Act 19

He wanted to end this pitiful life right there and now but he took a quick glaze at Lily still kneeling on the forest floor. As Xavier stared at most beautiful eyes he had seen, Lily slowly shook her head referring to the arm that was raise to kill Mat then he remembered what she said a while ago and retracted his arm back in his dark cloak but still firmly holding Mat’s foot. He pulled him close so their eyes were inches apart. Mat stared at Xavier’s white orb like eyes then he heard something but it wasn’t from his ears, he was hearing it in his mind. “Leave us alone and never comeback, if you do” Mat watched as Xavier’s eyes swirled into a vision where he was being dismembered by the very creature that was looming over him. He was horrified at the sight; a cold chill was run up and down his spine then the creature from the vision turned towards him there was nothing but cold malice and all he could describe it as pure evil. The creature pounced at him, ending the vision then Mat woke from the morbid dream screaming and thrashing. When he realized that it was only a hallucination, he jerked his head up to see Xavier still standing over him but he wasn’t holding his foot. He frantically ran away from the creature like a prisoner escaping from prison, after a few minutes Mat vanished in to the woods.

Xavier let out the exhausted sigh but one of relief and turned towards where Lily was sitting. Xavier immediately tended her wounds especially the gun shot on her shoulder, “Does it still hurt?” he asked reassuringly. “Like hell but I can manage” she chuckled softly and continued “I guess we won’t see Mat ever again, what did you show him anyway?” Lily asked. “Nothing much, just made him see what awaits him should he return” a familiar grin was pasted on his face. Lily smiled and caressed his cheek, “I am so proud of you, you prove to them you are not just some monster.” “And soon I won’t be” Xavier said showing Lily the wooden pendant. “That’s right, I almost forgot. We still have the ritual items; we can still be able to revert you back to human.” Lily said excitedly. “Well then, shall we my dear?” Xavier said sweeping Lily of her feet. He laid her down the spot where they last positioned and handed her the book of incantations then fixed the ritual circle and stepped on the middle. Lily said the first part of the incantation and the circle began to glow, she continued with the incantation and Xavier started to have white streaks forming on his dark cloak like white veins. Almost at the last paragraph, the forest the wind blew harder and the leaves were floating around them. It was like the forest itself was helping them. As she uttered the last word then a flash of blinding light emanated from Xavier forcing Lily to cover her eyes, Xavier wails could be heard and then with a sudden burst of energy, silence once again filled the forest. Lily slowly lowered her arms and her eyes widened where once stood a dark hooded creature now replaced by a man no older than 30. “It worked” she said to herself as she looked at the person in front of her, she noticed that he had white hair and an average physique of a regular guy, he laid on the ground and clearly passed out. He was stark naked and Lily had cover him so she pulled out a blanket and rushed beside him. Lily put his head on her arm and shook him so he would wake up, Xavier now in his human form slowly opened his eyes Lily was tearing up. He put his hand on her cheek to wipe the tear and was awestruck at the sight of his new arm, he quickly sat up and scanned his body. “Lily, it worked. it really worked!!!! Xavier screamed. He almost jumped with excitement but quickly dismissed the idea when he realized he was wearing anything aside from the blanket. He gave a Lily a big hug and for the first time he could feel the warmth of Lily’s body. All their hard work and dedication was worth it at the cost of a few scrapes and bruises. They both sat under the majestic tree just enjoying their success and each other’s company. After afternoon came, Xavier mentioned that he was getting a little chilly and Lily offered that they would stay in her apartment for the time being, they got up and started packing their things. Xavier fix the blanket and tied it on his waist so it doesn’t come off then he started helping Lily clean their mess and the left-over guns and ammunition left by Mat’s goons. As they picked up the debris, Xavier saw the birch wood with the wish on it. He picked it up and notice with was burned but the carving was still readable his face light up when he read it and remembered something so he rushed towards Lily and showed it to her. “Lily, come see this” he said pointing the birch wood at her, “Oh the birch piece, it didn’t burn completely.” Lily said with a curious tone. “I just remembered something and I won’t say it, I’m just going to show you.” said and raised his arm. He released a nervous breath and strained his raised arm, Lily was confused on what’s going on at first but when his arm began to turn black, her eyes widened. With a forced grunt, Xavier opened his arm to reveal a familiar black, elongated, clawed appendage. Both of them gasp in shock as Xavier moved the fingers, “How is this possible? Didn’t the spell work?” Lily said her hand on her mouth. “No, it worked for sure. Look at the carving on the birch.” Xavier said still checking his arm was authentic. Lily held the birch wood and what she saw made her understand what was happening, carved on the wood wasn’t “to be returned back into a regular human” but instead it said this “return my human body but keep the powers I gained from my shadow form”. Lily raised her gaze on Xavier like she was mentally saying “What the hell?”. As if reading her thoughts and answered her question, “I replaced the wood with a new wish.” “Why?” Lily retorted, Xavier grinned and neared towards Lily, held her hand with his normal hand and said “I changed the wish because I thought if I return back into my human form, I won’t be able to protect to the way I did today and the day we first met. Lily smiled and a single tear fell down on her cheek, she held the morphed hand and Xavier gave her his first kiss in centuries on her forehead. Lily blushed and pinched him in his side jolting him back, she laughed and told him to return back to packing up and surely enough, he did what he was told.