Down with the Sith! (Kalama)

The blonde simply yanked on the girl’s hair again for her cheek before kicking her horse in his flank, causing him to set off swiftly away from the town and in the direction of Kalama’s lair. Of course, she had not expected company or frankly anything that had occurred today but she was not exactly unhappy with the result. This brat might just end up being useful to her and if she could be used to help discover the mysteries of the curse that had taken over the dark warrior’s life then that was an opportunity that Kalama would not turn her nose up at. This kid was going to be her little experiment, one that could quite easily go wrong but that it was what it was. The brat had already annoyed her enough to be slaughtered anyway so she did not truly care either way if she survived. Either she was enveloped by the curse and came out the other side alive or she perished like Kalama’s fellow villagers once had.

By the time that the trip had come to an end, Kalama had her plan for the curse transferral fully sorted out and wasted no time in setting up what would be a rather unpleasant and painful experience for the child, with any luck. While she went about her business, she would leave the girl in her hogtie, allowing her to watch as the dark mage set the scene for the ritual that was to come. Time was short if it was to be done that day and Kalama moved like greased lightning, using the Force to increase her speed, rocketing around the area. Not a moment was wasted and the blonde woman did not rest for a single moment until her task had been done.

As the sun set and darkness set across the land, Kalama finally came to a halt, a look of satisfaction on her face. The area around them was lit by a dozen or so gothic styled candles, each one placed beside a rune, which was decorated with a different phase of the moon. It gave an incredibly ominous vibe to the place and that suited the blonde just fine. In the centre of the circle was a large stone slab and it would be obvious as to what or more appropriately whom it was reserved for.

She would walk across to the girl at that point and with a wave of her hand, removed the rope that kept the hogtie together. The blonde did not undo any of the other restraints, just that one. As she performed the act, the dark mage would look down and simply say. “I want to see you twitch. This is not a show of mercy.”

With that said, she would drag the girl towards the large stone slab and lift her easily onto it, roughly putting her down upon it without any thought regarding her safety or comfort.

Giving the remaining bindings one last do over and satisfied that they were still tight, she would scowl down at the child. “Any last words before we begin? One final pathetic insult to throw in my face before your life is changed forever. Who knows? This might be the final time that you will even be able to understand human language or see the beautiful moon that shines down upon us.”

(564 Words)
(13830 TWC)

How little this woman cared for what happened to Lehanna in the end had begun to sink in. She was being more so used as some lab rat than she was just some actual considerable person. So in the end, did she really want this curse to be hers? If she won, would she not end up suffering a life dependent on her in order to survive? Following her every move like a lost puppy fearfully avoiding her friends and family because she believed she would hurt them? Frankly, the quiet ride left her questioning everything and it made her insane knowing she could not calm herself down and keep the strain of confidence and adamant belief that she would overcome this…

As they arrived to this seemingly abandoned lair, the teen was left on the floor like a used toy to be picked up later at ones convenience. Struggling helplessly in her hogtie while she watched the woman beam across the room for some time had made her a bit of amazement seeing the speed at which she moved for a simple task. But that simple task seemed to develop over a number of hours. Hours that she spent still laying in agony on the ground, rather cold at that while her captor had seemed to be finishing up her set up, whatever that entailed. From her position, Lehanna could barely make out the circle that was formed from all of this let alone the fact she was going to be placed in the center of this ritualistic piece of art as it’s centerpiece. Had she ever done this before? Probably not considering she had to set everything up by hand… Lovely.

A relieving sensation rushed through her as her arms and legs were separated by that one string of rope. Her upper and lower body able to sink back to the ground with the chance to move on her own.. well within reason if her still current bonds. Being told she would remain within it and just allowed to flail and twitch during the whole ordeal made her rather on edge of what was going to happen. But she had no time to ask as the blonde had dragged her over and placed her in the center, unable to move much let alone out of the middle of this crazed woman’s creation. With one last glare, she simply spat at the woman’s feet and missed on purpose. Just a little leftover blood from the earlier kick to her gut. ”Tell me you name. Or did you change it because you couldn’t look yourself in the mirror and think you were worthy of it?” That however, it more felt like something from which she projected of her own fears of this.

462 words
14292 total words

Of course there was another insult. One last barb from the redheaded child that sent a wave of anger throughout the blonde’s body. Every word she said just pissed Kalama off further and the scowl that crossed her features was all the evidence that needed to be shown in order to prove it. The blonde mage was looking forward to this and regardless of the result, she would be satisfied. She deeply hoped that the pain this child suffered was as excruciating as her own had been when the curse had struck her. It had felt like her mind and body were being torn apart, ripped to shreds by a pack of ravenous wolves. The warrior knew that it had been the same for Aoi and had seen what it had done to the fellow villagers. Pain was a given and no matter what the brat might have gone through already, it would be nothing compared to this.

“I am Kalama and it is the name that I have had since birth. I feel no shame about what I have done in my lifetime and no hesitation about what is to come in the future. I will continue to do what I have been doing since this curse of mine and I melded. I will maim, I will conquer and I will destroy everyone who stands in my path. The weak will perish and it will be my blade that does the culling.” She paused briefly, before adding, leaning down towards the girl. “Know this too. If I am successful here and my curse infects you then I promise that I will perform this ritual on anyone who I deem to have potential. You will be the first of my apprentices and most certainly not the last. Survive and I have my method of recruiting, die and I get to see your pathetic life end in the most painful way possible. A no lose scenario for me.”

At that point, she pulled out a pair of cloth rags and roughly forced the girl’s mouth open, stuffing one inside. In a flash, she would have the second one wrapped around the child’s mouth, sealing the first inside and silencing her. “Since you feel the need to spit, you can wear this until the ritual is over. I would love to hear your screams but I am sure your muffled ones will be equally as pleasant.”

With that, she would walk away from the girl and leave the circle, before sitting down in a meditation type pose. Her eyes would close and she would focus within, attempting to commune with the dark energy that resided within her. In battle, she did it often in order to increase her strength but it was rather rare that she did it when she was calm, generally because a state of calmness was not the most effective way of harnessing the powers of darkness. Still, she would attempt it now, her aura starting to darken as she did so. She would then focus her thoughts on the redhead haired brat, allowing her face to enter her mind’s eye, as though she was giving her curse a glimpse of its next prize. The blonde did not speak a word and simply resumed her meditation, her patience becoming quickly tested, unknowing as to whether this would even work.

It was just as that thought crossed her mind that she felt something in the darkest recesses of her mind, an ominous presence that started to make itself known. She could almost hear the voice of another in her head, a devious and dark laugh, one that could scare the stoutest of souls. Something was happening.

The long moments passed and the blonde’s body suddenly convulsed, her mouth opening to release a horrible black mass that was rushing to the surface. The dark laugh that had been in her head was now well and truly real and the mass of energy soon began to take on a far more familiar form. It would look like a human, having arms and legs like one but there were no facial features other than an inhumanly large mouth. The entity would briefly turn to gaze at Kalama, her eyes opening to stare at the creature in return and in that moment, an understanding was reached between them. It understood what she was offering it and the being nodded its head, accepting the gift.

It would hover into the circle and as soon as it did, the moon runes surrounding it would start to burst with light, revealing the creature in all of its horrible glory. It grew in size until it was at least twice as tall as a man, its power amplified by the runes, recognising its own magic. The creature would then approach the stone tablet and start to float around it, the large mouth grinning widely as its eyeless face bared down at the helpless child. It was sizing her up in its own way. Testing to see if she would be worth infecting with its twisted powers.

It was only then that it spoke and it sounded like nails being scraped against a chalkboard. “Mmm. Yes, I think that I could have some fun with such a young treasure.”

