Once upon a time, in a faraway land. A young princess lived in a shining castle, although she had everything her heart desired; the Princess was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. But then, one winter’s night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered her a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the Princess sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away but she warned her not to be deceived by appearances: For beauty is found within, and when she dismissed her again, the old woman’s ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress; the Princess tried to apologize, but it was too late for she had seen that there was no love in her heart and as punishment, she transformed her into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there.

Ashamed of her monstrous form, the Beast concealed herself inside her castle with a magic mirror as her only window to the outside world. The rose the Enchantress had offered was truly an enchanted rose which would bloom until the Princess’s 21st year, if she could learn to love another and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell then the spell would be broken. If not, she would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.

As the years passed, the Princess fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?

In the present day, the Princess (formerly a teenage girl, now a young woman) who now goes by the name of Tirsiak; laments her transformation: The girl is in shadow with the only parts of her body being seen being her glowing amber eyes which were once brown, her wolf ears and tail as well as her deer antlers. Despite the Enchantress turning Tirsiak into a hybrid creature, she retains her original human face and body with Tirsiak’s teeth also having turned into fangs.

Tirsiak: (tearing a portrait of herself to shreds with her nails) Mama, Papa… I-I’m a monster. That’s all I will ever be. A monster until the day I finally die. I wish I made the right decision by helping that old woman instead of just turning her away, NOW look at me!

The girl quietly weeps to herself, all alone with only her other relatives, pets and servants to keep her company with the castle having turned into a dark and gloomy place, seeming as if it were abandoned.

The people in the village outside of the forest the castle was located in seemingly forgot all about the royal family and everyone else that resided in the castle because of the enchantress’s curse.