Horatia was confused. Very confused. And she didn't know whether her father or Mabel was to blame for this.
As she sat on the rug in the middle of her bedroom, she had two books placed in front of her. The spellbook Mabel gave her and the book Allerton lent, titled 'Origins of Magic'. But it wasn't the books that were leaving her puzzled. She hadn't even opened them yet.
It was the fact that what both of them said seemed to contradict each other. On the one hand, Mabel said that a curse would fall upon wendigos who used magic. And on the other hand, her father's explanation somehow went against all of that.
Why would father willingly punish himself and all of us for something we didn't even do? Does he want to be human that badly?
Feeling restless, Horatia laid down on the rug and looked up at the ceiling. All of this made her mind spin, and she could only cover her face with her hands in frustration.
Turning to the side, she looked at both of the books and reached out to touch the spellbook. "I don't know what father's thinking at all. If we can really use magic, then why wouldn't we? It looks so fun to use after all."
Feeling her eyes grow heavy, her grip tightened on the spellbook, and she couldn't help but yawn as the feeling of exhaustion came and went in waves until she was lulled to sleep.
…
Horatia was running.
And no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to stop or even slow down.
She didn't know why, but as she ran barefoot through a snowy forest, a sense of fear kept her from stopping.
However, she eventually tripped over her feet and found herself lying in the snow with wide eyes as she felt the wind get knocked out of her.
Trying to catch her breath, Horatia sat up and noticed that her antlers were once again out.
Frustrated, she tried to press down on them to make them shrink, but to no avail.
As she started to calm down, a crunching noise in the distance made her freeze.
While she could barely hear it, it was eerie enough that she could feel a shiver down her spine as she struggled to stand up and leaned against a nearby tree.
Every instinct in her screamed to run away, but her feet apparently had a mind of their own.
As she was forced to walk closer to the sound, Horatia desperately tried to grab branches and shrubs to prevent herself from moving forward, but to no avail.
It seemed that her only option now was to move forward.
With the noise becoming increasingly louder, Horatia had to strain her eyes to see up ahead, and what she saw nearly made her gasp.
In the distance, a mangled corpse laid upon the snow. While the corpse was already disturbing enough, it was the monster standing over it that made her nearly scream.
Resembling an elk, the monster stood on its two legs. And was so skinny that Horatia could count each of its ribs, as the creature's black eyes nestled into its exposed skull.
And the worst part was that the chewing noise was coming from the monster as it feasted upon the corpse of whatever poor individual was unfortunate enough to run into it.
Just as she was about to contemplate what to do, the monster suddenly jerked its head in her direction.
Letting out a gasp, Horatia quickly ducked down and could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest as she tried to stay as silent as possible.
After what felt like several minutes, Horatia couldn't hear anything, so after she took some time to gather up courage, she slowly stood up.
The monster was still looking in her direction.
For several tense seconds, Horatia and the monster stood still as they both stared at each other.
Then, suddenly, the monster ran towards her, and she let out a blood-curdling scream as her feet felt rooted to the ground, unable to move an inch.
…
Jolting awake, Horatia let out a gasp as she looked around wildly with wide eyes, attempting to gain her bearings.
It was all just a dream. However, looking down, she noticed her tight grip on the spellbook, and her eyes widened as the intricate details on the cover were glowing.
Actually glowing.
In fact, it was glowing a bit too brightly.
Dropping the book in disbelief, Horatia stood up and examined her body. There were no cuts or bruises at all.
Finally, touching the top of her head, she let out a sigh of relief as she didn't feel the hard bone of her antlers.
"So it really was just a dream." Letting out a nervous laugh, she could feel herself now calming down. And the now glowing spellbook drew her attention again, and she, albeit a bit hesitant, picked it up.
The light had dimmed considerably, and now, there was just a faint hum of energy that Horatia could sense.
Is this spellbook the reason for the strange dream I had? And that monster…I swear I've seen it before.
Walking over to the bookshelf in her room, Horatia held the spellbook under her arm as she skimmed the book titles until her eyes landed on the one she was looking for.
"Here it is." Pulling out the book, Horatia flipped through the pages until her eyes landed on an image of the monster she saw in her dream.
Pausing for a second, Horatia looked at the title of the book before looking at the image of the monster again and sighing.
Why does the title of the book have to be 'Demons and Monsters of the Lamendl Continent'? Isn't that a bit harsh of a title?
The monster that she unfortunately saw in her dream was none other than the monstrous form of the wendigo.
I've never seen anyone transform into this form, or used it myself. I suppose that's why I was a bit startled.
Unsure of whether she should feel ashamed for acting scared or guilty, a sudden knock on her bedroom door startled her, and she dropped the book on the floor.
"My lady, are you in there?" Hearing Mabel's voice, Horatia looked at the spellbook under her arm, still slightly glowing, and hurried over to her closet.
"Y-yes. I'm here, Miss Mabel! Just give me a second!" Shoving the spellbook haphazardly back into its box, Horatia quickly hid it again and went to open her door.
Looking at Mabel's excited face, Horatia took a second to catch her breath and let her come inside. "Sorry, Miss Mabel. I was…doing something super secret! So even if you ask, I can't tell you what I was doing!"
Amused, Mabel crosses her arms and examines Horatia's room before looking down at her. "Really? And how big is this secret?"
Fiddling with the hem of her dress, Horatia looked away from Mabel in fear of instantly telling her everything the second she looked at her. "It's a small secret. But, I told myself that I wouldn't tell anyone!" Quickly glancing up at Mabel, she gave a guilty smile. "Even you."
Letting out a sigh, Mabel nodded. "Goodness. Well, as long as it's nothing dangerous. I won't pry. Either way, I have exciting news to tell you." Getting excited again, Mabel smiled and pulled something out of her apron.
"Ta dah!" Revealing a flyer, she held it out to show Horatia.
Taking the flyer from Mabel, Horatia looks at it with a confused expression. "The Gelida Festival? What about it?"
As the edges of her mouth twitched as she tried to not laugh, Mabel clasped her hands together in excitement. "Isn't it great!? I don't know what you did, but your father has allowed you to leave the estate and head into town to go to the festival!"
Horatia's grip on the flyer loosened. And as it gently fell to the floor, she looked up at Mabel in shock.
"What?"