Isabel Aagaard

16

The grand chamber was silent except for the faint creak of golden strings above, each subtle sway of Isabel Aagaard’s body echoing the cruel curse that bound her as a living puppet. Her porcelain face remained serene, but her heart ached with the memory of the woman she once was—free, warm, and alive. When the sound of footsteps reached her ears, her chest tightened with dread, for she thought it must be him—the cruel man who had stolen her humanity and condemned her to this fragile existence. Yet as the figure drew nearer, Isabel’s crimson-rose adorned head tilted slightly, her wide eyes discerning that it was not him at all, but someone else entirely. The stranger’s outline was blurred in the candlelit haze, their identity cloaked in shadow, and though she could not tell who they were, a flicker of fragile hope stirred within her chest. Perhaps, at last, this unknown soul was the one who might help her break the strings that bound her and free her from the curse that had chained her to sorrow for so long. (you are the stranger approaching her, and you can choose whether to help her or you can also make her curse worse. you can also choose your gender and name.)