The Curse

[Chapter 11 - Monster]

It was cold and damp. Metal clanking, water dripping and footsteps is all Luz could hear. Her head ached, her whole body did. Luz got up trying her best to stay calm. Something didn't feel right, putting her hand on her neck she felt a metal collar around it. "What is this?" She tried pulling it off but a sudden shocked made her fall to her knees. "I see that you're awake." A voice said. Luz looked up, it was the warden. "You've changed since the last time I saw you human. Actually, you aren't human anymore. More of a monster." He started chuckling. Her ears went flat against her head, the one word made her heart drop. "Look at you. Sharp claws, canine ears, fur covering your arms, deadly fangs and a tail." Luz started growling, running towards him he backed up before Luz could grab him through the bars. "See? You're a danger to society. It seems you'll need some training." He pulled out a remote, with a press of a button Luz screamed from pain dropping to the floor. Opening the cell he put chains around her body preventing movement. Pressing the button once more the pain stopped. Grabbing Luz by the collar he brought her to another room. It was a huge dark empty room. When they stepped foot in the room bright white lights turned on. Taking off the chains he threw her in, "hey!" She could hear the metal door behind her closing automatically locking after.

"Now let's begin." The wardens voice could be heard through a speaker.
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Tapping on the window made Amity spring up. "Luz?!" Looking out she could see that it was Willow and Gus. Gus was waving signaling that they wanted to talk. "How am I supposed to?" She knew the window was nailed shut do to her mother. She grabbed a piece of paper off her desk along with a pen. Writing, "I can't. Window locked" Gus and Willow looked at each other. Without hesitation Willow's eyes started glowing green, the ground started shaking. Suddenly Willow and Gus were being lifted up to the window due to the huge flower she summoned. "Now what?" Gus said while fixing his balance. Willow drew a green spell circle summoning another plant, this time it had thorns. "Sorry about this!" She plucked a thorn from the plant. Using it to cut the glass she was able to cut out a circle. Amity gently popped it open using the stiky goo from an abomination. "Nice one Willow!" Gus smiled. "You guys are lucky my parents are away doing business. Otherwise the two of you would have been arrested for trespassing." Amity was worried that her parents will come back any second. "Amity I just wanted to say sorry for blowing up on the two of you last night." Willow looked down ashamed that she blew up on them. "Hey it's ok, the one you should be apologizing to is Luz. Wait Luz! We need to save her!" Amity was visibly worried. "That's the other thing we wanted to talk about. I told Gus what happened. Once I saw you being taken away by an abomination you screamed for Luz while looking at the forest. Of course I went to go see what happened but once I got there nothing was there except claw markings. So I came to you." Willow held her hands hoping to get an explanation. Gus as well. Amity's eyes were wide. "Where did she go?! What happened to her?!" Her mind was racing. "Amity you okay?" Gus poked her on the nose. "We just have to find her! If not she could die!" Willow and Gus became shocked. "Why what happened after she ran away?!" Willow asked. "I think I'd be better to show you, you won't believe me otherwise. Now help me get out of here." All three of them started brainstorming. Knowing if they broke the window the maids would be alerted. "We don't have time for this!" Amity drew a spell circle in the air. Casting a fire spell she shot it at the window causing it to shatter. Hopping on the flower she slid down the side of it.

Amity started running to the spot where she last saw Luz. The other two were close behind.
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It was about 30 minutes before the warden became of the quiet game. Luz sat there not saying a single word or doing what she was told. "If you don't cooperate you won't ever see the  ones you love again. Come to think of it no one will love a monster that just does more damage than good." Luz knew it was a trick to grt inside her head. "What if it's true...? No!" She covered her ears so she couldn't hear what he was saying. The warden wasn't going to give up easily, turning up the speaker volume he started speaking again. "Accept it, ever since you did this to yourself you've just burdened the ones you loved. You hurt your friends, you frightened them. You are a monster." Her heart started racing, "N-no, s-stop!" She yelled not wanting to hear anything hurtful. Her breathing became heavy, putting her hands on her head she knew if she transformed who knows what he would do. The warden saw she was transforming more into a beast as he talked. Chuckling he knew she couldn't resist it forever. "How many times have you put the ones you love in danger? Or made them worried because of what you become?" Luz couldn't stand up anymore, falling to her knees she felt as if she couldn't breathe. Her chest felt tight. Growling Luz yelled back "you're wrong!" "Why do you think the Blight that was with you left? She saw you as a monster." The warden was lying about what happened, the demon hunters told him everything. Hearing that tears started flowing, "A-amity saw me as a monster...?" She couldn't think at all, her thoughts became distorted and more feral. It felt as if her heart broke in two. Luz didn't have the will to continue fighting, she gave in to the words he spoke.

