Chapter 6: Curse Of The Wicked Neko

The two warriors continued to gaze upon the beautiful sunset and the majestic twilight sky. With the gentle blow of wind, they are now in a calm state of mind, now able to relieve the dark thoughts clouding their mind. But, this relaxing and gentle walk for our two warriors is about to be turn upside down.

Axel and Linda now calmed down; are enjoying their time watching the setting sun together. With the calm wind breezing over them, their relaxing moment was interrupted when they hear a small meow from behind them. The two turn around and see a kitten meowed and walking towards them; Linda picked up the kitten, and is overjoyed, and starts to play with it.

But Axel sensed something isn't quite right with that kitten. He doesn't know why, but he has this bad feeling because this strange kitten emits some sort of dark energy from deep within it; he can tell it by sensing its presence. Axel kept his suspicion suppressed for now and watched Linda having fun playing with the kitty. He kept a close eye on the kitten as Linda continues to play with it. Suddenly the kitten starts to hiss at Linda and starts to act hostile.

Then, the kitten leaps towards her, and as the cat leaps, a purple glow emits from the kitten.

Axel's suspicion is confirmed; he's about to dash forward to intervene, but he's too late. The kitten lands on Linda's shoulder, and the kitten sunk its fanged teeth into her shoulder. She let out an agonizing scream as Axel quickly dashes forward and knocks the kitten off her shoulder with a punch; the kitten is sent flying; before landing on the ground dead.

Axel quickly goes over to Linda's aid, and he asks her frantically,

"Linda, what's wrong!?" asked Axel in panic.

"Axel, it hurts..." said Linda looking at him while holding on to her bleeding shoulder.

Axel quickly rips a bit of cloth from his gi and wraps it around her bleeding shoulder; Axel tells her,

"It looks like you'll not be able to walk well. I'll help you out," said Axel. "Now, we need to go back to the campsite to patch you up."

Axel puts Snowball on his left shoulder, and he lifts Linda into his arms; he carefully walked back toward the campsite making sure he's don't let Linda fell, and as she's lifted into his arms; she looks at him and asks,

"Why was that kitten suddenly attack me?" asked Linda with a faint voice.

"I'm not sure. When you lifted that kitten, I can already tell that something is off. I sensed that the kitten emitted dark energy from deep within that kitten. And when the kitten leaped towards you, I can barely notice a purple glow around its body," said Axel.

As Axel continued walking back to the campsite; he stops in his track as he sees below him the kitten; he just punched earlier. Axel looks down at the kitten's carcass, and he exams it for a while. After he finishes examining the corpse. He was shocked, he muttered to himself,

"This...this is a Wicked Cat! That fur pattern; there's no mistaking it. I thought they should've been extinct by now..." muttered Axel worriedly and with a worried expression on his face.

Linda looked down at the kitten's carcass then look up at Axel; who has an expression of someone who just witnessed a murder; she looks at him quizzically then asks him,

"Why are you looking so shocked, Axel?" asked Linda looking at him.

When she said that, he panicked a little bit, but he quickly regains his composure and tells her,

"No need to worry about me; let's just get going," said Axel.

"Ok..." said Linda, still with a faint voice.

Axel resumes his walk, and as he continues to walk back toward the campsite, he said to himself in his mind,

"From what I've heard. If someone is bitten by it, 'a horrific change will be inflicted'; on the person who is bitten by it."

"I just hope that thing is just a myth and isn't true," said Axel in his mind, reassuring himself.

A While Later

After a bit of a long journey, they finally arrived back at the campsite, Axel carried Linda to the tent, and he carefully lays her down on the mat; Axel tells Linda,

"Try not to move around; I'll be back in a second with some medicine for your wounds," said Axel.

Linda nodded, and Axel leaves the tent to find the medicine in his bag. Linda is holding on to her bleeding shoulder in pain while she waits for Axel to return with the antidote. Snowball hop into the tent and hopped onto Linda; she smiles and gently rubs its soft fur and said,

"Thank you for accompanying me, Snowball," said Linda continuing to rub Snowball's fur.

Axel finally returns with the medicine in hand; he walks over to Linda, kneels, and said to her,

"Linda, if you may carefully sit up. Now, this may felt very stinging but trust me. It will be better soon. Just hold on, ok," said Axel.

Linda nodded, and she carefully sits up; Axel carefully unwraps the cloth around her shoulder and cleans the blood off her shoulder. After that, he carefully poured the medicine onto the wound. Linda is groaning in pain as Axel carefully poured the antidote on to her wound; he calmly tells her,

"Just hold on for a little while longer; it will be over soon," said Axel giving her a warm smile.

"Ok...oww..." said Linda groaning in pain.

Now finish putting the medicine onto the wound, Axel carefully wraps back up the cloth around her shoulder, and Linda lays back down; relieved that it's finally over, Axel looks at her with a smile and said,

"Now, you just need some rest; I'll wake you up when I finish making dinner, ok," said Axel.

