Chapter Text
Owen had actually killed Apo. He smiled at his victory, although he couldnt help but feel guilty. Apo was his friend, afterall. He shook his head to get the thought out. He pulled the javelin from Apos corpse, squirting his blood on his fingers as he does so.
He grimaced at the blood on his fingers and licked it. He wasnt sure why he did that, but in a way it was to tease Apo.. even if he was dead, he still felt joyful to think of the half-demons horrified face.
He used his javelin to push Apos remains into the lava nearby. He heard the body sizzle as he licked his other fingers. The blood tasted odd.. but in a way, kind of addicting. He chuckled at the silly thought.
He stared at the lava for a bit before walking back to the clearing. He found some strawberries in a chest and took them, carefully placing them in his pocket.
He was biting into a carrot when he heard someones voice. It was Kyles, his partner in leadership, "Whats that on your hand?"
A look of puzzlement crossed his face as he looked back down at his hand. There was still blood on it. "Its berry juice." He licked the blood that was leftover. "I have some more, if you'd like them." He used his non-licked hand to grab out more berries.
"No, thanks." Kyle replied and looked at the dark maze, "Are we really just going to sit here?"
"Hm?" Owen hummed in reply.
"We need to find our way out of this hell." Kyle looked down and kicked the grass, "We shouldnt just live the rest of our lives trapped! We'll all go insane eventually. Its only a matter of time." His gaze met with the entrance to the maze again.
"Think about what happened to Mohwee, Oeca, Greacie—even me. We only get hurt going in the maze. Were safer in here than out there." He pointed to the entrance Kyle was glaring at.
"You cant stop me from trying." Kyles eyes narrowed at Owen.
"Then go, die, make us loose another friend." He attempted to guilt Kyle, but he realistically didnt care, "Dont come crying when you either cant find an exit, youre trapped, or youre dying." He stormed away, leaving Kyle speechless.
Owen closed to door to his house and stared at the pig, Puddy. He felt emotionally attached to Puddy, it was sad. He shouldnt feel this way. The sun had started to set when he was speaking to Kyle, which is part of the reason he left. He also didnt wanna deal with Kyles shit anymore.
He grabbed out a variety of weapons, practicing his skills with each of them. He was, to no surprise, better with the ranged weapons. After a few hours of training, the sun being down for most of them, he decided he should clean up and get ready for bed.
It didnt take long to put away the weapons. They all had a place to be at, and they were returned to said place. He got ready to lay down when he felt a sharp pain through his head. It felt like a migraine. He played it off as just his memories getting to him. He lay down and, although not easily, fell asleep.
The night was rough. He would wake up to his pains constantly. His back ached slightly as well. He woke up around 7 or 8 times before the sun rose. It was horrible. His aching only got worse as the night progressed. He fell asleep one last time, this time for longer.
After a couple hours, he was woken up by a knock on his door. He attempted to act like he wasnt home so he could get some more rest, but the knocking continued, quickly annoying him. "Come in." He rolled over towards the door, still in bed.
"Hi Puddy.." A short girl with two toned hair came walking in. She received an oink from the pig. "Good morning Owen. Youre sleeping in later than usual." She sounded disappointed and confused.
"Didnt get much sleep last night." He groaned and sat up against the wall the bed was leaned against.
"How so?" Magic asked, walking towards Puddy with a carrot in her hand.
"Horrible headache. It kept me up." He hated to admit it, it made him sound weak.
"Mustve been a bad one then." She smiled whilst petting Puddy.
"Mhm." He hummed and rubbed his eyes, wincing at his headache.
"Do you think you can make it to the bonfire tonight?" She smiled at Owen, who seemed to be in pain.
He didnt reply. He couldnt let silly distractions get in his way of killing the other.. parasites that call themselves demons.
She frowned and sighed, "Okay.. its fine." She sounded obviously sad.
"Fine." He sighed.
"Really?" Her eyes lit up.
"Yeah, Ill try." He smiled softly. He really didnt want to go.. but one day of relaxing wouldnt hurt. Only one day, no distractions afterwards.
"Thank you!" She cheerfully smiled and waved to Puddy and Owen, "Were holding it when the sun sets! Please be there!" She left, humming to herself.
Owen let out a sarcastic chuckle as he left. He was still in aching pain.. he lay his head down and eventually fell asleep. His eyes felt heavy, any way.
He woke up in a shock of sweat. He looked up and realized it was almost completely night. He quickly got up, his vision blurred, and attempted to get ready.
He shook his head to fix his vision and ran out, running to the fire.
He actually made it, he was panting by the time he did, though. "Im here! Sorry Im late—" He cut himself off with his vision going blurry again. "Sorry." He apologized again and sat next to Magic, slowly shaking his head.
His eyes still felt heavy, his headache had gotten worse, along with his back aching. His nails seemed to have slightly grown sharper, and they had a darker tint to them near the ends. His jaw hurt as well.
"Are you okay, Owen?" Ayngel asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Yeah, I just overslept." He sighed.
"Im glad you made it, even though you were late." Magic chuckled.
Owen didnt chuckle, or smile at all. Usually he fakes a laugh even if he doesnt find it funny.
"Inviting the guy who pretty much told me to die.." Kyle muttered sarcastically.
"He what?!" Soup asked.
