the sturdy trunk of an oak and his height could rival a pine's. He ruled his people justly and was held in high regard among them. Unlike many other nobles and royals of the time, that preferred to rule in a Machiavellian way, he was always truthful and kind.  He was there light in the darkness of the time; promoting education, equality among the classes and while other rulers hauled up in their castles during times of famine, he opened his doors to his people, offering food and shelter for those who needed it.

His kingdom was diverse, people from every corner of the world calling it home, it's said that even the fae lived within the walls of his kingdom. But even in the light, there's always a shadow lurking around.

The prince was always very particular about his name, being that he never shared it. No one ever truly knew why he kept his name a secret, only that he did. One night an old woman shrouded in a cloak of shadows, appeared knocking on the prince's door, request shelter for the night. Not wanting to offend her and wishing to obey the laws of hospitality, he granted her wish, giving her lodging for the night and even inviting her to dine with him. He often ate alone and said he would enjoy the company.

At diner they spoke of many things. The prince had found that the woman was very well versed in the ways of the world and he enjoyed her opinions on it. They soon ran out of topics from far away and began to speak personally, the prince having become rather comfortable in her presence and a bit tipsy from one too many glasses of wine. But the woman wasn't there for the food and conversation, she had a nefarious plan laid out.

The prince had let his guard down, had enjoyed too many glasses of wine and the woman took advantage of his foolish decisions. She tricked him into give away his name, the prince was too inebriated to even realize his own mistakes. That night when he slept, the woman fled.

With a strand of his hair she had plucked from his chair and his name at hand she played out her plan. She cursed his kingdom and all that lived within.

The fields had become barren, all life within it seem to shrivel up overnight. The lakes that once held enough fish to feed an entire nation were the same. The food storages soon ran dry and Famine had ravished the kingdom, and with it came illness. The people had started to revolt, rumors that the royal family was stuffing their faces with food while their people starve, had spread like wildfire. Neighbors had turned against each other and bodies began to line the streets. It wasn't before long that the mobs had knock down the doors and stormed the castle. Even the nobility of the area joined in. They soon found the royal family, hauled up deep within the castle library and—"

"Are you tell those horrid fantasies of your again Alex?" A deep voice rumbled and Alec turn around to face it. He floundered for a moment, his tall and lanky figure awkward in the presence of the shorter-by-comparison man in front of him.

"Ah, yes, sorry sir. The children said they were bored just sitting around here waiting out the rain and I thought I might..."

"Yes, yes that's quite enough of that then. The rain has stopped and you can all leave now," an audible groan resonated from the children that sat on the floor by their feet, "run along, you children shouldn't be out this late anyway, it's nearly sun down" he finished as the children began to stand and filed through the door.

Once the last one was gone, Alec turned back to the man before him. "Honestly, filling those innocent children's head with your nonsense, disgraceful. They don't need their heads to be filled with your tails of monsters and myths. I thought you had gotten over this when that caretaker of yours had abandoned you."

He felt his heart twist at that, but he could do nothing. He could only shifted his weight from leg to leg and fidgeted with his sleeve as he was scolded. Oh, how he dreaded this man, not a kind word to say to anyone.

"Next thing I know, you'll be spewing that garbage about see ghosts again like you did when you were a child, with those ungodly eyes of yours"

"I understand sir, it won't happen again" he mumbled through gritted teeth. With a pat on the shoulder that required more effort from the man then it should have, due to Alec's height, the man stared into his eyes— or at least where he assumed his eyes would have been, Alec knew it was hard to tell with his tinted glasses— harshly and frowned.

"Don't let it happen again."

He shivered as he remembered the days he had disobeyed this man before. Memories he would much rather forget. "Those children shouldn't even be in here, they might damage one of those useless relics laying around here, you and I both know none of their ninny parents couldn't afford to even glance in here,"

"Well that's not...entirely true, the artifacts are—"he froze mid-sentence at the piercing look that fell upon him again. The man's gaze was like ice and the constant presence of a frown and his drawn in brows already made it hard to tell when he was truly angry. Alec had concluded that he always was.

