May 10, 2020

  Waldo watches in irritation as Mara drops her guard and walks over to the mutant with such fragile eyes. She completely let go of her hostility and is resorting to tricks like this? What the hell is she thinking?

  (That is no longer your disgusting father, child. That is a mutated beast that will consume what is in its path. If you believe you can somehow reach your father’s consciousness, you must be more foolish than I initially believed.)

  The mutant continues to growl at Mara, although they’re not attacking. Mara looks at the mutant with such a sad and pitiful smile. The mutant’s furious expression drops ever so slightly. Mara continues to inch closer.

  “I’m so sorry, dad. This wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t a kid. If I was big and strong like mom was, I could have saved you… and you wouldn’t have to be such a monster.”

  The mutant lowers their scowl and their expression is replaced with a confused and slightly frightened look. Mara continues to walk closer, and the mutant suddenly begins to take small steps back. It growls again, trying to keep Mara away from him. When Mara gets even closer, the mutant slashes at her with his claws, making a clean cut on her stomach. However, Mara doesn’t fall or stand down, she continues to look up at the mutant with a sad smile on her face. Despite the pain she’s feeling and the blood trickling down her stomach, she doesn’t move an inch.

  “It’s ok… y-you don’t have to be afraid anymore. I’m right here, dad.”

  Mara takes the mutant’s hand in hers. The mutant freezes, their scowl dropping once again. Their body begins to slightly tremble. Their eyes release all tension and seem to gradually calm down.

  “I’ll keep being with you dad. I know you’re only fighting because you want to protect me because mom isn’t here anymore. But it's fine. Mara is okay…I’m still here.”

  Mara suddenly feels a drop of water touch her nose. She looks up at the mutant’s face… to see it crying.

  “My… my precious daughter…”

  Mara’s eyes glimmer with light as she hears her father’s voice once again. Even if it is slightly distorted, it’s still undeniably her father. Her own tears begin to fall down her face. The sight of seeing her dad once again… there was no way a child wouldn’t cry about it. She thought she had lost him.

  “Dad! You’re really back… I thought I would never see you again!”

  However, the only one who wasn’t in the moment was Waldo. His fists are being clenched with such a grip that his palm is leaking blood. The light on his eye furiously moves around in response to his anger. Not only was he humiliated that his theory was proven wrong, but that Mara actually succeeded in being so audacious that she would go against Waldo’s order of ending the mutant’s life.

  The War Spirit descends from their position atop the tree. They land on the ground with a crashing boom, the sound resounding across the area. Mara and her father turn around to see a furious Waldo stomping towards them. His feet leave behind heavy markings on the dirt. Mara already recognizes the look on Waldo’s face. It was the same expression he had when he made Mara lose an eye. A sudden burst of fear and shivers run through Mara’s body. Mara’s dad suddenly ups his guard and stands in front of Mara.

  “Mara, stay behind me. This thing is a monster! I won’t let him hurt you!”

  “No, dad! I know him! I’ve been traveling with him for a while since I left Fort Worth. But please, don’t attack him!”

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  Waldo slowly smirks at this conversation. He chuckles and Mara’s dad glares at him. Waldo knuckles begin to contract as his bloodlust begins to seep out from him.

  “A mere non-sorcerer threatens to attack me. You humans never cease to get in on my nerves. You will meet your devilish end by my own hands!”

  “Waldo, no!”

  Mara’s dad moves Mara out of the way and clenches their fist. He reinforces his body with as much cursed energy as he can.

  “You stay away from my daughter, you scum!”

  Waldo suddenly disappears from his spot. He appears dashing towards Mara’s dad, stretching out his arm. Mara’s dad’s eyes widen at the sheer speed of the curse.

  Squelch

  The shocking tide of the battle suddenly falls silent. All parties are standing with wide eyes, their bodies frozen. Waldo looks at his arm, now pierced through flesh. At the longer half, his arm and hand is drenched in red blood. He stares at his victim with a furious eye. He grabs the shoulder, and pulls out his bloody arm. He watches as the victim falls to the ground… as Mara falls to the ground.

