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The Knee was a very cold place in the Boiling Isles.
Hunter hated going to missions at the knee, and lately the Emperor's Coven had a lot of missions up there to accomplish. He has never been very fond of coldness. He in fact, hated to go out on missions in winter time, the young Golden Guard always ended up wounded, tired, and hungry, but it wasn’t like he could refuse them. Even now, when he thought he could at least be accompanied in these trying times, something sweet and tender always got the teen soldier whenever he saw Flapjack sleeping. He didn't have to heart to wake the bird up from the warm improvised nest he made for the palisman.
Maybe another day. For now, that he was venturing further into the threes, he would go alone.
For his bad luck, today was terribly colder than any other, but it has been a while and surprisingly he got some free time from today's duties as the Golden Guard, that was just the enough for him to walk through the woods full of snow and fallen leaves, holding some kind of big bowl with food between his arms. It was always these days, when the full moon illuminates the white snow on his shoes, and creatures hide from an unfamiliar beast that used to go out at night. Just like him in that exact moment.
How much he wished he wasn’t outside looking for it right now, Hunter wishes he just could go back to the castle and wait until tomorrow morning for the sun to set up and bring at least more heat to his body, that is already trembling even with the long coat and covered boots.
But night had already come, and the only proof that the sun was once there was a few orange hues of light rays that were slowly fading. The Golden Guard mask was starting to freeze and burning parts of skin that had contact with the cold metal. He took it off, and the cold forest air rushing into his lungs, burning freshly his nostrils, if that made any sense. Very soon he discovered that he was right in front of the trees that he had previously marked, from all his past visits. He was already in the spot where he paid his monthly visits.
Hunter looked up to see the sky. There it was the full moon, but it was covered by a cloud. With The Knee freezing temperature and the sea boiling constantly, some condensation was expected to happen.
“I’m here.” He said in a low tone, used to the immediate attention of his friend, leaving the bowl full of food on the ground. The food in question was a strange variety of meats and veggies that he had tried before and the beast seems to like them too. “I put some griffin eggs this time.”
But there was no answer, and Hunter felt stupid for talking to nothing. Still, he got a weird feeling in his ears. they perked at silence and a shiver went through his spine.
“You know I can’t stay for so long!” He raised his voice, and with that some animals that were observing him with curiosity ran away from their hidden places.
If there were animals around, that meant the creature he was waiting for wasn't around.
He sighed.
He turned around, pretending like he didn’t care that he couldn’t see the fantastic creature that shows up every few months. He put on the mask again, ready to walk out of the forest and cursing internally that he couldn’t use his artificial staff in this part of the land.
But then he heard it.
A distance, soft howl. That sounded more like a cry for help.
Something was wrong.
Hunter doesn’t know why, but his legs were already running into the woods.
He also didn’t understand why he was suddenly so worried. Maybe because he knew the creature was not only a creature, but also a person.
A witch.
And not only a witch, a young witch girl who was completely harmless. Hunter first saw her as a witch wearing a pink abomination uniform from Hexside. That time he only saw her for a brief moment, and actually kind of despised her since she borrowed all of the books about unknown magical creatures he was very interested in.
Those green eyes stayed locked in his head for a while. Green eyes that looked at him apologetically, but also defiantly, that at the end Hunter decided to return to the castle because he was getting late to do his last mission report.
But the real moment he met her, was in these woods, some time after.
Hunter was walking through the forest . He only remembers a shiny night, his broken staff, his torn white cloak, and a profound feeling of shame and failure. The second failed mission since the incident with the human. Or third, since not so long ago he found out certain Selkidomus was still alive. A grumpy, angry, but mostly disappointed Golden Guard was walking through the woods to take a moment to clear his mind, his head was full of thoughts about different ways his mission could have succeeded, when an enormous demon appeared behind him and growled furiously.
Hunter could have reacted when that demon of big eyes and large claws almost attacked him, but he only could turn around. ‘So this is it.’ He thought, until another creature jumped from behind and fought against his predator. Hunter only saw dark blue fur, biting directly to the face of the other predator, who only screamed in pain and ran away. The new beast wasn’t bigger, but more ferocious. The growls were deafening, strong, the tail, the ears, the paws… It wasn’t something Hunter had seen before and surely it wasn’t something that belonged to the demon realm.
That he knew.
