Waraheim’s words sent a cold shiver through Gwynn. He had seen through her lies. What will he do next? She readied herself for an attack, summoning a protective spell at her fingertips.

“If you were the one who was being attacked,” Waraheim said in a calm tone, “then why did you strike me when I emerged from the portal?”

The question hung in the air. Her intentions had been easily discovered.

“You meddle with forces beyond your understanding,” Waraheim continued.

Gwynn had heard enough. What right does he have to lecture me?

Anger boiled inside of her. She lifted her hands and conjured one of her most powerful spells. The earth trembled beneath their feet, with spider web like cracks forming across the ground. With a loud sound of the ground breaking, a colossal sand worm burst out. It had large sharp teeth, and an eyeless head swiveling around, sensing it surroundings. The worm moved under Gwynn’s command.

“Kill him!” Gwynn screamed with fury.

The sand worm shrieked and reared back, getting ready to strike. Its massive head came down ready to devour.

Waraheim appeared unfazed by what was happening. Without looking up, he raised his hand and a magical protective barrier shield formed around him. The sand worm slammed into the shield — and in a bright flash, disintegrated into nothingness.

Waraheim stood up. “In your quest for power, you’ve lost yourself. You’ve lost perspective of what matters.”

Above them, the clouds above began to churn, with colors of purple and blue, forming a storm.

“Is this is not what you wanted?” Waraheim said loudly over the rising wind. “To achieve power and dominion over others?”

A beam of light shot from the center of the Nexus portal, moving upwards at the sky. The clouds spiraled around the beam with a great force.

“What’s happening?” Gwynn said. She was genuinely starting to feel fear.

“You wanted to open the portal, to reveal its secrets. You sought power at the cost of others. Their lives mattered not.”

Waraheim’s presence seemed to swell, as if some sort of apparition, beginning to haunt her. The wind picked up, blowing Waraheim’s hair, covering his face, while his eyes peered out from beneath, shining brightly, right to the very depths of her soul.

“All you cared about was yourself, and what you wanted to achieve. You treated others like tools, only to serve as stepping stones in your plan.”

Gwynn wondered how did Waraheim know so much about her. Something about his voice started to torment her.

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“Enough!” Gwynn screamed. She cupped her hands around her ears. But Waraheim’s voice bypassed her hands, resonating directly within her mind.

“You lost your humanity. You were so drunken in your lust for power that you would do anything to get what you wanted, even it meant hurting others. But it all comes to an end now.”

“Enough! Stop!” Gwynn shrieked. Each word felt like a dagger, stabbing her heart. She looked up at the portal glowing in the dark, wondering what would happen now.

“You can now finally go through the Nexus portal. It has opened for you…” Waraheim said and stepped aside with an exaggerated motion. He had a sly twisted smile on his face. Something was off and cunning about his expression.

Gwynn stood still for a moment, with her hands still clamped over her ears, trying to shield herself from Waraheim’s cutting words. The weight of her actions, something that she usually didn’t dwell on for long, now pressed upon her like a physical force of some sort.

I did what I had to do, she tried to reassure herself. If something stood in my way, I removed it. That’s how the world works… isn’t it?

Everything she had done to get here, was part of a continuum of her nature. She didn’t stop and analyze her individual acts. They were all just part of a greater whole, to achieve what she wanted, no matter the cost. To then be judged here like this by Waraheim seemed to have brought a new realization of her nature.

All of a sudden her heart felt heavy, drenched with guilt. Her body shook with an unnatural force. What was happening to her body? The hair on her arms and legs began to grow. Her teeth started to protrude, and get sharper, with her eyes also growing wide and monstrous. The world around her blurred. She struggled to understand what was happening.

Gwynn looked down with horror on her arms. Thick fur pierced her skin, growing long, covering her like some kind of a beast. Where her hands used to be, they were replaced with twisted long claws. Her posture angled, her spine curved. She began crawling around like a lurking beast under the shadows.

“What have you done to me?” Gwynn shrieked. Her feminine beauty was gone. Panic took over. She had been turned into something hideous.

“I have done nothing to you,” Waraheim said calmly, leaning against the rock. “You wanted power. Now it is yours.”

Gwynn looked back at Waraheim, with her newly transformed eyes, wild with a mixture of hatred and fear. She howled in anguish, the sound more of a tormented beast than anything human. She stumbled toward the portal, desperate to escape her fate.

It was too much for Gwynn to bare. She wanted to get away, to disappear. The growing guilt in her heart seemed to weigh her down with every step she took. She looked down on her form. The thick fur covered her body. Beneath where her heart was she felt the pain, as if some knife digging in deep. Waraheim’s words had stabbed her deep. Did he not have any mercy over her? She stared back at him. He seemed to still have a sly expression on his face.

“Go on through the portal, witch,” Waraheim said. “All the power will be yours. Isn’t this what you wanted?”

She looked back at him with fear in her beastly eyes. She felt like a scared animal. She wanted to run away, hide in the forest.

Her human personality merged with the beast. Her senses became acute. She could hear the rustling of leaves in the distant trees, the scurrying of small creatures in the underbrush. She could smell the scent of woodsmoke from the far off village.

“What are you waiting for?” Waraheim called out to her.

Her thoughts, previously sharp and calculated, were now scattered and confused. Abstract thought and intelligence had vanished, replaced by a raw animalistic instinct, only focused on immediate sensations.

Then in a moment of fear, like a cornered animal, Gwynn the creature, dropped on all fours and scrambled into the portal, in her animal mind not really understanding what was happening.

The portal closed behind her, the light dimming out, leaving only the stars shining above.