The next day, Eda was in the living room, meditating.
"So, why are you doing this?" Luz asked.
"I began to think... if humans are able to control the animal in their body, why can't I do the same thing with my curse?"
"We don't control the Spirit Animal, we connect with it." Luz said, "It's part of us, something we work with."
Eda waved her off.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, same thing." Eda said, "What I'm saying is, what if I was able to do that? I could finally deal with this curse."
"Okay, that makes sense, but do you know how to connect with your curse?" Luz asked Eda.
"It shouldn't be that hard, I connect with it all the time when I turn. Though it's more running away from it, I can work around that." Eda said as she waved her hand.
"Eda, I think you're trying to do this in the wrong way." Luz said.
"Yeah, we'll see." Eda said, not caring, "Good Night!"
Eda made a spell circle and hit herself with a sleep spell. She nearly collapsed before Luz rushed to catch her, dragging her to the couch.
"Dang it, Eda! You're heavy!" Luz complained.
In her mind, Eda was in a familiar environment.
"Let's see, dark, depressing… yep, this is where I need to be."
Eda got up and began walking around, looking for the owl curse so she can control/connect with it to make her life a bit easy.
"Alright, bird brain, where are you?"
Eda continued walking around the dark, gray void as her feet made ripples like they were in water.
'The one time I actually WANT to see that beast and he's nowhere to be seen!' Eda thought before hearing a growl, stopping in her tracks. 'Finally! Alright, now I just need to try and control it.'
Eda turned around and stood before her curse, in the form of a large and ragged owl beast with dirty feathers and hollow eyes.
"Alright, I'm here to deal with you." Eda said, "This is my body, and you won't control it."
"RAAAAAH!" The owl beast roared at Eda.
"Roar all you want but I was born in this body, loved in it, and I will die in it when I see fit! Not you!" Eda shouted at the beast.
The bird looked at her, almost as if Eda was doing this... then was smack by its massive clawed foot.
"AAAAAH!" Eda screamed as she was sent tumbling across the ground. "Ugh! You worthless feather bag."
"RAAAAAAAAH!" The Owl Beast roared at her.
"Ah, damn it!"
The beast roared as it began charging at Eda, making her run away as it chases after her!
'This way didn't work the way I hoped it would!' Eda thought, 'I need to find a way out of this.'
Eda took off running and thinking of a way to conquer the beast while outside of her body, she opened her eyes and roared as they turned pitch black!
"Oh no." Luz said, knowing this wouldn't be good.
She's never actually seen Eda's curse, but she's been told stories. Luz quickly shifted to her panther form. True to Eda's word, Luz's golden fang turned into a golden panther's canine tooth.
"Grrrr." she growled while watching Eda's twitch and fall from the couch, fending as her body began changing almost painfully!
'Alright, beast, let's see what you look like.' Luz thought.
Once her transformation was complete, Eda was now a big owl-like monster, with black-colored eyes, long pointed ears, and gray hair with some coming out of her ears. Her body is covered in dark teal fur/feathers with two dark gray wings coming from her back and black, taloned feet that resemble a bird's.
"ROOOOOOOAH!" Eda roared at Luz.
Luz roared back, as the two predators circled each other... there was no way this wouldn't end in a fight. Inside, Eda ran to the very edge of the dark void she was in.
"Crud! Nowhere left to run!" Eda said as she slid to a halt.
The beast ran at Eda. Eda turned and tried to hold back the owl beast before they both fell off the edge, sinking into a black abyss of the mental landscape. When she woke up, Eda felt herself get wet, seeing she was on a beach.
"W-w-what the hell?"
She looked around and saw that everything was black, white, or gray.
'What is this place?' Eda thought as the black water crashed against the shore.
She heard a roar. Eda jolted up to her feet, looking around for the beast in case it attacked her!
"I... I won't run this time!" Eda said, "I'll... I'll get you under control!"
There was a massive shadow around the corner, getting closer as the ground shook. Eda clenched her fist and got ready... only for a small owlbeast, roughly the size of a six month old German Shepperd, to walk about. Connected to its leg, was a red string. Eda followed it to her own leg, seeing it tied to her.
'What in name of the Titan?' Eda thought, confused at the beast's new form and the red string around their ankles.
The Owlbeast jumped up and tried to fly, but fell to the ground, unable to escape Eda.
"You... don't want to be connected to me either... do you?" Eda asked.
She always thought of her curse as a prison, but maybe it wasn't a prison for her. Eda thought back to what Luz said.
'We don't control the Spirit Animal, we connect with it. It's part of us, something we work with.'
"Maybe..." Eda got on her knees and patted the ground, "Come here."
The Owlbeast did so, slightly nervous, like a feral kitten approaching someone with food. Eda held out her hand and the beast growled. Eda flinched but kept her hand out.
"All this time, I thought maybe I need to control you, try and keep you from ruining my life... maybe I was wrong." Eda said, "Maybe I need to accept that you're part of me, that you are stuck with me, just like how I'm stuck with you... maybe I need to accept that... that... that I don't need to control you... but I need to connect with you, that I need to learn how to work with you."
The Owlbeast made a light growl, but Eda kept her hand out.
"So, if I work with you... do you think you could work with me?" Eda asked, "Maybe you can accept that I'm part of you, just like how I have to accept that you're part of me?"
The Owlbeast stayed still for a few seconds... before walking closer and rubbing against the hand. It walked onto Eda's lap and laid down.
"Heh, I guess that's a yes, little buddy." Eda said, slowly hugging the small owl beast. "I don't know how but, I'll treat you right. I promise."
The Owlbeast then disappeared, going right into Eda's body. Eda woke up and got off the floor. She looked around and saw the house was a huge mess and Luz was breathing heavily as she sat against a wall. A little blood ran down over her eye from a deep cut on her eyebrow, her elbow was in the wrong direction, and the large cut on her leg indicated that she was incapable of walking at the moment.
"Luz!" Eda said.
"E-E-Eda."
Here it comes, Eda prepared herself for Luz to become afraid of her. The one thing she was afraid of happened again, she hurt her family. She was surprised when Luz reached up and gave Eda a hug.
"You're okay!" Luz said.
"You... you don't hate me?" Eda asked.
"I could never." Luz said, "Uh... you... may want to look in the mirror."
Eda looked at a mirror and saw that she wasn't like her usual self... she was different. Looking before herself, Eda was now a perfect fusion of herself and the owl beast! In all essence, a harpy woman!
"Dang, not bad." Eda said.
As much as she wanted to look herself over, Eda shook her head and focused back on Luz as she slowly picked her the human up.
"Kid, I'm so sorry." Eda said, moving Luz to the couch. "Let me fix you up."
"It's fine." Luz said, groaning a bit, "In the human world, if you don't have a couple of scars as an apex predator, you aren't living to your fullest potential. Besides, you have nothing to apologize for... I could never blame you for this."
"That may work in your world but that don't work here. Hold still." Eda said, holding her hand out to Luz as a spell circle instantly formed.
'I guess my magic is faster in this form, interning.' Eda thought as she began healing Luz.
And Luz has gotten another scar. Fun! Follow, Favorite, and Review for more.