It would float above the girl at that point, licking its lips as it did so, a truly disgusting sound. “I did so enjoy tasting those lovely flames of yours. I should repay you for such a lovely meal.”

Lowering itself so that its mouth was against the gag of the child, it would speak again. “How about we be friends?”

A rhetorical question, of course. The girl’s fate was already sealed.

(952 Words)
(15244 TWC)

It looked to be from this moment that the blonde woman was now unwilling to hide the anger that she was feeling towards her comments. It was still unknown to her whether or not that she would be far from the truth or right on target as she had not made any form of a reply or a gesture to point her one way or the other. Examining her expression proved to be something she couldn't very well do while she felt herself a little panicked as much as she was currently mentally bombarded by her own fearful thoughts. The flickering gaze, unable to steadily keep its eye on her enemy at this point. Her replied stare simply showed her the lack of confidence that she truly had in the end. It wavered earlier... but now she was just a sitting duck about to be either mentally scarred for the rest of her life or that she would die here. Which was the more preferable option... well that was unknown to her anymore.

Her mind played both varying results and logically she felt that she would most likely simply devolve into some monster and be slaughtered at that moment. Instead, she felt herself had no choice as Kalama had decided to silence her with a random rag she forced into her mouth from having spat. Keeping it from being able to come back, Lehanna growled into the gag as she now attempted to shake it free as well as her bindings, but neither moved a single bit. This all had begun occurring while Kalama began to do whatever ritualistic manner she planned to do in order to bestow a curse upon the teen. Aside from her muffled grunting and shifting in her center holding point, there was no real way she could get free what so ever.

That's when she froze. The sudden reaction that the older womans body began to make as she stood was a fright of its own, but it didn't get to be completely paralyzing until the black mass had oozed its way from her mouth and into the air. Eyes so wide one could place a 3 course meal on them, she had watched it look in some mutual manner to the blonde before it had flown around the room. Each pass it made over the sections of the circle, the pieces began to glow and it became clear that whatever had been going on was some form of a summoning that she didn't think was even possible. After a couple of passes, the being slowed and began to simply tower over the helpless girl. She'd barely breathed in the moment of its arrival, and seeing such an abnormal, illogical being had shaken her to the core.

When it began to speak, it didn't seem to phase her in the eyes of Kalama... purely since she couldn't really be any more afraid. Sinking closer towards the red head, it began to comment over how it had enjoyed eating her slayer magic like it was just given its dinner. Then it offered her some form of a strange thing as a friendship. Was that a joke? Was it a taunt? Whatever it was, all that she could muster was a light shake of her head before it began to cackle. "Too bad, sunshine. It's do or die time! ...LITERALLY!" It quickly spun itself into a gaseous form and seeped through the few holes in her gag as well as up her nose and even her ears. Being sure to black out her ability to hear, the being even coated her eyes with a black filament that Kalama could see. Now, she couldn't see. She couldn't hear anything but it now as it snickered and began to get to work.

A sudden, muffled scream left her mouth. It sounded nearly blood curdling in volume as an overbearing sense of agonizing pain started erupting in her torso all over the place. "Tell me my new friend! What do you want from me?" It asked, laughing as it continued inflicting a constant rise and settle of agony to the younger girls body. "Strength? Speed? Do you want to bend the water? Solidify it with ice? Gehehehe... I'd offer you fire but... I don't do returns." The comment was mocking and quickly it shifted up to her mind and started to pick around in it. Seeing into her entire life and cackling aloud. "Shadows! Gehehe! Let's give that little fear of small spaces some MEANING!" The laughter following was nothing but a cruel joke.

That sickly grin formed in her eyes despite being blacked out by this manifested curse. "What do we have here? A little locked door, huh?" What was it talking about? What door could it be talking about and why was she now more concerned with it than the searing and agonizing pain she was in. "G-Get out of here!" She screamed in her mind, finally feeling herself breaking through its hold to some extent. "Huh? You get out of here! I found this door! Finders keepers! Gehehe. Now lets just..." Its hand began to change shape and become a key, slipping into the lock of the door and the sound of tumblers cracking open had her confused at what was going on.

It pulled its hand out and reformed it to a normal hand, gripping hold of the door and then pulling both open at the same time. Its' sickly grin formed on its face before cackling once more. "Oh darling~ I have just the idea for your curse. And what you'll get from me for payment of those luscious flames!" Quickly, it shot its entire body into the doorway. A bright white light shun through it and soon after it did, the light became red and then black. Once that had come to her sight, Kalama would begin to witness a sight. Two small green horns would begin to sprout out of her head just above her forehead. Her red hair would begin to darken into an inky black color though the shade underneath would turn an almost neon green color. Her arms around her elbows would seem to change pigments. First green and then into a nearly tribal like scheme of colors and patterns before claws would form. Lastly, a tail would push the girls body slightly out of the divot that held her still.

Finally, the shadow would exit her body the same way it entered, leaving her still writhing in an immeasurably agonizing pain before it would begin to settle down finally. It would then turn to Kalama and grin what would be ear to ear. "Quite the rare find you have here. Best to keep this one around before she learns about the origin of that new look of hers~" With one last chuckle, it would begin to swirl about the room, enjoying its freedom before Kalama would most likely take command of it once again.

1174 words
16418 total words

It was a fascinating experience and Kalama watched it all in silence, her eyes not leaving the curse and the child for a moment. She had not been entirely sure about what would happen but it appeared that in the end, her experiment had been at least somewhat successful. Her mind was drawn to just what the curse had decided to impart on the child, magic wise and that was something that she was rather interested in finding out. There was much that she wished to know about the procedure and any thoughts of killing the brat had faded from her mind. She wanted the brat alive, to test her, push her to the brink and beyond, to discover just what the redhead’s curse could do. Only then could her experiment be considered a complete success and one that she could use again. This child would be her experimental apprentice, a test of not only her but Kalama as well.

The entity eventually approached the blonde woman and spoke, causing Kalama to raise an eyebrow in response, before answering verbally. “You can be assured that I will not be letting her out of my sight for a while. I want to know precisely what you have done to her. My curiosity had been aroused by all of this. I trust that you enjoyed yourself?”

“Yes, I must admit that I found it to be rather refreshing after spending so much time in that grim vessel of yours. You have become too used to me, I fear, I cannot scare you any more.” The entity replied with a laugh. “Does this conclude our business?”

“For the time being but I may call upon you again if I find someone else who might tickle your fancy, so to speak. I may even make this a recurring thing.”

“I most certainly hope so. It was most definitely fun and I look forward to the next time. Farewell, Kalama. No, not farewell. We are never truly apart now, are we?”

With that, the entity laughed darkly one final time before flying towards the blonde mage and disappearing down her throat. The dark warrior briefly convulsed once more and coughed deeply as the curse returned to her, needing a few moments to recover afterwards in order to recover her senses and poise. The entity was a twisted bastard and Kalama had come to know it better than anyone else. She believed that it was only because of her acceptance of it that she had even been able to summon it, as she had tonight. It was far too selfish a creature to have helped her otherwise, surely.

Once she was comfortable again, the tall amber eyed woman would stand and approach the stone tablet, the moon runes now dimming once again, their task done. Having only seen glimpses of the girl’s changes during her transformation, Kalama had to admit that she was rather intrigued to see the full effects of the curse and as she reached the tablet and looked down at the redhead, her eyes widened slightly in surprise. Such a dramatic change was not what the Sith had expected although a rather twisted smile crossed her features.

Removing the gag from the girl’s mouth, the mage would move the girl so that she was in a sitting position although she remained tied for the time being. She would then pull the brat’s long tail around so that she could see it for herself.

“I think this appendage suits your personality quite well, yes?” Her tone was filled with mockery and she actually chuckled briefly, a rare occurrence for her.

