A Tale of the Shapeshifters

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑿𝑿𝑿𝑽𝑰𝑰 - 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔

The earth stopped spinning and the leaves stopped rustling as Heart of the Flame burst out of the castle doors. Almost as if an eclipse were occurring, darkness fell over the land all at once, and sounds of the harrowing night followed. It was a mix of dark and day. Flames and smoke, and rain and mist.

Claudius's legs moved before he had even commanded them to do so. It was like treading through water; he couldn't run fast enough. He pushed past all of the furniture and everything in his way until reaching the entrance doors—which were now sprung wide open.

There were no sounds, and yet everything rang, like the Grandfather Clock in the hallway that hadn't been fixed in years. Flames rose around him, and the land became yellow, but the rain poured down over it and instead turned the land a fuming, sickening green.

And all the while his thoughts were: My Athena, my Athena, my Athena....

If there were one time in his life where he wished he could be a dragon, it was now.

But then, out of the wall of flames surrounding the castle, a lone gray figure leaped. It found its way out of Hell and into the forest, climbing on surrounding trees. Milly.

Heart of the Flame patted down her flames, causing them to collapse along with the rain. She tossed her head about and about, looking all throughout the woods. She snarled and grunted and growled—and with each step, her lizard skin tensed, ready to pounce, to strike.

Rustling in the trees.

The dragon slid her claws into the dirt, digging and then retracting, back-and-forth. Her tail curled back-and-forth across the ground. She hunkered down and crept closer to the forest.

Claudius's daze faltered. He shook his head until he awoke. Horror spread across his face, like watching the End of the World. The red-yellow sky reflected in his eyes, going down and down.

He whispered at first, "Athena," until stumbling, after which, he grew louder. "Athena," but then finally he yelled and his stomach lurched over and over again: "Athena! Athena! Athena! Run, Athena!" Like someone had kicked his legs in, he collapsed.

Heart of the Flame growled and tore her head around for two seconds. She snorted at Claudius's weakness.

Panting, Milly climbed higher into one of the trees.

Her ears pricking the other direction, the dragon regained focus and went after the cat.

But the forest was dark and deep, like the depths of the ocean. It had ravines, trenches, crevices. Heart of the Flame turned her body in on itself, squeezing all of her muscles together until they contorted into another four-legged—albeit much smaller—creature.

A white cat streaked out of the fog like lightning. She was short-haired, with a neat, curled tail—but despite her neat appearance, aggression and hunger were the main things coursing through her body. Heart of the Flame gripped onto the bark of the nearest tree, using her muscles to pull herself higher and higher until she reached the top of the tree, where all of the surrounding land and coastline became visible. She watched the treetops for any movement in any tree nearby.

The cat's red, rabid eyes flashed like fire. A bushy gray tail flowed out of a bird's nest at the top of another tree.

Heart of the Flame transformed into a squirrel; she hopped onto the next tree with ease, leaping from branch to branch.

Milly tucked her tail in.

Right before reaching her destination, Heart of the Flame caught onto a strong, sturdy branch. She stood tall, leaning up on two legs and balancing with her bushy squirrel tail. Her black beady eyes bore into Athena's soul. Suddenly, Heart of the Flame grew a couple of metres taller, lengthening into the thin, pale woman Athena knew.