In any case, the creature went after the other one that tried to kill him after staring at him. Hunter fell on the ground, immobile for the shocking experience of seeing two big ferocious beings fighting right in front of him, but the intense green look this fluffy beast had made his head spin. The beast ran chasing the threatening demon, leaving a very confused Hunter alone, thinking why that felt so familiar.
Since that day, Hunter always came back to see the creature that saved his life in any minor chance he had. And it took some time to realize it only showed up in full moon nights. Fortunately the Boiling Isles had full moons frequently.
He didn’t recognize those green eyes until the day he looked into the archives of Edalyn Clawthorne, finding the recordings of the day she was about to get petrified. Hunter was watching the Crystal Ball he was allowed to have in his room when he saw her on the news archive. Green eyes asking the Boiling Isles citizens to reclaim a new opportunity for the Owl Lady to live.
He heard another howl, and this one was closer.
“Hey! Where are you!?” He shouted, and there was no answer. He held his staff of artificial magic close to his heart.
He would never try to get closer or to at least, spoke to the young witch again, since she was friends with the human and those wild witches that threatened the will of The Titan —or at least it was something his uncle always said, and he believed him—, even if he tried, the little plant witch wouldn’t recognize him, the moments he tried to casually appear in her way there was no reaction besides the obvious rejection for serving as the Golden Guard. But the creature she transformed at night was something else. When Hunter returned every full moon, the beast was calm and welcoming. Hunter couldn’t say if it was happy to see him, but it never tried to attack him, or bite him, or even push him away. The big fluffy monster gladly accepted his company, and allowed Hunter to do his own investigations. He was fascinated by it, he swore he never saw such a creature like that in any of the books or anywhere else, so it must be a lonely, misunderstood being wandering in the woods, just like him.
Hunter heard something whimpering near him, and the sound was almost like a dog's squeals, except for the fact these sounded more threatening, with a low growling at the background, and still, there was something behind that sounded like a person. He slowly walked to the sounds. Until he saw it.
Or saw her.
Hunter was perplexed.
This wasn't the big monster he knew, but it wasn’t also the cute plant girl he recognized.
It was, technically speaking, a combination of both.
Her clothes were ripped apart from the arms and calves, her feet and hands replaced with fur and paws. There was a pair of glasses broken in the snow that probably fell off from the witchy pointy ears were replaced with animal fluffy above her head. The face still was like a witch, with the exception of those prominent canines and the glowing green eyes.
But the poor little creature was hurt. There were stains of blood in her clothes and her right leg, and some red stains leaking from her neck.
Hunter ran to her side, and the half-transformed girl growled at him, as a scared warning.
“What happened!?” He asked worriedly, and with his artificial staff casted some bandages. “Who did this!?”
Hunter was starting to feel terrified. Did other scouts find her and decided to go on a hunt? Did she fight another creature and lost? He quickly started to treat the open wounds, and from Hunter’s experience, it definitely looked like bites and deep scratches.
The girl full of fur was trying to escape from Hunter’s care, and it looked like she wasn’t able to understand him to stay still. The desperation started to crawl on him, when the bandages accidentally opened her wounds and she started bleeding even more. H didn't want to hurt her even more, but it was truly hard to be careful.
“Hey! I’m trying to help you!” Hunter exclaimed, but the only thing he got was an attempt to get bitten. “Do not bite me! What's wrong with you?”
And then she… Howled?
It wasn’t like those calming howls Hunter heard when the creature saw the moon or said goodbye from far. No, this sounded more like a protesting tantrum, and Hunter doesn’t know why, but he felt offended.
“Bad luck for you. I can't understand you. I'm trying to stop the bleeding, and you keep moving around and hurting yourself! Stop!”
And she complained again, the tones of her howls were going up and down like imitating what Hunter just said. He was starting to get more annoyed, but ignored her and continued his healing work. Of course, he was not the best, everything he learned about wounds had to learn them by himself and the healing magic lessons he took were pretty basic, so having to help another one that wasn’t him was something new.
The creature jumped again and tried to bite his hand. Hunter quickly stood up.
“Willow! Stop!”
And the creature stopped moving.
He sighed.
“Don’t ask.” He said, getting on his knee and finishing wrapping the bandages.