"I'll be leaving for a few days, tomorrow" he said abruptly "I'll be leaving you to care for the shop in my absence. I want you to finish filing those papers tonight and leave them for me in the morning. You are not to leave until its finished," Alec paled at the thought, he would have to stay well past sun down and most likely work until midnight to finish the job.

He knew if he failed, his job would be thrown on a hook and he would lose the only person willing to employ him in the whole town. Sucking up what little pride and self esteem he had he gave a fake grin of confidence and a timid nod. With a judging glance the man pushed out the door and Alec sighed as he turned to walk back to his overcrowded desk.

When he sat, the old bench creaked and he winced at the sound. If it were up to him, he would get a sturdier chair and a desk that was bigger than just an old school desk, or at least a bit more accommodating than the one he currently used. He was honestly surprised that neither had given out on him yet, but he had no time to mope about his cheapskate of an employer and soon got to work.

Suddenly he heard a creak from the front door and watched as one of the school children slipped in. He recognized her as marry, one if the brightest children that visited him on a regular basis. She glanced around cautiously before walking over to his desk and looking up at him as she brushed a few dark strands that curled in form her olive colored face.

"What wrong Mary?" He asked and she lifted her tiny hands and pointed to the spot they had been seated at, then taped together her index and middle fingers on both hands to make an x.

"Name?" He asked and she nodded

"Oh, you want to know the name of the prince from the story," another nod "well, let's see..." he though back to his inspiration for the story. A dream he had had since he was a young boy. The prince from the story seemed to always be in his dreams and he knew he had a name. He could swear he had dreamt it before, but what was it?

"Arawn." As soon as the name left his mouth a chill washed over the room. That was the name always said in his dreams, but he had never actually spoken it aloud before. Despite the chill, Mary smiled up at him and he felt warm again. "Maybe you should head home, it's starting to get cold. Wouldn't want you to get sick, now would we?"

With a resined huff, she nodded her head full of curls and skipped towards the door, offering a small wave as she departed. He watched through the window until he could no longer see her and settled back down into his desk. Something felt off, but he didn't know what.

Once the sun set and he was truly alone, he slid his tinted glasses down and off his proud nose and blinked to adjusted his vision to the bright candle light that now adorned the room as he stuck one end of the pair down his shirt. His appearance often caused trouble for him in his younger years. One of his eyes was pure white, no iris or pupil, although he could see just fine with it. In fact, he could see more with that eye than most humans could ever imagine. 

His other eye was bottle green, some said it glowed even, although that was preposterous and something kids in the school yard would use to tease him. Both had caused him lots of trouble when he was little, especially when he told people of the things he saw lurking In the shadows, everything from ghost to strange black masses that seemed to lurk around the sick and elderly. It didn't take him too long to learn to hide his abilities and he began to wear darkly tinted glasses every were he went to hide his "ungodly" eyes.

The only people to have ever believed him were his adoptive father and sister. His father was a very worldly man, he told them stories of his home land—a place far, far away in the distant content of Asia– and of his many adventures that lead him to where he was. He told them of the many treasures he had found in his youth that allowed them to live in a mansion of a house, but he always said that his greatest treasures were Alec and his sister.

His sister was his best and only friend growing up. She was a rough and tough girl, never taking shit from anyone, sometimes the first to through a punch, but always the last. she never really did enjoy socializing with the towns people. Always claiming that she couldn't speak to one of them for more than ten minutes without wanting to punch something.

When he confided in her that he had grown to fancy some of the boys in town rather than the girls she merely playfully punched him in the shoulder and said "You have horrible taste really, I'll never understand what you see in any of those men, their all so boring and plain looking, like potatoes. The ladies are by far, much cuter," she had told him with a wink "although personality wise they might as well just be gossipy bricks,".

But both she and their father had left town years ago and now he was alone.

His father had left a note to him, giving him the deed to the house and the message 'not all is as it appears, find the man with a head of flames' scrawled in his native language along with strange symbols he had never seen before written on the back. His sister left soon after looking for answer and hasn't returned since. She does send a post card every once in a while, from various locations.

That all happened five years ago and since then he's had to all but enslave himself to a man that pays him just enough to scrape by in exchange for being at his beck and call twenty-four-seven. Often it landed him right where he was now, working in a cold, dimly lit room, long into the night.