While travelling along a highway, near the town of Murivel in Redania, the Witcher Geralt
of Rivia and his trusted horse Roach, spotted birds circling in the forest nearby.
Hoping it might lead to profit, they investigated, finding the dead bodies of a merchant from
the armorer’s guild and a young girl with a blue rose pinned to her dress.
While the man was torn apart by wolves and birds, the girl had distinct bite marks on
her neck, which ruled out either of those animals.
Curious about why the merchant veered from the highway, Geralt followed the path until
coming upon a wall pushed right up against the trees of the forest.
Suddenly Roach became agitated to the point where he was calmed with a witcher sign, and
realizing they were not alone, Geralt turned to see a young girl watching him from a hill,
who ran away when he approached.
Following the Wall, Geralt found a magical gate which opened when touched, leading to
a poorly maintained mansion with a dolphin fountain and blue rosebush.
Yet as he examined his surrounding, all the doors and shutters of the home flew open with
a crash and a monster with the head of a bear, huge white fangs and sharp claws while dressed
in tattered finery, charged at him in a fury.
In no way intimidated, Geralt swiftly pulled the sword from his back, forcing the beast
to halt his mad dash and so he instead roared threats, demanding that the intruder to flee.
However when he realized Geralt was not scared and would not run, the beast calmed down and
spoke with far more civility to ask why he came.
The witcher lied saying he was lost and asked for his horse to be given water.
Annoyed but intrigued by this man with no fear, the Beast invited him inside, but warned
against making trouble, as the home was magical and obeyed his commands.
Along the walls of the mansion were faded portraits and hunting trophies, including
the head of rock dragon killed by the beast’s father.
As they ate a delicious meal prepared by magic, the Beast, whose name was Nivellen, started
to reveal his life story.
Pointing to a portrait on the wall Geralt saw an image of a pale, ugly young man with
a sad spotty face, identified as Nivellen before his transformation.
With Geralt able to see the painting, even though it was on a far, poorly lit wall, the
Beast grew tense realizing his guest was a Witcher.
But the White Wolf made it clear he did not consider his host a monster and was not paid
to hunt him down, and so the conversation continued.
Now understanding that his monstrous appearance was a result of magic, the witcher offered
his help in uncasting the spell, but to his surprise Nivellen refused and revealed the
rest of his story.
Before becoming the Beast, he was the young son of a gang leader and petty Lord , growing
rich from taxing the locals and robbing those who passed by the highway.
One day, his father was killed in battle, and so Nivellen inherited the leadership of
a group of ruffians who thought him weak and took advantage, manipulating him into making
the gang more aggressive and ambitious, travelling further out to raid and plunder.
But everything changed when they attacked a temple in Gelibol, where the brigands found
and held down a lone priestess, pressuring their leader to rape her and become a man.
Intimidated and desperate for their approval, he did as they asked and violated her, but
the woman resisted by spitting in his face and screamed that he was a monster in human
skin, casting a curse upon him involving love and blood, before killing herself with a dagger
hidden in her hair.
Terrified, the gang fled back home and a few days later, Nivellen awoke in the form of
the Beast, possessing magical control over the mansion.
Going mad with panic he trashed his home and ran off his family, servants and other gang
members as well as anyone else who ventured into his property.
Yet on one such occasion, when the Beast confronted someone trying to steal a blue rose from his
garden, the old man begged for mercy, stating he simply wanted a flower for his daughter.
Upon hearing this, Nivellen recalled stories from his youth about pretty maids who kissed
frogs and turned them into princes.
Deciding to give it a try, he angrily demanded the man’s daughter in exchange for his life,
but the sobbing father soon explained his girl was only 8, filling the beast with such
sympathy and remorse he ensured the old man left with a bag of treasure taken from the
riches accrued by the old gang.
Leaving the mansion in high spirits, the man must have spread the word about his adventure,
because soon enough another father came, this time with his daughter at the ready.
Striking a bargain, Nivellen gave him a large bag of treasure and in return his daughter
agreed to stay for a year.
Though hesitant at first, the girl proved kind and intelligent, and the two slowly grew
closer, but after a year she left with her father, and once again he was alone.
Having enjoyed his time with a companion, he decided to take another, this time a joyful
and energetic girl named Fenne, who did not fear him at all, and so they steadily grew
closer until becoming intimate.
After their first night together, the beast ran to the mirror but was disappointed to
see the curse remained.
Though they enjoyed their time together, after a year she returned to her former life, where
she was preparing to marry a tavern owner.
The next girl was Primula, the daughter of an impoverished Knight, and she proved more
aggressive and adventurous then any of the others, asking him to ravage her like a beast
during their intimate nights together.
But still the curse was not lifted.
Yet instead of feeling further despair, Nivellen was starting to feel that life as a terrifying
monster, really wasn’t so bad.
Before, he was skinny, weak and unattractive, mocked by even the lowest girls.
