"Aha! There they are!" King Joseph exclaimed proudly as the young royals approached.

"The future rulers of the two most powerful kingdoms in all of France."

Frances glanced shortly at Anita who was smiling but this time, in a genuine maner. She would be clocking sixteen a few days hence as she had earlier revealed. Her gaze caught her father's and he seemed to pass her a secret message. Her eyes instantly lit up with excitement.

She slipped her right arm underneath Frances's, making him regret not walking away from her beforehand. She heaved a dreamy sigh and rested her head against his shoulder. He caught a whiff of coconut oil in her hair and some other foreign kind of scented fragrance. His expression turned to one of bewilderment as she continued to snuggle against his side.

His eyes darted over to King Adam.

The King managed a smile but it flickered and came out weak and unsure. Frances turned to Belle who did not try to conceal the look of sadness on her face. His mother, on the other hand, seemed rather overwhelmed.

"Mom, what is going on?" Frances asked Antoinette in hopes of getting a clear explanation for the general awkwardness but all she did was turn away and place a hand over her forehead.

"Grandfather?" Frances called helplessly but before Adam could speak, Joseph stepped forward with the most vibrant chuckle he had ever heard in his life.

"Allow me to make it clearer, boy." King Joseph started.

He regally walked towards the podium in front of King Adam's throne, his elaborate robes nearly drowning the startled guests as he passed by them. An eye signal to the musicians made them stop playing immediately. Joseph had a proud look about his face as he mounted the platform where the royal herald had earlier stood to announce his arrival.

"A good evening, ladies and gentleman. I need your attention at once." His voice was authoritative and far from polite but he sure sounded excited. The crowd suddenly stopped chattering and turned to face the King.

Frances looked over at Chania who simply shrugged and shook her head as though she was as eager as he to find out what everything meant.

"For years and years, Villeneuve and Pirole has had its differences, some of which you citizens might already be aware of and others might not but speaking of these differences would only delay the celebrations."

Joseph cleared out his throat and bounced on his feet. "Without further ado, allow me to announce that at last, Pirole and Villeneuve have come up with a way to put an end to this lifelong discrepancy and strengthen our bonds."

"Just get to it." Belle whispered through gritted teeth. Adam warily glanced over at her.

"My lovely daughter, Princess Anita, has been betrothed to the young Prince. . ."

Gasps began to fill the room at this point.

". . . And they will be joined in matrimony when they both clock twenty as, of course, they are still too young. Everyone, please raise a glass with me and toast to the future of a powerful alliance."

All the blood drained out of Frances' face. He was not sure he had heard correctly even though his attention had been rapt and filled with terror. The world suddenly stopped rotating. It was either time paused or moved painfully slow. Anyhow, the stillness was gravely unpleasant. Anita's giggles came from afar and the thundering applause that followed after the toast sounded to his ears as heavy rainfall hitting against a roof.

His first instinct was to glance over at his family and - though they did not seem happy about the announcement - he could not help the rising anger boiling inside him. The effect of shock that coursed through his bones blocked out his ability to think straight.

He dislodged his arm from Anita's, ignoring her calls, and stomped away from the ballroom in the direction of his own chambers.

On his way up, he met Angelique. She spoke with a thick French accent and her voice sounded like jingling bells. Frances found this to be a bit pleasant until she started talking too much and began to sound like a bunch of steel spoons hitting against a cowbell.

"Your Majesty, you do not look very cheerful. Are you alright?" She started but Frances barely stopped to speak to her. He simply continued on his way.

"Oh my. How unnatural!" She exclaimed in surprise.

At last, he arrived at the door to his chambers. He unlocked it and shut it again, making sure to turn the key in the lock then plopped down on his bed and dragged off his bowtie.

"How could they do this to me?"  He thought rather bitterly. "How could they not tell me? Selling my future and my life without my permission."

He stood up and proceeded to bathe then decided to remain in his room for the rest of the night. He cared very little for what anyone said or did - his decision to never marry Anita was final. In fact, he did not wish to settle down at all.

Marriage is overrated. He thought.

He changed out of his party clothes, opting for a simple white dress shirt and black hunting trousers. He thought of taking Phillipe out for a ride so they could go back to the strange hole he had found earlier that evening. Whether it was midnight or past midnight - he cared nought. All he wanted was to get away from everybody.

