Awakening

All was quiet throughout the land.

Especially deep in the once chaotic forest, where Mika still laid.

Night had already fallen, and the stars were once again in clear view; the moon shining down through the treetops and eventually blanketing Mika's form.

After a while, Mika started to come back to consciousness. Her ears and head hurt, but thankfully nothing was bleeding. Groaning slightly and shutting her eyes again, Mika carefully got up. It was a bit of a struggle, but she made it up, leaning against a tree for stabilization. After getting her senses all together, the fear and shock set in from before once recalling the previous hours spent at this location.

Trying not to panic, but still shaking heavily, Mika called out frantically for her friends, but received no answers. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but she tried to stay strong. However, coming across Luci's ribbon made a pit in Mika's stomach become full of dread. Gently picking it up and analyzing the bit of material, she couldn't help but let the tears out in the end. Mika couldn't lie, she was scared to death. For her friends, herself, the entire situation.

"Where are you...?" Carefully putting the ribbon in her pocket, Mika kept searching, now shivering from the cold setting across the area as well. Hugging and rubbing herself up and down to try and warm up her skin, Mika pressed on; worried more about her friends well-being than her own right now. Suddenly, she stopped, coming across a tiny figure on the ground.

It wasn't a human's, Mika was sure of that. Coming up closer to it, she saw that it was a little black kitten. They were passed out like she was not too long ago. Mika knew she should keep going, but didn't just want to leave this poor creature behind either. Gently, she leaned down to their level, and was relieved to see they were still breathing.

Mika noticed they were slightly shining, but the sparkle emanating from said shine was almost completely gone from the kitten's form by this point. It clicked in Mika's head that this kitten was obviously effected by that... Woman... From before. 'But why would she want to hurt this poor cat?' Mika thought worryingly.

When her fingers touched the kitten's fur, they suddenly started violently twitching and growling. Before she could react, the kitten suddenly awoke and attacked Mika's hand viciously. She screamed and reeled back, clutching at her wounded hand after freeing it. It hurt so bad, but thankfully the claw and bite marks weren't severe. Still, it made Mika sob quietly. "I'm sorry..."

Another voice softly popped out into the air. "W-Wait... M-Mika? Where-"

Mika was very startled and confused at suddenly hearing Markus' voice, but then slowly looked back down at the cat, realizing the source of it was coming from them.

The cat's eyes were slowly turning to blue from their previous blood red. Now they just seemed slightly delirious and confused. Mika's brain was racing, trying to rationally process all this, but ultimately failing. "I don't... Understand. Where did Séthyan go?"

Mika was still in stunned silence, frozen in place, clutching her hand tightly, and absentmindedly making it bleed more. "Wait... Why are you so tall-?" Once the now-turned Markus saw his outstretched arm was now like a cat's, he snapped and started to freak out. But since his body was still so weak, he could mostly just roll and flop around while screaming.

Mika was even more petrified at hearing his screams. Her friend who was a human not too long ago, was now in a kitten's body. But he was still talking to her... And she could understand him. Mika started crying more, but a couple weak giggles suddenly escaped her.

"Th-This has to be a bad dream... That's right, a bad dream. I'll wake up and it'll be-"

"NO!" Markus burst out after hearing Mika's words. He seemed to be more level-headed after finishing freaking out, but very upset.

"Séthyan does this! She basically showed me what would happen if I ever left her, but- Wh-Why didn't she eat me too...?"

Mika could barely process this. The yell snapped her out of her trance-like state, but she still didn't understand what was going on.

"Stop! Pl-Please, just... I know this is all... So much, but we'll get nowhere if we just keep breaking down and snapping at each other. I'll try my best to help you, but... I have no idea what's happening. We just wanted to save you..."

Once Markus got his bearings together, he looked troubled as well thinking on it all, but carefully sat up as much as he could at the moment.

"I just wanted... A family. A real one. I was desperate."

Mika carefully sat back upright as well to listen to him better. "I never told you all what I was going through, but I felt ashamed, angry... I don't know, I just wanted to find a family on my own. I wanted out of the system I kept being put into. It all was too much, and I ran away again."

Mika's eyes softened slightly. She absolutely didn't blame him, and understood it was always hard for him to share too much. "I should have just been honest. You were always a good friend and knew how to help, but you had problems of your own. I'm not special. I needed to grow up if I was going to make it... But look where that got me."

Mika sniffled, her tears not seeming to have an end. "I knew people usually didn't come to this forest and it's one of the few places that I truly felt safe, but of course the cops ended up still searching it. They almost got me, but then... Next thing I knew, Séthyan had me in her arms. I don't know what she did to those men, but I was more concerned with her."

"That woman's name is...?" "Yes, she... She said she didn't like people trespassing in her forest. Séthyan lives in the deepest part and usually keeps a protection spell around her territory; so I guess that's why she never bothered us before... The park is more on the outskirts."