Okay, maybe he lied. He knew the girl, but only the basics. Her name, age and place where she lived and studied, but it wasn't because he wanted to. The Emperor's Coven was following the steps of every person related to the Owl Lady, that human, or the little demon. He knew nothing about it, until some scout gave him all the records to file —Kikimora's doing— and he saw a glimpse of a pair of green eyes in front of one of the folders.
Fortunately, the Emperor’s Coven wasn't aware about her full moon transformations, so that was somehow a relief to Hunter’s heart.
His midnight friend wasn’t in danger.
“There it is.” He expressed, looking very proud for his first aid work. Well, the witch couldn’t see him because he was still wearing the mask, but the mood change made her perk her left ear. “You see how easy that was? And you were complaining like a puppy.”
A low groan escaped from the creature's throat. Hunter smiled, but didn’t reacted.
“What happened?” Hunter asked again, but felt very stupid because the creature was unable to talk. “Sorry.” He said, and again, asked himself why the heck was he still talking. “I should go, it's getting late. I brought some food with–”
Soon Hunter realized he left the bowl with food behind. He breathed deeply.
“Forget that.”
Willow stared at him, patiently, like the way the fully transformed creature used to look at him every night they met. Hunter had more time to study her factions. Curly blue hair and bright skin. She decided to try to get up, and Hunter quickly went to help her. She walked hunched over on two legs, as if her hands were made to trot on the ground to support herself. She didn’t reject the help, even leaned on Hunter’s shoulder, tired.
Hunter raised his head, and the moon was still not showing, even the night and the forest were even darker.
“Is the moon? It is what makes you transform?”
Hunter wasn’t waiting for an answer, but the girl slowly nodded. His heart jumped. She was starting to recognize her surroundings.
“The clouds covering it are affecting you?”
She shrugged.
Hunter stared at her hands and feet. Her fur was slowly starting to fall, and looking more familiar. He gulped, but kept walking, his legs were guiding them to the place the monster and the guard were supposed to see each other normally.
Willow complained, and Hunter noticed her wound was bleeding again.
"You can't walk. It's not letting you heal." He pointed out, and with her hands, made her understand that he could carry her.
There was a soft growl coming from her, but there wasn't another choice. She clinged around his neck, and with a quick movement he was holding her in his arms. The Golden Guard was happy to be using his mask, because if she saw his dumb proud smile, she probably would throw him to the floor.
He doesn’t know if she would, but she looks like she would. She was actually growling softly.
“C’mon, it is not that bad! You are also losing your fur, your feet could get frozen.”
“P-please, stop talking.”
His heart stopped for a bit. It was the first time he heard her voice.
And it was a sweet one.
“Sorry.”
He gently put her on the floor when they reached the spot.
The food was still there, but it was starting to freeze. Hunter picked it up and sighed.
“Uh– this was for the other version of you.”
Willow narrowed her eyes.
“Do you know it?”
Hunter wasn’t sure of what to say, so he simply nodded. Willow sighed. and covered her face between her knees.
“Does it bother you?” He asked after some minutes, walking to her and sitting on the snow too. By now Hunter had forgotten he hated the cold.
"No, it's just—" Willow snorted. "I can't believe it has a friend, not only that, the friend is none other than the Golden Guard."
“A lot would be pleased to have for a friend a high rank member of the Emperor’s Coven.” He said proudly.
“Well, not me, you attacked my best friend.”
Ouch.
“She keeps messing up my missions! it not my–”
“Can you not–!” Willow's ears were still in creature mode, so Hunter could tell she was irritated by the conversation because they were down. “Didn’t you say you had to go?”
So she did heard him at first.
“Right, yeah, that was before finding you injured.” He said, standing up and crossing his arms. “What attacked you anyway?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Well! If there’s a dangerous creature out there that could put other’s life in danger, like the Emperor’s for example, so yes I do want to know.”
Willow stared at him, in disbelief, but soon was looking at the snow again. Hunter wasn’t sure if he heard well, but he swore he heard a sniff.
“The one who… did this.” Willow pointed to herself, more precisely to her ears. Hunter made a surprised expression the witch couldn’t see. “I’ve been tracking it for a while until i found footprints in this zone, and then uh… I started to have memories of… Why am I even telling you this?”
Hunter stayed quiet, and moved one step closer.
“Did it… curse you or something?” Hunter tried to have a better look of the girl's face, and finally decided to kneel in front of her.
