A Tale of the Shapeshifters

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑿𝑳𝑰 - 𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆

Athena screamed.

She curled into a ball on the ground, her hands in front of her face. Everything shriveled up within her. Her stomach did flips over and over again.

She didn't know what to do. She didn't know.

Everything seemed to turn silver and gray, everything turned blue and black and purple.

Claudius's body hung over a pile of coins as if he had fallen over on top of them.

She didn't know what to do. She couldn't do anything. He wouldn't move. He wouldn't.

She just screamed, continued to scream because she knew that that's all she could do.

At once, Athena picked herself up off the stone floor and ran, tripping over her skirts. "Claudius! My Claudius!" she shrieked, tugging at his scales.

His eyes said it all. They were blurry and watery, devoid of life. He wouldn't terrorize humans anymore, not ever. He wouldn't leave the dungeon.

"Claudius," she whimpered into his face, right below his snout.

But there was nothing to be done. Nothing she could do.

She yelled at him. To get up, to go to the forest, to light some fires. But he wouldn't do it. He just sat with that same look in his blue eyes.

All of his black and red scales tingled and moved about. They shriveled up and died. And then at the end of his tail, a small silvery patch. No bigger than a thimble.

Her eye sockets tore open. The world turned watery; rain showers clouded her vision.

Claudius wrapped his tail around her. He was no longer warm like all of the other times; this time, he truly felt like stone.

Athena placed a hand on top of his claws. She patted him. "Claudius, I know you do not want to, but you must go and—" She just cried. "You already know what I'm going to say... So there's no use in me repeatin' it." The girl brought her hands together and pulled her knees to her chest, sobbing into the folds of her dress.

"And—and, even if I did go and tell tales about you, scaring some little children, it would be of no use... because you'll never go light forest fires either." She shook uncontrollably. "I do wish you would, but you won't."

Claudius sighed, a huge puff of air releasing from his nostrils. He closed his blue eyes, as large as Athena's face, and laid down his head on the cobblestone floor.

"I know there must be so many things you want to say to me right now," Athena spoke. She whimpered. "I'll find some way. Some way to save you."

Claudius picked his head up and shook it from side to side. His eyes pleaded with her.

Athena stood, brushing the dust off the back of her dress. "I can't leave you like this to die, not when our story together has only just begun." Her eyebrows lifted and the water drained; dawn broke in her eyes. "I'll find a way to break the curse."

~❦︎~❦︎~

Author's Note

I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while! I've been taking a break from Quotev to focus on schoolwork and personal stuff going on in my life. But once school is over in mid-May, this still will wrap up quickly!

Thanks to all who have stuck with me through this past year of writing and scattered updates. I appreciate you all very much.