Eldford Castle looms before you, the wooden bridge creaking and crumbling under your feet as you gingerly step across it. Your two companions, Luke and Emil, are already waiting for you by the gates.

You’d met them soon after a teleporter incident gone wrong, and though you’d already mentally prepared for your death, you weren’t prepared to be spat out into another dimension so wildly different from your own. Luke found you first, grinning as he peered at you from behind a blindfold and a feathered hat, Emil following close behind him with a faded purple and gold cloak around his shoulders.

You tell your story, and though they don’t seem to understand your world, they do understand your plight. You’d become fast friends after that; you found yourself enjoying their world for a time, and you’d told them as such. That was your first mistake.

Once you reach the other side, they both nod wordlessly before accompanying you to the doors- or what’s left of them. You can tell they were once majestic works of art, dark ebony adorned with golden peacocks and silver apples, though nothing remains of their former splendor.

The wood is splintered from where’d it been ripped off its hinges, dry blood tarnishes the golden shine, and the silver is long since gone. A dark purple gas spills out from inside, and you wheeze when you breathe it in. A hand on your shoulders yanks you back, and panic surges in your chest as you turn on your heel to- oh, it’s just Luke.

“I urge you not to get too close,” he instructs, gesturing towards the cloud with one hand. “The poison His Majesty creates is deadly. Don’t let it touch you.”

“You mean King Will?” Emil asks, peering inside. The wind makes his cloak flutter, and a distant roar makes him leap back. “Ah- what in tarnation was that?!”

“Remember your decorum.” Luke clicks his tongue as he drags Emil away. “As for the sound, that means someone laid their eyes on Will. His Majesty despises people gazing upon his ugliness. Of course, he’s the only one who thinks he’s ugly. I find him gorgeous.”

“Maybe before he was possessed,” Emil mutters under his breath. “Now he’s just the Blood King.”

“Non, non! He was beautiful before and after. Truly a sight to behold- at least before my world went dark.”

“Luke…” You start, then pause; maybe it’s disrespectful to ask, yet this question has been in your mind since you met them. “Is that how your eyes were gouged out?”

Emil’s head whips around to face you; Luke only laughs. “Merveilleux! It’s as you say. I entered His Majesty’s domain, beheld his visage, and he rendered me blind with one fatal swipe.” The hunter taps his blindfold with a grin. “Which is why both of you will need to be wearing these when entering. You two are both blessed with sight. However, it is better for Will not to know the truth, oui?” Emil just nods, and it goes silent.

“I’ve never seen His Majesty,” you pipe up. “Is he really as bad as all the stories make him out to be?”

“Why don’t we find out?” Luke strides towards the castle before Emil can stop him, and your eyes go wide as poison gas licks at the hunter’s feet. You and Emil can only watch in terror as the thick sound of goop splatting onto the floor gets louder, and a deep growl fills the air and shakes the ground beneath your feet. A figure slowly approaches, and once the sunset’s light streams through, you can see him- the king.

His robes are tattered, stained with black and rusty red, and dripping with a mixture of poison, blood, and body parts (you’re fairly sure that’s an intestine draped on his arm). His fingers have sharpened into claws and he drags one down the walls, tearing into the wallpaper as poison drips from his sleeves and splats onto the floor. A ring of poison gas surrounds his head and covers his face; then it clears enough to the point where you can see.

Whatever you were expecting, it certainly wasn’t your own terrified expression, reflected from the mirror that’s replaced the king’s face. Behind that, there’s a ring of bloodstained feathers, shaped in a circle of demonic light, and you’re vaguely aware of your heart hammering in your chest. As the king turned demon slides through the corridor, you think you get what Luke’s saying- Will is hauntingly, terrifyingly beautiful. Once Will disappears, you sigh with desperate relief and rush towards Luke. “What were you thinking, going in there?” Emil asks desperately. 

“You could’ve been hurt!” You add.

“Non, he would not hurt me. Not anymore, at least,” Luke proclaims. “I was, after all, his most trusted guard. Don’t fret, his poison didn’t even graze me.” He turns to you and holds a blindfold out. “Now that you’ve seen what’s happened to our beloved monarch, are you willing to help us save him?” You ponder (is it really worth saving this world you don’t belong in?), then purge the thought from your mind and take the blindfold with a nod, tying it around your head. You can barely hear Emil doing the same, and then one of Luke’s calloused hands takes yours.

“Wonderful. Let’s enter.” As you step through the jagged hole, the stench of blood hits you immediately, and you nearly gag as you clutch Luke’s hand and follow his lead.

“Ah, the dirty stench of crimson iron,” Luke laments, his voice a near whisper. “I remember it used to be perfumes, flowers, and incense in here. Now… it’s unfortunate, really.”

“It stinks of death,” Emil whispers from beside you.

“Correct. Now, we should be quiet. His Majesty does not take kindly to noisy visitors.” Your feet sink into the carpet with a sickening squelch, and you’re just about to turn the corner when your foot catches on something and you tumble to the ground, blindfold flying off. You turn to see what it is, and an eyeless, hollow corpse greets you, bloodstained hand frozen in a plea for help. You clap your hand over your mouth to keep from screaming, and then- you see.

Flickering candlelight reveals bloody handprints amidst gashes on the wall and row upon row of corpses, all drained of their blood. This is Will’s domain, and you’re in it. Luke silently hands the blindfold back, and you tie it around your head once more.

There’s no going back for you now- not anymore.