She nodded, and Axel walks out from the tent to find something around the woods to make for dinner. Linda stared at her bandaged shoulder; then, she looks toward the twilight sky and asks herself,

"How could I let myself to this...why do I didn't listen to Axel's warning..." asked Linda muttering to herself. "If I had listened to him, this will not happen to me..."

Her eyes begin to feel heavier and heavier with each passing time; she slowly felt her body getting more tired every minute. Her vision starts getting blurry, and then, she closes her eyes and fell asleep soundly.

Later in the Night

The twilight sky darkens, and the stars shine up in the sky. Axel returns to the campsite carrying a boar; he just hunted from the forest. He puts the dead boar down on the ground and walks toward the tent; he peeked his head inside and noticed Linda sleeping soundly with Snowball resting beside her. He smiles and said to Linda; quietly,

"I'll wake you up when dinner is ready," said Axel smiling.

Axel walks away and sets up the campfire; he lifts the boar and places it above the fire. He sits down; waiting for the boar; to be fully cooked. From the tent, Linda, who's still asleep in the tent, smelled the pleasant aroma of cooked boar outside of the tent. She slowly opened her eyes, got up, and walks out of the tent.

Axel patiently watches for the boar; to be fully cooked. When he begins to hear a slight groan coming from the tent behind him, he turns around and notices Linda already wake up, walking towards him. He quickly gets up and runs to her aid and helped her walk; he carefully set her down, and after that, sits beside her.

Axel turns to look at Linda and said,

"Finally, you wake up," said Axel.

"What are you cooking? It smells pretty good," asked Linda.

"Oh, it's a boar I hunted from the forest while you're asleep. So how's that wound of yours?" asked Axel.

"It doesn't feel very stinging like the last time..." said Linda holding on to her bandage shoulder.

"Don't you worry, it will heal soon enough; all you need now is just rest. Oh, it looks like it's done cooking. You want some?" asked Axel.

"I would love to," said Linda sweetly.

Axel lifts the now cooked boar from the fire and puts it on the ground; he unsheaths his sword, and as he lifted his sword, he realizes that he didn't bring any plate and any eating utensils on him; he looks at Linda and tells her,

"Oh, uhh, you see, I don't bring a plate and any utensils with me, so I guess eating it with your hands will do, I supposed," said Axel.

"It's ok, I don't mind it," said Linda reassuring him.

Axel starts to cut two of the boar's legs first with a swift motion of his blade. And as the two pieces of leg fell, Axel quickly puts his sword on the ground and catches the two cooked boar legs; he gives one to Linda, to which she accepts it gracefully. Axel takes his sword with his other hand and puts it back into its sheet, he walks over to Linda and sits down beside her, and the two of them started to munch on their meal.

As they continue to enjoy their food, Linda suddenly felt a sudden pain on her bandage shoulder and drops her food to the ground; she falls to the ground groaning in pain, tightly holding onto her shoulder; Axel dropped his food and quickly runs to her aid and asks her in a panic,

"Linda, are you all right?!" asked Axel worriedly.

"AGH! The pain, it hurts!" said Linda, tightly holding onto her bandaged shoulder.

Then Linda lets out an agonizing scream as a magenta glow emits from her body. Axel is in shock as he walks back slowly with his feet trembling. He then notices something is happening with Linda; he sees her hands sprouted short claw-like nails, from her head, emerge two cat-like ears, and lastly, a tail sprouted from her back. She continues to scream, and then, it stops.

Axel turns to look at Linda, and his eyes widened with shock and mouth agape; Linda slowly stands up and turn to see her friend standing in shock and mouth agape; she worriedly asks him,

"Axel, what's wrong...?" asked Linda worriedly.

Axel is dumbfounded by what he just witnessed in front of him; he now realizes that it wasn't a myth after all, and witnessed Linda transformed into what he assumes, a hybrid; with his eyes still widened from the shock, he said to himself in his mind,

"The curse of the Wicked Neko...was true..." said Axel in his mind.

Linda walked up to him and is shaking him, trying to snap him out of his trance, Axel snaps out of it, and he looks down to see Linda staring at him with a worried and scared look on her face. Again, Linda asks him worriedly,

"Axel, what happened to me? Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something with me?" asked Linda worriedly.

Axel doesn't know what to say to her many questions. He closes his eyes, sighed, and said to her slowly,

"Something...happened to you, and is not good. There's something you need to see..." said Axel with the feeling of guilt in his heart.

Axel unsheathed his sword and told her to look at the reflection from the blade. With trembling hands, she took his sword and looks at her reflection, and as she looks at her reflection, she drops his sword onto the ground with the sword, still reflecting her shocked expression. She falls to her knees; and started to cry with her hands over her eyes. Axel walked over to her, kneels, and hugged her, and tells her,

"I am so sorry; it's my fault that you become like this...I should've been quick enough to intervene, but I was too late," said Axel. "Again, I'm sorry...Linda..."

She continues to sob as Axel comforted her and help her to calm down. Linda now is turned into a cat-human hybrid; due to the bite of the Wicked Cat. And now she's cursed to become a hybrid; is this transformation permanent, or is it only temporary? It looks like our two warriors have to find a way to lift this curse; someway, somehow.