  “No… my daughter… Why… Why would you do that? Mara, why?!”

  Mara’s father gets down on the ground as well and turns Mara around, inspecting her wound. The wound is a clean and clear puncture, the hole as big as the end of a baseball bat. The wound was this close to puncturing through any vital organs. Since Waldo was not expecting Mara to come between him and her dad, he wasn’t aiming for her vitals and her size threw him off. And so, Waldo is now staring down at Mara’s body with a furious eye.

  “You… you infuriating brat… you had the guts to interfere with my business and give yourself up. Your audacity knows no limits.”

  Mara’s dad suddenly grows angry and grabs Waldo by his collar. He stares daggers into Waldo, despite knowing how strong he really is now.

  “You damn monster! You just killed my one and only daughter! My last source of hope and light in this world! I oughta-“

  Mara’s dad is suddenly slammed into the ground by Waldo’s one hand. He coughs out a small amount of blood and looks up at the looming figure that is staring down at him. That blue eye of his seems to peer into his very soul.

  “You’re quite gutsy to touch me so freely, human. Even if you mutated into a new evolved state, you are still an insignificant flea compared to me. And it’s bold of you to assume that your daughter is dead. Although she is hanging on by the thinnest thread you can imagine, she is still alive. You’d better thank me instead for keeping her alive. I have plans for the future, and Mara is a part of them.”

  Mara’s dad gets silent. Waldo allows him to get back up and return to Mara’s side in a puddle of blood. He grits his teeth, trying to come up with a possible solution as to how Mara can be saved. But what could he do? What kind of technique or miracle can just magically make such a grave wound disappear? Suddenly, when he least expects it, a cold hand touches his shoulder with a firm grip.

  “I can assist with your troubles, sir.”

  Mara’s dad turns around in response to the cold hand. He sees a tall robed man with several small wrapped clothes around his left eye. The man gives Mara’s dad a soft smile, but it doesn’t really suit his face. Mara’s dad raises an eyebrow.

  (I didn’t even sense him or hear him coming. Where did he even crawl out of? Talk about being swift… but if he can really help me here, that would be brilliant.)

  “My daughter was fatally wounded… and I don’t believe I have what it takes to help her. I admit that I am pitiful in this situation. If you could please save her, I’ll forever be indebted to you sir.”

  “Of course, allow me to-“

  The man is suddenly clobbered on the head with a powerful punch. The man is sent flying and crashing into several trees, causing a great smoke cloud to arise. Mara’s dad looks to his side to see Waldo with his bloody arm stretched out in a punch, his eye still furious and burning brightly. Waldo takes a big stomp forward.

  “You dare show yourself in front of me, you cursed fool! I’ll shred your body and life into nothing!”

  “What do you think you’re doing?! He said he could help Mara and you’re going to kill him too!”

  “That fucker is messing with you! He’s planning on using Mara for one of his endeavors! If you let him touch your daughter then she really will die! Don’t you understand? That person is dangerous for you!”

  Mara’s dad flinches from Waldo’s shouting. He looks at the smoke coming from the crash, wondering if what Waldo said was true. But Waldo is a curse, he can’t trust anything he says. He’s the one who got them into this mess in the first place. This is possibly the only opportunity he can use to save Mara’s life, even if he has to give up his own.

  “I apologize if I frightened you. I didn’t mean to cause harm to anyone here. I’m only here to help save this child.”

  Mara’s dad sees the man appear to his right from seemingly thin air. On top of that, he isn’t fazed at all from the punch earlier. He’s surely tough and strong. If he’s really as malicious as this curse says, then he’ll have to strike a deal. He could probably kill him and Mara if he wanted to. The man crouches down next to Mara and looks at her wound. He can hardly hear her breathing, but even that is a miracle. He places his hand upon her wound and says the following words with a smile.

  “Idle Transfiguration”