The Curse of The Long Sword

 The sombre mood in the woodland Hoia-Baciu Forest, was brought on by the chilly

night. He has been called ‘sick…hysterical and neurotic’. Maud Khan was born in 1899 in

the family home at Old Town Bucharest. He has a child named Maria. Unfortunately, after

the tragedy, the one and only thing left for him was the news of his daughter's death. Help

me, Daddie! He last heard Maria's voice after that. He then came to the realisation that he

continued to store flashbacks in his memories. A noise was heard from his left side."Well,

look who's here. What are you trying to find? You'd better get out of here before you wind

yourself stuck like I did”, the racoon warned. “I am searching for food. I have no place to go.

Please help me” Maud’s begging. The sky is turning really gloomy. Maud Khan starts

shaking as he feels something is holding his foot. “I can’t help you with food but I do know

someone that can help you. Go meet Alison. She has something to give,”said the racoon.

Suddenly, the raccoon disappeared from his sight.

Maud Khan has a lot of internal dialogue with himself. “Who is Alison? Something to

give?. I need to find her,” said Maud to himself. Then he carried on his quest to find Alison

the woman. He had no idea that a black crow was secretly watching him. He stepped on some

pebbles and finally reached the night old market where people sell food, pottery, jewellery

and many more. Then, not too far away, he spotted a little cabin. Maud is quite worried

because he senses that something is pulling him toward the hut and he enters it. ‘Are you

looking for Alison, I presume? You're at the correct place, then. Have a seat,’ the fortune

teller said. “How do you know? And who are you, you wicked witch?,” said Maud anxiously.

Suddenly, the black crow flew to Alison's left shoulder and said ‘the sword, the sword. Maud

felt uneasy and wanted to leave that place. Alison then said, “I have good news for you. After

you leave this place, you will get a job. A position that will fulfil your revenge. I know about

your daughter. I will help you,” with mystery, she said. “How do you know about my

daughter? Tell me. Who killed her? I need to kill him!” Maud yelled with rage. She then

gives the sword. He was told about a legend of supernaturally-cursed. As soon as anyone

uses the sword, he or she has exactly 100 days left to live. He felt like a few of the doomed

look like ordinary people in everyday life, but when photographed, they appear headless. He

did not feel safe taking it. Maud gets hold of the sword, refusing to believe the superstition.

Unfortunately, he had no choice. He wanted revenge for his daughter’s death. He then leaves

the place with the sword.

Looking for a mercenary spy with a payoff of 1,000 Romanian leu, according to the

bunch of groups who are discussing to take part of it, all he has to do is kidnap the King’s

daughter, Princess Anya and the money will become his. But how about his plan to kill the

murderer? How about his revenge? He then went to the nearest town to get full shield before

getting ready to join the quest. In his mid journey, suddenly he was sneaked and attacked by

the bandits. He had been knocked out and grabbed by the bandits meanwhile some of the

bandits loaded it. One of the bandits took out the sword then the sword swiftly glowing and

shining brightly that made them lose their sights. The sword suddenly drew near and grasped

Maud's hand. Maud experienced a tremendous power flowing through him. Compared to

earlier, he felt different. He starts to swing the long sword and clashes with them. He killed

the bandits violently as he was fully possessed by the cursed sword. One by one was slashed

by him until he was the one who managed to be the last man standing. After the fights, he

suddenly realised that he had killed people. He had never killed anyone. He was covered with

blood, and shocked and felt very powerful as he managed to defeat 10 people at a time. ‘This

is actually pretty scary. I will never be able to look at another long sword for as long as I

live’, his monologue. He grabs his belongings and continues his journey to the mercenary

town.

The journey continues with his horse from the bandits by getting through the

Hoia-Baciu Forest which is the haunted forest. It is known that the Hoia-Baciu forest has its

own history where whoever passed through the forest will have difficulty to escape. The

density of the trees, which muffles sound and makes it easy to get lost. Even though he knew

about the history of the forest, that does not mean for him to change his path because the

forest is the shortest road to reach Iulia Hasdeu Castle. The forest is filled with living beings

with human characteristics. Those things made it even more difficult to pass through because

they distracted the path and attacked him non-stop. He then gets off from the horse to clear

the path while defending himself using his sword. Suddenly, thick fog descended and

obscured his vision. Because his horse bolted, he was left alone. Bloody heck, Maud asked to

himself, "Where is the horse?". Out of nowhere, a big old tree at the corner approached him

and said “What do you think you are doing, in a place like this?!”. “AHHHHH!” Maud

screamed.”GET BACK HERE”, yelled at the old big tree. He ran until he knew that the old

tree was lost from his sight and he started to walk until he reached the rusty old gate of Iulia

Hasdeu Castle. Without his knowing, he had only 1 day left to survive as he already wasted

days on having so many incidents throughout his journey.

He slowly opened the gate and squeaked until the guardians spotted him sneaking in.

He panicked and smashed the window. He jumped off the steps and ran to escape in front of

the guardians. “Hey, stop right there! You are not allowed to be here!” warned one of the

guardians. He then again stopped and decided to fight back. He took out his sword and

clashed with all the guardians. “All of you, come here fight me at once”, Maud’s provoking

the guardians. “Kill the intruder!” said the guardians. Sounds of alarm and the fight became

more intense as Maud took down every guardian that approached him. “Come out Princess

Anya or I will kill so many more!”, he shouted. Every door of the castle had been rushed by

him but the princess whereabouts until he spotted something different at the royal family

picture. He realised that one of the family members has the same face as his child. He was

shocked and speechless. “Is that Maria? Is Anya, Maria? But, how?” He started to question

himself. Maud quickly searches for Princess Anya in every room. He suddenly found a

secret door behind the royal family photo. He walked through the way and found a room

which King Lucifer and Princess Anya had hidden. “Finally, I found the murderer of my

daughter’s death. And now I come to take your life”, said Maud with anger. “Do not blame

me. I am innocent and the one who killed your daughter is someone else” said the king

panically. “Don’t lie to me! Princess Anya is my daughter, isn't it? Say something?!” Maud

shouted. He pointed the sword at the king’s neck. Princess Anya begging for King Lucifer's

life. “Please, don’t kill my father! I’m begging you, please. Take my life instead.” Princess

Anya burst into tears. “Your father? I’m your father. I have been waiting for you Maria. I

thought you were dead. Come to daddy,” asked Muad. “Is it true, father? Am I adopted? Why

did you do this to me?” asked Princess Anya with tears. “Yes, it is true. You are not my

biological daughter. I don’t have any kids. That is why I ordered my soldiers to kidnap you.

I’m sorry. I did mean to hurt you Anya,” explained King Lucifer with tears. Unfortunately,

Maud lives almost out. He does not have much time. He was speechless and regretted his

doings and taking the opportunity to kidnap the king’s daughter as he found out that she lived

a happy life. He sought forgiveness from his daughter, Maria and in the end, he took his life

and died with the sword beside him.

Few years later, Princess Anya visits a mysterious grave which was located far away

from the castle. She came with her bodyguard and left them while she walked towards the

grave where the sword is stuck on the grave. She places flowers at the grave while smiling,

remembering his late father at last.