Stay still

Stephan acted all distracted by all kinds of things existing in the room. The behavior of the witch was suspicious afterwards. She had a constant smile on her lips and her secret goal didn't waver. Slowly, she was walking towards him and slowly, he was turning around the cauldron acting all attracted by something on the shelves. For a moment, it annoyed her but she calmed herself saying it was all worth it.

All the books were written in a language unfamiliar to him and contained strange diagrams. To his surprise, the system didn't translate anything. It seemed that it was a skill to be learnt as well. He opened one of the books and gazed inside it. It had the same insignia on the back of the witch. It certainly meant something for her; the witch stopped immediately.

"Just put down that book, I don't know how you can only put your hands on things that I don't like," she said with a half-hearted smile that didn't leave her face. She picked a small wand from her sleeve and waved it in the air.

Stephan glanced back at her and smiled. He was confident there was something more to that insignia but he would still ignore it. It wasn't something that he needed to push his nose into it. If it brought some benefits then it would be good to be involved in it. However, there was nothing to get from offending the witch to that point. Her expression clearly showed how much she didn't want people to know about her past family.

"I understand," he returned the book to his place. However, this time, he was attracted to another book. It was acting as a support for the table with the broken leg. He pulled it from its place and the table fell, throwing all the objects and the ingredients that were on it on the ground, breaking several vials and glass bottles. "Oups! It seems this table isn't as sturdy as I thought it would be."

Soprana's smile disappeared and she frowned. Her knuckles whitened as he tightened her grip around the wand. Her eyes darkened. "Can't you stay still for a moment?" she shouted as she cut the distance between them.

He noticed her behavior and thought it was still suspicious. He stepped back turned around the cauldron and opened the book. He was surprised by the hollowed part of it and the presence of the silver pocket watch; it had the same insignia on it.

"I told you to stay still," her steps echoed threatened but he enjoyed toying with her as he went around the cauldron. Seeing her walking like that, trying to get to him, he understood she wanted to do something to him. He grabbed the silver watch and tossed it inside his pocket. "For hell's sake! Stay still for a second."

"Why do you want me to stay still? You have been going after me for a while. Do you expect me to stay frozen and wait for you to put your plan into action? I am not dumb to not understand that you have something in mind. Since you couldn't get the pieces of information from me, you would surely try to make me your servant. Isn't it true?"

It was said that witches could make servants out of any being as long as they offer the soul to the demon they worship. Soprana smiled at the conclusion the apprentice mage reached. She intended to do something to him. However, it was simply a matter of a curse to force him to obey her. Her plan was simple. She would throw him into the cauldron to fuse an animal spirit to his body; he would turn into a beast with the human mind, that was her curse. She intended for him to beg her to undo it. There was no blood pact or anything that shaped their relationship and she was a witch.

"You caught me. However, it's too late now," with a wave of her hand, the books on the shelves behind him flew over his head and bringing her wand down, they fell on him. It was until he was inside the magic circle that he noticed how she had all her bottles and objects flying over him. He tried to flee from the room but it was also late.

While he was distracted by the books flying around him, the witch shouted some strange words into the air. She vanished in a bright flash and reappeared in front of him. She pushed him into the cauldron quickly. Once he got all the sticky purple solution all over him, she started chanting in a gibberish language Stephan couldn't understand.

"Alright! Now is my time to shine. Since you made me go through so many troubles, I will make sure to get the best out of you. How about a werewolf?" a book opened in front of her eyes containing everything about beasts. "Maybe a man with a rabbit face… A pig face," she laughed. "Considering how fierce you are sometimes, maybe a tiger… No…"

In the end, she ended up on a wolf, it meant he would become a werewolf. Stephan wanted to voice his disagreement. However, he thought it would be great to be a werewolf. Unlike lycans, werewolves were creatures made by witches. They cannot turn back to their human form and were in constant werewolf form.

'It could be the perfect plan,' he nodded secretly.

He grinned thinking it was the perfect plan for him to survive in the past. Werewolves were strong or at least, he would be faster to escape faster in case something bad happened.

"Now…" she closed her eyes as he sat obediently waiting for his transformation. "Sifa li karyan, the blood flow within the flesh, the animal spirit comes from the underworld, Zifla, Olga, for I, the red-haired witch Soprana, I request from the demon Zoldec to allow the request to transfer the spirit of a wolf to this wretch boy I intend to make my servant."

Stephan waited patiently and nothing truly happened. They both waited until the witch broke the silence.

"What went wrong?" she skimmed through her books of incantations and didn't find anything wrong.