James' POV
He had stopped just for a little bit of rest after days of traveling, seeking the others of his kind, when he had woken up and found himself within a cage. It was horrifying to discover that he couldn't break free. What vile magic held him captive? Who would do something so cruel?

The answer is an old witch, once human and beautiful, she has corrupted her soul with dark magic until she was twisted and bent. All beauty lost to the blood magic. There is no illusion strong enough to hide what she has become.

He can see the animals within the cage. Listens as a hunchback declares them to be what they are not. Seeing that once the hunchback was different, he stood tall and strong, so sure of himself. But greed and cruelty, too much time spent with the witch, has twisted his soul. Causing the changes to his body.

There is another, a young man with worried eyes and thick glasses, who watches him with wary eyes. He knows the moment the young man is aware of what he is, the nervous energy filling every movement and moment.

While the hunchback shows people the cages, speaking of what's within, all of which is lies, the young man comes to him.

"I know you can see the truth," the young man murmurs, fidgeting as he stands beside the cage. "I'm sorry I didn't see your truth before she put you in there. I promise to try and help as soon as I can."

He nods slowly, replying, The animals are so abused, false and laid with illusion to make people see what isn't truly there. Except the other immortal. For our truth is stronger than illusion.

The young man nods.

"Get away from there! Q!" The twisted witch exclaims, cackling as she waddles over to them, glaring at the young man.

"I'll be back," the young man whispers in promise.

He ignores the words of the witch as she cackles and babbles. Not caring what she has to say. Not unless she plans to let him go, and he is sure that isn't the case.

That night as the moon rises high in the sky, Q comes back to him. "I'm going to get you out." The young man promises.

He neighs soft, Please hurry.

The next several minutes are spent with the young man trying to use magic but every spell goes awry. None of them work. He can see with each try that Q is becoming more and more frustrated, hopelessness beginning to form like a halo around the young man.

"Good thing I am a better pickpocket than magician," Q mutters as he fishes a key from his pocket.

It still takes several tries, because of magic on the lock before the mage manages to set him free.

As soon as he is free, he feels conflicted. He wishes to run, to flee, to escape from this horrible place. At the same time, he is a protector and these animals that are being abused and he almost feels a compulsion to free them.

Despite the fact Q is urging him to flee, he opens each cage with his horn, touching the animals and healing them so they will be able to survive in the wild. The last thing he frees is the harpy.

His fellow immortal attempts to attack him repeatedly until the harpy's attention is diverted to the witch and the hunchback.

They leave after that, walking away as the two are torn to shreds and spread all over what used to be the carnival's space.

The days seem to blur together, and he finds himself growing fonder of the mage traveling with him that has the spark of magic but can't seem to access that spark in an orderly fashion. The one thing the mage has going for himself is the ability to make things edible that weren't previously safe to consume. He's quite sure that Q doesn't realize he's doing it for himself.

More time seems to pass before they are taken in by a group of dirty men who feel wrong to him in ways he could not put to words. Q manages an illusion by giving into the magic and challenging it rather than directing it. The majority of the men leave with the illusion but a woman stays, with familiar eyes of living storm that he feels that he should know. She promises to help him

The three of them continue travelling.

He finds the two human's conversations regarding the fact M has silvery hair that is almost the same color of his mane intriguing. There is also the fact that she has eyes that are rather similar to his, yet different. It makes him curious as to what she is, because he can't see a real form, but something tells him she isn't what she seems.

He knows the moment they cross into the King's territory. Everything feels dry and parched, as if it is dying. It makes him want to adopt the land and use his innate abilities to heal to fix this land. He can't though, he has to find the others, save them or learn from them.

Just after dusk, as his companions are setting up a camp for the evening, a tremor in the ground draws his attention. Terror fills him as a massive creature, so unnatural feeling that he almost panics.

Energy pools around him as he backs away from the massive flaming bull. One moment he is himself, the next he feels wrong. He loses awareness of everything except himself. What is happening to himself? Why does his body feel different? Everything seems both louder and muted all at once. There is something wrong with him.

The breath is knocked from him when something bumps into him.

Wait, that feels so much different? He doesn't understand. What's happening to him?

"No," M's voice sounds off to him, like it's far away even though she's right next to him.

He tries standing up, moving away from M, but it doesn't work.

His legs feel wrong. So does his neck. He blinks, realizing that his vision seems to be different. Since when did he see things immediately front of him? Staring at the ground, he realizes that there are unfamiliar hands besides M's hand. Whose hands are those? They're not Q's. They are too thick, sturdy even. Slowly he lifts his leg only it's not a leg, it's an arm. With a hand. A human hand. He has a human hand. What's happened him? How is this possible? He's a unicorn, not a human.

"I can feel this body dying around me!" He wails, startling himself into silence when he realizes that was aloud rather than telepathy.

What's happened to him?

Terror fills him as he realizes he's human. He's the last unicorn and he's not even a unicorn now! Why? How? Why! He's supposed to be a unicorn! How is he going to find the others if he isn't one any more? Why is he a human? He's a unicorn!

Firm arms wrap around him, calloused fingers gently stroking his back and shoulders in soothing circles.

He feels so mortal. He can feel himself dying in this body. It's decaying with each breath. He's brittle and weak in ways he's never been before.

He knows they are talking but he can't understand them. The words are too much. The sounds and sensory input is overwhelming. All of it is just more than he can handle. His eyes feel as if they are on fire. Yet they are wet. He doesn't understand.

"Where am I? What am I?" he cries, his entire body shaking.

M gently brushes a hand across his forehead, making him realize his horn is gone as he doesn't feel it.

His own hand comes up to touch the space where it's supposed to be, trembling in terror and sorrow as he confirms what he already knew. "I'm a unicorn!" He howls in pain, his heart aches as if someone has run him through with a cold iron weapon..

M coos at him softly, soothingly, slowly drawing him back into the moment. Slowly his eyes flicker between concerned storm gray eyes and vibrant amber eyes watching him in earnest concern.

There are more words that he doesn't understand because his mind is whirling. Spinning almost faster than he can keep up. It keeps circling back to the fact he is wrong. This isn't him. How is he supposed to be recognized by the others when he's not even recognized by himself? He's a unicorn, not a human. Why? Why? Why did the magic do this to him?


I've updated my publishing schedule, I will try and update one or two stories on Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The stories that will be updated depend on the day.

Not all my stories can be found on FF, some are on AO3 only

Tumblr about mine & other peoples stories: JaimiStoryTeller, I can also be found on Twitter now jaimist0

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As this story is for a challenge and must be totally posted before the end of the month, it will be updated twice a week Monday & Friday until done.