Beauty Dies

         Long ago, there once was a world unlike ours. In this world, there were no leaders. There were no guards. Everyone lived by the rules. Not because they were pure of heart, or because their souls were so innocent, but because of fear. Fear for their own lives, for in this world dragons roamed and ruled not only the skies, but also the grounds. The people did not just fear them though, but worshipped at the dragons feet, for these dragons were the most beatiful, magnifigant creatures known to live. For centuries the people worshipped these creatures, bring them sacrifices, building alters resembling them. Nothing more beautiful had been known to breathe, until she was born.

         To a poor couple, a baby girl was born, and as was tradition in this world, all came to welcome the new life, but this birth was different then any other. When people saw the child, they could not look away, for her beauty was too strong to look away from. For weeks people would stop by just to get a glimpse, and the couple, being not only poor, but greedy as well, used their daughter for a profit, charging people to look at her. The daughter's beauty became an addiction, and pulling her pulling money from the deepest pits of their pockets to see her. The couple grew richer each passing moment, and as they rejoiced, the dragons grew envious. They were becoming aware of the loss of affection they had, and they gain the child was gaining, but they did not want to completely lose the love the people had for them, so they too visited the child, eyes sparkling with love, hearts blackening with hate.

         Months passed, and the excitment died. Years passed, and everything was back to normal, except when the now beautiful women walked by. Time seemed to stop when she was about, and how the dragons the noticed. Each day their hearts colored blacker and blacker, their talons sharper and tongues thirstier for her blood. What the dragons were unaware of was the rebellion they had begun on the day of the girl's birth, and planned an attack on the dawn of her 18th birthday. And on the day of the attack begun a four year battle, in which the dragons were finally pushed into the darkest part of the forest, stuck, lurking, waitin until their day of revenge.

         After the war, the people knowing nothing but to worship beauty, declared that the beautiful daughter was to be queen on her 23rd birthday, but the girl did not want this. She did not want love for her beauty, but for her, which is why she planned to escape the eve of her 23rd birthday with her lover. But, there was still another plan to become. The dragons, being only a year after their defeat, were still angered and planned to take the cause of their downfall.

         Night fell, and the soon to be queen prepared herself for depature, unaware of the creature slinking towards her home.