Where the wall once stood, now remained a massive hole, pieces of debris blown into the room of Beatrice's old home, and many injured residents of the unknown were in the wake of the Beast that had been the cause of such raw devastation. Beatrice remained where she was, trying to focus her attention once more in the incantation as the dark creature made its way into the house, silently but noticeable to everyone around him.
"You have my pawn." The Beast said in its deep, unhindered voice, full of darkness. It made its way over to Beatrice, maliciously. Eyes fixated on both his apprentice and the red-headed girl. Its white eyes, ever so bright focusing on their target like a predator does its prey.
Beatrice could only grow anxiety as she continued to spell out the incantation, attempting to keep focus of the importance of it and pushing back every frightened stutter that could form in her voice as she read. Beads of sweat began to pour down the side of her head, a clear sign of her fear as she was completely vulnerable and in the sights of such a dangerous creature. As neared the last words of her spell, a shiver went all throughout her body as the multiple breaths of the Beast were right behind her. She wanted to let out a shriek mid-spell when suddenly someone else spoke out.
"You will not lay a single accursed hand on that boy, do you hear me?!" Said the Woodsman, who had picked up a rifle musket, equipped with a bayonet and stabbed into the hide of the Beast. It let out an inhuman and unearthly screech. The Woodsman, with rifle embedded in the shrieking Beast, turned to Beatrice. "Finish it now!"
Beatrice quickly finished the last of her spell from the Tome, and a heavenly glow burst from Wirt's eyes and mouth, filling the entire Grist Mill in a blissful and fulfilling light. His veins glowed within his body and from his pores, lots of oil began to expel itself from them. After several moments, Wirt woke up and immediately howled in pain at the sensation. The Beast, mere inches away from Wirt, wretched from an even worse pain than that of the bayonet embedded in its back. Clearly tied to Wirt not just mentally, but physically. The Beast swung its hands towards and upwards at the Woodsman, the impact of which was strong enough to have pushed him into the second floor of the house.
The Beast rushed toward Beatrice and Wirt, and managed to scratch at Beatrice. Ripping off a noticeable feather from the arch of her wing, causing her to yelp in pain and turn to him in what appeared as innocent fear. It stopped once it looked at her, its momentary anger and pain soothed at the mere sight of the girl. Noticing a long forgotten beauty from a much fantasized past of innocence. She quickly shouted another spell and suddenly, the three of them disappeared from the home, leaving a stunned crowd behind.
"What happened..?" Asked the Woodsman as he fainted.
The Beast appeared in a just outside the town of Pottsfield. Confused, the dark figure looked around and recognized the calm little town. Next to itself, was the teapot, still containing the flame, and the torn feather from the girl that ruined its intent. The gorgeous, red-haired, blue winged beauty.
Yes.
The Beast told itself. This winged beauty had caught its own interest. A new, yet expected feeling crawled throughout its body. A much more desired evil than its usual conniving plans. The intent of wanton desire, ignited further with every incoming thought to its perverse mind. That would have to wait, however, as it remembered its pawn was also of concern. It concentrated on finding Wirt, but found out the vessel between them had been severed. However, it could still sense his existence in the Unknown, though his exact location would remain a mystery to it.
The Beast looked on yonder at the faint town, knowing full well what it made Wirt do previously to some residents the day prior. If it could grin, it would, the gears of its next plan were already in a motion, full of a conniving deceit. It picked up the teapot with the light along with the feather that belonged to that girl. Such a contrasting creature to its own horrid appearance.
"It is time to pay my old friend Enoch a visit, Gregory." The Beast laughed at the teapot.
Wirt could feel the pain subside in his body, only to be overwhelmed by the feeling of a weight equal to his on top of him. He looked up to see a very beautiful woman not much older than he, who's mere presence would have caused him to blush. In contrast, her look of disbelief at looking down at him did not change the fact that her natural blush, which complimented her dying autumn hair, only caused his heart to beat several times a second. He quickly gulped down his nervousness, never having been this close to a girl who he was even familiar with. In good manners, Wirt thought it best that he should let her introduce herself to him. She looked down at him and slapped him. Hard.
"You idiot!" She yelled. "Do you have any idea what you did?!" She slapped him again once more. "The amount of pain I felt thinking I lost my only two friends!" The girl continued to slap him repeatedly in her passionate onslaught. "I thought you were gone forever..." Tears began to fall from the edges of her eyes.
