After helping him bathe, they both called it a night. She apologized for her bed being too small for him to sleep on and he said nothing in return. She went down to her basement and there she slept with a heart of mixed feelings. She was scared of failing, but she could not help but smile at the thought of actually succeeding. She'd been trapped in that small cottage all her life, so the reward of lifting the ban on witches and going on to live an extravagant life in the palace was enough to override the fear in her.
That night, as she slept, a strange woman visited her dreams. She knew not what she looked like, all she knew was that it was a woman and the woman repeated the same words over and over and over…
"Do not help the beast!"
Soon, dawn came and she awoke. Images of her dreams flashed before her eyes and she muttered to herself, "Forgive me whoever you are, but I cannot heed to your words. I know he must deserve the curse you placed upon him but, forgive me for I am too selfish to think of the heartache of another witch who died over four-hundred years ago. Forgive me because I will give my all to helping him so he can help me in turn."
Although she felt sorry for wanting to break the curse on him, she thought in her head, he's been punished for four-hundred years, it wasn't so bad to set him free now.
And she really needed him. She needed him to change her life, to turn her life around.
Tying up her hair in a bun, she stepped out of her basement and found that the beast was gone. Wondering where he went, she stepped out and to her shock, he was seated upon a fallen log, a huge wild boar laid at his feet, Lifeless and completely torn up.
The blood of the boar formed a pool at his feet and in his hand was a piece of the boar, his teeth was tearing into that piece of flesh viciously and Lydia's eyes fixated on the gruesome act unfolding in front of her and the dry bread and chicken broth she ate before they had barged into her cottage last night was starting to rise back to her throat.
Her feet felt like they had been glued to the ground, for she couldn't move, almost as if she was compelled to watch as he tore into the raw meat with blood dripping from his hands and mouth.
She'd hunted animals before with her mother a lot of times. So it was not as though it was the first time she would see a dead boar.
But seeing someone— Ah, he wasn't someone. He was a beast. Seeing him tear into raw flesh like that made her remember the dread for the beast that had somehow fled her system and she trembled anew in fear of the monster that she was now going to harbor in her house for a week until all she needed for the ritual was complete.
At that moment, gray-gold eyes shot up from the piece of boar in his hands and met with her violet eyes, then and only then did Lydia find the strength in her legs to move them.
And she ran.
Ran straight to the back of her cottage, fell to her knees and everything she ate the previous day came rushing out of her mouth.
She heaved and gagged, spilling everything within her, from chunks of chewed up bread to water. Everything was coming out.
After she was certain she had nothing to vomit anymore, she rose and her wobbly legs moved her to the side of the lake.
There she fell back to her knees, deeped both her hands into the lake, scooped up a good amount of water and splashed it upon her face as if it would help wash away the horror she just witnessed.
A thought suddenly struck her and she could not help but wonder what would happen if she failed… "I hope he detests a witch's flesh." She muttered to herself.
"I have not tried it yet—"
"Ahh!" Lydia jolted in shock as he suddenly appeared next to her, causing her to fall buttflat, partly in the water.
"So I am not quite certain yet." He says and Lydia noticed he didn't even bother wiping the blood from his hands and face.
"See," The beast suddenly crouched in front of her, causing her heartbeat to quicken as her head began to endlessly wonder if he was there to finally do away with her.
"I have been locked up for centuries and the curse somehow made me immune to hunger, thirst and every other bodily need."
By the goddess, Lydia had no idea why the beast was suddenly telling her these things. She could smell the blood in his breath, could clearly see thee blood on his hands and face and it was starting to stir her stomach yet again, even though she already vomited all she had in her.
"However, out here, for the first time in years, I feel thirst again, I feel hunger, and so I could not stop myself from hunting. And it was a marvelous experience."
She could tell that he indeed enjoyed his hunt. She could tell by the way his gold eye sparked brightly.
"The taste of raw meat in my mouth sated my hunger and the taste of blood quenched my thirst. This, this hunger, it cometh at any moment and when it overtakes me, I can barely control it."
He inched closer to her, "Who knoweth when next the urge to hunt shall overwhelm me?" He asks while staring directly into her eyes.
"What if thou art the one closest to me and I go for thy flesh and blood?" Lydia wanted to gulp down her own saliva but the fear she was feeling at the moment did not allow her do such.
"So I think," He lifts his hand and she flinches so he pauses, but then she soon realizes that he only meant to touch her face.
His huge hand held her jaw and she feared it would break in his hold.
"Thou should hasten the process for the ritual, lest thou become food for me." It was no request. It was a warning from a beast who just declared that he could eat her if she didn't do something about his problem.
'Dear goddess, save me.'