Darkness!

✓ Kiergan

The Head Witch reached me, crouching before me, and grabbed my chin, her sharp nails subtly digging into my skin. I winced quietly and tried to wriggle my head out of her grip, but my head remained still within her grip, unmoving. She was incredibly strong.

She released my chin, and began to trace her finger across and about my face, her lips curved into a sinister smile. "You sure are a handsome one, little child. Just like I've been told."

"What do you want with us?! Why are we here?" I asked, gritting my teeth to keep in check the repulse I felt as her fingers roamed my face.

"You're at the right place, my darling."

I scoffed. "I'm not dumb! Save that for your loyal dogs here!"

She threw a slap across my face, and immediately took my cheeks between her palms, her eyes sympathizing, and sharp. Her hands were icy cold.

"So sorry! So sorry, my darling." She said hurriedly, kissing her teeth, while she stood up, and began to walk back to her throne, her waist edging from one side to another.

Then, suddenly, she paused and turned around, her face lightening up a little more, "Go now and bring the rest of them!"

The command was directed to the guard who had spoken earlier, and without wasting a second of breath, he scurried away, after according to her a low bow.

After a few minutes, he came back with a few more guards, hauling along Thane and Joanna, their heavy footsteps echoing loudly across the hall.

"Joanna. Thane." I muttered their names underneath my breath, and a drop of tears fell from my eyes, my heart ached badly, hurting as though I had just been whipped badly as my sight had caught My Pack members looking quite battered, even more than necessary, with their body as limp as that of a. . . They looked dead— their skin visibly grayish and pale, coupled with their sunken eyes and cheeks.

Were they even still alive, I thought and my heart beat two quick beats.

The guards threw them behind us, and both of them slumped to the floor, abruptly.

However, Orion, who seemed to have been lost for a while, began to struggle again, his body spasming and convulsing violently.

My heart jumped as I was shocked at the sudden movement from him, and what I believed was about to happen, while being stuck between two contrasting emotions— this could either save us, or worsen the situation.

His whole body began to shift form, his hands growing bigger with sharp claws shooting out of his fingers, and furs replacing the hair growing out of his pores.

"Oh goddess, save us now. Save now, oh good mother." I chanted as he continued to transform, my heart torn through swelling with pride, or otherwise.

While this was happening, the air in the room grew terribly cold, and the flickering flames from the torches at every corner of the room seemed to cast and stretch into monstrous shapes.

Was it my frequent imagination and illusion? Or did I just hear faint and incoherent whispers hissing from the shadows?

My train of thoughts hadn't stopped when the shadows began crawling out of the walls, with the ground beneath our feets cracked slightly, glowing hot red as if charred by a huge fire.

All the witches began to chant spells, while the floor began to burn me, and likewise Thane and Joanna, because they began to groan quietly, except Orion who was growling as he stretched on the shackles binding him.

"Esh haTehom, anu kore'im lach,

Tzlalei haChoshech, shimu lekolenu!

Basar v'dam, anu koretim brit,

Shed yakum, v'yignov et haOr!"

The witches began to chant this over and over again, and the shadows as if the chant had bestowed on them intense adrenaline rush, creeped out of the walls with great enthusiasm, and circled around the witches.

"Capture the monster! And, throw him back into the cell!" The Head Witch suddenly commanded, and I turned my head towards the direction of her gaze, only to find out that Orion had finally snapped off the chain, and was now in the shape of a werewolf.

The amoeba wall monsters began to swivel their body around Orion, dropping and screeching loudly. I slowly crawled towards Joanna and Thane, my heart hammering against my chest, loud enough for me to hear it.

A realization hit me as soon as I reached them, and I shut my eyes, ignoring everything that was going on around me.

"Thane? Can you hear me? Joanne?" The mind-link had become a go-to plan for me since we had found it. What could I possibly do, since it had saved us multiple times.

"You should have done this since, Kiergan!" Thane berated.

"How could I have known that both of you were alive! You looked as though you were dead!"

"What do you think we should do?! We can't just leave Orion to it like that!" Joanna chipped in, her voice strong and loud.

"Do you have any idea?" I asked her, because even I was lost on what to do.

"I think I have a plan!" Thane suddenly added, and my whole body became active. But, Thane became silent and didn't speak any further.

"Thane? What's the goddamn plan?!" I shouted.

"It's something I read about Werewolves." He began, but I wondered why he was taking his time in this kind of situation.

"Speak, Thane! We don't have all of the time in the world! We're letting the grass grow under our feet, man! Spill what you know!" I shouted, my body shaking at the intensity of my anger, although it was not visible to the rest of the people in the room.

"We can transmit energy." Thane finally said, but it was beyond my understanding.

"How so? None of us have a strong wolf here." A cord struck a beat in my head, and I quickly added, "We can get the energy from Orion!"

"What were you thinking, dude! That was what I meant from the beginning!" Thane shouted, and scoffed.

We all looked towards the direction of Orion who was fighting off the monsters, but he was getting nowhere. It was as though nothing kills the monster, as they didn't seem bruised even as Orion clawed them.

"We need to find a way to get to Orion without anyone noticing." I told them through the mind-link.

"How do we do that? Everyone's attention is fixed on us." Thane said, and I looked around. The witches gazed in a different direction, unlike what Thane had said. How could I believe an almost dead person, anyways?

"No one is looking. We just have to find a way. I need you both to gather any strength you can. If it's to crawl, then you should."

"You are no better than we are." Thane scoffed.

"Indeed." I scoffed, grabbed both of their arms, and began to drag them along towards Orion.

We just needed to touch him.

However, we had not even gotten halfway when the Head Witch suddenly appeared before us like a gush of strong wind, sending me backwards, while I groaned.

"What do you think you're doing? Finding a way to escape? In my presence!" She shouted and slammed the bottom of her staff on the ground, her body emitting fire, or was it fury?

"I, Shídeezhí Tséyaa—" She cackled and placed a hand on her waist, "Will show you what I am made of!"

Tséyaa snapped her fingers twice, raised up her staff, and a sickening sharp crackling echoed through the room, as Thane's body began to convulse violently, his already pale skin darkening to an inky black, making me shudder and dropping his arm. I screamed his name, but it was too late—

— the monster my friend was transforming into was a distant cry to every other that was in the room.