Young Writers Society

"He's had time to get used to it," he said, scanning the page for anything that looked remotely familiar "Time is something that I doubt he'll give me."

There. Just what he was looking for: a section on transformation curses. It was more than a little ironic that something like that was in a story like this, but he would take it. He memorized the page number, and then began the tedious task of actually getting to it.

"And this book is on curses," he said. "Transformations, illnesses, death of your first born child - it's all theoretically in here."


"I guess so," Levi agreed, lingering at Leo's side.

It still brought up the question of who Belle would be if it wasn't her, and why Nen's girlfriend had been cast as Gaston instead of Belle.

He walked over to Janos and the bed of cursed people. "The resemblance is a little startling, though," he admitted. "They both have long black hair - although the 'little' bit is the main difference between them."

Janos raised an eyebrow. "I do not understand."

"Gaston's tall," Levi said. He glanced back at the window. "Nen's tall, too, so she might just seem small by comparison, but she honestly looked to be on the much smaller side. I'd say I'm easily taller than her, and I'm not exactly a giant."

James paused about halfway through the main entry room and looked back at Nen and Az. Quietly, he made sure that Bleffles was close by. She seemed the one most knowledgeable of the story, but also the most reasonable.

As much as he understood their desire to stick together, he really didn't want their major deviations from the storyline to completely doom them to being trapped here or worse. They still had no idea what kind of powers had done all of this and what they were up against.

"Nendros. We should meet with the others as soon as possible. The longer we stray from the storyline the more I worry about our fates. Please, lead the way," he said with a small gesture of his hand, pointing up the steps.

Aegeas sighed. "Fine," he said. "I won't tell Nen. You should, but that's up to you. Especially if you can help us get back to normal."



Hobbling his way over to Levi, Kendrik laughed. "Should've let Aegeas be Gaston," he said. "He's prob'bly even shorter than her, and he'd make a good enemy."

Bleffles followed James and the hairy scaled fella up the stairs. Judging by his outfit, and liberal but apt interpretation of beastliness, he was probably playing the Beast. He seemed pretty nice. Bleffles jogged up the stairs to introduce herself.

"Hi there. You playin' the prince? Nice to meetcha." she said cheerfully.

"I'm Bleffles, playin' Lefou, comedic relief and sidekick to Gaston, enabler of fanclubs, mob justice and related forms of local unrest."

"I can't," he replied. He flipped to another page, studying the words for a moment before resisting the urge to give another growl in frustration. "I wouldn't be looking at this book if I did have some idea. And I wasn't looking for a way to turn us back - I was looking for something else."

It was a selfish thing to admit, but he had deserved to be selfish. He had exhausted most of the castle's resources, and he was sure whoever was responsible for this would reveal themselves eventually. He couldn't expect the same from Tieth - she had been a mediocre spellcaster back then. The spell had been surprisingly complex, given her talents. It was up to him to finish things.

And, after a moment of searching, he finally found what he was looking for.

He couldn't believe his eyes, but it had to be true. He sat down on the ground beside the book and devoured every word on the page. It was ultimately a spell of love, but weren't most things like this? The caster had to love their victim, and the spell could only be broken by love. It was a different kind of love than what the story they were in prescribed: it had to hurt.

He had to feel heartbroken and betrayed.

Easy enough, then. It explained the sudden emergence of his memories, too - nothing had ever hurt quite as much as realizing he was alone while Nendros and Az blissfully continued their relationship.

The spell turned the victim into something the caster associated them with. It wasn't hard to see the connection. He closed the book and silently rose to his feet, returning it to its spot on the shelf.

It was only a matter of time.

He turned his back to the shelf and began to head towards the door.

It was time for him to play his part again.


Levi waited for the teapot's friend to make a protest of some kind, but came to realize that the candelabra was nowhere to be found. He could see a bit of wax heading towards the door, but there wasn't any sign of him inside the room himself.

Janos seemed to come to the same conclusion at roughly the same time.

"Aegeas is missing," he commented. He glanced at another empty spot on the bed. "Aska is, too."

"...Maybe Nen took Aska with him?" Levi asked. He had barely talked with either one of them, but he seriously doubted that Aska would choose to leave on his own. He was clinging to Nen back in the hallway.

Janos shook his head. "Nen left on his own."

Levi frowned. "Then where did he go?"