(606 Words)
(17024 TWC)

From the moment that strange being exited her body, it continued to ache and spike in pain for nearly several minutes after it. The red headed girl whined and cried in agonizing pain while she writhed in her position still with no avail of getting free. Tears had been streaming down her body, but they seemed to be more recent than they had if she had been since the pain began to start. Given that she had to deal with suffering through constant, agonizing pain with her time spent with Prada, this felt like a recreation and frankly it was bordering on worse pain than that night had been. Sadly for her, this wasn’t really the kind of agonizing pain she wished to ever have to deal with in her lifetime once let alone twice…

The sound of the two speaking once it left her body had been a blur to her. As her eyesight started to come back to her, her eyes had even shifted in appearance. Much more animalistic than before, they seemed rather sharp to her now. She was sitting up now, her head spinning while she still felt this immeasurable pain ticking bit by bit the entire time. The rags removed from off her face and out of her mouth, still annoyed that she was left tied up. With a small sigh, the red head’s head sunk as she felt herself starting to black out if it weren’t for the subtle changes that she had seen. The bit of a change in her skin color and then the bit of a tail made her head shoot back up. ”Wh-What did you do to me!?” Quickly after her outburst, a shockwave of pain made her wince and almost double over.

She felt like her body had been going round after round as someone’s punching bag, but it was slowly dimming and making it easier on herself. Looking back down at her rather taughtly bound body, she tried to see if she could notice other differences in her appearance.. which thankfully she didn’t. At least, until a small section of her hair slid over her shoulder and within eyesight. Did.. did her hair change color? She was speechless in trying to firstly figure out what exactly all of this was, much less what was going to happen now that she’d apparently survived her beginning encounter. ”I… What do you want from me?” The teen asked, refusing to look up at her. What would she ask of her? To embrace this? To simply feel the shame she used to feel?

431 words
17455 total words

“You now share the same curse that I do.” The blonde haired mage replied, her tone becoming more matter of fact rather than angry at this point.

“The black entity that entered your body was the physical manifestation of it or at least, that is what I assume. I confess that I had never seen it before in the flesh until now but there was no doubt that is what it was. It was not like that with Aoi and myself. The land we called home simply turned to darkness and our minds along with it. Yet, the pain that you felt just now was exactly the same as what we felt back then. There is a bond between the three of us now. You are a survivor, as we are and you now have to make the same decision that Aoi and I faced. Will you try and fight it? Will you embrace it? Will you succumb and become a mindless beast? Or will you take your flaming sword and stab yourself with it? That is for you to figure out for yourself, Kid.”

The second question posed to her was a natural one and the dark mage’s tone remained rather calm. “I want to see what happens now and discover whether you are capable of learning to live with what you have been given. You deserved this for getting in my way and as far as I am concerned, the pain you have suffered tonight is more than I could dish out with my magic. For the time being, I am not letting you leave here, as I can promise you that the first few days are the worst when it comes to this curse. You will relive the horrible visions and nightmares that you have suffered and your body will need time to adapt as well. I spoke of you as my apprentice before but be under no illusions, I am using you as an experiment and if you fail to prosper then I may well just put you down myself if you turn into a feral beast. That is what happened to the rest of the villagers and we were forced to put some of them down ourselves. Our own friends and family.”

She placed her left hand under the girl’s chin and raised her head, so that their eyes met.

“Whether you take me at my word is entirely up to you but I will promise you this. If you are able to keep your sanity while the curse takes hold, then I will release you back into the world and you can do whatever the Hell you want. Whether I have to keep you bound and gagged during the adaptation process is entirely up to you.”

That appeared to be all she had to say for the moment but she then glanced down at the girl’s new form. “I suppose you will want to see your new appearance in full. There is a full sized mirror in the next room that you can use to look yourself over. Take it from me though that you are in for quite a shock.”

Leaning in, she would then finally ask. “So, do I cut your bonds and let you walk around for yourself or am I going to be carrying you around for a while? If you give me your word that you will stay put and agree to my terms, I will give you the freedom to look around but if you run, I swear that you will not know what hit you.”

(598 Words)
(18053 TWC)

It still hurt everywhere when she moved or tried to get anywhere. Breathing even left a slight pins and needles feeling in her lungs and throat. Nothing would stop the pain from continuing on, slowly but surely agitating ever muscle, bone, joint, and nerve in her body. Whatever this thing and this woman unleashed on her body was coursing through and the changes it was forcing upon her was entirely too much to bare for much longer. Surely she could fight through the pain for a little bit, but god only knew how long she could last before she broke down and begged for the pain to stop. Or if she gave in to this pain, would it begin to consume her instead? Was this the kinda suffering she and her friend had endured in order to survive it? Well… the only plus side was prior experience in a rather long lasting torture.

”I.. I already told you what I would do with this curse… I’m going to use it to kill you.” She replied flatly, not caring one bit for her captors retaliation, her mocking, nor the teens own predicament. At this point, she felt a rather controlled anger. It wasn’t something she was used to, but the more angry and hostile person from prior this curse had been a little… tamer. It felt like a funnel that helped to keep herself calm while relaying the true nature of her anger. In a similar fashion to Kalama’s cold, emotionless attitude towards the care of others. It upset her greatly hearing that she was solely a tool for this woman’s experimentations. And yet, the more upsetting news she had gotten, it didn’t seem to push her actual anger any further than it already had. Almost as though a gentle breeze quelled the heated anger of the girl.

Lehanna continued to just stare in silence as her mind tried to grasp the concept of what was happening. What was to come, and what to do should she become compliant or remain a stubborn brat. Surely the latter would be easy, but she had to remain logical to the situation. No matter how much fantasy set into this idea and the facts the faced her now, if she kept her mind to the right way, she should be able to clear this with little to no change in herself… or at least she hoped to. ”Then… please untie me, Kalama. Honestly, I have little to no strength as it is. I don’t honestly know if I can make it passed walking to the mirror. It’s just.. everything hurts…” She replied, her eyes spelling the honesty she was speaking to her.

”How long was it before… you know…” She paused, becoming a little stagnate on what she was trying to ask. ”Before the others ended up turning? Or before this pain went away?” Even Kalama could tell by the tone of her voice that she already was acting much different. More over, the teen was sounding relaxed despite more worrisome and albeit panicked and frightful line of questioning.

515 words
18568 total words

There was no slap from the blonde warrior this time nor any other type of physical abuse this time around. Kalama knew that the girl’s words were simply hot air and that she was hardly in a fit state for much of anything. Still, it did give the dark mage pause for thought. If this brat hated her so much then was there the opportunity that she could be bent to Kalama’s philosophy? Her mantra was all based on the emotions of fear, passion, hatred and anger, the bedrocks of true strength. If this now cursed child had deep enough wells of these within her then perhaps there was a chance. That, however, was simply a passing thought for now. The brat might not even survive the next couple of weeks, let alone long enough to be taught a new way of life. It was all too soon for anything more than the teenager coming to terms with what had happened tonight. “You are free to try it but you would be wiser to wait.” Kalama replied matter of factly. “Unless you want another burst of lightning, of course.” She did not even sound angry at that stage, knowing the brat would need that attitude to survive.

The dark mage could see the honesty in the girl’s eyes and went about untying her, unconcerned about any possible reprisals from the child. She was in no shape to fight the warrior and they both knew that. Kalama would then go about her business, undoing the knots with little fuss, which would slowly ease the pressure on the cursed kid’s limbs. Naturally, she felt no real sympathy for that, as the girl had actually had the gall to ask her to do it in the first place. This kid just had so much cheek and the former legal mage wondered if that would truly remain for long, now that the curse had claimed her. It could change a person in so many ways. Mentally, physically, spiritually. It was all in the hands of the entity and the mood that it was in at the time, as well as the resolve of the person infected.

