Chapter 3. The Curse (3)

"Willow? But I thought it was a mere talk of a child," King Henry said as he remembered the words of Leona. "She is not a witch, but a dragon."

"She was used by someone to say out the curse, though I couldn’t see who it was clearly. The curse is made by a blood dark sorcery," Oracle told King Henry.

"Blood sorcery? The old sorceress who had practised the art of dark magic is dead, I killed her."

"Don’t be so sure, my king. Anyway, we must separate Willow from his wolf. His wolf has emerged with his dragon and has become one," she said.

"What can we do to separate them?" King Creek demanded.

Oracle made a long big heavy chain appear right in front of them all. It was hovering in the air. "We need all the blood of the whole supernatural kings and queens to be placed on it before it will be used to chain his dragon-wolf. Let’s do that first before anything else," Oracle said.

"That will be no problem, they all owe me a favour," King Henry said.

"Let me start first," King Creek said, and one of his fingers became a claw which he used in cutting his other hand and touching the chain with it. He removed it and saw the chain had absorbed his blood.

Oracle spoke some words into the chain to lessen its heaviness. "Take the chain with you to meet the kings and queens."

Grabbing hold of the chain, King Henry left his throne room, changed into his terrifying green dragon form and flew out of his kingdom, heading towards the direction of the Demon King and the Vampire King first.

***

He returned in an hour and gave the chain to Oracle. The wolf was still weak.

"They all gave their blood willingly," King Henry announced and turned his gaze to his wife. "The Queen of Fairies and the Queen of Elves send their sympathies to you, dear."

Queen Lucia nodded her head; by now, her two daughters, Lillian and Kate, had joined them. Lucia directed her question to Oracle. "What’s next, Oracle? Involving the gods?"

"Not yet, move the wolf to the deepest underground cave you have, my king," Oracle said.

King Henry instructed some of his guards to carry Willow out of the throne room to the cave beneath his palace.

***

[Few minutes later]

Oracle used her light from her third eye to hold the lock of the chains and then proceeded to separate Willow from the enlarged and furious wolf.

If it wasn’t weak, the body of Oracle would have been headless by now.

Touching the forehead of the wolf with her staff, she whispered some words, and as soon as she withdrew her staff from the wolf forehead, the wolf’s body split into half, and Willow’s body was seen.

Oracle was fast enough to remove Willow before the wolf’s body would patch up.

Queen Lucia collected a sleeping Willow from Oracle.

"Let’s get out of here," Oracle told them, and once they were outside the cave, she used the light from her third eye to block the entrance.

The wolf began to regain its lost strength once again. The wolf stood up and tried to break out of the chains but couldn’t. It tried to roar out the fire, but it quenched once it reached its throat. It roared again, more angrily than before, and the whole cave shook. The ground and the entire Dragon Kingdom shook when it roared.

***

"Thank the gods, the nightmare is over," King Henry said once they were back in the palace.

"No, it is not over, my king. You noticed how the kingdom shook when he gave out his last roar." King Henry nodded his head, and Oracle continued. "That chain can only withstand the strength of the dragon-wolf for a thousand years; after that, it will break free and return back into Willow’s body. And this time around, he will kill everyone in the Dragon Kingdom and outside the kingdom," Oracle added.

"So, what are we going to do?" Queen Lucia asked.

"The gods revealed to me what to do, and that was why I had come and prevented the wolf from killing you, my king. To prevent his massive killings in a thousand years to come, he needs to find someone."

"Someone? How?"

"Leona was a female who had spoken the curse, and only another female can stop the wolf. You have to find a girl who is pure of heart. If she can change the heart of your son," she said, pointing at the sleeping Willow in Lucia’s arms, "she will be able to change the heart of his dragon-wolf."

"I don’t understand you, Oracle," Queen Lucia said, not getting the part where Oracle had said 'if she can change the heart of your son.'

"Once he is awake, he won’t be as he was before. You can take the dragon-wolf out of him, but you can’t take him out of his dragon-wolf. Don’t forget the curse hovers around him."

"How can we find the girl?" King Henry demanded.

"She is not from our realm, but from the Human Realm. You all have to go to the Human Realm and find the girl," Oracle told them. "The curse is within your household, so all of you must go to the Human Realm."

"My kingdom, who will look after my people?" King Henry said.

"You have a father-in-law, Henry; I will look after your people and kingdom until your return."

"Thank you, father," Queen Lucia said.

"Okay," King Henry said. "When do we leave?" he asked Oracle.

"When I said the chain would withhold the dragon-wolf’s strength for a thousand years, I was actually talking about the human thousand years. A day here is like a hundred years in the Human Realm."

"Then we should leave right away," King Henry said.

"Yes, my king. In the Human Realm, you will start from scratch to survive."

"No problem, as long as we find the girl, any hardship will be okay for us," Princess Lillian said, and her sister, Kate, supported her.

Oracle lifted up her staff and made a circle with it in the air, and a portal leading to the Human Realm opened.

"But how can we know it’s her?" Queen Lucia asked.

"Willow will know," Oracle answered.

And after one another, they entered the portal until it reached the Queen’s turn.

Oracle gave her a diamond. "Hit it on the floor once you are sure she has changed the heart of Willow. A portal will take you all back to this palace."

Queen Lucia collected the diamond from Oracle and entered the portal which closed after her.

"Look after the kingdom, King Creek," Oracle said and disappeared.

"I will," King Creek promised.

***

At the graveyard where Jay was buried, the strange ugly-looking lady appeared near his grave.

She said an incantation, and Jay’s body appeared on the surface. It was already smelling.

She bent down and touched Jay’s heart, which was beating slowly. The maggot which had fallen into the apple was to make anyone who had eaten the apple appear dead when they were not really dead.

She picked up Jay and placed him on one of her shoulders. "You are not Willow, but you will do."

She disappeared.