He picked up his bow, quiver and knapsack. His sword was lost to the strange circle in the woods and it had not been kind enough to return it afterwards. He gathered a basket of fruits and dumped them into his knapsack, unsure of whether he would be returning the next day or the next week. As he moved around the room picking things up, he heard the slow, grating squeak of his doorknob turning as if an unknown visitor made an inconspicuous attempt to sneak in.

"Impossible! It is locked from the inside." He thought.

He fitted an arrow to his bow even though he was not really going to fire a shot at the intruder. His aim was to scare them off. At first, he thought the intruder might just be his father again but he was sure François would have preferred to come in through the balcony. He swiftly moved out of the blind spot of his doorway and found Anita standing there, her black dress glittering with what little light that came in through the window.

She did not seem to be startled by his sudden appearance, instead she acted like she already knew where he had stood the entire time.

"How did you get in here?" Frances asked, his eyebrows knotting together in a frown.

"Oh my! You look even more handsome without that ridiculous tailcoat." She said, clasping her hands together in delight. Her green eyes shone so bright they resembled  emeralds that had gotten stuck in her eye sockets.

"How did you get in here? The door was locked." He stated, aiming his arrow at her shoulder.

He had the strong feeling that there was something fishy about her and her father. Only a few minutes after the pair arrived, they had succeeded in ensnaring his family into a compromise they could not turn down.

"Oh, it was?" She feigned innocence. "I had no idea. I just turned the doorknob and it opened for me."

She began to walk towards him and halted when his aim on her shoulder did not waver.

"Oh come on now, your Majesty, put the weapon down. You do not plan on killing me before our wedding, do you?"

That sentence snapped Frances back to his former angry state. He frowned, lowered his bow and glared at her.

"I do not care for what your egotistic father has agreed on with my family in my absence. I will never get married to you or the likes of you. . . ever!" His tone was calm yet tinted with much anger and disgust.

Anita heaved out a pleasant sigh and walked to him, going around him in slow circles.

"For someone so attractive, you sure are pigheaded. Do you think i have not noticed how all the young lassies in the ballroom are swooning over you, pretty little prince. You can only belong to one in the end. And i noticed you took interest in that brown eyed girl. What is her name?"

"Please get out of my room." Frances hurriedly said and returned to packing.

"Hm. Where on earth are you hurrying off to?" She asked as he picked up a small pocket watch and fitted it into the knapsack.

"That is none of your business."

"Running away from responsibility, are we? That is a most cowardly thing to do." She teased.

"I said get out of my room, Anita." He stopped to look at her.

In the darkness, her face looked oddly inviting - the rosy gloss on her lips, the flash in her green eyes. She ran a finger across his arm and he felt his insides turn molten.

"You don't mean that." She whispered.

"I mean it. Leave!" He tried to remain calm but her finger kept moving in a straight line; going over his shoulder to the nape of his neck. She easily flicked his hairband off and his hair came spraying across his face.

"Such great beauty for one so obstinate." She whispered again but her voice came out sultry and different.

Her petite frame plastered against his and before he realized it, he was lying back on his bed with her on top of him.

"What are you doing?" He could barely hear his own voice. It felt like he had spoken to himself from one end of the room.

"Shh, your Majesty." She chirped and slowly brought her lips down on his.

There was a sour feeling in the pit of his stomach and his nerves felt like they were on fire. Her teeth grazed his lower lip, forcing it to open.

It took all of his will power but he shoved her away and stood up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. She sat down staring at him, her legs curled up against the edge of the bed.

"Whatever it is that you and your father have planned out, my family and I will have no part in it. You are nothing but a loose, spoiled brat that goes around getting what you want from people but not from me."

Anita slid down the bed, her green eyes flashing with hurt and anger. She looked utterly offended.

"What did you call me?"

"You heard me. You are loose and spoiled and i want nothing to do with you. I would never want to get married to you. No one has any right forcing marriage on me; not you, Anita, not your father or even my parents. Do you understand that?"

Her eyes squinted to a close and she slowly walked up to him.

"How dare you insult me to my face? How dare you insult my father?" She barked.

He had noticed it severally that night and had decided to keep quiet but in Anita's eyes, there was age. He had seen it before - mostly in Ms Potts's eyes - enough times to recognize it.

"You are no fifteen year old." He stated absentmindedly as if some strange force had drawn it out of his lips.

She gave a wicked grin. "You have pushed me to the wall, you suckling, and my patience has waned."

"What do you want from my family?" Frances yelled for the first time.

"What i wanted you have stubbornly refused to give so i will return the favour. It is about time you received your birthday present."