As she was moved back around to undo the girl’s leg and ankle ties, the girl would ask her a pair of questions. Kalama would remain silent for a few moments, pondering about whether she should answer them or not. Should she be truthful? Did she actually owe this girl any answers? In the end though, a sigh would escape her lips and she would answer. “When the curse first hit our village, most of the people were so weak that they just died out right. It was not a pleasant scene and they looked like little more than empty husks. I am not sure if it was because they had no affinity for magic that they were affected so quickly but that would be my guess. I confess that I was so petrified by the scene that I just grabbed Aoi and ran until my legs gave out. I did not see them all turn and had no knowledge that there were any other survivors until later. It was during a mission, perhaps a couple of months after that, when we came across our former friends and by then, they were already gone. They behaved like animals and looked like abominations, creatures that you would only find in your nightmares.”

Pausing briefly to let her words sink in, she would then continue, undoing the last knot. “It took Aoi and I a good couple of weeks to settle down. My memory of that time is a bit of a jumble in truth and if we did not have each other to lean on, I doubt either of us would have survived. I think that the curse thrives on isolation and without someone close by to help steady the ship, it is almost impossible to find one’s balance.”

Stepping back, she would then beckon to the girl and start to move away. “Come on. It is time for you to have a look at this makeover that the curse has granted you.”

Makeover was an understatement to say the least.

(702 Words)
(19270 TWC)

The teen remained both silent and still as she watched calmly as her bindings slowly began to get untied. There was something in her mind that made her think that she should reconsider the idea of being compliant, surprisingly hit her and stun her somehow in doing so, then flee as quick as possible. That, however, would fail for multiple reasons... some of which she had mentioned to the blonde to begin with: She was weak, in constant pain still, unknown of her own abilities, and if the hit would even do anything. The best thing she could do for herself was to build some form of repour with her captor if she were going to get through the main window this curse had to either take hold or to vanquish most of its hold on her body and mind. Whether she could get through this was entirely on her will to survive and get back at this wench for her afflicting her with this.

While Kalama had begun to explain the situation that befell the place she grew up in, Lehanna couldn't help but to examine the woman while she worked. She wanted to make sure that she was telling the truth or making a very believable lie... however from the way it had been, it sounded rather genuine. She had a true soft spot for this Aoi girl and while she couldn't blame her, she felt that even the teen had her own soft spot of people on her own. There was a tendency in which when she spoke about this girl that she had been much more emotional as compared to the other 99% of the time she spoke. Truly this girl meant a lot to her and having survived the same curse together must have put them into a big reliance on the other. From what she could remember, it was that same girls difference that made her bring herself be albeit eaten alive by the curse in a very different way than those she used to know had turned into.

Something that Kalama said stuck in her mind. She needed someone to lean on and rely on to keep this curse at bay. At least if she had any hope of overcoming this in the future, then she would have to confide and hope that the one person she knew would be the most supportive for her would do so. She couldn't think of her being unable to lean on her friend like Kalama had with her own friend. But it would surely be something that she couldn't hold up on. If- no. WHEN she left this place of her own will, she would have to make sure to move back toward her place and fill her in first of all. As of now, she didn't feel safe at her guild... or anywhere else for that matter. What she needed was to start small and work her way back, hoping that this could be just something that was less than how serious he believed it to be.

Finally, Lehanna stood up and her body wobbled with each step on her way up to her feet before even getting to moving. This pain still pulsated through her body and now that she was moving, she had to be sure that she got used to it and pushed the sense of pain away. With one deep breath in and then an equal exhale, the girl began to follow the armor clad woman towards a full body mirror she kept around for whatever reason and the sight of herself had stunned her. Her jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide from shock. "N-No..." She muttered. The person she saw in the mirror it-- it wasn't the same person at all. Her red hair was now an ink black color. Horns protruded through her hairline of her bangs. Her arms began to shift in pigment and color, following some unknown designs practically imbedded in her skin. Her eyes bore an animalistic nature to them and her ears shifted about to look more elvish in shape.

A couple tears began to shed from her eyes until something caught her eye that waved behind her. As the teen turned around, she saw nothing. It was confusing that nothing was around, but as she turned back to face the mirror, Lehanna caught sight of it again. Now getting annoyed, she turned about again and did so with a sharp turn. For a split second, she spotted the strange thing and continued to turn until she reached out and grabbed hold of something. It seemed a little on the scaley side and for some reason.... she could feel her hands on it. To Kalama, she had literally been chasing her tail around in the discovery that she had one. "I-I have a tail now!?!?!?!" She questioned out loud. Great... can't really be that inconspicuous with the horns, but now the tail too!? There was no way she wouldn't be seen in public as a pariah now... Maybe she should just consider aligning herself with Kalama and just avoid this in the first place. Or... yeah, maybe that could work. In due time, she could test it, but for now she would just relax herself and try to keep her mind focused on survival.

892 words
12162 total words

Watching the girl as she looked at herself in the mirror, Kalama would simply survey her from a short distance away, arms folded across her chest. The blonde mage recognised the shock all too well and could somewhat understand just what the child was going through. Her own physical changes had not been as drastic but the Kalama before the curse and the one after were still unrecognisable from one another. She had grown in height, her brown hair and eyes changing to the light blonde colour that they were today. Gone was her rather tanned skin, replaced by the pale colour that it was now. For her, she had been turned into a gaunt and grim being, little more than a ghost in the eyes of some, stripped of the light that had once lit her heart. Alright, that may have been a slight exaggeration, as she had never been the life of the party, that role tending to be Aoi’s. Still, she had least been able to have a proper conversation back then without her lightsaber coming out to play.

“Compared to our changes, yours is something else entirely.” She eventually said, walking over to the mirror and looking the now black haired girl over. “If I were to hazard a guess, I would fathom that the curse is even more effective on you then it was on Aoi and I. As if you were tailor made for it in some way. There must be something about you that truly attracted its full attention although what that is baffles me. Maybe it was because of the ritual or the fact that it had already tasted your magic. Who knows? Perhaps its words were genuine and it truly wanted to have its fun with you.” Her words were not exactly comforting but the dark mage did not feel as though she should be. Coddling the child was hardly her job and she was sure as Hell not going to be a shoulder for the brat to cry on. That would have to be someone else, should the girl even last long enough to be freed from her lair and be able to return to said person.

“It seems to have granted you the appearance of a dragonkin of some kind.” She mused further after a few moments. “I assume that whatever powers that you have been granted with will most likely be also to do with them. My curse granted me, as you have already seen, the powers of moonlight and judging from my appearance, it is rather fitting. So it is only fair to consider the fact that it will be the same thing with you. I think a reptilian look suits your forked tongue quite well.”

Falling silent again momentarily and,unable to stop herself from gazing at her own gaunt visage in the mirror, she would speak again in a deadpan tone. “Welcome to the club. I suppose since you are going to be hanging around here for a while, I should ask you for your name. Calling you Brat is going to get old real fast.”

(520 Words)
(20682 TWC)

Her eyes finally turned away from the mirror after she had come to terms with the impact of this curse. She couldn’t bare to look at herself any longer. She was more so a freak of nature at this point and it pained her to think who would want to be associated with her. Now this mood did nothing to stop her from listening as Kalama had spoken to her about what she presumed to be her opinion of the new look that the teen sported due to the curse. It was something that made her mind click back to that moment. With her eyes widening as it replayed in her head, she remembered the locked door the being had picked and opened up. Whatever was dormant on her is what he used to manipulate and distort with the curse. But for the life of her, she had no idea what that could be.