The warden turned off the microphone happy with what was standing in front of him. A monster with glowing hazel golden eyes. Looking closer he noticed the tears still flowing. "In a day or two after training you'll be stuck in this form forever. You won't be in control after this." The warden pressed a button causing the room to fill with a gas. Luz fell asleep after inhaling the gas, she passed out. "Bring her to her cell." The warden ordered. His guards did what they were told.
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The three of them made it to the opening. Walking over to the claw markings they stared at it. "Were you guys attacked?" Gus touched the markings. "Not exactly... Luz may have been having some huge changes. Furry ones at that." Amity couldn't look at them. Willow and Gus were confused. Amity started looking for any clues to hopefully help tell where she went. "Guys over here!" Willow yelled kneeling down. Gus and Amity ran over to see wheel markings on the ground. "Did someone kidnap her?" Gus scratched his head. "Demon hunters took her..." Amity mumbled. "Why would demon hunters take Luz? She's human." Willow replied. "Because she isn't human anymore!" It was silent. Amity became embarrassed, "I-I'm sorry, I'm just worried about Luz." Gus put his hand on her shoulder, "it's okay, we know how much you love her." Willow nodded in agreement. "Come on, if we want to save our friend and Amity's lover we need to work together!" Gus ran off following the trail. Amity stood there shocked at what he said. Willow chuckled grabbing Amity by the arm moving her along.

The tracks kept going, instead of the main road they seemed to travel on one that isn't used often due to the creepiness it gave off as well as random attacks. They stopped at an intersection, at this point they were heading in three different directions. "Which way do we go?" Gus looked down all three paths but couldn't see very far due to the heavy fog. "First I think we should get some supplies. We can't save her if we aren't prepared." Willow added. "Willow is right. What if we run into demon hunters?" Gus added. "But Luz she-" Amity was caught off. "We know, but we can't go head first into this without a plan." Amity knew she was right but didn't want to admit it. "Luz has a strong will, she'll be okay Amity." They started heading back towards the main road. Once they made it they headed towards the market. They split up gathering supplies from different vendors. They all agreed to meet up at the fountain after 10 minutes. Amity was the last to get back, "what will I tell the owl lady?! She'll ask where Luz is!" Amity was panicking. "No excuse would work!" Willow and Gus had to admit she was right. "It's okay, we have at least a day to try and save Luz from where ever she is. Two at most..." Willow tried to remain optimistic about the whole situation. Amity felt guilty about this, "I hope she's okay..." They all headed towards the intersection again.
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Waking up she was able to calm down  a bit due to the sleep. Yet her arms were fully covered in fur. Her ears canine along with sideburns due to the fur. She knew her body was still a little bigger due to her clothes being a tigher fit. Luz was struggling with transforming back. She was tired, closing her eyes to try and get some more sleep she was interrupted. "Tell me, do you miss your family and friends?" The warden stood on the other side of the cell waiting for an answer. Luz couldn't remember if she had either of those. She didn't even remember her own name. The wolf part of her made it hard to think straight, her normal human thoughts were mixed with feral ones. She growled in response. "I thought so." Throwing food into the cell he left her alone to eat. Despite being hungry she smacked the tray into the wall. She felt hurt, angry and it was all distorted. Her condition was getting worse each second she was there. Looking down at a puddle she could see that she became more like a the wolf. Tearing up she looked away. Luz crawled into a ball laying on the floor. "I am a monster."

[Chapter 12 coming July 27th-29th]