Changeling Witch

Chosen and Blood

"'Best of the best,' my ass," Hunter muttered as he surveyed the guards that were either frozen, tangled in vines, or on fire. "Belos's standards are really fucking low---his coven's full of wusses."

He and King raced over to the gigantic doors of the holding cell, which were firmly padlocked. "Watch the door," he told King, then placed an ice glyph on the lock. It instantly froze it up, then shattered it to bits.

Hunter pushed it open and activated a light glyph as he closed it behind him. His eyes landed on the beast chained up in the center.

"EDA!"

He ran towards her, heart pounding. "Oh, thank god, I'm not too late---"

Owl Beast Eda spun around and growled at him. Shit, she's still in her cursed form.

She raced towards him and held one of her claws in the air, ready to strike---

"Eda, wait!" Hunter cried, holding up the ball of light. "It's me!" He lowered his voice, carefully getting to his feet. "It's me. It's Hunter."

As he watched, her eyes faded from black to her normal golden, and her face became filled with horror.

"Hunter?" Eda exclaimed. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no."

"Eda, it's okay," he told her, pulling out a fire glyph. "I'm here to get you out." He set it onto one of the chains, but the chain just glowed blue as the fire glyph disappeared.

"Your magic isn't strong enough for this," Eda said, shaking her head. "You need to leave. Now."

"No, I need to save you!" Hunter tried the fire glyph another time, then a third time. "It's my fault you needed to save me in the first place! It's my fault you got captured!"

"No." She grabbed him by the shoulders. "Listen to me. I'm here because of my own actions. I went against Belos's law, and... well, for a while, I was able to get away with it. But without magic, I can't do much." Eda cracked a small smile. "Don't worry, kid, I don't regret anything. I lived fully, and... and I got to meet you."

Hunter's breath caught. "Eda."

"But if you stay here, I won't be able to protect you," she continued, pulling away. "You need to leave. Now."

"But---but we're a family!" he protested, grabbing one of her hands. "Us weirdos have to stick together! Remember?"

Eda sighed and pulled the portal key out of her hair, pressing the eye. Behind Hunter, the portal opened up.

"You have a family already," she reminded him. "Go back to them." She put the key around his neck. "And when you're home, use your fire magic to destroy the portal door. I don't know why Belos wants it, but we can't take any chances."

Hunter threw his arms around Eda as best as he could, burying his head into her feathers. "I---I love you, Eda," he whispered, tears coming to his eyes. "I'll miss you so much."

She put an arm around him. "I love you too, kiddo."

An alarm started to blare as a hatch opened up above Eda. She let out a gasp and pushed Hunter away.

The chains transformed into a cage as the platform she was on started to rise up.

"NO!" Hunter jumped up, grabbing onto the edge. "No, not yet!"

Eda gave him a sad look. "Goodbye, Hunter."

She pushed him off of the edge, sending him tumbling onto the ground. He watched in shock as her platform rose above the hatch and it closed.