"I want nothing from you." He growled.

Suddenly, thunder rumbled. A violent gust of wind blew into the room, forcing the curtains to billow and twist. The windows shook from the wild gale. Objects clattered and fell, shattering to pieces upon contact with the floor. A heavy downpour began and lightning crackled overhead, threatening to break the sky in half.

Anita's eyes gleamed as she glared at Frances. He could only stare right back in wonder of what the sudden unusual phenomenon was about. The atmosphere felt curiously similar to his encounter in the woods. She carefully lifted both arms. A green mist, circulating around her fingers and torso.

"Sorcery!" Frances exclaimed, finally coming to a startling realization.

All of a sudden, Anita's spooky voice filled his ears.

"My humble advances you have solely rebuked, herefore my harsh judgment will i never revoke. Until you grow weary and fade into mire, your hideous form will no woman desire."

The wind suddenly seemed to pick up momentum and crashed into the room, shattering the windows in the process. Frances flinched and shielded himself with both arms. He struggled to stay balanced but the raucous wind picked him up nonetheless.

He yelled out in pain when a burning sensation began to tear through his body, ripping his mind in half. His bones creaked, cracked and twisted as if attempting to break through his skin but instead they changed form. He could feel his consciousness slipping away as his face seemed to enlarge as well as every other part of him. This painful transition went on for a long time - he was not sure how long - but Anita's mature yet tiny voice came streaming across the loud, treacherous wind.

"I curse you, young prince, and banish you to a land unknown where you will meet your end unless my spell be broken which will be. . . never." She chimed and gave an eerie, high pitched laughter.

He was suddenly propelled out of the room, crashing into the wall and out into the slapping cold and splashing rain. His body recklessly scratched against thorny trees and thick boughs, drowning in a sea of darkness as he traveled deeper and deeper into the Black Forest. Soon, he collided into swirling heat before being totally blinded by the brightest of lights.

He unexpectedly crashed into a structure he could not see; being only able to make out screaming, yelling and the sound of loud, high-pitched honking like that of a herd of overgrown geese.

"What is that thing?"

"Run."

"Oh my God, it's a monster from outer space."

"Get away from it."

"Someone call 911!"

Terrified voices blanketed him from every corner until he gave in to the pain and blacked out.

Meanwhile, back at the castle there was a building ruckus over the Prince's whereabouts.

"Where is my son?" A female wailed. "What happened to my son?"

"Mother! Mother! He is gone! I cannot find him anywhere." The voice continued to cry out. The sound of heavy footfall echoed across the room as that of hasty running.

Antoinette hurried down the stairs in panic, calling out to Belle as she did.

"Mother!" Her voice sounded like a croak from much crying and yelling.

Belle and Adam came rushing toward the sound of her voice and nearly bumped into one another.

"Where is the boy?" Adam asked hastily.

"I don't know papa. I don't know what's happened." Antoinette replied frightfully.

The King stormed past and made his way upstairs.

"His room is empty and there is a strange crack in the wall. I feared that something terrible would happen, mother. I feared he would run away. Please, tell them to go find my son. Please!"

Belle drew her daughter into an embrace but Antoinette had turned into jelly - constantly slipping out of her mother's grip.

"It is okay, calm down. He is certainly not far from here. You have to calm down."

François came rushing in with Lumiere and Cogsworth in tow.

"Your Majesty, what's happened?" Lumiere questioned Belle.

"Antoinette?" François inquired, going over to his wife.

She slumped in his arms. Despite being more composed than anyone else throughout the evening, she had feared the most for her son and especially, how he would react to the news of his marriage.

King Joseph and Anita had left hours ago when the party was declared over. But when the young prince had failed to come downstairs to unbox his presents after a long time, his mother decided to check on him. Arriving in his room, she discovered he had been packing but had somehow left in the middle of it. It did not seem right for him to leave without his knapsack. She was about leaving to check the stables for Philippe when her eyes caught the tremendous hole in the wall.

She let out a bloodcurdling scream, fearing her son had jumped out of the window seven storeys down. Broken objects were strewn across the floor suggesting he had possibly thrown a fit, his dress shirt lay ripped across the edge of the bed, his bow and quiver were placed next to the wall and there was a frame near his sack but the photo had been taken out of it.

"What do you mean he is gone?" François asked in terror as his wife managed to explain what she has seen.

"I do not want to think he. . . jumped out the window." Antoinette said sobbing and shivering.

