Suddenly the ground in the small throne room lit up with arcane energy. Before Berlin had had the time to yell ‘antispell!’ or Polly had had the chance to attempt to break a window and flee, they were both engulfed by purple light.

When the light dissipated, they found themselves in an unfamiliar huge, cold, grey and decrepit cathedral.

“You!” A female voice called out.

“Uncle?” A male voice lined with confusion asked.

“Wizard!” A talking wolf declared, no doubt for the sake of saying something, rather than out of actual surprise.

The sparks that had formed at the fingertips of Oliver Berlin vanished, as he stared in confusion at his new entourage. They were not his minions, nor were they random passers-by, but they were none other than his nephew, the witch he’d hired to kidnap him, and that cursed beast who should have long perished under the spears of his underlings.

Polly flew up, before landing on Prince’s Claude’s shoulder. The man lifted his sword. As he pointed the blade towards the wizard, in a heroic stance, he spoke:

“How could you order Jynet to kidnap me? You knew I had no interest in claiming the throne, and was ready to transition out country to a democracy. What sort of twisted ideas could have led you to such a feat?”

“I think he just wanted to be king.” Jack replied in his stead. “But I won’t allow that. As I was explaining to you earlier, he wanted to eliminate all threats, by turning your cousin into a bird, along with all her maids and guards.”

“Is this true?” Claude asked, turning to the bird on his shoulder. “I had a cousin, but that annoying brat died in a carriage accident."

"My cousin was a dirty, ugly and dumb runt. You can’t be him.” Polly replied.

“Enough!” Oliver suddenly interrupted. “Yes you are my daughter, and yes you are my nephew, but that won’t stop you form perishing here and now!”

As the evil wizard said those words, he extended his arms to the side, and two golems rose before him, protecting him with their stone bodies. Jack immediately laughed at the one closest to him, tearing its arm away with his fangs. But as soon as he dropped the stone arm to the ground, it crawled towards the golem and merged back onto its stump.

Then, as if following a silent command, the golems moved in, onto the group. Jack leap up, hoping to tear of the head of one of the creatures, while Claude pierced one of them through its heart. However, neither the prince nor the wolf were successful in their attack, and they were soon forced to retreat.

“He’s getting away!” Polly, who’d flown up exclaimed, as she watched her father pick up his wizard robes in one hand, and dash towards the rotting wooden doors of the cathedral. “Do something!”

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Then, not waiting for the humans or the wolf to take action, the princess turned parrot dropped onto the wizard, attacking him with her beak.

“You damned bird!” He yelled. “I should have turned you into a frog, or worse yet into a worm.”

And before the poor Polly had had the time to say anything back, a fireball appeared in Berlin’s hand and flew straight into her.

With a pain-filled cry, Polly fell to the ground.

Only a few meter away, a loosing battle was raging between two golems, and a human and a wolf. The golems so far had managed to punch Claude in the face, and kick Jack to the side, making him limp with every step he took after he’d gotten up.

“Jynet, you must do something!” Claude cried out in desperation, as his back hit a stone pillar.

The witch remained silent, as he eyes looked somewhere into the distance, and a faint smiled was painted over her face. Her mind wasn’t entirely there, and hadn’t been ever since she’d activated the teleportation circle. But, Claude was in a desperate position, as his best friend was now laying unmoving in the middle of the cathedral. So, he grabbed Jynet by the shoulder, and violently shook her:

“Do something! Please.”

Jynet erupted in maniacal laughter, making Claude jump aside, and the two golems freeze in place in confusion.

“You … stupid … helpless … humans…” She spoke, struggling to get the words out over her own laughter. “First you get me involved in all your drama, made me do chores for you, block my magic, and to what goal? Tell me,” She suddenly turned towards Claude, and grabbed him by the collar. "Tell me. What role do I play in this game of yours?”

“I…” Claude mumbled, taken aback by the sudden change in personality of his companion. “I just only asked for your help.”

“Fine.” Jynet said, letting go of the prince. “I was planning on killing that bastard anyway. I’ll decide what to do with you later.”

“What do you mean by-”

Claude didn’t have time to finish, as blue flames filled the cathedral, engulfing everything, but strangely enough sparing him, Jack, and the motionless Polly.

“You witch!” Berlin explaimed, turning around and casting a protective barrier around himself.

But the barrier didn’t last long, as the flames changed colour from blue to purple, to neon pink, while the yellow sphere around Berlin warped and cracked. It finally collapsed in on itself, letting the magical flames in.

“Ahhhhhhhhh-” Berlin screamed, as the flames seemed to enter his body through his eyes and mouth, and burned him from the inside.

Then, as suddenly and quickly as it had begun, the flames vanished.

Claude took a few steps back, away from the witch whom he’d come to consider as his friend, but who’d just proven to him that she was way too powerful and dangerous to be anyone’s friend. Jack paid no mind to the affairs of humans, and rushed rowards Polly.

He turned the bird over with his nose, and checked if she was breathing. He let out a sigh of relief when he realised that she was.

“Isn’t she meant to transform back, now that the one who placed the curse on her is dead?” Jack asked, to no one in particular.

Jynet gave Claude a dirty look, before heading towards the parrot, and saying:

“It all depends on the type of curse. You should give her another moment. If she doesn’t transform soon, and might still have a chance to do so once her wounds heal. And if not then, well…”

Jynet didn’t have to finish that sentence, and they all understood what she implied.

“Will she take the throne of my kingdom if she becomes human?” Claude asked, joining the group as well.

“Is that really the only thing that concerns you?” Jyet finally snapped. “I almost lost my life and my magic because of your crazy uncle, and then because of you, and all I get as a thank you is you giving me orders. You know what, I’m done with you lot. Once Polly wakes up, I’m going to get out of this cathedral, and burn your whole kingdom to the ground!”

“You might be overreacting,” Claude forced himself to say. Despite the fear that had installed itself in his mind, he still felt the need to defend the interests of his home country.

“Hush, the two of you.” Jack interrupted. “She’s waking up.”