”When it… was… searching… i remembered…,” Lehanna paused, looking into the mirror but to the reflection of the blonde woman until she caught a glimpse of herself once again and looks back down and away from being able to see herself again. ”It said something about finding a lock on a sealed door. I could hear the tumblers of the lock being turned and then the doors creaking open. Suddenly some bright light bellowed out. After that, it jumped into the door and that same light turned a grim dark color… I think, whatever it was inside me it found, it used it to forge this curse. At least, the logical conclusion is that.” It broke her down little bit little to repicture herself in that mirror, and even standing in front of it, it felt like her reflection wasn’t her own, but that it stared at her with a scent of malice and hatred behind it.

Her head picked up suddenly when she heard the woman ask about her name. Frankly, she didn’t think she’d ever care to ask. But assuming such that she would be staying alone the general area, she wanted to know. Guess better to have her own name on a gravestone of her death here than “brat”. So, with a light shrug to push away the thought of telling her to call her whatever she wanted, she instead decided to continue the building blocks. at this point, the more truthful and open Kalama got, the easier it was to do the same. ”It’s Lehanna. Lehanna Seraph. I suppose you’d be wanting to know more as time goes on, so… i suppose I owe it to you to be truthful since you seem to be yourself.” It wants intended as a bad thing, but she wanted to state the willingness to continue this truthful theme they had going on.

467 words
21149 total words

Listening as the child spoke, the Force wielder raised her eyebrows with interest. Perhaps her hypothesis had been correct after all and the fact was that the young girl was a perfect match for the curse. It sounded that way and Kalama had learned a long time ago to trust such things. She trusted in the curse and the Force as well. Two different philosophies, two different forms of energy but she had managed to fuse them together into one train of thought. They were now both her weapons, ones she used without any form of restraint. The child would have to learn to do the same with her own curse or face the inevitable result, becoming something far more twisted than the half dragon like creature she was now.

When the cursed young woman revealed her name, Kalama was slightly surprised. She had not been certain as to whether the kid would actually tell her the truth but what Lehanna said following that made sense. The blonde dark mage was many things but a liar was not one of them. She spoke the truth, often in the most brutal and savage fashion but the truth nonetheless. Never had she thought much of liars and that viewpoint had not changed. The truth will set you free, a maxim that she had taken on as one of her own. “If you are to have the slightest chance of surviving this ordeal then it would be in your best interest to be honest with me. I know what you are about to go through and angering me with deception will not help you in the slightest. I have not uttered a single lie to you so far and that is how I intend for things to be during our time here. If you have a question that you want answered, spit it out and I will answer. I have nothing to hide. I will, of course, expect the same from you.”

Moving beside the girl, she would crouch down beside her and nod towards the mirror. “The reason I have this? To rid myself of any doubts as to who I am and what I have done to get here. When I stare at it, I relive every moment that I have lived through since the day the curse took me. The pain, the violence, the fear, all of it. Those experiences are what made me the woman I am today and they are the source of my strength. I have come to believe that those who can survive this process and come out the other side alive, will come out stronger. If you are so steadfast about trying to fight the curse then do so but it will be no easy task and the entity will try to thwart you at every turn. You will see it everywhere as you struggle…”

Taking the girl’s tail in hand, she would add. “You will find yourself spending all of your time chasing your tail around, like a newborn puppy, if you give it the slightest chance.”

(513 Words)
(21662 TWC)

As her thoughts lingered on about the curse and what it had taken a hold of to mold her curse into what it is now, she had wondered what exactly it might have done in Kalama's case if anything. Perhaps back then it was just rampant and hungry for chaos, but this time let it feed on the womans growing power and letting it feast and become much more controlled and focused in the chaotic mess that it wanted to create, twist, or exacerbate. Frankly, Lehanna couldn't think of it any other way the more the thought cycled in her mind, though continuing to do so as she had hoped that she could find any other variables in which she could include or dismiss. Nothing seemed to be popping up in this moment and it was a little demoralizing to consider the idea. The worst of her thoughts should she win this curse over would be it would diminish all of the work she'd done in her life to strive for her future.

While Kalama had delivered another rather blunt and quite straight to the point response again, the dragon-kin simply sighed and nodded lightly. Honestly, the kind of blunt truthfulness was actually a big change of pace and really it felt kind of comforting to have. All her life, people lied to her, lacking to consider the girls more matured mental capacity and understanding and in doing so, always felt more annoyed and distrusting of those people. So to have the opposite felt a little extreme at first, but now that she had the time to consider the idea, it was rather refreshing and nice to experience. "Right, I understand." She replied, assuring that she kept her end of the bargain in this situation.

For once, Lehanna seemed to be able to stand to look at the reflection in the mirror. While her attention had partly been on her captor at this moment, she did glance to her own self in it while she spoke. The trials in which she had to go through to survive this curse... it didn't seem like something that she considered to be too bad, however it must have been difficult. Though her other villagers didn't survive a moment, she did remember it being said they possessed no magic, so perhaps being able to cast magic in the first place is some form of a catalyst in which the curse will either conform to or eat the host alive. And if it can't find magic in its search, it turns those it's enveloped into monsters to seek out magic. As if it were to feed and grow. For what or maybe even a who, she couldn't say, but it felt like something she had to think of.

"Ms. Kalama... do you happen to think this curse is-" She paused for a moment when she had come to grab onto her tail and reference the teens earlier chasing of her own tail and the teen visibly pouted at the mirror. Arms folded at her chest and eyes rolling from the comment. "And here I wanted to thank you after my hypothesis... but I guess you don't get that now." It was a little bratty to say, but she knew she would circle around to the topic whether Kalama brought it up or not. "Anyway... Do you happen to think the curse didn't consume you and Aoi... and maybe right now so quickly because we all.. can possess magic?"

Looking into the mirror, her tail would flick out of the blonde's hand without much of Lehanna's thought and she would continue to look into the mirror at the woman. "I hate to keep being logical, but it's how I'm mentally wired. Anyway, take into account that you and I both have magical capabilities. Whether you knew prior or not is irrelevant. Now, if Aoi had been the same way, it would explain the way that you two had been able to withstand the curse before it would begin to kick in to you both and fight for control." In a pause, she would turn herself to face the woman now. "Perhaps what or who this thing was the patient zero of is simply using it to gain its own power or spread itself wide into a form of a pandemic of sorts. If we assume the former, we can conclude they want something. If not, they want an army of deformed beings to-" Suddenly, she stopped mid sentence as her eyes widened and a sharp, burning shot of pain hit her chest and she doubled over and began to groan, holding in the agonizing pain that was beginning to brew.

790 words
22412 total words

There was perhaps just a glimmer of amusement in the eyes of the dark warrior as the girl pouted. In some ways, Lehanna reminded her of Aoi and although she did not say anything about it nor gave any physical sign, she did relax just a touch. To have someone else to talk to and be around was not a situation that she had found herself in for quite some time and only now did she start to realise that perhaps deep down, she did miss that kind of interaction a little. Aoi drove her mad on occasion but that did not mean that the blonde did not care about her and the two had been rather close. Of course, she did not expect the same thing to happen between herself and Lehanna but maybe there was a chance that a different type of relationship could be formed. Kalama had spoken of taking the girl on as an Apprentice and although there was a long way to go before Lehanna would even be ready for it, the possibility was floating around in the Sith’s mind.

When Lehanna gave her own theory about the curse, Kalama mused for a few moments before answering with a nod. “Both Aoi and I tended to think along the same lines. We suspected that our affinity for magic was the reason for our survival although we never truly did get any concrete answers. There are so many question marks surrounding the entire process and my knowledge is limited. Perhaps after her disappearance, Aoi found the answers that we were looking for. The How’s and why’s are hidden from me and no matter how long I search, the answers never become any clearer to me. After a while, I stopped looking for them and instead simply melded with the curse rather than try to understand and conquer it.”