Ayngel was speaking to Soup and Kyle, others were talking about Graecie. Magic was speaking to Owen.. but Owen wasn't listening. His headache started a loud buzzing in his head. He could hardly hear his voices.
Magic had begun to get really concerned. Owen wasnt usually like this over a tiny aching. She shook his shoulders, not expecting him to flinch and quickly look up at her.
He shook his head and attempted to focus on Magic, his vision staying blurry. He rested his eyes slightly.
To Magic, his eyes were a more orange colour. His pupils seemed slightly sharper, almost. She could tell something was up. "I dont think this is a 'silly headache'." She spoke.
Owen ears were also blocked for some reason. They also hurt really badly.. he could hardly make out what Magic was saying, "What?" he replied, trying to keep his head up.
"You look horrible." She replied, "I can get soup to—"
"Im fine, Magic." He replied quickly. "Im just tired." He wasn't completely.. lying. He was tired, but he knew that wasnt the reason. He shook his head again in attempt to clear his vision or hearing.
"Stop," She rested her hand on his shoulder, "Shaking your head will only make it worse." She slightly smiled, an attempt to lighten him up.
He hardly understood what she was saying. He stared at the fire, he was trying to think of what caused this pain.. maybe hes just getting sick.
Magic continued to stare at him, noticing more odd features. His ears seemed sharper, and she thought she could see orange spikes on the side of his head. She didnt think much of it and assumed it was just an accessory. The ears were odd though. She was convinced he has rounder ears.
He was falling asleep again, "Im going to head back home."
"You just got here." Soup gave a puzzled smile to him.
"Yeah, Im just tired." Owen stood up, he felt like he was going to fall back down again, though.
"You said you were sleeping before you came here." Ayngle tilted her head once again at the weirdly orange-eyed man.
"Guess Im still tired. Thank you for inviting me," Owen was about to leave before he heard Magic speak.
"Come again tomorrow! Hopefully your headache clears!" She smiles.
"Sorry.. I have plans tomorrow." He smiled and walked away, back to his house.
He lay back down, falling asleep immediately. This time, luckily for him, he actually got more than an hour of sleep.. until he woke up in agonizing pain.
He felt his skull poke out, his spine felt like it grew longer, his fingertips were sharper and had a black tint, he could also feel his ears extend out. His teeth ached, worse than loosing teeth. His teeth grew sharper. His pupils looked almost cat-liked. Blood dripped from the top of his head as he held back all of his screams. Screaming was a sigh of weakness to him, screaming also would wake up half the clearing. He tried to cover his mouth, but instead winced as his claws stabbed the area around his mouth. Panicking was a bit of an understatement in this situation.
He was hyperventilating, tears eventually creeped down his cheeks. The pain eventually died down, but he continued bleeding in most areas. He looked down at his hands and started to panic more. He scrambled out of bed and rushed to his chests, looking for a mirror. After not long, he found a mirror and looked at himself.
"No." He muttered. He couldnt have been one of them. He cant be. He was human. He was the cure. His eyes couldn't focus on one feature of his body. The orange horns like Krows, the black claws like it's as well, his orange glowing eyes more like Apos or Rasbis, sharp fangs like Krows once again, his ears were sharp as well, tinted just his claws.
He looked like a demon. He shook his head and saw his bed. 'This is all a dream!' he thought to himself. That would make so much sense.
But once he thought about it more, which he hated to, it made more sense to be real. It was too painful to be fake. He fell down to his knees. He looked around his room and saw a tail.
It was moving insanely. He tried to rip it off, but it didnt work. It hurt to much and was attached to him, making it way harder to rip off. He also tried to pull of his horns, but no matter what he had tried, they wouldnt come off.
The 'suns' rays slowly shined through. He cant go out like this. He was a demon.
No, this is stupid. Hes not a demon. Its all just fake. The tail? Robotic. The horns? Glued. The ears? Clay. Everything was fake. It had to have been. He cant be one of them.
He sighed and stood up. He was fine, everything was fine. He continued to pull at the inhuman features until he cried from the pain. He winced as he continued to pull at his horns. He heard a cracking noise and growled. He quickly brought his hands up to his mouth to cover it. That wasnt him, no. That had to have been something else.
He was cut off his thought by the pain of the horn. He couldnt bare feel this. The pain was worse than when he got stung. 10x worse. He panted and backed himself into a corner. If it was glued on it wouldnt hurt this much. He had to ask Krow how to stop the pain.. no. Hes not leaving—
"Owen!" A voice rang from outside. It was magic. She knocked on the door, Puddy only oinked.
He looked around for a place to hide but instead just ran in front of the door, trying to control his breathes.
"I came to see if your headache was gone!" She called out, expecting a response.
Owen had debated on speaking back, but he didnt. He didnt wanna risk her coming inside.
After a couple minutes, he could hear her leaving. That wasnt normal. He shouldnt be able to hear footsteps as clear as he did. He could also smell the blood dripping down his head.
He rushed to a chest and found a sign with ink next to it. He grabbed it out and wrote 'going in the maze, puddys fine, dont come in'. Quick and simple. He opened the door and quickly threw the sign outside, closing the door before anyone could come over.
He sat agaisnt the door and fell asleep, expecting to wake up human again.
Hoping, to wake up human again.