Your mother's caring hands gently touched your unruly hair, running a soft comb through it. She was telling a legend that you've heard countless times already. The legend told of a prince who was turned into a bear by an old witch because of his pride and stubbornness. They say this bear still roams the local backwoods.

You loved walking in the woods. Since childhood, your parents, the king and queen, took you to nature, where your father taught you how to shoot a bow. As you grew older, you mastered these weapons more and more skillfully and grew into a beautiful girl, who struck any target with an arrow.

On one of the rare days when you were free from duties, you were able to sneak out of the castle and rush off into the wilderness. There are only ancient trees around, the sound of the wind, the singing of birds...

Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you noticed something that made you lower your bow and turn around. These were the will-o'-the-wisps from ancient legends and fairy tales. As if mesmerized, you followed them deeper into the forest. Everything became frighteningly quiet.

When you heard a noise in the bushes, you turned around abruptly and pulled the bowstring, ready to shoot. But fear shackled your body and mind when a huge figure of a beast with dark fur covered with wounds and blood appeared in front of you. When the bear saw you, it growled and headed in your direction, baring its fangs. You stepped back, aiming at the beast with trembling hands. At the last second, he got up on his hind legs, and you rushed to the side and shot. The arrow hit the bear's front paw, and it fell with a crash into the grass. You wanted to run away, but fear kept you in place, and curiosity prompted you to go and look at the beast, make sure it was dead. What you saw was shocking.

It was not a bear lying in the grass, but a man covered with the skin of an animal. The man's skin was covered with scratches and scars, and there was a deep wound in his arm from your arrow.