The rain fell gently over Eldoria, a hidden town veiled in mist and secrets. At the edge of the forest, where moonlight danced over dew-laced petals, lived a girl who never felt like she belonged. Her name was Liora Vale, and on the night of her twenty-first birthday, her curse awakened.
She had never been kissed.
Not because she wasn't beautiful—her stormy gray eyes and honey-brown curls could stop hearts—but because everyone she touched… changed. A single brush of her skin left people dazed, distant, and in some cases, ruined. Love died in their hearts. Hope withered. She was poison dressed in silk.
"It's only a myth," her aunt always whispered. "You're not cursed. You're just… different."
But deep down, Liora knew the truth. The curse was real.
That night, her fingers trembled as she lit the last candle on her cake. No friends. No laughter. Just the forest howling in the wind and her shadow flickering on the walls. She stood before the cracked mirror, whispering her wish:
"Let me feel love before I ruin it. Just once."
As the words left her lips, a sharp knock echoed through the cottage. Strange. No one ever came this far.
She opened the door, her heart skipping.
He stood tall, soaked by the rain, hair dark as ravens and eyes glowing silver—unearthly. "You're Liora Vale?" he asked, his voice smooth and oddly familiar.
"Yes…" she said warily.
"I've come to break your curse," he said.
She froze.
"You're mad," she whispered.
But before she could close the door, he reached into his coat and held out a withered black rose, glowing faintly with silver veins.
"Midnight Bloom," he said. "It only opens once every hundred years—for a cursed soul who dares to love."
Liora's breath caught. She had read of it in her mother's old spellbook. But it was legend. Fairy tale.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
He looked at her with a haunted softness. "I'm cursed too. But not like you." He stepped forward, his hand inches from hers. "If we kiss, the curse will either break… or consume us both."
Her chest tightened.
Why him? Why now?
The storm raged louder. The petals of the Midnight Bloom unfurled in his hand, shimmering in the moonlight.
And in that moment, something in Liora whispered: Fate has arrived.
Would she take the risk? Or live forever untouched?
She raised her face slowly, her heart pounding louder than the thunder.
And as their lips met—soft, aching, trembling—the wind stopped.
Time shattered.
And the curse… awoke.