It was an age where every species was thought to be known and every corner of the world supposedly had been discovered and marked. Automobiles and houses took over the landscape, oceans were charted with shipping lanes used on a regular basis, planes flew high in the sky and technology made devices like phones small enough to fit in one's pocket. Yet even with apps to hold countless digital books on all the electronic gadgets available, Beauty still hoarded hard bound books like a dragon would treasure. They were the first thing she unpacked after she and her father moved to the family's country cottage, the only possession her father had left after being let go from the shipping yard he had practically helped build from the ground up.

The hope had been to find less judgemental people in the quaint village their cottage was on the outskirts of, but soon found that wasn't always the case. Beauty's new class mates were extremely haughty and she knew they called her "Poor Bluey" behind her back because of her second-hand clothing that were mostly faded shades of blue. She tried not to let their critism bother her, but one day it was too much and she was sobbing as she walked home. Her vision blurred by tears, she didn't realize she had stepped off the road and had gone into the dense woods via one of the game trails.

She realized where she was and that she had gotten lost by not paying attention. With night fast approaching due to the change of seasons, she knew the forest wasn't a safe place to be. All her classmates had spoken of all the predators who frequented the farms because they came down from the mountains looking for food and there was very little prey in their natural habitat thanks to people over hunting the area before laws had been created to protect and allow the recovery of the local wildlife. Her thoughts were interrupted by the trees parting as a massive blacker-than-night creature stepped through into the clearing silently. She would have called the beast a wolf if it wasn't big enough to carry off a cow by itself, though it's face and body were certainly canine in nature. Horns grew from the top of it's head like a crown and it had a luxurant mane that put a lion's to shame, two glowing orange-gold eyes with flecks of red like a fire looking down at her with neither malice or friendliness.

"Please don't eat me, great beast." She managed to whisper, too spellbound by the appearance of this strange being to think of running.

"Eat you?" A growling male voice surprised her by saying from his mouth. "I would no sooner wish to crush a rose."

Beauty stared at him open mouthed till she realized she was being rude. "Sorry... I just sort of assumed..."

He waved a massive paw. "If you had come into my domain with ill intent, you would already be dead. Still, you should not be here all by yourself. If you can see me, then you will certainly be able to see others who wouldn't hesitate to harm or take advantage of such a fair young girl. Climb onto my back."

"How do I know you aren't one of them?" Beauty asked, rooted to the spot.

"You have my word."

Beauty took a hesitant step towards him. "I don't even know your name."

He huffed in a way she could have sworn was a chuckle, his bushy tail twitching behind him. "If I ever had one, I have long forgotten it in this cursed form. You may simply call me Beast, if you must call me something."

"Beast? That seems a rather cruel name for a creature so handsome."

"I have never been called that before by anyone." He said, surprise in his tone as his fiery eyes surveyed her from where he laid. "Perhaps then you can give me a name, if I can know yours."

"My name is Beauty." She said in embarrassment and expected him to laugh at it like everyone else had.

He made a strange noise in his throat similar to a purr. "A very fitting name. What will you call me, Beauty?"

She decided to trust him, slowly climbed on his back and admired how his fur shone like a polished stone she'd once seen in the shipyard. "What about Obsidian?"

"Only to you may call me that name, Beauty." He stood slowly so as not to jostle her, taller than any horse she had ever ridden. He walked with long, ponderous strides to the edge of the forest and lowered down onto the ground again. "Can you remember this spot?"

She looked around as she climbed off him. She noticed two stone markers covered in moss with with wild roses growing next to them. "Yes, I believe so."

"If you wish to see me during the day, enter using this path an nothing shall dare to harm you. You must promise me that you will not ever come here at night however, I cannot promise your safety if you do."

"I promise, Obsidian."

He inclined his head. "I trust you can find your way home from here?"

"Yes, thank you." She glanced at the road, then looked back at him. "You said that you were cursed, right?"

"Thousands of years ago by your reconning."

"That would certainly explain why your form isn't one I have seen before. At first glance, I might have guessed a wolf if you weren't so massive."

His tail twitched again. "Not too long ago the wolves of your world were this big and they were feared because they could swallow a man whole. Where do you think the dire wolves descended from?"

"I always assumed they were the parents of the wolves." She admitted and felt very uneducated for all her reading habits.

"It is the reverse, though you were close. At least you acknowledged the dire wolves' existence, many refuse to even consider the idea of magic still being a part of their world."

She shook her head and realized she should be headed home. "Doesn't mean it's not there. I need to get home before my father gets worried."

"Then I will wish you a good night, Beauty. I hope to see you soon."

"I have a feeling you will. Good night, Obsidian." She smiled and went home without further ado.