Be Careful What You Wish For (Golden Guard x reader)

*~Chapter 13~*

A Coven Scout threw you down, and you hit the ground with a grunt. You repositioned yourself to a sitting position. You looked up to see King, Lilith and-

You let out a noise somewhere between a yelp and a shriek as you jumped backwards, banging your head against the bars of the cage. You rubbed the back of your head and groaned.

"Y/n, it's okay," King said. "It's just Eda."

You levelled your breathing.

"Right, right, y-yeah. Of-of course." You stood up. "Sorry, I just-- guess I haven't been outside much.."

"Don't worry about it, kid," Eda said. "It's a natural reaction for a human like you."

"Uhhh...." You weren't sure whether to take that as an insult or not.

Suddenly, the petrification machine beamed to life. It shot a beam of green at the four of you; Eda tried to jump in front of you guys, take the hit, but not before your instincts kicked in. Your legs moved faster than your brain as you leapt in front of Eda and the others, taking the full blast of the petrification, straight in the chest.

You let out a scream; it was much more painful than you'd imagined. You felt as your clothes and skin began to turn rigid as you started turning to stone. Your eyes were tight shut, tears of pain and agony flowing down your cheeks. You clenched your teeth together tight. You'd never felt such pain.

Behind you, Lilith, Eda, and King looked on in worry and concern. They couldn't figure out why you'd done that, and they wanted to help you, but they didn't know how. You were human; there was no way you could endure this. You would turn to stone, forever, for sure.

The machine stopped firing, but the rigidness kept spreading and spreading; it had started at your feet, and it was halfway up your thighs by now. You couldn't move your legs. The stone kept climbing higher and higher. It was terrible. You kept thinking... what if you didn't make it out of this? What if this was the last thing you would ever do in your entire life? Imagine... death by petrification, at only 15.

How would people remember you? The coward who ran away, who always had a panic attack over the simplest of things? Perhaps the person who risked their own life to save another? Would people even remember you at all?

No.

You weren't ready.

You weren't ready to give up.

Not yet.

With another scream of agony you opened your eyes. You felt almost energised, like you'd never felt before. Like you had the energy of another inside you. With a newfound strength, you fought the climbing petrification, and you felt as the rigidness, ever so slowly, left your body, climbing back down your torso and legs.

The others watched on as you did so, both amazed and confused at how you could possibly have fought off such a horrible fate, all on your own. And your eyes...

You finally were back to normal, panting heavily, and you fell to your knees. You felt like you were about to pass out from how worn out you were. It was almost like you'd run a marathon, only you hadn't even left the start line.

The next thing you knew, all was black.

You came to consciousness, and slowly opened your eyes. It took you a few to recall what had happened. Belos, the petrification ceremony... You couldn't remember what had happened after that.

You sat up. Blood rushed to your head as you did so, and you gripped it tight. After a moment it died down, and you looked around.

'Wait... the owl house? When did I get here?' you thought to yourself.

You were on the couch in the living room, there were many different random items, bits and bobs, scattered throughout the room.

"They're awake," you heard someone say from another room. It sounded like Luz.

Then, as if you'd summoned her, Luz peeked her head inside the room. Her hazel eyes landed on you, she smiled softly and walked towards you. She sat down next to you.

"Hey, y/n. How're you doing?" she asked.

"Uhm.. disoriented? Not quite sure how I got here? A little scared? Tired? But other than that? Absolutely fine," you replied.

She looked at you like she had something to ask, but wasn't sure whether to or not.

"What? What is it?"

"What... was that? When you.. When the petrification stopped... you were fighting it off, but--" She stopped.

"But what?" you asked.

"Your eyes... They glowed, like, orange. Do you know what that's about?"

"They what? G-glowed? Why would they do that? I'm human, I don't have any magic in me! So, why...? I don't...
What kind of orange?"

"I don't know.. like... amber?" she replied.

"Amber.."

You tried to think of anything with that colour, then your mind flicked back to the dreams you used to have. They'd stopped when you'd been sharing a room with Hunter, but you still remembered them clear as crystal.

"That wolf..." you said. You shook your head. "There's no way this is a coincidence. It has to have something to do with those dreams. I just know it."

"Dreams?"

You then saw something out the window. It looked like a flash of black and red, before it was gone. Before you knew what you were doing, you dashed out the door after it, ignoring your name being called behind you.

You needed to figure this out.

You needed to understand what all this was about.

You just had to.

'Titan, I hope this doesn't get me killed.'

(May 13 2023)