He gave her a warm smile. He should have tried hiding his sharp teeth, but a close-lipped smile never looked as welcoming as one that showed teeth. It didn't matter if he was like this; the rule still applied. "It's nice to meet you, too," he said. "I'm..."

He hesitated, trying to decide if he should tell her the truth. She seemed alright with what was going on, but she also thought that he just looked this way because of the story. There was also James to think about - it was hard to tell how he'd react to finding out that he had looked like this before ending up in the story.

But if they really were dangerous, Az's daggers wouldn't be sheathed.

"I'm actually not just playing the part of a prince," he admitted. "I'm Prince Nendros Exel Xenon of the kingdom of Laetae, but I just go by Nendros and Nen. I don't really know anything about what's going on, but I do understand magical castles and cursed princes."

Aegeas sighed and hopped after Aska. "And I guess you won't be telling me what you were looking for," he said, setting a candle on Aska. "At least tell me what I should be doing, because they're not going to buy that you just wandered away from the room when nobody was looking. I didn't. I don't like lying, and I'm not good at lying, but it doesn't look like we have any other choice."

Bleffles stood wide-eyed, sparkling with curiousity, until she realised she was standing in the doorway. In James' way. She moved to the side with a little bounce, before she started to talk to Nendros again.

"Curses? You know, about curses? Sorry if it's, um, a personal subject for you, but- ghm." She coughed, to recenter herself.

"I study history where I come from, specifically where magic is concerned and, while we know all sortsa of stories involving curses, a lot of the details of what they really were and how they actually worked has been lost, and I...I'm really curious about what I can learn. Even if it doesn't apply to my world."

She coughed a second time, harder, and more deliberately than before.

"But you don't have to talk about it at all. I mean, I'd understand if it'd make you feel like...some kind of novelty. I should just stop now.

Anyways, how ya been with the whole 'dropped in a fairytale' thing? You been keeping okay?"

In the end, Bleffles easily transitioned back into her usual casual manner. She hoped that she hadn't struck any nerves with Nen. Curses were indeed very personal things.
And with the current state of things, he really had enough to deal with.
Had she made a mistake? It was too late to take anything back, now, if she had. Hopefully, giving Nen an opportunity to change the subject would be enough.

He looked at the candle for a handful of moments, then turned his attention to the face of its wielder.

"We went to find a way to the entrance," he said, "because I wanted to see Nendros and didn't want to go alone. Along the way, we either got lost or decided it was a good idea to see if the library had anything to offer. It didn't."


"It's been going as well as it can be," Nen replied, giving Bleffles another smile. Az walked along beside him; she wasn't taking her gaze off of the two. It didn't take a genius to understand why - she was getting ready to swoop in if she needed to. But she did seem noticeably more relaxed when Nen glanced over at her, likely because of the response to the revelation he was cursed.

"And I don't mind talking about it," he added, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm actually a little relieved that you want to - people usually are scared of me thanks to the curse, or would be if I interacted with them, so it's nice change of pace."

He looked down at his other hand for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to collect his thoughts.

"I was turned into this-" He gestured at himself. "-by a dragon named Tieth. I don't actually know too much about the curse. I just know that she was able to change me from a human into someone that's barely recognizable. Az's known me for years and she couldn't tell it was me."

"...I also thought you were dead," Az pointed out.

"You did," Nen agreed. "But you also didn't realize it was me until you saw my necklace, and then you thought I had something to do with my own death."

"You thought I stole mine from your uncle," Az shot back, the ghost of a smile dancing across her lips. "I'm still a little offended that you thought I'd resort to thievery."

"You took all the gems out," he protested. "Thieves would definitely do that."

"So would struggling assassins - we need to get money somehow," Az said, a twinkle to her eyes.

Aegeas nodded. "That should work," he said. "And if they get suspicious of you going out without Nen, you can pin some of the blame on me. I've been the one person keeping you out here for so long, so it's not completely a lie."

Bleffles 'hmm'ed seriously at what she had been told, drinking it in.
This was good, but she still had some questions. A lot of questions. Now, she shouldn't get carried away, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to ask somebody first hand about his curse...
She'd narrow it down to the most pressing questions on her mind. And not get carried away.

Bleffles sprung up beside Nen, and upon matching his pace, tried her best to channel a scholar more than an excited five year old.

"By a dragon... hm. Did you witness him casting the spell? Do you know his method? Is the curse mainly aesthetic, or does it have other effects? Is your breath hot? How hard is your skin? Do you know why the dragon thought that giving you free abilities was the best way to articulate his grievances towards you, rather than just, I don't know, eating you?"

