The Fireborn Chronicles: The Lost Maiden

Chapter 26: The Monster Within

The waves were picking up now, reacting to the malicious beast that arose from its slumber. They crashed onto the sand, leaving a trail of foam behind. The foam spread and spread, slathering the beach into a field of white. 

Isaac felt a sudden bitter cold, causing him to feel like he was frozen in place. As the beast continued to lurk in the night, the wind grew chillier and the water was extremely cold. He saw the beast now, and its frightening appearance could never help Isaac recognize who it was.

The monster that lay in front of him was his gentle and softhearted sister Mary. She was still in her beastly form, and her appearance had also shocked Isaac to the point where he couldn't even move from his spot.

"Get out of my way, Isaac," said Mary. She had now lost sight of Kaika just after they had their unexpected encounter with each other. After falling prey to one of her traps, Mary suffered a large wound on her left foot.

Isaac had noticed that Mary had left the inn quite a while ago, and he began to worry about her and where she had gone to this late at night. After running all over the city, he had finally found her on the beach. But Mary was grimacing in pain, and her legs were staggering on the sand.

"You're hurt, Mary," Isaac replied softly, as he was trying to calm her from her rampant fury. "I don't know what has happened to you, but we need to patch that up right away." He then realized that because of her pure-white skin, the bleeding had now stopped and the gash on her leg was completely healed. 

"It doesn't hurt anymore," Mary assured him. "And that means I can still move my feet. Get out of my way now."

"But why are you doing this?" Isaac asked as he was desperately pleading to Mary to somehow figure out what was happening to her. "I don't know what's going on. Please tell me why you have that look on your face, Mary." 

Isaac had seen that look when he first confronted her on the beach, and it was a look that he never thought would ever appear on her face. It was a look that was full of hatred and anger, a bottled-up rage that was waiting to reveal itself to the outside world. 

Isaac knew people had darkness in their hearts, but they would keep that darkness inside and never let it show. Through Mary, that darkness had appeared, all while replacing her usual personality. Isaac always knew her to be a sweet, kind, and caring person. He never thought that she could become a monster who was engulfed in a ball of fury.

Her entire body was a ghost surrounded in white. Her hair had changed to white, losing its natural light-blue color. Her eyes had shifted from soothing blue to menacing green. Her human hands and teeth transformed to the claws and fangs of an animal, and they were shaped like icicles. Her ears were becoming pointed like Silva's, and she had lost most of her clothes and was covered in a white coat of fur.

All of these physical features Mary had made Isaac feel like he was looking at a completely different person. No, he didn't even think he was looking at a real person at all. What he was seeing was something beyond human explanation.

"Silva's going to be taken away," Mary began to explain. "It's Kaika, Isaac. She plans to capture Silva and grab the reward that was to be handed out for her bounty." 

She then picked up a roll of paper on the sand, which had become soggy from the waves, and showed it to him. The name Silva Dreida was written on it, and it also included a picture of her exact drawn image and a ransom of five hundred gold coins. It also said that Silva was last seen in Malund.

"Wh-what does this mean?" Isaac cried out as he was shaking from head to toe. He couldn't believe what he was seeing in front of him, much less accept it to be real.