The Misty, Purple Cat

Chapter One-Ninety-One - ✎ Chari To Zhard (Halloween Story)

This is my Halloween piece for this year! Last hear it was a poem, in my poem book. This year it's a story about my persona, Chari! I hope you enjoy!

Today wasn't the best of days for Chari. Oh, it started good — but it went extremely downhill, extremely fast. Amidst a whirlwind of new information, she found herself in the eye of a magic storm, not a natural phenomenon. She kept her orange-and-teal wings folded around her, her own fire circling her like Will-O-Wisps. Her maroon cloak flapped wildly in the storm, or tornado, as it seemed to her. It was dangerously fast; Chari felt it tugging at her tail-flame.
     Sometimes a gust of wind would blast in her face, or try to catch her wings. But whoever was attacking never hit her flame. Either they didn't know it's purpose and didn't care, or they knew its purpose and wanted her alive for whatever reason. The latter sent shivers up her spine, and, incidentally, down her tail.
     Little flickers of green whisked by her vision, and with the use of her magic and willpower, she tore many leaves from the storm. Their edges turned a silvery color, aside from the purple glow of magic that bound them to Chari, and they were no longer being whipped into one form or another from the winds. The leaves, too, started circling her; and with more magic, she turned them all point-out, and they were launched into the storm like arrows.
     The storm got worse a few seconds later, and she felt her wing membranes get caught a few times. She summoned roots from the ground, and they twisted their way around her  feet and legs to keep her anchored, also with a purple glow. The cirlcing flames flickered, and likewise for her tail as the wind picked up. Thunder sounded, lightning flashed close to her, striking one of her flames. The fur around her ears stood up, and the rest of her hair was black with small wisps of orange. More lightning struck around her, decimating her flames.
     By chance, she looked up, and time slowed. Lightning was about to strike her, too, and she brought her wings over her head. Out of instinct, she used Steel Wing, realizing her mistake, but unable to fix it. Time sped up again, and the lightning arched for her now-metalic wings. She braced herself for the overwhelming pain the electricity was going to send through her, firing all her muscles without her command. She thought this was the end. And, when the lightning struck, she lost all doubt that she would die. All her muscles fired, and amidst the pain she thought it had felt strange.
     ———
The storm stopped, but Chari wouldn't know that for a while. A man stood there, his dark colored cloak still. He had black hair and dark eyes, with a pale complexion. A strange, disorienting aura emanated from him as he stared at his downed quarry. The sorcerer walked over to the limp form, briefly noticing that her hair changed back to orange with the black stripe, and used magic to pick her up. The roots were still wrapped around her legs, but they had lost her will, and were little more than a slight annoyance to him. He opened a portal, swirling and red, and sent her through first before he followed. Logic said, as he entered the stone room, that he could act as an escapee from his magic lab, and gain her trust. Logic also said that would work. And, for a moment, he thought about it. But he never really considered it. Things needed to be prepared, after all.
     Locatating an empty cage, he placed the strange magic user inside. There were four cuffs inside, however he didn't bother. He just left, closed and locked the cage door, and set magic-dampaning runed stones at each of the four corners. Once Chari changed, it would make things easier to explain. The sorcerer smiled to himself. Yes, this would be quite interesting. He'd never found such a creature who relied upon emotions and instinct as she did. Humans did, too, but they were neither powerful nor odd; Chari was both. She was perfect for his plan. She would become the new face of terror.
     The sorcerer left the room to get the change ready, both the alchemical and magical elements that will be involved.
     ———
Chari woke, initially surprised she was even alive. She became even more surprised when she realized she was inside a kind of cage, and suspicion set in when she looked at her cloak to find it unscathed and unburnt. Her hair had turned back to normal, probably because of her losing consciousness.
     She made to stand, and heard a clanking sound. Chari froze, immediately thinking she'd been chained in some way. Then she found the source of the noise, all four metal cuffs, and noticed that none were attached to her. She finished standing and looked around. The walls outside her rusted prison were stone, and there was a frame for a portal over in a corner. Shelves of ingrediants were opposite the frame, along with some sort of table or alter. Circles of runes were sparse along the floor, and even more so low on the walls. She shuddered, almost wishing she had been killed instead of taken to this place.
     A door opened, and when Chari looked at it, she noticed it was wooden. I can burn through it, she thought. Then a boy peeked around the door, and he looked to be in his late teens. He noticed Chari and hurried over to her, leaving the door behind. And, in the movement, revealed the large, black, bat-like wings on his back. His hair was the odd color of a dark gray, and his eyes likewise when he got close enough for Chari to see. "Are you okay?" he asked.
     It took her a few seconds to register he had asked her a question. "Oh," she said. "I think so. Better than I should be after being blasted by lightning with metalic wings..."
     He looked at her, a confused look on his face. "Your wings are metal implants? They look real..." He reached through the cage to touch one of them, bit Chari folded them both tightly around her. Her hair started to turn black, and her eyes more cat-like. She prepared for battle.
     The boy seemed to realize this and backed off immediately. "Sorry," he mumbled. "But are they?"
     "What's it to you?"
     "Well," he started, "if they're real, you can use them when we escape."
     Chari narrowed her eyes. She was on the verge of summoning fire. "And who said I want to escape with you? I don't even know you."