He nodded, then turned his attention back to the hallway.

How long would it be before he returned to normal?


Nen carefully listened to all of the questions being asked of him, trying not to look as overwhelmed as he felt when he heard the seemingly endless stream of queries. When she finally finished asking questions, he couldn't help but let his shoulders slump a bit in relief - he was glad that he wouldn't have to try remembering any more.

"I did see her cast the spell," he said. "It was after she took me from my kingdom. When we arrived in the Castle of Blood, she put me down on the ground and told me that she was going to make me like her. I was so terrified - I was barely paying attention when she started saying the words to the spell."

He glance down at himself, then back up at her.

"It's just aesthetic, but I can fly," he said. He gave a small smile. "I'm definitely going to miss that when I someday get back to normal. My breath isn't any hotter than it was before, and I'd say my skin is as hard as anything with scales would be."

The last question made him pause.

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as they approached the room everyone was waiting in. "I don't really know why Tieth cursed me. I hadn't done anything to upset dragons, and neither had my parents before they got sick..." His gaze dropped down to the ground. "Sometimes...Sometimes I almost think that Tieth cares about me? I know it's a stupid thing to think, especially when she captured me and cursed Aska, but Aska's only said good things about her since I ended up at the Castle of Blood."

Az cleared her throat from the doorway as she stepped inside, and Nen raised his head in response. "Speaking of Aska, what did he get turned into?"

"A clock," Nen replied, slipping back into the room. "Why?"

Az surveyed the room. "There's no clock in here."

Nen felt his heart skip a beat.

"You must have missed him-"

He stopped when he saw Levi shaking his head. "We were just trying to figure out where he went," Levi said. "We didn't see him leave the room, but he must have."

Nen and Az exchanged a look.

"Why would he do that?" Az asked. "He should have been terrified of being in a strange new place like this."

"I don't know," Nen said. Worry seeped into his voice. "But we have to find Aska. I-I don't want anything to happen to him without me there to protect him."

Swinging open the door, Aegeas bounded halfway down the hallway and paused, lifting a candle up to where he was reasonably sure his ear was.

"I think the others are already back," he said, waving back to Aska. "We better be quick before they start asking questions."

He resisted the urge to groan in frustration when his own ears picked up on the sound of Nendros's voice coming from the nearby room. He walked down the hallway, carefully peeking around the corner when he finally reached the door-

-only to be promptly snatched by Azerena the moment she saw him.

"I found Aska," she said.

Nendros spun around, and he felt a pang of guilt when he saw how worried he looked. He scooped him out of Azerena's hands, hugging him close to his chest. It took all of his concentration not to let out a startled yelp at the sheer strength of the hug. Instead, he focused on returning it - on grabbing onto his shirt with little metal hands, trying to make himself seem smaller than he already was in the hopes that it made him look a little more nervous and dependent on him.

Nendros didn't notice the acting.

...He never did.

"You're okay!" Nendros said. "I was really getting worried about you. Where did you go?"

"I-I went to find y-you," he stammered. "Wi-With Aegeas. But this castle is b-big and sc-scary, and we g-got lost..."

Aegeas squeezed his way into the room, looking up at the others. "Yep," he said. "He wandered off to look for you" - he pointed a candle at Nen - "And I went to find him. And that's pretty much everything that happened, yep." He hopped his way over to the bed and started to pull himself up the bedframe.

James remained silent as Bleffles pried Nendros about his personal life of curses and being turned into an unrecognizable beast. Whoever organized their roles in this tale had some sense of humor, or at least cast some of them appropriately in relation to their personal histories.

He watched as the clock and the candlestick entered the room with a cold detachment. The sight itself was bizarre, and the room being full of animated, living objects should've done something to phase him, but he could feel his nerves shutting down. There was too much to process. The relations between all of the people-turned-objects wasn't as important as their main objective: to follow the storyline and hopefully escape their godsforsaken storytime prison. Their chatter amongst one another started to fade into the background of his mind as he recalled the summation of the story told to him by Bleffles.

He stepped into the center of the room in hopes of gaining everyone's attention.

"Alright, now that everyone's gathered together, we need to discuss what's going on. Is it right to assume you've all been briefed on the story that we've all be inserted into, and are you all aware of what roles you're playing?"