Doom

'The beast needs its master to exist. It follows its master's orders only and remains loyal till the very end. But there are chances that the beast may go out of control of the master. It may be due to the master's desperate need for the beast. The beast identifies the true emotion behind the call of it. The more desperate and needy the master, the more the chances of the beast going out of its master's grasp. It grows, consuming the soul of the master. The beast remains loyal till the very end, protecting the master's body forever and ensuring the destruction of the master's last need of call. There is no way the beast can be stopped. The beast can't be killed. It will regenerate itself if such an attempt was made.

The beast can't be stopped by anyone after the master loses his control wholly. The master needs to be woken up from the trance to save him from his fate and to stop the beast. The master must choose something more important to him than the beast to make him choose over the beast. But then the power fades and the potion wears off, leaving the master as a normal wizard, leaving the beast behind to its contents.'

"That's a lot."

"But what do they mean by waking him up?"

"I don't know. Let's light fire on his clothes."

Emma frowned. "Where do you get these strange ideas?"

"Austin." he said as it was obvious. Emma narrowed her eyes on him. But shook her head anyway. She has her priorities.

"Got the solution for your ministry?" asked the lady sarcastically. "I don't understand your ministry. You always act like you care about the people, but not. You all are cruel."

"You are absolutely right, miss." Thomas said. "They all are selfish and greedy. I know."

"That includes you two." she said, crossing her arms.

Thomas scoffed at her words but stopped after Emma stepped foot on him. Emma walked to her. She moved to hold her hands, praying that she wouldn't pull away, which she didn't.

"I know what happened to you and your husband." Emma said and the lady's face softened, "Yes, he was murdered. And I am not sure, but it has to be the minister's wife. Chances of it are high." She sighed and looked over to Thomas before continuing. He gave a told-you-so nod to which she just rolled her eyes

"We are not here to save the ministry. If it was about the ministry we wouldn't have come. They deserve it, I know. But I promise you. After all that are happening in the ministry right now, Riverlook won't be the same. It is slowly learning its lesson by this passing minute. Doom is at the doorstep and everyone learns their lesson before death. They will be different from now on. Your husband will receive justice. Pray for all of us. We all are in mortal danger."

The lady stood silent for a moment but nodded her head, nonetheless. She understood what she was trying to say. She also heard noises from the ministry. Everyone did. But none came to look for it. They are busy with their own mice problems. What could probably be worse than that, right?

Emma gave her hand a squeeze before going back to stand with Thomas, the book held firm to her. She gave her a last sympathetic smile and turned to Thomas, giving him a nod. Emma teleported them both back to the ministry. This time Thomas couldn't contain himself and threw up on the floor. Emma gave a disgusted look to him and ran to Austin.

She saw Mabel standing near him. She is scared. She was watching the beast destroy everything. Her eyes held terror and her hands were clenching on her dress. She saw Emma in the corner of her eyes and gave out a breath of relief which she never knew was held.

"We need to wake him up." Emma said, holding out the book. "Something that will make him choose over his beast."

Mabel frowned at this. What will he choose over the beast?

"What does the book say?" Theo asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"We need to find something that will make him choose over his beast." Emma said.

"That's likely." Theo scoffed.

"Why? He will choose us over this beast right? Why is there confusion regarding this?"

Theo and Mabel exchanged a worried glance.

"Dear," Mabel started. "I have read his mind over all these past months and I know how much this beast means to him."

Emma frowned. "He will never choose a beast over us."

Mabel shook her head. "He was so desperate for power, just like his mom. He loved the idea of a beast and spent a lot of time with his beast. For him, his beast was something that brought him the life he always wished for. He trained his ability to perfection. He mastered it. He started to use his beast for everything and honestly I was scared of his thoughts. He liked to kill, even though he wouldn't accept it. Losing you brought out his evil. He thought that no one deserves mercy.

"He went for the mission we gave him and he would go without a complaint, because he wants to see them die. His mind always screamed that he likes to hear them beg. That's why he goes without a second thought. He makes them beg for mercy before he would kill them. And we are sorry that we took advantage of it.

"Have you ever thought why his beast didn't break out ever before? Because he was not evil. He never wanted to kill anyone. Even though he hated his parents and wished to kill himself, he never did that. He knows, he could never do that. He was considerate and your presence was enough to hold back the beast, his evil side. When you left and he was left behind alone, his evil side came to view. He was hurt and scared. He could never stop himself from this fate. He embraced his side and thought that it was necessary. He loves the title we gave him and we also hold a part of this whole mess.

"He would never choose any of us over this beast. Because for him, this beast is what saved him and helped him survive. We all have done so many things to him that hurt him and made him this cold. We are sorry and ashamed for this. But he would never choose anyone over his beast. He trusts his beast more than anyone. It never betrayed him. But we all did, at some point in our lives."

Emma stood there trying to understand. He may love his beast more than her. But she loves him more than anything. She let out a defeated sigh and sat on the floor. She brought up her palms to cover her face. What is she supposed to do now? She believed that he loved her just the same. Now what is the point of saving him if he doesn't want him to be?

"What is holding you back now?" Thomas asked, suddenly coming to her and sitting down next to her.

She brought her head up to look at him and her look was enough for Thomas to understand the seriousness of the situation. "Hey, what happened?"

Emma sniffed and closed her eyes to stop it from spilling. She let her head fall onto his shoulder. Muffled sobs were heard as she gripped onto his sleeve. He waited patiently for her to calm down. He slowly stroked her hair making her relax a bit.

"He doesn't love any of us?" Emma asked him. Her voice was broken and muffled. She broke down into crying at that point. He frowned at the question and forcefully made her look at him.

"Who gave you such an idea?"

"He loves his beast more than anyone, doesn't he?" her eyes were spilling tears with each word and it was becoming hard for him to understand what she was trying to say.

"He loves you more than himself, he loves me, Mabel, Theo_"

"Not more than his beast. We all are nothing to him compared to his beast. He will never choose us over his beast." She whispered to herself and it made Thomas understand what she was trying to say. If he loved her more than his beast, he would have been woken by now. She is breaking and he is seeing it.

"We could at least try_"

They were interrupted by the sudden noise of the collapsing wall. The walls of the ministry have collapsed completely and the roof is threatening to fall. The beast got a full view of Riverlook ahead of it. It paused for a moment to recognise that this is the Riverlook its master despised. With another earth shaking roar, it made its way towards its next aim.

"Aren't we supposed to stop it?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah," Emma said, gazing at it with shocked eyes, "yeah, come on."

She stood up and ran to Austin. She began to shake him vigorously.

"Wake up!"