I sighed with irritation and let her lean against me while patting her head. "You fairies are so emotional. We had a rough night, but still." I started to think about what those goblins did to her and my expression shifted to confusion. "Never thought goblins could be so perverted. Talk about playing with your food."
May then moved to sit up again and wiped the rest of her tears from her cheek while sharing my confusion. "What do you mean? Goblins don't eat people. Some trolls and many other monsters do, but goblins don't. When I said they were a handful I meant they play with anyone they see." I stopped breathing from the shock that suddenly entered me. 'Wait. So, all those times I fought goblins they weren't trying to eat me, they were trying to-?!' I couldn't finish my thought before feeling sick to the stomach and had to fight the urge to gag.
"I-I'm going to bed." I laid down and May did the same. "Okay. Goodnight bestie." She laughed a little and I rolled my eyes. 'Why did I say that? She's never going to let this go now.' After a few minutes, I fell asleep despite my horrific realization and awoke again in the morning to the sound of a roar in the distance. I opened my eyes and saw Saniel flying overhead, and he then landed through the trees farther from the village.
I sat up and got to my feet with sudden anger and left the blanket that was around me on the ground. I started to walk quickly in the direction I saw him land and May woke up a second later. "Where are you going, Dedrin?" I didn't answer her and she got up as well to run after me. She caught up to me as I approached a clearing of trees where Saniel was standing in the grass.
Theodius hopped off from riding his back but I was too angry to notice him and stopped in front of Saniel. "Where the hell were you last night?! We went through hell and it could've been prevented if you knew how to stay put, you asshole!!" I expected Saniel to growl or try to scorch me again, but instead, he looked away with guilt beside his eyes. May then went in front of me to keep me from getting closer. "Wait! I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for him not being there! Saniel would never mean to put us in danger. It was probably just bad timing!"
Theodius came up next to us with concern in his tone which was too playful for what it should've been. "Yes. I'm sorry, it was my fault. I borrowed Saniel for a midnight flight last night and I didn't think you'd be needing him." I raised an eyebrow as I turned to him. "So you take full responsibility?" Theodius shrugged. "Sure, if you want to put it-" I then grabbed Theodius's nose as hard as I could. "Ah! Ah! Ow! Oh god!"
He frantically tried to detach my hand from his face but failed to my grip. "Ahhh!! The pain!! Let go! Let go! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" May tried to pull me away from him by my other arm but didn't budge me. "Dedrin! He didn't do it on purpose!" I rolled my eyes and let go of his nose. As Theodius snapped his nose back in place I kept my other thoughts to myself. 'How convenient is it that our fire went out a drastic amount of time earlier than it usually does on the same night Theodius just decides to take Saniel for a ride? I don't know what happened, but I do know that we're getting a little too close to finishing his quest.' I thought with my eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"May got hurt thanks to you, so if you want us to get on with your entertainment then I'd fix her up if I were you." Theodius noticed the bandages on her arms and legs and pointed his hand at her. "Yes, of course." Magic came from his palm and made her bandages and wounds disappear instantly. She gasped as she looked down at herself and smiled. "Thank you!" Theodius nodded with a smile as well and rested his hands on his hips. "Now then. I guess we should continue with the next spell. This one takes a minute to explain so how about you two come walk with me?"
He gestured for us to follow him and we left Saniel to wait in the clearing. As we walked through the trees, Theodius began to speak with his back to us. "So. While I was looking through that spell book you got for me, I noticed a fairly new spell that I found very interesting. It's one that is similar to a curse." I crossed my arms. "What's the difference?"
Theodius didn't turn around but raised his hands to gesture as he spoke. "A spell can usually be easily broken and doesn't really have devastating effects on its user, nor is it long-term. A curse, however, can change the course of an individual's life. It provides torture for the victim and is nearly impossible to break." May became nervous from hearing what he said and Theodius turned to her as if he sensed it.
"Don't worry darling, this isn't a curse, it just shares some characteristics." He then stopped walking so he could face us again and we stopped as well. "For this spell, I will be turning CherryMay into a rose. The good news for you Dedrin is that you don't have to find an antidote, for she will return to normal in twenty-four hours. However, the challenge you will have to face here during that time is to make sure that no harm comes to her. If anything happens to her, whether she doesn't receive water in time, loses a petal or a leaf, becomes too stressed, or even gets the smallest scratch, she will remain a rose forever."
May and I shared surprised looks once he finished his sentence. Theodius then turned to May. "I think you understand why I am making this quest more difficult now, since you're nearly at its end, but, you don't have to do this if you don't want to." May hesitated for a moment. "But, if I don't, Dedrin will fail the quest." Theodius's expression fell serious as he continued to speak. "Are you sure you're willing to take the chance that he will pass?"
May looked at me and shock remained in my eyes as she smiled softly. "Yes. I trust him." My surprise only increased and Theodius raised his hand towards her again. "Alright, take good care of her now." He looked at me before more magic escaped his hand and surrounded May. She glowed brightly and the light started to shrink. She turned into the silhouette of a rose with three leaves and once I took it out of the air the light disappeared.
I looked at her now as a pink rose in my hand, and I noticed that her stem didn't have any thorns and was moving on its own. It started to curl around my fingers and her petals bloomed the tighter she held onto me. I could also feel that she was warm as well. Her stem grew to wrap around my wrist and I didn't know what to think about this.