Bewitching The Beast

I. True Tales from The Town

Once upon a rainy afternoon, two young ladies were stuck in a cabin out in the woods. The storm thundered outside, rattling the windows.

"This sucks. When do you think the power will come back?" murmured Valerie as she looked into the darkness outside.

Her sister, Violet, was holding the emergency light, pacing around the cabin for something. "Our phones are dying and we're in our grandparent's cabin in the middle of the woods and completely alone. And oh, did I forget to mention that our freaking friends stood us up?"

"Correction, they are your friends. Mom and dad are going to kill us if they know we're out here alone."

"Then don't tell them. It's not like we've never been here before. What's this?"

Without looking what her sister was talking about, Valerie asked, "What's what?"

"This. This was never here before."

Valerie turned and found her sister bent over a wooden chest. "It's grandma's," she said, rolling her eyes. "Really, you should pay more attention on details. Details like your friends' confirmation on coming for a weekend cabin party."

Violet narrowed her eyes to slits. "No need to rub salt on the wound, sis. Come here and help me open this."

Valerie rolled her eyes and walked to her sister. "It's locked," she pointed out.

"How come I never saw this before?"

"It is not that noticeable," Valerie said with a shrug.

"Perhaps a key is here somewhere."

Valerie was already pulling out pins from her black hair. "Good luck with that. I'll try my luck with these."

Violet cocked her brow with doubt. "Like you know how to open a chest with those."

"Watch me try."

And Valerie, with great determination not to lose her pride in front of her own twin sister, worked with the pins, biting on her lower lip in concentration. For a few breathless moments, the twins hovered over the wooden chest.

And then, click.

Both looked up in surprise and laughed.

"That's just pure luck, Val."

Valerie ignored her, came to her knees and pushed the wooden chest open. Violet pointed the beam of the emergency light unto the contents. Both their faces fell with disappointment.

"Books?" Violet asked, already turning away. "This is going to be one, crazy, boring day."

"Wait, wait," Valerie stopped her, pulling at her hand. "Let's see them."

Violet pointed the light at the contents once more. Valerie picked up one of the leather-bound books on top and opened the middle part. Her eyes widened. "Vee, they're not books."

Violet was already frowning down at the randomly opened page. "What the hell. Are these diaries?"

"They're handwritten texts," Valerie murmured, her mind already racing with excitement. She turned to the first page and read, "True Tales from The Town."

"And all the while I thought grandma kept a chest full of diary entries for us to devour," Violet said, the excitement in her voice dying, but she slumped on the floor beside Valerie anyway. "What are they then? Who wrote them?"

"It doesn't say," Valerie answered, turning to the next page. "In a land not so far away, there lived a place that lived in the past," she started to read and she threw Violet a look when her sister started to snort with indifference.

"Sorry. It's a freaking fairytale book written by a wannabe writer, Val."

Valerie rolled her eyes and snatched the light from Violet's hand. "Well, since we're both stuck here, I'm going to read it."

Violet struggled for a while before she sighed with resignation. "Fine. Since we're both so busy, anyway, why not?" Her sarcastic remark was ignored once more as Valerie read again.

"In a land not so far away, there lived a place that lived in the past. Its Founders called it The Town. Mayhap they had forgotten to name it properly for they were too much in haste to put their plans into action.

One would think it was bizarre to find a hollow place belowground, expand it and build a country in it. But centuries later today, people could not question the ingenuity of the Founders. The Town spanned-"

"Wait, hold it right there," Violet interrupted. "The Town is located underground?"

Valerie stared at her dryly. "It's a story, Vee. It can be anywhere."

Violet shrugged and her twin continued, "The Town spanned almost half of the entire continent in the west and no one, save a few powerful men, aboveground knew of its existence. No one above questioned the existence of thousands of scattered giant holes with high walls, or of the many hidden passages heavily guarded by the Town's Passage Guards. No one questioned for no one, save the abovementioned powerful men, aboveground knew that they stood at the very place that threatened their own existence.

The Town was the foundation of the many cities above and their leaders would not dare dream of the Town's destruction. A common understanding existed still today: Those aboveground shall let The Town live their lives in silence and peace. As if they were not there. As though they never existed."

"Wait, when was this written? Is this in our generation or what? One would think it is like fifty years ago or something. Just look at the way it's written. I am sure it's Jane Austen kind of time."

Valerie sighed with frustration. "I can read this alone if you want."

"I was just asking!"

"Stop interrupting!"

"Fine," Violet mouthed.

"The Townspeople lived their lives as well, most of them without knowledge of the existence of passages that led to the world aboveground.

The people of The Town could only have a taste of the sun and the wind when they went to the many parks located everywhere, or the woods in selected towns. Such parks or woods had holes above them. The Townspeople could bask in the sunlight, experience snow and rain, watch the stars and even hear faint noises from above. But such things were the only things they knew of the world aboveground. Most dared not dream for more because no one had a taste of them.

Mayhap a few did manage to go out through the secret and heavily guarded known passages around The Town, but they were men and women who were privileged by fate or misfortune and they all kept their adventures aboveground a secret. Those who knew of the passages were forbidden by the League of Founders, a group of men who kept the Town's secrets, to share their knowledge. The Townspeople need not be given a reason to want more.

But there were still a few who still dared to dream of what it would be like to see the ocean or feel the breeze. Some knew there was a way out of the Town, while some had no idea at all. But they still dreamed to have a taste of something beyond what the holes could offer.

Yet they were just dreams and there was life they had to live underground. They had balls to go to, gowns to buy, callers to entertain, lands to cultivate, mines to dig, estates to furnish and the list went on. The world aboveground was but a mere illusion to the people below. It was a passing fancy that would cross a scullery maid's mind from time to time, or fill the dreams of a poor stable boy in the evenings. And when the lights were turned on all over The Town and the sunlight would shine through the holes, the dreams were forgotten and life would come back to haunt.

The Founders had laid the foundation, provided the holes and many systems to make The Town livable and save in the event of natural and human threats. Buildings were erected, water was provided and bountiful, lands were cultivated and most of all, status was maintained.

The gentries, middle class and service people alike all had but one goal: live.

And they all lived according to how the Founders envisioned centuries ago. They lived in a place frozen in time, a time long considered by the people aboveground a history. Yes, one could say they were history itself."

Valerie stopped and turned to Violet, her gaze thoughtful. "Do you think this is true? I mean, the title says it is. And it does not say anything about dragons or elves or anything. It speaks of normal people living hundreds of feet belowground. And things are quite possible. There are holes for ventilation and such. And if the passages do exist, it is possible someone from below came through one and-"

"It's a story. It can be true or not."

"But-"

"I don't really care if it's true or not or how these books got into our grandmother's chest. This is getting interesting," Violet said, taking the book from Valerie and continued to read:

"The Townspeople may be located hundreds of feet belowground, but they do have their own fairy tales to tell-stories of love, adventures and mysteries; of handsome and not-so-handsome lords; of beautiful and mayhap-pretty maidens. These are tales that could be as old as time and as old as the Town..."