The adventures and monsters in this story is inspired by the Big fish Game series; Dark Parables. Enjoy!

BEAST QUEST: Rise of the Wolf Lord.

Thornic, the Thorned Rose.

Prologue.

Madison breathed heavily as she ran through the forest as fast as she could. All she knew was that she had to get away from the monsters chasing her! She could hear them coming behind her! She didn't see bright green vines with light brown thorns slam on the ground in front of her, thorns growing longer and thicker.

She tripped.

She fell.

She got caught.

They wrapped around her ankle, pulling her towards her attacker. Rolling over on the ground, she saw what it was!

A Plant! A Plant Monster! It grew to the size of a redwood tree. Long, prickly vines slithered across his body like worms, making a strong armor for the creature. Long, snake-like tendrils reached all over the place. That must be how they caught her. It's head looked like a giant rose, but each petal was brimmed with tiny but sharp teeth. Then the petals spread open, to reveal a large gaping mouth where the center of the flower should be! It was truly a terrifying sight!

A man's laugh made her look over to a cliff, where two figures were perched.

One of them was a man draped in a black cape which had a dark aura surrounding it, his face covered by the hood, but two dark red eyes shone brightly in the blackness of the cloak. Beside him was a young woman with beautiful golden hair in a bright red cape, a golden headdress with a glowing red rose gem emended on it wrapped around her head delicately. A hood over her head too, but not as much, so it was easy to see her beautiful features. She wore a long bright red dress with beautiful roses and vine designs, and clutched a long staff that towered two inches above her head. The shaft was designed to look like the stem of a flower, while the top looked like a closed up, blood red rose.

But there was something about her eyes. Those ivy green eyes stared blankly at Madison and the creature. They seemed to be colored in some sort of pale substance. They were dull, lifeless... like she was completely devoid of will and soul.

"Rose..." the man spoke in a sly-sounding voice, "Why don't you show this pheasant what your powers can do?" he asked the woman, who didn't even glance at him. Just banged her staff loudly against the floor, causing the rose on the staff to bloom and a golden trail of spores gently made their way to the now struggling Madison, but the vines from the creature held her down. The spores reached her, flowing into her nostrils. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell to the floor limply. As she laid there, the monster dug it's arms into the ground, and vine sprung up from the ground around the unconscious girl and wrapped her up tightly, not enough to impale her, but enough to insure that if she ever did wake up, which was very unlikely, she wouldn't be going anywhere.

The man scoffed.

"These pitiful creatures are no match for my power! I have my army!" he turned away from the cliff to look at the field beyond him to reveal hundreds and thousands of howling, snarling wolves. But these didn't look anything like ordinary wolves. These wolves were each the size of a full grown grizzly bear, had blood red eyes and had a misty aura around them.

"I have the Guardians under my control!" he continued, looking over at the blonde woman, who didn't even react to his words.

"Now... all I need... is a Queen!" he said finally, just as a Mist Wolf with a saddle on appeared right before him, waiting for him to get on. "And I know just where to find one!" he lifted himself onto the wolf's back with ease, and looked down at the woman, who looked blankly back.

"Rose! Go get your brothers and sisters! We leave first dawn tomorrow! And let your Beast make himself useful!" the hooded man ordered. The woman, Rose, payed no mind to his cruel tone and simply bowed, her hand above her heart before speaking.

"And where are we to go, sire?" he man grinned, looking off into the distance, as if he could see his destination in the horizon.

"We are going to Avantia! There, I will find my Queen!" he laughed manically, as the Mist Wolf howled and the man, as well as the wolves, vanished into thin air, leaving Rose and the monster alone.

"Thornic!" the woman called, and the monster responded instantly, moving it's head towards her, his glowing eyes showing complete obedience and respect to his mistress. "Go forth! Do what you must to insure our masters victory!" she commanded, and he reared his head to let out an all mighty roar. Using his five vine-like arms, and crawled away like a crab, disappearing as it made it's way through the forest. Rose turned around to look at the setting sun.

"Soon the Wolf Lord will have his Queen, and then the world will tumble in darkness! Not even this Tom can save them now!" she declared before disappearing in black mist.

Stay tuned!