Her eyebrows rose as Lehanna continued to speak and eventually she replied to that as well. “Like a necromancer summoning the dead or a puppet master on the lookout for more puppets. That is definitely a possibility and I swear that if that is the case then I will throttle the scum for interfering in my life. By all means, be as logical as you wish. A little logic is something that has been missing from this mystery since the start.”

The moment that Lehanna stopped talking and started to keel over, the blonde hissed and moved towards her, knowing all too well the pain that the girl was about to experience. Without much thought, she grasped tightly onto one of Lehanna’s hands and whispered into her ear, her tone strong and commanding. “Focus on my voice, Lehanna. The pain will pass but it is important that you do not let yourself be overcome by it. Steel yourself with the desire to survive the curse. Imagine yourself beating the entity down, conquering it, dominating it. You are in control, not it. Tell me who is in control of your body. Shout it. Scream it. Let the world know.”

(510 Words)
(22922 TWC)

The burning, stinging sensation began to grow both in location as well as it had intensity. What was once a moment of having to endure the sudden pain as if it would pass, it seemed she would need to try and suppress the grueling pain on her own as it continued to seer her insides as if she were on fire. Strangely enough, this was not the most agonizing pain she had ever felt, but the sudden level of pain that began had definitely caught her off guard. Then she could hear Kalama’s voice trying to speak to her. It felt a bit hazy to hear it, but the teen could make out the most of it as she was being directed to use her voice as a medium to be guided through the pain. Her only response was to begin coughing until blood would come out of her mouth. Strangely enough, this blood was blue in color.

The cursed girl simply began to laugh a little. Despite her agonizing pain, Lehanna couldn’t help but laugh out loud, but necessarily not Kalama’s assistance in getting though this pain. ”Is this.. all this curse has to offer for pain?” A snarky grin formed and she started to get back to her feet despite her body shaking from the pain it was in. ”It’s not… easy to do, but.. compartmentalizing pain is a bit easy for me… after Prada kidnapped me.. and used me for some strange theory…. I can’t think of what it was. I can only remember every single, literal bit and piece of my body ripped and torn… broken and snapped for hours on end. I didn’t black out somehow. I could remember pleading and begging, at least when I had my tongue and mouth not being forcefully having teeth pulled.. or my tongue cut out.”

As she stood onto her feet, her body started to become trembling more with anger than pain. So much so that the ground was cracking underneath of her feet. ”I… I swore to find him… and kill him. That was my breaking point. Never before had I felt such hatred that I sought to want to scorch the earth and everything in its wake to make him pay. I will never be the same because of him and I won’t let this go. Not until my revenge is sought after…” Her incessant rambling had started to make her pain pushed to the back of her mind. It wasn’t too bad in comparison to the rest of things, but still the raven haired girl felt the anger in her throat, but her mind would not let her raise her voice. It wouldn’t let her become enraged.

Her body suddenly began to relax. As if the pain had fully subsided. She looked up to Kalama and even the look in her eyes had shifted. ”You must listen closely before this corruption silences me for good. This being needs to overcome this. The blood of the nobles is inside and slowly being taken over so long as she does not fight back. Last of her family, I was sealed deep inside. This curse has corrupted my form and magic that was to be unlocked by the descendants parents. However, as that is not going to happen, it being forced open and shifted has contorted her magic abilities… especially with you having taken the former ones. You must… keep her from falling…. To… darkness.” Her body would collapse to the ground, blacking out as it seemed to be the end of whatever possession had taken control momentarily.

600 words
23522 total words

Listening to Lehanna as she rambled and struggled against the pain, Kalama kept her hand firmly collapsed around the girl’s. Surprise, surprise, the little brat still tried her best to wind the dark mage up and Kalama briefly had to fight off the temptation to give the kid a smack. Despite that feeling, the blonde remained as still as a statue, doing her utmost to keep the girl from being completely overcome. Having the girl fall at the very first hurdle would bring an infinite amount of frustration to the curious warrior and so she would do what was necessary to keep the girl whole. For now, anyway. There was a part of her that wanted to see Lehanna jump off the deep end, so to speak and there was another more hopeful idea that perhaps the girl would follow her path, fusing with the curse completely. Could the girl achieve that? Possibly but whatever choice she decided on, it had to be her own in the end. There was only so much Kalama could do to try and convince her.

The girl’s words did attract her attention as she spoke about her past and the blonde’s focus seemed to hone in at that point. Lehanna wanted revenge for the torture that she had suffered? That information resulted in a lightbulb moment for the blonde. It was an avenue into the girl’s mental state and gave Kalama something to work with. There was anger within her after all and moreso, a target that it was directed at. Anger was an incredibly potent emotion and was key to the blonde’s philosophy. Hatred against one person could become hatred against all with the right prodding. The option of forcing the girl to follow in her footsteps briefly became rather strong once more.

When Lehanna’s body language changed and she spoke as though she were a different person, Kalama’s expression turned to one of scorn. Keep her from falling to darkness? Whatever the being was clearly had no knowledge of the woman it was talking to. However, its words intrigued her further and the more she heard, the more she wanted to pry and prod at Lehanna. The temptation to keep her was almost overwhelming. Just what powers was the being speaking of and what would unlock if Kalama did force her down the darker path?

Her more unpleasant nature returning to the surface, the blonde began to formulate a test for the young woman. A chance for Kalama to see just how good at controlling her pain and emotions she truly was. Not quite yet, as the girl was still too early into the adaptation cycle for such things but the blonde would not wait long and certainly not for the full two weeks.

For the time being, she would rather roughly pick up the unconscious girl and move her towards a nest of blankets that were in the corner of the room. Kalama’s lair was hardly a palace and it was the best that she could do for a guest. She would need all the rest she could get and for now at least, the blonde would allow her to have it. The odds of good nights sleep were unlikely though, Kalama’s sure as Hell had not been during her first night.

(551 Words)
(24023 TWC)

Things felt different. Her body and more so the air around her was cold. At the same time, it felt relaxing and something keeping her at ease. Despite the darkness around her, her mind felt rather clear. Her body was writhing in agony, but she felt no other sensation. No strange feeling trying to burrow its way into her head, no temptation to seek vengeance in such a way that she would even consider embracing the curse to do so. Instead, she had just a serene sense of calm collectiveness. It was a strange feeling for sure, but at this point she welcomed it and wasn’t willing to take it for granted while she had blacked out. It helped her collect her thoughts and preserve her sanity.. or at least what was left of it.

Was vengeance and anger really the route she wanted to go? She’d harbored it her whole life in some way shape or form. Be it her parents for abandoning her despite them actually dying, the foster system for letting her suffer at the hands of abusive, neglectful, and selfish people abusing the system. She had her hand in many pots for reasons, some of which people could not blame her for being angry. She had been dealt a shitty hand her whole life and despite it, she’d used that anger to motivate her to move forward and not become a victim to circumstance. Not as long as she had the power to change her own circumstances of life.

A small prick of light hit her in the eyes. Squinting for a moment, she fixated her gaze toward it and began to move closer toward it. Where was this light coming from? As she got closer, there was no sign of it getting larger…. So there was no way that she was going to be moving towards an open entryway. No, instead the light slowly moved until finally she reached the dark outline of a locked door. That’s when it settled in. She was within a small, dark room. It was familiar too. The innards of the space began to shape itself out until she finally caught eye of the distinct cufflink with the Pergrande flag shaped emblem on it. This was her last foster homes closet! Outside the room, she heard faint, childish giggling. Then, the voice made an incoherent comment, but the voice pitched to her as a younger Elara.