"Ah!" Was all the boy could manage to say. What else could he say, he had no clue who this violent beauty in front of him was. Yet, her voice was strangely familiar to him. "Oh my gosh! Beatrice?!" He asked in shock.
"Yes! Who else in this forsaken place do you know would have helped you out?!" She continued to cry. "You are the biggest idiot in the Unknown! And I'm the second biggest for choosing to have helped you out!" She continued to ventilate.
"Beatrice!" Wirt began with a stutter, yelping with each hit. "Believe me, you have no idea how much I regret doing what I did. I wish I could take it back!" He admitted to himself and her, for the first time having talked to someone other than the Beast since the entire ordeal began. Suddenly, something strange, yet familiar dawned upon him. The voice no longer existed in his head, nor did the Beast's control over his body. For the first time in what seemed like an infernal eternity, he felt liberated. Wirt's eyes began to water, and he quickly crashed over Beatrice to give her a powerful embrace. "Beatrice! Thank you so much!" He cried tears of joy. "You saved me, I'm free now, thanks to you! Thank you so much Beatrice!" He stuttered in sobbing excitement.
Beatrice paused as she heard the sincere gratitude of her awkward friend. Suddenly, her emotions of anger and distraught were replaced with happiness and joy, knowing she got her friend back and returned the embrace.
"I had doubts Wirt, I thought I lost you..." She sobbed silently.
Both friends continued their embrace for what seemed like hours. Both their arms tiring eventually, causing them to lean into one another by their foreheads. Wirt was the first to open his eyes and look down at her blue dress, stained with a traumatizing black.
"Beatrice!" He stuttered. "Your dress!" He warned.
"What?!" She pushed him back and looked on her shoulder where he cried. A black, ink-like, substance smeared from her shoulder all the way down to her forearm. "What is this?" She wiped some of it off with her fingers and took a closer look. "Oil?"
"What?! That's impossible! I feel normal, I shouldn't be infested with that stuff! Not anymore! You changed me back to normal...right?" Wirt panicked as he tried to convince himself everything was going to be alright. This caused Beatrice to flinch in unwanted anticipation.
"Wirt...I didn't fully save you from the Beast..." She admitted, and then pointed down to a stream, causing Wirt to realize where it was that they were. In some open area separated in the middle by a running stream. He quickly rushed over to the stream, nearly tripping several times along the way, to look at his reflection. As he got to the stream, he fell to his knees to get a closer look. To his horror, he had not changed physically, for he still had the dark, rough skin. The moon white eyes, the protruding horns from his skull and a much darker and viscous liquid running from his eyes. The only physical difference being that his pupils had reappeared in his eyes once more, giving him a minor hope to his humanity. Wirt sighed and fell on his back to calm down and take deep breaths. Beatrice walked up to him and sat by his side.
"Listen, pushover, the Tome I used to save you, it didn't have the answer we wanted, but it did have the help I needed to save you." She explained as she looked down the river. He turned to her.
"I'm not ungrateful for what you did...I just feel horrible and stupid for being the cause of it all." He admitted.
"Well, you should and you are." She let out a soft chuckle. In turn causing him to do so too.
"You're right. But I'm glad you came back for me." He smiled. "Is there anyway to set everything else right?" His smile faded as the reality of the situation came back to haunt him. She looked down at him with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"You didn't really think I'd save your butt and leave everything else the way it was, did you?" She asked sarcastically. Causing him to smile once more.
"I certainly would have when we first met." He shot back in surprise of himself.
"Look at you growing an attitude." She jested. Causing them both to laugh. When it died down she began another explanation. "Listen Wirt, the thing I read, I don't fully understand it. But this girl in a cabin and her aunt told me about which spells would help me out the most. The one I used to free you...It only worked partially."
"What do you mean?" He asked as he sat up to fully face her.
"When you accepted the Beast's offer, you willingly gave up your 'soul' to it. Meaning your existence in the unknown has become fully dependent on the Beast as a host." She explained. "You completely gave yourself up its mercy."
"But the spell you cast, it freed me, that must mean it worked, right?" He urged desperately.
"No, you're forever dependent now in the unknown. What the spell did is it bound your 'soul' to someone else." She said as she began to grow anxious in the revelation of her explanation. The wind in the Unknown created a natural sound between them to cover the silence before Wirt's next question.
"I'm bound to you now, aren't I?" He asked, already knowing the answer. Beatrice smiled.
"Yes."