Chapter 135 - Black Pearl

"You don't know how hard I worked just to come to this situation,"

"And you don't know mine either," Gem said, flowing her arms rhythmically to the direction where she could hear the wolf's voice from.

"Finally, it will be mine!" The wolf growled and came at Gem from three different directions.

'Wait, three? How did he do that?'

But nevertheless, Gem was still able to dodge everything until the real wolf who was now trying to bite Gem's feet off but was scurried away by Gem's Energy ball.

"No!" The wolf cried when he tried to eat the Energy ball and only ended up chomping on a piece of cloth.

"Damn it!" he added and targeted Gem's necklace this time, "Give me that!"

"Oops, no." Gem took a step back and purposely dropped the Energy slime ball on the wolf's face, bathing him with Energy slimes.

The wolf quickly licked the slime off his face and body, thinking that it would save him, but no matter how much he licked it off, nothing was still happening to his trembling and deteriorating soul in that body..

"You're just like Petunia! And you're dying!" Gem said upon opening her eyes after realizing it just now.

"Why isn't this working?!" the wolf complained, ignoring Gem's laments.

"Wait, you think Energy slimes would just magically solve your problems just like that?" 

"Yes! That's why I even kidnapped kids for sacrifice to create this emblem," the wolf said in confusion while showing Gem the black pearl he had on his forehead. 

That was the thing that Gem saw from him earlier, shining like her pendant in this poorly lit place.

"You did what?! You sacrificed kids to create this?!" Gem croaked in anger, emphasizing the fact that he just did it all to create this place and nothing else.

"They're not dead, yet. But the instructions said that if I was able to turn ten children into wolves, my curse would break on its own!" The wolf said, trying to scoot away from Gem and back into the darkness as possible but the liquid Gem showered him on was already showing him away.

"What kind of bullshit is that?! There's no such thing as a curse that could turn you into a wolf, sir. Just come here and talk to me before I burn you with that liquid!" Gem demanded while sitting down on the damp floor with a stressed face.

And although the wolf did not come closer to her and sit down just like she demanded, he still stopped attacking and just stood defensively against her.

"How many did you kidnap? And how are you able to make this place? What instructions are you talking about?" Gem followed up with so many questions that made the trembling wolf angry again.

"Why am I supposed to answer this? You didn't give me what I want-" 

"I need answers first before I decide if I should help you or not!" Gem's loud volume overshadowed the wolf's confidence, making him tremble even more than the fact that his soul was now closer than ever to deteriorating.

"Who are you, and what's your deal?!" Gem stressed her words to the wolf who found no other choice but to cooperate with Gem instead if he wanted to live longer.

"I am Sir Graham's confidant, Durish Gray and I have worked for him since the day of his first service and I look up to him dearly. I was also the one who tested the tea that was given to Miss Monica the day she disappeared. No one knew what happened to us but I found a script in the trash while I was looking for food as a wolf two years ago. It all happened so fast I felt like I had no other choice-"

"So that script, what did it say? And you haven't answered all of my questions yet," Gem said, reminding him of the unanswered questions yet again.

"It was the instruction of the poison that Madame Lonnie used to transform Monica," he said while looking down on his trembling feet, "I don't have much time, if I can't obtain Energy slimes by today I would be doomed!" 

Durish, the wolf, looked up to Gem, scooting closer to her calmly while also begging for Gem's mercy with his eyes.

Gem knew what she had to do, but before making a final decision, she needed to know exactly what happened to the kids and if Sir Durish here deserves justice, like what he was implying he does.

"How did you turn those kids into wolves?" Gem asked while picking up herself slowly and using her other hand to release bits of Energy slimes to taunt Sir Durish.

"I sacrificed them to a tomb I built here in the woods. I needed their blood to make this stone a pearl and hopefully get closer to creating Energy slimes just like your pendant, but no matter how hard I try, it's just…"

"Not the same," Gem interrupted. "This is dark magic, making you think it's a cure when it's just a trick to sabotage you from the inside. Who told you to make this?"

"A witch in the north. I visited her place after finding out the name and location of her store in the instructions of the potion and she told me these rituals and sacrifices. But even after all that I did, nothing seemed to be working! The stone looked nothing like your necklace and this place is just out of this world! I just wanted to live!"

"I know, I know you just wanted to survive. But here's the thing, why did you think sacrificing children would be worth it just to save yourself? Isn't that selfish?"

"I don't know! I-I, uh, I just had this uncontrollable desire to do it, you know? It's like being a real wolf, in a sense. And Monica, I need to find her! The witch told me I could only reverse the curse by drinking Energy slimes with her at the same time but the damn bird wouldn't let me catch her!" Sir Durish panicked and uncontrollably howled in front of Gem.

"Help," he whispered in between his uncontrollable desire to lunge on Gem and bite her.

"I don't think you deserve help, Sir Durish. I'm sorry," Gem said, making up her mind and opting to finish him off so she could leave Solitude as soon as possible and reunite with her friends.