”Elara, open the door.” She called out. Looking down, voice hit the door and then laughed. She knew this was when she used to prop things against it to make it harder to open. ”Elara! I said open it up!” Lehanna demanded, hitting the door. Her panic was setting in, but instead of fear, she was getting angrier. ”I said open the DOOR!” With one heavy, hard slam of her fist into the door, she shot up awake. Looking around, her tail swung around, coiling around the front of her waist. With a sigh, the girl knew this whole nightmare was real and she just shook her head. It was then she noticed the nest of blankets and wondered how long she had been asleep. What she hadn’t known was that during her slumber, she spoke in her sleep. Mentions of her friend and the door were rather loud in a place with no other sound but nature around it to inhabit it.

569 words
24602 total words

Having kept an eye on the girl why she slept, Kalama had heard the majority of what she had mumbled while doing so. A rather unpleasant dream by the sounds of it but frankly the statuesque blonde was not surprised in the slightest. Lehanna had been through quite the ordeal and judging from her previous mumblings, her life as a whole had hardly been a great one. She had been through a lot and as the dark warrior had watched, Kalama had come to realise that. The child carried more mental baggage around with her than most full grown adults. There was an immense amount of pain there and the blonde had decided that she would indeed take a stab at trying to teach the girl. Could Lehanna truly do what she would need to in order to embrace her inner darkness? Kalama did not honestly know the answer. The brat was clearly miserable and carried the anger needed inside of her but there was more to it than that. Did she have the backbone to truly unleash her hatred on others? Could she even destroy the bastard who had made her life so horrible if given the chance? There were still unknowns and they would remain as such until the kid was pushed. The girl’s words had given the dark mage the perfect idea in order to expose Lehanna’s fear though. It appeared that there was something in particular that she was afraid of, a situation that Kalama could easily recreate.

When Lehanna awoke, Kalama was sitting on a chair a short distance away with the girl’s bag of belongings sitting in her lap. She could not have cared less about the runt’s privacy and had thoroughly herself by trampling over it. Most of it was your standard fair but there did seem to be a recurring theme. A name that continued to come up and funnily enough, the exact same one that Lehanna had just been shouting. There was clearly history there and as the dark mage peered down at the picture that had drawn her attention, she was able to put two and two together. Who would have thought that the little runt would already have a girlfriend at her age? Perhaps she had underestimated the minx.

“She means a lot to you. Does she not?” Kalama asked casually, flipping over the picture to show the girl precisely what she had been looking at. There were two teenagers in the picture, both blushing a fair bit, wearing maid costumes. Lehanna and another girl, a dark haired child who looked like she wanted to punch someone in the face for capturing her like that. A brat as well, no doubt. “I must say that I would never have guessed that you would choose to wear such an outfit in public. Are you two into that cosplay shit or something?” Naturally, there was a touch of mockery in her voice but she was not overbearing with it. More of a teasing tone or as close as she could get to one.

(512 Words)
(25114 TWC)

Her vision felt surprisingly sharp for just having woken up. Usually she has a bit of a hard time waking up when she ends up having nightmares, but this time it felt different. Was it just because she blacked out from the pain this time? Sometimes that doesn’t necessarily matter, but more importantly that she doesn’t have any other issues after having woken up from that rather vivid nightmare. It’s been some time since she’d had the variation of the nightmare that included that first time Elara tricked her into the closet. Outside of being thrown in there multiple times prior by her parents, this one felt different as it had been what first made Lehanna realize there was nobody looking out for her in this home and that she was certainly in for some of the worst times of her life. Not to say the past house I didn’t plague her mind with hate and discourse either.

It was only after a moment to collect herself that she realized that Kalama was going through her things. ”H-Hey! What are you- gah!” Trying to get up and move toward the woman, a sharp pain interrupted her movement before collapsing into the blanket nest and sighing lightly. Her cheeks flushed from her comment, realizing how much she seemed to be right but not willing to admit it to a stranger, much less someone she was preparing to kill some day. ”What does that have to do with anything?” She replied with a question, seemingly much calmer than a moment ago. When she shared which picture it was she saw, she realized it had been the two of them in their maid costumes.

”Cosplay? No, nothing like that.” The cursed teen sat up and took a second to work her tail to move over and lay over her lap. For some reason, this felt comfortable to her. ”I should preface this by saying she and I were not on the best of terms. I.. grew up in the foster system for my entire life. Bouncing between house to orphanage. Some places being less than a week before they threw me back to them.” Her hands balled up in her lap, trying not to become emotional one way or another over it. ”To keep a long story short, Elara and her family were particularly cruel, even despite the one the Knights removed me from, but I digress on that matter. They disliked my existence save for sparse occasions and aside from that, would treat me like a doormat. My room on normal days were a closet. I only got to sleep on a bed there when visitations came around.” A light exhale through her nose had calmed her down on the outside, but she always hated reliving those days. Even if they were part of the reason she got to have the opportunities she did now.

”Their daughter hated me. She at first seemed to like me, and it made the time of her parents seem tolerable… but that changed when she locked me in a room under the stairs, barricaded it, and she and her parents left me there for over a day I came to learn. And, after I managed to legally escape their custody, I got as far away as I could. That was however until I found her on a job that I took for my guild some time after. It’s been a long road, but her own issues had given us a chance to reconcile. She’s… been supportive with me for some time. But now…” Her eyes shifted to her hands, seeing their off shade of color and the tail resting peacefully on her lap. ”I don’t know how I’m going to face her ever again… i… not like this.” Her voice shook with a heavy concern and sadness. One she wasn’t familiar with, but perhaps someone of Kalama’s age might know more of.

656 words
25770 total words

Teasing Lehanna brought her more amusement then she had expected and her amber eyes flashed with it again for a moment. Her time with Aoi had a great deal of moments like that, with the two of them continually teasing each other. It had been one of their coping mechanisms and frankly the blonde missed such moments. Ever since her friend had vanished, there had been very little in the dark warrior’s life to gain any levity from. It had all been so gritty and grim since then with Kalama becoming pretty much the poster child for such a life. A tall and unhappy warrior who brought blood and chaos wherever she went. That was all there was for her now, as any thoughts of a typical life had been driven away by the curse and the events that had followed it. In her own way, she could understand Lehanna’s own misery and such sadness was an emotion that she knew rather well. Embracing the curse had reawakened her ability to feel but it was not rage or elation that had been the first couple of emotions that burst from her. No, it had been sadness and loneliness, knowing that she would most likely never be able to express just how much Aoi had meant to her.

“Given how much you despise the man who tortured you, I am surprised that you were so willing to forgive this girl for her own mistreatment of you.” Kalama commented after some time. “I confess that I would have probably been unable to were I in your shoes and definitely would not allow myself to have my picture taken with them. You are either more forgiving then you appear to be or my comment about you two being close must be more accurate than I thought. The fact that your face is as red as a tomato only adds more credence to that. You like her and while I think that you are an odd couple, I am not going to make fun of you for that. Your choice of outfits though? That is something you both need to work on otherwise you will attract the wrong kind of attention from others.”

She paused for a minute, before adding. “I told you before that you would need someone to rely on in order to survive and it would appear to me that this Elara is someone that you should think about opening up to. If she is truly a friend of yours, then she will not care about your appearance and hiding or lying to her about it will do more harm than good. It would be best for you to come out with it at the start and let her make her own mind up about it.”

Of course, if the girl did reject Lehanna then that would only increase the fear and anger that was stirring within her. Rejection was a powerful sensation and one that could break the stoutest heart, something Kalama also knew rather well.

