Trust

When Lyndis found Josh, he had a pensive look on his face. He was sitting on a log looking back towards where she fought with the wolf. As she emerged from the bushes Josh stood up and stared at her, before noticing her wound, "Are you alright?" he said. Lyndis only managed a grim smile before she lost concentration and released her wolf form. As her bones and muscles changed shape again, she shouted in pain before fainting and collapsing to the floor. She had a bite wound in her left that had stained much of her clothes red. After making sure she didn't change again, Josh moved closer to investigate her shoulder. He took the small knife he had used to collect the herbs to cut Lyndis' shirt at the collar. He used the previously white fabric to wipe away most of the blood to see her injury better. Much to his surprise, the wound was not bleeding that much, a lot less than he expected it to. 'It must be another part of her cursed form... I feel so sorry for her' Josh had known Lyndis for years and had never suspected her to be cursed. He had learnt that there used to be monsters that looked like humans, but that they had all been eradicated. Lyndis was obviously a real human because she was nice, and he had been taught that everything that is not human is evil and would be hostile towards humans, so she must be under some kind of curse. Josh knew there was no way to remove it, and he should cut off her head and present it to the church, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. However, he resolved himself to tell the church that her parents were evil and hopefully Lyndis would be happy knowing that the ones who caused her this pain were dead. After wrapping her wound up as well as he could, he took one of the bloody rags and returned to town, leaving Lyndis in the clearing.

When Lyndis awoke she saw that her injury had been bound, but Josh was nowhere to be seen. Smiling, she thought 'I knew I could trust him'. After massaging her aching muscles, she got up and hobbled towards her house which was on the outskirts of the village.

As soon as she entered the house, her mother instantly appeared and, upon seeing the DIY bandages, whispered, "Are you okay?"

Smiling faintly in reply, Lyndis answered, "I'm fine, mum", she knew what the next question would be.

"Did anyone find out?" Lyndis' mother asked this question every time she came home with a stern expression on her face, but never told Lyndis why it was so important.

"...Yes, but don't worry, the one who found out is Josh and I'm sure it'll be fine. I protected him from a monster after all!" Lyndis said, trying to sound confident.

Her mother looked a little bit reassured and said "Last question: does he go to church?"

Lyndis was confused. Wasn't the church a good thing? The way her mother said it made it seem that it was evil. "Yeah he does, he boasts about how he is their newest priest-in- training as soon as he found out what his class was," however, much to Lyndis' surprise, her mother did not look happy.

She said "So this is as far as we go..." under her breath, so quietly that even Lyndis didn't hear. Putting on a fake smile, her mother talked once again. "You should go to bed, it will help you recover." The woman kissed her daughter's head before sending her upstairs. After waiting a few minutes, Lyndis' mother walked through the house, gathering clothes, food, potions and a variety of other items. A few hours later, Lyndis' father returned from the fields where he worked as a hired hand. Unlike Lyndis and her mother, he was just a normal human. As he talked with Lyndis' mother, he took on a grave expression before making some preparations of his own.

• • •

I woke to my mother shaking me awake. Tears shone in the corners of her eyes as she said the words, "You need to run, Lyndis."

I hardly processed what was happening. As I got dressed, my mind finally recognized all the noise as people yelling from the front of the house, and thrown objects bouncing off the walls. I put on the pack my mother had prepared for me, not noticing her frantic glances towards the front of the house. She then handed me something I had never seen. It looked like an armoured gauntlet, but instead of having fingers it just had long spikes protruding at each of the knuckles, so that they would act as a second set of claws in her other form. When my mother pushed me out the back of my house and hugged me, I didn't even respond to her words.

"I have always loved you, and always will. The same as your father. I tried to hide what the world was like from you, but to think it would come to this. I wish for your good health. Now, you must run. Go into the forest, change your name, and never return to this place." My mother's face was distorted by sadness and her cheecks shone with tears as she stood up and walked into the house before running towards all the noise. Then, I finally realized what I had done, what i had caused. Tears flew down my face as I span on my feet and ran into the forest. All of it is my fault. Everything. They have always treated me well. Even father, who was a human, and this is how I repay them? I really am just a monster, aren't I? Things would have been better if I was dead. I slowed to a halt as I considered these things, looking back to my house, which I could still see through the trees. As I was about to collapse, a wolf's howl that I had never heard before echoed from the village. I don't know how, but I recognized it, and it reminded me of my mother's final wish. I started running into the forest again, but this time with a goal.

I would grow stronger. Much stronger.

And one day, one day soon, I would return to the town that took everything from me, and I would raze it.

I'm sorry mother, I can't obey your last command.

I will return.