     The boy got just as cold as Chari. "Would you rather wait to see what the sorcerer has in store for you?"
     Instead of answering, since she knew the answer was an absolute No, she asked, "How did you escape?"
     "I have powers," he said cryptically. "Now, what'll it be?"
     Chari sighed. "Fine. Just get me out."
     He complied, grabbing the keys and unlocking the cage door. That was when he noticed her tail.
     "Are you part Charizard?"
     "Name's Chari," she replied instead of answering. "Now, how do we escape? Or did you not think that far ahead?"
     He seemed taken aback. Though, he answered readily enough. "No, I have a plan. We have to pass through the chamber he has his special ingredients and creatures, though. And I'm Sio."
     Sio led the way, through some hallways and a few empty rooms. Each time, Chari went in first, fire surrounding her. The special room wasn't anything different. Nothing, except a split second of warning.
     The sorcerer was there, seemingly waiting for someone. For me, Chari thought in a panic. She was about to turn when she saw Sio, or what used to be Sio. He was a tall shadow, and his wings were arched over her head. She had just enough time to reguster the betrayal before Sio said, in a dark, deep, demonic voice, "Didn't you wonder why I knew what was inside this room?" Then his shadow decended, Chari sending her flames into it. They got snuffed out, and she was next. She was about to warn about her tail being a life source, but she held her tongue.
     She would have prefered death to claim her at that moment.
     ———
The sorcerer watched as Sio enveloped Chari, all but the smallest tip of her tail. It wouldn't do for the face of terror to die prematurely, now, would it?
     "Good job, Sio," the sorcerer praised. "Status?"
     "Unconsious," the demonic shadow growled out.
     "Excellent." The sorcerer held up a jar of some kind of herb. "The first part of her change," he said. Sio moved away from her as the sorcerer approached, placing the herb after crushing it on her amethyst, wings, ears, and tail. Each turned black after a few seconds of contact, and the tail went out. "You are dissmissed." The shadowy figure left without another word.
     Once again, the sorcerer picked up Chari with his magic. Sio did a good job of getting her to trust him in such short time, mixed with her not knowing the layout of his fortress. The jusoa plant couldn't survive long outside the special room, and the juices from the plant were needed in the changing. Now, with that done, Chari could return to the room she'd awoken in.
     The sorcerer opened the door, but instead of heading toward the cages, he headed toward the alter-like table on the other side of the room. Once she was on it, Chari's black amethyst glowed red as it changed into a ruby, as did her flame when it came back to life. Her blackened ears turned to devil-like horns, and her tail thinned and turned red, too. The large wings she had disintegrated into ash; she seemed to flinch at that. The sorcerer smiled. This was all going perfectly to plan. Even more so than he had imagined. He grabbed two stones, small square slates, really, and murmured words as he incribed symbols with a black wand, the indentions glowing a blue. He placed one on her forhead, and the other on her heart. Her eyes shot open, white light beaming, and a small trail of smoke rose from her mouth. She's rebelling, the sorcerer thought. That would be problematic. But there was nothing left to do but wait for the fight to be won or lost.
     ———
There was a searing pain in her eyes when she came to, not even having time to mourn that she was alive. Her inner fire tried to cleanse the corruption, but it wasn't in her body — it was trying to get to her mind. Her heart, she felt it beating strangely, and a for the throbbing headache, it was all she could do to focus on trying to keep the corruption at bay. Her throat hurt, where the amethyst was, though it felt like it was burning, like her eyes. She couldn't feel her ears or her wings.
     As she took this in, she realized the corruption was winning, felt her thoughts darken and with every beat of her heart evil coursed through her veins.
     She didn't know what to do.
     That was when she exploded into fire.
     ———
The sorcerer sensed this coming, but the ferosity surprised him. A purple glow started, barely visible at first, steadily growing in intensity. The silhouette of wings and a think, dragon tail on a human figure flailed from where Chari was laying.
     He realized there might be more goodness in her than he'd anticipated. The sorcerer quickly went over to his shelves of countless ingrediants, grabbing runed or enchanted crystals and gemstones, mostly black or red in color, and threw them into the fire. Immediately the flames turned an odd black-and-red mix, and the girl let out a blood curdling scream, like out of a horror movie.
     The cloaked man sickenly smiled. The flames died down, and the wings and dragon tail were gone, the amethyst destroyed and changed into a ruby. The white light from her eyes faded, and when he checked, Chari's eyes were closed, and she was still, save her shallow breathing.
     "Seems that left you hollow, hm, Chari? We'll have to change that name of yours — it won't provoke fear at it's mention. No, that has to change, and burn from all memories, like your wings." He walked over to her, and confirmed that she was no longer who she used to be. The fire was long gone and forgotten in her mind. "You are now Zhard, face of terror and destruction, under my command alone. Do you understand?"
     There was a groan from her, her eyes squinted. When they were open, the sorcerer noticed the iris' were black. The voice that she used was deeper and monotone; it would gain a morbid edge in time, the sorcerer decided. "Yes," she said. "I am Zhard. Face of terror and destruction. To act under your command alone."
     Zhard stood from the table, and pulled her cloak around and let it hide everything except her head. A mixture of orange and black flames appeared around her. "What is your command, Master?" she asked, still in a monotone, emotionless voice.
     The sorcerer smiled. "Go to the small village of Gohia, and rain fire upon them. Before you leave, tell them Shunu is far from being defeated. And, if anyone gets in your way, obliterate them."
     "It will be done."