(506 Words)
(26276 TWC)

Her body seemed to relax some despite the opinion and thoughts that Kalama had over the information she had been given. At first, the young girl couldn't really say much on the matter, however what she had to contribute to it was something a little different than what she would probably anticipate to hear. "I... It's not the same thing, nor is our relation- I-I mean friendship." She finally relented in admitting aloud, let out a sigh. "She and I... we've had our differences and have had time to be children about it, but when she told me about what issues she had in her life, she admitted to have taken her frustrations out on me. And I am mature enough to recognize that and having seen the disgraceful creatures that she calls parents for myself in how they were treating her, I didn't think much of saying I would not hold a grudge more than I have already."

Her eyes shifted, legs pulling up to her chest before she wrapped her arms gently around them. "If I may be honest... sometimes I feel... animosity. After those nightmares. I don't want to, but I can't help myself. Is that.. normal?" It felt strange to ask this woman of all people a question she felt so personal about asking, but frankly the idea had been eating so much at her over the couple of years that she couldn't help herself. If it wasn't now, would she ever have the chance to do so? "I admit I didn't handle the torture bit well... at all. But I digress." Once again, Lehanna quieted up while she listened to the advice given to her. Her emotions were a wreck, battling one another while thankfully the pain seemed to subside for the moment.

"I can't.. I don't know what it is that's so different already. Maybe from the curse but, I almost feel like I can't control myself currently. Not just the pain but my emotions. They feel as churned as my innards do right now." The look on her face spelled the closeness she had to breaking down. Be it true and the curse was tampering with her emotions or that she was just caught in a shifting adrenaline rush, the newly cursed teen simply hugged her legs closer to her chest, resting her head onto it. "I'm... scared. I think for the first time in my life, unmotivated by the panic of a phobia. I am... really scared..." Her body was trembling, closer and closer to breaking down on the spot.

434 words
26710 total words

“Anyone who has suffered the ordeals that you have would feel animosity towards their tormentor. That is the most natural reaction that you could have. To hate those who have hurt you and the desire to harm them in return is perfectly reasonable. There are many in this world who would speak of revenge as an immature and ridiculous concept but it is that desire against the one who cursed me that kept me going through the darkest times. If I were in your position, I would loathe him with all my heart and wish for nothing more than his head. There is nothing to be ashamed of for thinking such things, Lehanna. The scum who hurt you deserves whatever he gets. Of course, by that token, I imagine that you will no doubt feel the same way about me. Hate me if you want but the truth is that you need me right now and without my guidance, you have no chance of surviving this.”

She could detect the fear in the girl as she spoke and it was an emotion that Kalama of course knew well. During her period of emptiness, she felt very little beside anxiousness and fear, emotions that sent her close to the edge and occasionally beyond. Aoi had kept her sane for the most part but still, the blonde knew fear, both its strengths and weaknesses. It could be crippling but also galvansing and frankly was the first step in Kalama becoming one with the curse. By understanding and harnessing her own, she had gained a source of strength that had carried her onwards and made her the woman she was today.

Pondering her words for a moment, she would then speak again, moving over towards the girl and crouching down before her. “When I was struck by the curse, I felt exactly the same as you. My emotions were all over the place and I had no idea about what was going on inside. It enjoys playing with our mind and bodies, twisting and bending us in the most horrible of ways. You have already seen for yourself how that entity behaved when it was out in the open and I have no doubt that is the same while inside us. The curse is cruel and by limiting my ability to feel and causing Aoi’s emotions to become barely controllable, it tried to rip us apart.”

At that point, she used the Force to gently lift the girl’s head. It would not feel painful or uncomfortable, the aim being solely that she could look the girl in the eyes.

“The decision that you have to make is whether you are going to allow the curse to do that to you. Are you going to let this fear and dread overcome you or will you use it? In the days ahead, the fear will only grow and I will tell you now that I will make you face it head on. You will learn to wield it as a weapon or wilt like an unwatered flower.”

(511 Words)
(27221 Words)

Listening to Kalama talking to her felt in a way rather therapeutic. Though the blonde woman had much of a different life that the younger girl had, there was no reason to deny the fact that her words bled into her mind as nothing less than the truth. Logically, this made sense to her and with that, she had no real way to say anything otherwise. Her eyes looked up from the ground to the woman for a moment, hearing her basically declare the necessity that she was needed to survive this. And in a way, she felt this was extremely selfish on the woman’s part. ”Revenge isn’t who I ever was… it’s not what I really wanted to do in my life either. I feel like.. my anger was its own beast and it was pushing me down paths I didn’t want.” She let out a light sigh, feeling defeated by her own admission.

”I… There wasn’t anyone who ever helped me the same way other kids were. I didn’t have anyone in my immediate life that I could look up to and try to learn from. I think because of my lack of human interaction I couldn’t… couldn’t focus on being a child and live.” Her body slumped, feeling it getting worse and worse until she finally felt her abductor getting closer. She explained what had happened in her experience and while Lehanna had the considering thought to yell over the fact that this was all her fault, not some different being that initially cursed her and her friend, among others, there was still the fact that there was still someone else at the helm to get at in due time.

Her head felt a gentle, but forceful push up until she met the eyes of the older woman while she gave her a choice to make. A harsh decision to pick between in order or either fight and survive or get consumed and die. ”Im going to fight. I haven’t changed that much… i just. My emotions feel so different and I… i… i cannot feel the same emotions and even if I do, it’s different. It’s forced my hand to let out things I have kept bottled up for years. Things I have not told anyone else. There’s just this hole that’s always been there and I just feel so insecure to let people in.” the grip around her legs would tighten as she spoke. This wasn’t where she wanted this conversation, yet here they were with the teen funneling it all out.

427 words
27648 total words

The eyes of the dark mage never left Lehanna as she spoke, barely even seeming to blink. It was not an intimidating look as such and Kalama was not intentionally trying to draw such a reaction from the girl. She was listening to every word though, attempting to paint a mental picture of just what the girl before her was thinking and feeling. The blonde remained rather neutral, her expression not changing much at all, as though she was a psychiatrist trying to get to the root of her patient's problem. In truth, she did somewhat sympathise with Lehanna’s tale, of a childhood that had been stolen from her by that bastard who had treated her so poorly. Yet, life was not fair and not everyone received the same amount of love and laughter in their lives. Kalama certainly had not, especially in more recent times. Her own childhood? A simple one and when she looked back on it now, all it brought her was pain. It reminded her of what she had lost or more importantly who.

“The longer that you bottle up your emotions for, the more damage you will do when they finally reach the surface. I can understand why you have been so reluctant to speak about the terrors of your past but in the end, it is something that must be done. You have already opened to me quite a bit and it would appear as though this hole of yours is not unopenable as it appears. Call it strange but perhaps in this one particular way, the curse has been a benefit to you. In order to beat the curse, you will have to get a handle on your emotions and before I let you leave here, I will need to be convinced of that. Your fear and anger are not enemies to be defeated nor monsters that need to be suppressed, they are just a fire that needs to be tempered and brought to heel. When my emotions returned to me, they rampaged all over the place, resulting in me going on a path of destruction that went all across this land. It was as though a dam had broken and I was finally free but I was not in control. My anger was in control of me and in that state, I was little more than an animal.”

She fell silent briefly before continuing. “I know what your phobia is, Lehanna, I know what causes you to fall to pieces. You surrendered that knowledge to me while you were sleeping and in order for me to gauge just how much of a mess you are emotionally, I will put you in a position where they will run rampant. There is a place nearby, a cave which is filled with dark energy that plays with the mind. It has the ability to reach into a person’s soul and rip out the darkest moments, forcing them out into the open. I went in there in order to face my fears and you will do the same, even if I have to bind you again and drag you in there. It is something that must be done and you will show me just how much fight you have inside. If you can survive without falling into madness then you will have succeeded.”

A hand would briefly touch the girl’s horns as she added. “If you wish to return to your girlfriend then consider this test to be your final exam.”

(585 WC)
(28233 TWC)