“I don’t know! Maybe? All that I remember is running away from… somewhere, getting lost in the forest and then… a loud sound, and pain. I was hoping to find them so I could get more answers but, I guess it wasn't pleased to see me.”
“Do you know what kind of…?”
“Luz says in the human realm they are called werewolves. Half wolf, half human.” Willow guessed. “Still, they are supposed to be fictional back there, and I couldn’t find anything related to them in the library.” Willow smiled bitterly, looking at her hands which were now free of the dark fur, but her nails were still looking like claws. “I’m such a freak, first I can’t develop my magic when I was a kid, and then, I transform into a weird unknown monster no one knows a single thing about because it is a mythical human creature. It wasn’t enough for the Titan to make me an outcast, he directly decided I should play the biggest weirdo.”
“Don’t say that.” Hunter said without hesitation. Willow looked at him, hopeless. “I don’t think you are a freak, or a weirdo. I think your ‘werewolf’ form is fascinating. I never seen anything like it. And if this is the will of the Titan, don’t worry, he has big plans for all of us.”
There was a brief silence.
“Who told you that?”
“I’ve heard from a good source.” He said, his tone voice sounded confidently.
Willow was in awe, trying to find the right words to say or reply, but a distant sound put her on alert. Her ears perked, and her expression changed. Hunter noticed it and quickly got up from the ground, casting her artificial staff and ready to fight.
Willow growled, and her fangs started to grow big again.
“You can transform at will!?”
“Not fully! I’m stronger with the moonlight but–!”
Both stared at the sky, there were less clouds, but the moon keep on hidden.
Hunter heard some growls that weren’t Willow’s. Trees breaking and little animals running away. Definitely the new creature was bigger, and unlike Willow, was unaffected by the absence of the moon.
“I can contain them for a while! Get out of here!” Willow shouted, her growls mixed with squeals were answering to the threatening sound of the other creature. Her eyes started to glow green again.
“But you are hurt!”
“It doesn’t matter!”
Before Hunter could reply, a large monster leaped at them and landed behind them. Its fur color was brown, the eyes were full red, and saliva was dripping from its muzzle. It was completely terrifying. Hunter remembered the form of the creature Willow turned into, and it was definitely a friendlier one, one that allowed him to touch her soft fur. This monster was something rawer, wilder, a hundred times more unhinged.
“Watch out!”
It all happened so fast. Willow was behind Hunter, so the Werewolf attacked him first. Hunter was sure the image of those fangs going directly for his head was going to stay stuck in his head for a while.
Yes, it was fast, but Hunter was fast too.
From his staff, he casted a big fist of glowing red magic that punched directly to the beast’s face and sent it to the ground. Then teleported to be above it and with a quick spell trapped it between some magical ropes. The beast tried to break them by biting and snarling, but the magic was too strong and unless Hunter casted it they weren’t going anywhere else.
“How did you do that!?” A very surprised Willow walked where Hunter was once he landed on the snow again. He was breathing heavily, not because the little confrontation tired him, but for all the adrenaline he was feeling in the moment.
“I’ve fought Slitherbeasts before, this is very similar.” Hunter transformed the ropes into real ones, and his staff stopped glowing. The werewolf was still fighting, but another rope covered its muzzle and went quiet. “That’s better.”
Both kept staring at the creature, which slowly stopped moving. Willow, still in her half-a-beast form, got closer to its face. She sniffed in the air, made movements with her head trying to communicate to it, but the big red eyes were still angry, and there was no doubt once free it was going to try to go after them again.
“I don’t get it, the moon is still lost between the clouds, I can’t transform completely in those conditions, but you can?”
Hunter, who followed her closely, said: “Well, maybe this is like the Owl Lady curse? At the end of the day they lose control and now are always like, well, this.”
Willow didn’t answer. The implications of the Golden Guard's words were waking up anxious thoughts, racing up her poor heart. Willow shaked the thoughts away, and stared at the moon again once her light was more and more intense. Willow immediately started to feel stronger now.
She took off the bandages Hunter put on her paw, and for his surprise, it was healing right in front of his eyes. Willow side-smiled for his reaction. “Yeah, I guess this has some good things…” She said, and quickly, her body took a better form.
Finally, after all this long night, Hunter saw his friend again. And now had a name.
“Hi you.” He said, teasing, but the fully transformed werewolf just stared at him calmly.
