The Dragon Curse

The Final Battle

Eviel and I were standing on the seashore, watching the waves crash against the stones and washing the sand. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. I was nervous, scared... couldn't really identify what I was feeling. Evelien was determined but I had so many doubts in my head about this.

"Don't worry, I know what I am doing," she said calmly.

I wasn't doubting her... I know she is a great witch. But my previous experience with this specific potion is pretty bad and I don't want that to happen again. Evelien means so much to me and I know I couldn't bare her loss. Linda's death devastated me... I wouldn't be able to live through Evelien's death.

"Get the fire going," she said as she turned to the blanket on the ground besidr the big metal cauldron.

I leaned closer and with a simple brwath I lit the logs placed neatly under the cauldron. The fire quickly boiled the water and Evelien grabbed one of the jars from the blanket. She took a deep breath as she stood up and stepped up to the cauldron. She's been studying Linda's recipe for days and yesterday she said that she knew what the problem was with the previous potion. And now we are here, Evelien making the potion and me hoping that nothing bad will happen. I watched her throwing various herbs and ingredients into the water, stirring it occasionally. I was worried throughout the whole time and didn't even notice that we were at the last ingredients. She had a few of my scales in her hand and was about to drop them into the potion, but her hand stopped adove the cauldron.

"This is it," she said as she looked at me and behind the confidence she was showing I could see the worry and feat as well. "Pleas all the gods above... let this work."

She took a deep breath and with that she let the scales fall into the potion. Silence... both of us were waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, the potion started boiling at a dangerous rate and I was prepared for the explosion. I ran up to Evelien, wrapping my wings around her in a protective way, shutting my eyes tightly. It didn't work... another failure. But this time I won't let anything happen to somebody I love. Minutes passed by and nothing happened. The explosion never came. I slowly opened my eyes and watched the cauldron cautiously. The boiling subdued.

"I did it," said Evelien with disbelief at first as she pushed my wings apart to look at the cauldron as well. When she saw that it truly worked she became excited. "I did it! It worked!"

I should feel happy... so why was I still nervous amd worried? She actually managed to do the right potion but still something was wrong. It didn't explode, sure but what if it will kill me? What if there is a side effect? Like losing my sight or hearing... or my memories? We still can't be sure that everything is fine.

"What's wrong?" she asked curiously when she saw my worried expression.

I looked down at my feet and thought for a moment. I then drew a circle in the sand deep enough so she could see too what I was doing. I then drew a straight line lower than the middle of the circle and two X marks, making a face with the X's as the eyes. Once she realised what I wanted to tell her she stepped closer to me, gently holding my head in her hands.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I have the right recipe this time," she said with a reassuring smile and that loving smile calmed me down in an instant. "And I'm here in case something would go wrong."

I took a deep breath and slightly nodded with acceptance. Everything is fine. This was something I wished for all my life and now it was finally happening. Still I was a bit scared. What would it feel like? Is it going to be as painful as turning back into a dragon?

"Whenever you are ready," said Evelien, pulling me back from my thoughts.

I was ready... I kenw what I wanted and I won't let my fear change my mind about this. I stepped closer to ths still boiling cauldron, eyeing the green liquid for a moment. I then leaned closer, opening my mouth and gulping down a little bit of the potion. I quickly swallowed it because the aftertaste was horrible, I couldn't really compare it to anything I've ever tasted before. I then looked back at Evelien, taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart. We waited... then it happened out of nowhere, the feeling like a sharp stab right into my chest and the pain from there spread throughout my whole body. First I shred my scales and it felt like million of tiny little needles poking me all over my body. The itching that enhanced the pain made me lie on my stomach in agony. I was rolling around in thw sand, trying to get rid of the itching but it wasn't enough. It helped me to shred faster though so the poking pain was at least gone. Then I felt my muscles stretch under the shredded scales, pain shooting through my body once again and it was way worse than before. My bones were shrinking, reshaping and moving around to form a human skeletal form moving my muscles even more. I was trying to get used to the pain but then another agonising wave shot through my head making me scream and growl loudly. I squeezed my eyes shut to endure the pain when I heard footsteps approaching me. I put my hand up to stop whoever it was, but obviously I knew it was Evelien. She looked scared and I could see that she wanted to help me with the pain, but I was fine. I had to reassure her that everything was okay and will be. Obviously she didn't believe me when I screamed once again. The pain in my skull was getting worse. I could feel it crushing, the dull ache in my changing body long forgotten. My face was slowly turning into a familiar one, my nose shrinking back, my eyes moving my ears, the whole structure of my head. And just when I thought the throbbing pain in my skull was the worst, I felt my wings spasm in the air at my back. I felt the muscles and nerves there getting weaker to the point where they snapped and couldn't connect my wings to my shoulder blades anymore. With my skull still transforming, that snap of nerves was enough to send me falling on my stomach again and I blacked out. There was nothing... no more pain, no more agony. Just the blackness.