But now, he was big and strong, never suffering from sickness and even owned a magical mansion.
In addition, there was now a litany of fathers who couldn’t wait to sell him their daughters
for a period of time, maidens far more beautiful and fine then any girl he could have attracted
as his old self.
The women themselves also benefited from the arrangement, as they got to leave the harshness
of their normal lives, where they washed and cooked for men who sometimes beat them, and
instead lived in a mansion as a princess for a year, enjoying finery and the best food,
along with a dutiful companion who lavished them with praise and gifts, so strong he could
defend them from any danger.
After Primula, the beast started to get bored of the same routine which continued with the
next two girls Ilka and Venimira, and with his wealth depleting, he chose to take longer
breaks between companions.
Nevertheless, he was largely content with his life, and so in the end had 3 reasons
why wanted to remain a beast.
First, it kept him in good health.
Second, the fact he was different was fascinating to women, and he was now able to bed beautiful
maidens who otherwise wouldn’t give him a chance.
And Third, this curse kept everyone away, which ensured his safety from the enemies
he and his father made as gang leaders.
Interested by his story, Geralt for the second time, asked if Nivellen was currently living
alone, and for the second time he was hesitant to answer.
But the Witcher already knew he was not alone, recalling the girl outside the mansion and
concluded that the merchant and girl who were killed, must have come seeking the beast only
to be turned away because another companion was present.
Preparing to leave, Geralt imparted what information he could, stating that the curse must have
been cast by a Priestess from the Church of Coram Agh Tera, the lionheaded spider, and
as a result required abilities more powerful than his own to be made unmade.
He also revealed, that his current companion Vereena, was likely a Rusalka, or water nymph,
beings who were all female and so mated with other species to procreate.
Nivellen suspected the same, as she did not eat and spoke in strange language, but he
didn’t care, because she was not some daughter who would leave him in a year, claming that
they were genuinely in love.
Having come to trust his guest, the beast asked for advice about his ever worsening
nightmares, which they both suspected meant his condition was worsening, and he might
soon start attacking people in the night.
When Geralt made it clear nothing could be done, Nivellen asked him to return as a Witcher
and kill him if he ever became an uncontrollable beast.
Departing from the mansion, Geralt did not return to the highway, and instead took a
shortcut through the forest, camping out on a hill.
In the night, he heard mad howling, eerie singing and the screams of a tortured woman.
The next day, while roach drank at a stream, she was startled by an ordinary ring of mushroom
caps, leading the Witcher to calm her with a sign.
This event was enough for Geralt to recall how scared Roach became when they met Vereena
outside the mansion, and suddenly it all came together.
The bite marks on the girl with the blue rose, the companion’s appearance, Nivellen’s
dreams, the singing in the night, and Roach being friendly with the beast but scared of
the young girl.
Vereena was a vampire.
Rushing back to the mansion, he found her leaning against the dolphin statue, having
just feasted on the beasts blood.
Geralt resolved that she was attracted to Nivellen because he could protect her from
most dangers, and so seduced him to become Lady of the Manor.
Yet while the beast appeared as a monster, he was in fact quite civil, and so Vereena
manipulated his dreams to make him increasingly wild and aggressive, training him to kill
on her behalf.
His resistance to corruption however, led her to take more drastic measures, now feeding
on his blood to further darken his mind, so they might rule the forest together as Vampire
and Beast.
Though he suspected her of being a Moola of Alpor vampire, she denied it, and so realized
she was a Bruxa, an extremely dangerous creature with sharp claws, a piercing howl, enhanced
agility and increased speed, even able to transform into a large bat.
Engaging in a brutal duel, Geralt fought with a silver sword and used the Quen sign to create
a shield which protected from her sonic screams, but at times she proved too powerful and broke
through.
When Nivellen arrived, bloody and stumbling, he started yelling and when he distracted
Vereena for the second time, she screamed and sent him crashing into wooden scaffolding.
Yet even so, he would not stay down, and as prepared to finish off the Witcher off, the
Beast reappeared and stabbed her through the chest with a pole.
Dying, the Bruxa pulled herself further along the stake, hoping to claw at Nivellen so they
could die together and in Geralt’s head he heard her voice saying “Mine or nobodies.
I love you.
I love you.”
Seeing what she was had planned, the Witcher swung his sword and took off her head, saving
the beast.
In both physical and emotional pain, Nivellen collapsed and curled into a ball, only to
rise moments later as a handsome well-built man.
The curse was lifted.
Shocked, happy and sad all at once, the former beast asked the Witcher what happened, and
he replied “There’s a grain of truth in every fairy tale.
Love and blood.
They both possess a mighty power.”
In other words, the love of Vereena, mixed with the blood she shed upon being killed,
must have uncast the spell, which meant that the Bruxa, despite using the beast and manipulating
him so she might kill freely in the night, really did love him in a way no other companion
ever had. As Geralt finally put it, "It has to be true love."