But it didn't last long, when the sound of the strings snapping interrupted the calm moment.
The black wolf jumped to the other side when bigger fangs showed up and tried to tear off the skin from its neck. But now its attention was settle on Hunter, who just covered himself in a red barrier of magic when the beast went after him.
But he didn't hear any deadly sounds or feel any pain, just the dry sound of trees breaking and two bodies falling downhill.
“Willow!” He quickly shouted, running his almost frozen legs after the battle of fangs and growls that could be heard.
And then, nothing.
He kept running, almost tripping because of how difficult it was to descend that slope. He followed the broken tree branches and the marks in the snow until a more stable ground. He raised his staff that started to glow immediately.
He called her name once again. “Where are you!?” He knew the dangers that something else in those woods answered his call, but he didn’t care, he needed to know the big blue wolf was okay.
“Here.” She said, something that put Hunter on alert and made his legs run by instinct.
“Are you–” He said when he visualized the blue witchy hair again, but then the reality of what happened was right in front of his eyes.
“He died… from the fall.” She simply said, caressing gently the fur of the other creature that slowly recovered its original form.
"He…?"
It was an adult person that seemed to be pretty old. Hunter may have thought he was a bit older than the emperor. Gray hair, large nose and pale skin. They were only covered in a pair of ripped jeans and shirt.
And then, the ears.
“It's a human.” He said.
“Yeah.”
His hair was tied by something that looked like some sea treasure. Willow took it and stared, and stared. This human had some burn scars in his hands and feet.
“Maybe got lost in those leaking pools of the boiling sea. It happens to our troops too, when the waves are too ferocious and hit the–”
“No need to explain.” She said, but not annoyed, just too shocked.
“Right, sorry.”
The silence was awkward, but after some minutes Willow got up from the floor.
“We should… I don’t know, do something for him?” The girl’s face was a mix of emotions, and for the first time, Hunter had nothing to say about it.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know, bury them? Reciting some funeral ode? I don’t know about human traditions.” She scratched her left ear, which was still in wolf form.
Hunter nodded, stopping himself to say that was endearing. “We can. I have time.”
That was a little white lie.
Some weeks passed after the incidents.
Willow had to wake up early that free day to keep practicing the new Flyer Derby movement she found on that Penstagram post. Her dad kept telling her she should understand the basics first, but it was a little impossible due how obsessed she was with the games she could watch by far, and with a new palisman? There was no way something could keep her still.
But her routine changed abruptly when her eyes caught a golden detail coming out of the Park family mailbox. She ran towards it, taking out the letter, a little surprised by such a beautiful envelope completely golden in color —with some stains of red wax—. There was no return address, just her first name written in the bottom right corner of the envelope. There was no way Bonesborough Mail could send this, so she assumed it had been delivered personally. She put it among her things and headed to fly to that clear part of the city where she allowed herself to train.
There, in the tranquility of nature, she opened the letter and read its content:
Miss Willow Park:
It is my responsibility to let you know that I found some valuable information on *THE* subject we faced the other day at The Knee. I won't tell you where i found it, because the information is kept in the coven's secret libraries IT IS VERY SECRET AND I WILL NOT TELL YOU.
But yes, the suspicions I had about the permanent werewolf effect of that human were true, at some point. Apparently, werewolves were manageable transformations intended to protect large communities, like a pack! but when they committed atrocities outside of this responsibility "the blessing becomes a curse and lasts forever." They lose their senses, destined to a life in isolation. Anyways, t hese creatures were eradicated several decades ago since they dangerous they were for the coven system, so that meant that the man we found could be from another time! Isn't this fascinating?
In any case, I hope this information is helpful to you, it's all I could find, the human must know more about it. Werewolves are real. I also hope it's enough to make up for the fact that you saved my life. Twice. I did one, so that's progress, right?
That night was my last one visiting my friend, and while I wish I never see you again (because if I do see you again it would mean you're in problems, and big ones), I hope we can keep in touch, maybe? Just to discuss if we find more information, of course.
Sincerely, a servant
The Golden Guard.
Willow giggled, because the feeling of relief in her heart was too big. This wasn’t a curse, as long she kept her true wish on board. Clover snuggled against her face and she smiled even more.
Maybe having a friend in the Emperor’s Coven wasn’t that bad.
After all, she met him on a full moon night.