Mother cleared her throat. "I will kill that wolf's entire family! It's his punishment for seducing my beloved students!"
Azere gasped. "Mother, please reconsider your decision! It's not the wolf's mistake, it's Olga and my mistake! We are obsessed with him. That wolf doesn't even know us!" she declared.
Mother glared at Azere. "Don't try to save that wolf from his punishment!" she snapped at her.
"Mother, punish me instead! That wolf and his family are innocent!" Azere insisted, she felt guilty somehow.
"Alright, I won't kill him and his entire family, but I'll chose one of his children to be imprisoned inside the cave for ten years! I'll put a curse on the child to torture his father as punishment for what he had done to my favorite students!" Mother delivered her final decision.
A loud gasped originated from the girls.
Mother looked at Azere. "You will bring me the child and chose the cave of your choice to be his prison place for the next ten years. I will extend the length of the child's stay in the cave if you will disappoint me again!" Mother warned her.
Azere bit her lip in sadness. She doesn't like Mother's way of punishing the innocent wolf and his son. But no matter how hard she will try to reason with her mentor, she wouldn't listen, because in the first place, she already hold grudges against wolves. "I'll accept your punishment, Mother!"
"I'm not yet done with my punishment for the two of you!" Mother snapped at them, her angry voice vibrated around the living room. Her mouth moved rapidly, putting a spell upon her students.
A few minutes later, she was done casting the Distortion Spell on her shameless students.
Olga and Azere looked at each other. They were shocked by the shocking changes on their faces, skin, and body!
Oh, my! Mother turned them into an old wrinkled woman!
They looked at Mother with shock and despair in their eyes.
"Girls, I turned you into an old woman so that you can reflect on your mistakes. The curse will last for twenty years! After that, you can finally set foot in Laswich Mountain again. The moment I accepted you back in my house, that is the time I will undo the curse and restore your original look," Mother said and vanished from the living room.
Olga and Azere felt distraught upon hearing the duration of the curse that they have to endure.
Twenty years of living an old woman's life! A severe punishment indeed!
Olga stood up, gritting her teeth in anger. "I'll find that bitch!" she said angrily.
"What are you going to do with Doreen? No! You can't harm her! Mother will get more mad at you!" Azere said.
Olga looked indignantly at Azere and slapped her hard on the face.
"W-why did you hurt me!?" Azere protested in shock. She caresses the area of her face that was hit by the slap, it hurts so bad.
Olga glared at her ex-best friend, eyes blazing with anger. "That's your punishment for making love to my man!"
Misty-eyed, Azere looked sadly at her best friend. "I didn't do it on my own accord! It's never my intention! I was also a victim like you!" she voiced out her side.
"I hate you! From now on you are no longer my best friend! Don't stop me if I want to find that Doreen and shred her body into a million pieces!" Olga said angrily and stormed out of the house.
Azere let out a loud cry of sadness, regrets, and anger. She went to her room and cry her heart out.
The following day. Doreen vanished from the Laswich mountain and was never seen again.
When they checked her room, all her clothes and belonging were gone. Which means, she left on her own.
But despite that fact...
Mother never wavered in her decision, she never accepted Olga's claim that Doreen was the one responsible for everything that happened on that night with her favorite students. She told them that Doreen probably left because she was afraid that the girls will blame her for bringing her to the lake that's why she discovered their lewd act. She continues with her punishment and ignored the girls' plea.
The next thing Mother did is kicked her favorite students from Laswich Mountain and left them to fend for themselves.
The best friend can never be reconciled again so they went their separate ways.
Azere settled in the cave that they have discovered during one of their escapades.
While Olga chose her territory, one kilometre away from Azere's place.
Azere had a theory that Mother hid Doreen and locked her somewhere, to protect that girl from her and Olga, in case they will retaliate. But she never told her best friend about her suspicion. She kept it to herself.
On the other hand, Olga becomes vicious and vengeful. She roamed everywhere in search of Doreen to unleash her revenge on her, but her search always bring her failure. She would visit Azere and taunt her from time to time, but the Azere ignore her provocation all the time, wanting to be left alone in peace.
One rainy night, while roaming around the neighboring forest she found a shivering orphan girl name Sabrina, she bring the poor girl back to her cave. Then, later on, they relocated into the hut near the cave.
Mother gave Azere three months ultimatum to bring one son of Hozer to the cave. She chose the youngest named Rhett, a kid filled with bouncing energy. She lured him into the forest and have him eat a delicious fruit from a tree. Then she brought the boy's unconscious body into the cave. Mother and Olga was there inside the cave waiting for the boy, Mother told Azere to leave.
Mother cursed and sealed the wolf boy inside the cave.
Azere pitied the innocent boy's condition and brought him food every day.
One day she visited Hozer and his family.
She had learned that the couple nearly went crazy trying to find their missing son. She felt guilty.
One day, she let her presence known to them. Hozer no longer remembered her due to her old-looking face. Then she explained to them what happened. She told them that their son wandered into the forest and eat the forbidden fruit, owned by a powerful witch. The witch got angry and imprisoned their son in the cave. He can only leave the cave after ten years as long there's a virgin maiden willing to kiss him.
At first, the wolf couple find it hard to believe Azere's claim, but in the end, Azere finally persuaded them to come with her to the cave to see their missing son.
The couple was about to ran to the cave to get their son out but Azere prevented them by freezing them on the spot. Then she instructed the boy to leave the cave. The boy rushed out of the cave and crumbled to the ground in front of his parents, gasping for breath.
Then all of a sudden, Mother appeared out of nowhere, lifted the boy's body and deposited him back to the cave. Miraculously the boy stood up, looking just fine at the entrance of the cave, he watched his parents with sadness and longing in his eyes.
That's when the couple realized how powerful the witch is.
Then Mother disappeared from the entrance of the cave.
Azere told them that anyone can enter the cave but they will die if they will attempt to leave the cave.
When the couple asked Azere who is she and what is her rule in the whole saga, she told them that she was the guardian of the fruit tree and the witch punished her for allowing a wolf to eat her favorite fruit. She was punished as well for her negligence and turned into an old woman.
She told the couple not to worry about their son because she's willing to bring food to the cave every day, until the boy can finally leave the place after ten years.
The rest is history.
~~~0~~~
End of Flashback!