"Sacrè bleu!" Lumiere spat.

"Why would he do this to me, mother?"

Lumiere and Cogsworth proceeded to go upstairs to see for themselves.

They found the King standing in front of the hole in the wall. It was massive such that fifteen people could walk through it without effort. His red robes billowed in the wind and the rain splashed in his face but he stood still, staring out into the distant forest.

"Your Majesty!" Cogsworth called, going over to stand next to Adam.

"Oh mon Dieu." Lumiere exclaimed in dismay as he too approached the gaping wall.

"What have i done?" Adam muttered, his bass tone rumbling with regret and anger.

"Nobody saw this coming, Your Highness." Cogsworth comforted.

"No." Adam said then turned to look at the room. "I did."

With that, he exited, leaving Lumiere and Cogsworth alone.

"Where do you think he has gone?" Lumiere asked.

"Somewhere none of us can get him back from, my dear friend. His poor mother would be devastated." Cogsworth stated.

And true to Cogsworth's words, for the next few months, Antoinette refused to eat, sleep or even speak. She spent many hours in the day crying over the disappearance of her son. The only place she would go to was his room. She would hold his ruined dress shirt to her chest and fervently pray that he was alright.

Belle tried her best to comfort her own child but her failure to achieve just that broke her as well. King Adam sent out search parties to look for his grandson but they all came back with the same report - he was truly missing. The townsfolk joined in the search for their Prince, especially travelers who made sure to keep an eye out for sightings of him in the places they visited but not even the Prince's shadow was spotted.

The King fell into despair, blaming himself constantly for the disappearance of his grandson. He had long known that King Joseph was a crafty man and was involved in sorcery but had never mentioned it to his family.

"Joseph wants his daughter to be Frances' betrothed." He had announced to his family in the East Wing.

"What?" Belle gasped.

"I will not allow that, papa." Antoinette objected.

"Father, is there any other way to go about this?" François asked.

"I fear that there isn't any. It was his only condition and we must accept it, otherwise he will overtake our borders, declare war and lay an assault on this Kingdom. I cannot sit back and watch that happen." Adam replied.

"Frances would never agree to this arrangement." Belle stated.

"He does not have to know until they get here
Still, the deed is done. I signed an agreement before i left Pirole." Adam said.

"This is going to be a disaster, Adam." Belle said.

"It will not be if we can do it right." François said, looking up at Adam who nodded. "I know we all feel terrible about this but we are doing it for the sake of the kingdom. I just pray to the heavens that our boy understands."

"No reports from the South, my Lord." A guard reported with a curt bow. Adam nodded and permitted him to leave.

Five months passed after the Prince's disappearance and with every day that floated by, the palace grew wearier, plunged into a state of despair. If the young Prince failed to return before his twentieth and marry Anita, the whole kingdom would pay dearly for it and at the same time, his family would be overwhelmed by loss. It was a lose-lose and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

And as for where the prince was banished to, called "a world unknown". It was a world unknown alright but only to the rest of the French kingdom of Villeneuve but a world known to many of you reading this book.

The Prince laid on the cold floor, surrounded by birds.

"Oy matey, move outta the way, woulda? I'm driving here!" An angry voice yelled.

Frances groaned but to his ears, it sounded like an earthquake. He rolled to his side and managed to stand up then suddenly felt like he was falling forward.

"Oh my horns and gills, what in God's name is that thing?" The angry voice melted into one of fear and he steered his odd looking locomotive machine away, as fast as he could.

Frances wondered why the man's carriage was not drawn by horses. Just wheels. As he thought of it, many more of the strange machines zoomed past him, subsequently crashing into themselves. All around him, people screamed and ran out of their wheeled alien carriages, their arms flailing above their heads as they scampered away in terror.

Never in his life had he been so confused until he turned and caught a glimpse of his reflection in a tall building made entirely out of glass.

"Ahh!" He screamed but all he could hear was a ground shaking ROAR!

Standing almost fourteen feet taller than everyone else in the middle of a busy highway was a beastly kind of creature. It stood tall as three grown elephants placed one on top of the other, with claws for fingers like that of a sabertoothed tiger and long, sharp teeth peeking out of his upper and lower lip. He was covered in thick hair from head to foot. He had an enormous head like that of a grizzly bear and thick, curved horns like a ram.

Frances jumped back in fear at sight of his own reflection. He was hideous.

Anita had cursed him.

"No." His voice rattled in sadness.