Mika shivered again, thinking about how many times they've been to that park without knowing about what lived deeper inside, hidden from everyone. "She seemed so kind then, and loving. It was like she knew everything, why I was there, my whole story... I thought I finally found a home. But..."

Markus seemed scared thinking back on something before he shook his head and continued. "I never questioned what she fed me, or how she even got food, until she left me alone for a while to "get more ingredients." ...I figured she just hunted regular animals... Anyway, I was bored and started poking around at her belongings. Ugh..."

Mika frowned more. "You don't have to continue right now if-" "No, it's ok... You need to know, it just... Anyone who trespassed, or disobeyed her, she would use in her food. I saw it all, packed away for the future."

Mika looked disgusted as well now. "But... She didn't take me. Why...?" "I don't know, but... I know why she made me like this."

Markus tried stretching out his new limbs. "I tried not to, but I couldn't help but freak out after what I discovered... It just got worse though. Some of them were still alive, and some did seem to be animals, but they were talking to me. Warning me about how Séthyan sometimes liked torturing people by letting them roam aimlessly in their new forms while she broke them down, and/or consuming them that way as well. I didn't want to hear anymore and tried to just escape, but that's when I saw she was after Luci and..."

Mika recalled the terrifying sight that unfolded before she fell into unconsciousness. "I... I think she was going to eat you, but... I hit her with a rock, and she got very... Very angry."

Markus looked relieved, grateful, yet also distraught. Too many emotions were flowing through his mind, and he unintentionally let out a pitiful cry. "Luci... It's way too quiet here now. I can't even feel Séthyan's presence anymore."

"You... think she left this forest?" "She usually moves locations, and I especially figured she would after the cops showed up. I was even going to go with her... I was ready to leave everything behind. But, I wanted to at least say goodbye to you."

Mika looked down, but kept listening to Markus. "She wouldn't let me leave, though... For any reason. Still, I was so ready to just accept it all. Thinking that maybe she just didn't want me to get hurt... I made so many excuses. I just didn't want to lose my new home."

Mika kept thinking of all she could or should have done to help more, and Markus seemed to pick up on her energy. "Mika... We'll be ok, but... We just have to focus on finding Séthyan, and then we can find out what she did with Luci, alright?"

Mika still felt a wave of guilt, especially for just freezing in fear before, but nodded. "I promise I'll properly apologize to Luci, and help you turn back when we find Séthyan. No matter what!" Mika wiped her tears and tried to prepare herself. Markus actually felt comforted by her determination and tried to believe in her words as well.

"Thank you, Mika... As always, heh. Oof-" As Markus tried to stand, he kept falling down, not used to his new body yet. "I'll help you."

Mika carefully put him in her backpack, making sure it was left open so Markus could get enough air. Mika thought to herself and started to frantically search. To her relief, she was able to find Luci's own backpack. However, where the left arm strap was, it was now just strayed ends of ripped fabic, like it was yanked and torn off from a struggle. It was on the forest floor not too far from where Mika was standing now.

Mika always wanted magick to be real, but she never thought of the prospect of encountering the dark form of it. No one else in her friend group actually believed in it, especially Markus, but they would always humor Mika during their certain playtime adventures. Questions of "Why did this happen?" and the like kept flowing through Mika's head while she used the band-aids Luci brought on her wounded hand. Markus had his head poking out of the bag and noticed what she was doing after carefully turning around to look. "I'm sorry for hurting you..."

"It's alright. You didn't know it was me, and you were just scared... I'll be ok-" Mika paused and lost her train of thought soon after finishing up with her hand, noticing a big spot of blood on the other side of the backpack, trailing from some specks of the substance on the front. "We need to hurry...!"

Mika recalled the sparkly residue that was still left on Markus before and decided to search for any other traces of it before it disappeared completely. Luckily, with the two of them working together, they ended up noticing a trail leading out of the forest, but past the park this time. After a while, Mika started to recognize this path and felt even more worried. Running now, she didn't stop until she came across the familiar sight of her house. Everything looked normal, besides the front door being open.

Mika slowly entered, opening the door carefully, it slightly creaking. The furniture was a mess, many items broken or thrown about in general. "M-Mom?" Mika stepped in a puddle and her eyes widened when she saw it was blood. "Dad...dy-?" Mika squeaked out softly, looking up, and then froze after turning to enter the living room. She dropped to her knees, not caring about the broken glass on the floor.

There was a piercing, otherworldly laugh surrounding her now and invading her head; Markus' now distant seeming cries trying to snap Mika out of it, and sudden strong wind blowing throughout the house. Even the repeated harsh banging of the opened door against the wall from it couldn't break Mika's set gaze on the image before her that had burnt itself into her retinas, and memory, forever. Her parents were strewn about the living room... Dead.