"Next time I might just go to the damn ball." She breathed dramatically, and the adorable red Florynox cub looked up at her with its massive golden eyes.
It purred as it nestled into Ivana's legs, and Ivana smiled. She always loved the sound of Knox's purr. It sounded like magic. Like a cross between a cat's purr and tiny twinkles.
Ivana turned her canoe towards the castle grounds, and she sighed as she thought about the ear full she was going to get from her mother for missing the ball. But it wasn't her fault. She had long told her mother that she didn't want to get married. But her mother, Queen Amara, never listened.
Ever since Ivana got her unknown and unranked beast two years ago, all Queen Amara had been working on was fixing alliances for Ivana. Alliances, Ivana, of course, always thwarted.
She wanted to be a soldier who fought alongside great men to restore the world to what it used to be… And she wouldn't be able to do that while being some prince's little wife.
She knew this… but her mother couldn't understand that. How she wished her mother would see things her way for once.
The sound of something rolling on wood suddenly caught her attention, and when she looked down, Ivana saw the highlight of her findings today. Sure, she found some cores and crystals, but this odd… golden ball seemed to call out to her.
She didn't know why it seemed so important. It was dirty and buried under rubles, but somehow she found it in that dark place, and she couldn't wait to get home and figure out what it was.
Knox, attracted to the shiny, medium-sized ball, flew over to it and began to play with it. Passing it gently between her paws.
"Careful, girl. We don't know what it is. I don't want you getting too close to it till I figure out what it can do." Ivana spoke, and as if understanding her, Knox flew away from the ball and back to Ivana's lap.
Giving Ivana the silence and time to think of the lies and excuses she would give her mother for missing the ball.
****
Finally, Ivana was close to the castle grounds, and she could hear the music playing in the distance. Knox's ears perked up as she also listened to the music, and Ivana smiled down at her.
"Looks like the party is still on." She said as she stared up at the canopy of tall trees that hid her perfectly from the prying eyes of the castle that stood almost a mile away.
"We'll have to stay out of sight." She added before looking down at Knox again, and Knox tilted her head as she stared at Ivana.
"We can't let the poor boy mom has chosen for me, get a heart attack after seeing me." Ivana continued before staring at her reflection in the water beneath the canoe.
Her heart broke as she stared at her mutated face. She became like this two years ago, and she had almost forgotten what she looked like before her beast fused with her… At first, she started avoiding mirrors, but after getting Knox and realising the little cub wasn't scared of her, she started building her confidence again. Maybe she didn't look as bad as she thought she did…
The lies she told herself.
Ivana no longer looked like the normal teenager she used to be.
No.
Now, her aura was just as different as her appearance.
Thanks to her unidentifiable beast, two snake-like fangs now protruded from her mouth, and wolf-like ears crowned her head. Her right cheek was decorated with faint, but visible, dark horizontal lines that looked like lightning had kissed her there.
Her eyes blinked in a reptilian manner before blinking normally, and black scales gathered on the left side of her neck. Her mutation was nothing like the transformation her friends got when they got their beasts.
Her boyfriend, Josh, who was already in that academy, got a golden-ranked beast last year. It was a Flame Gryphon, and it gave him beautiful, majestic features. Her best friend Anika got a Crimson Plume Hawk, and the features made her a sight to behold.
But Ivana's beast gave her features as ugly as it was. Her skin crawled as her mind travelled back to that day… The day she got a dormant egg and was chosen by this atrocious beast.
The day everything changed drastically.
********
Flash Back
Two Years Ago…
Ivana stared at the grey-coloured egg in her hands, and disgust flowed through her like blood. The egg had green spots all over that looked like mold of some kind. And it also had black vein-like lines that seemed to pulse with every breath.
Ivana felt the blood in her veins freeze as she realised that this… egg. Had chosen her. Of all the eggs in the temple, of all the people in the temple. It chose her!
Why would something so hideous choose her?
"Miss pompous, show us your egg! "A girl yelled mockingly from the crowd, but Ivana knew that was the last thing she was going to do. She wasn't going to let them see it.
This was the most appalling egg she had seen all her life, and she was not about to let a hall filled with people who didn't like her know that such a thing chose her.
Ivana watched with crippling fear as the egg in her hands began to crack. A small piece of the eggshell fell off, and black, thick liquid spilt from it onto her fingers, causing her to gag at the sight, smell, and feel of the weird substance.
"Ugh! What is that smell? "Someone questioned, and as if on cue, the crowd stepped back, while those at the front line held their noses as they watched Ivana in disgust.
"What is that? A stone rank skunk!? "Another boy mocked, and fresh laughter erupted again.
Ivana watched with tears now pouring from her eyes as the egg kept breaking. Spilling more and more of the stinky black substance onto her palms.
She tried to shake the substance off her hands, but she froze when a head finally peeked out from the egg.
A gasp escaped her lips as its glowing white eyes locked onto her, and every single emotion in her body was replaced with fear.
The creature crawled out completely from the broken egg. Standing proudly in her hands, and the crowd started gasping and murmuring in shock.
Ivana, on impulse, threw the beast to the ground and scrambled away from it. She had never seen anything so… disturbing.
The beast coiled back to its feet, which were two paws in its front, and Ivana watched with a heaving chest as the beast shook off the black liquid from its black, wet fur.
"What is that!? "Someone from the crowd asked the exact question in Ivana's mind, and the crowd stepped back.
The beast was a hybrid like none anyone had ever seen. Its upper half was a black wolf with fangs and a tongue like that of a serpent, while its lower body was the long tail of a snake, and its paws had claws so sharp they could puncture any skin.
Its glowing white eyes blinked as the beast cocked its head and watched Ivana.
A small hissing sound escaped it before it slithered over to Ivana, and she shut her eyes in fear as the weird-smelling creature sniffed her.
And as if confirming that she was the one it chose. In a second, it climbed up her arm. Resting over her shoulders and wrapping its tail around her arm.
There was silence for a few seconds, and then the hall erupted in laughter. Mocking, brain-piercing laughter.
"Miss too good for everyone, got a demon! "A girl trashed, and the laughter intensified. But not everyone laughed. Some were still in shock, trying to understand what they were looking at.
No one had seen a creature like this before. They couldn't even tell what rank it belonged to.
Ivana's eyes sought out Anika, her best friend, and when she saw her, Anika had her palms cupped over her mouth, with a face as pale as the moon.
Ivana looked back at the beast, which was resting on her shoulder. Its white eyes watching the crowd, as its tail curled possessively around her arm.
It was the ugliest beast she had seen in her entire life, but it fused with her, and now, against her will, she would be stuck with it till the day she died.
*******
End Of FlashBack
*******
Ivana came back to earth when Knox suddenly whimpered to get her attention as if sensing Ivana's pain. Ivana smiled as their canoe pulled to the shore, and she rubbed Knox's head. Her gaze fell on the golden ball, and she reached out to pick it up.
"While we wait, let's figure out what this is."
She whispered as she eyed the suspicious golden orb.
Knox flew off her legs to give her room to pick up her bag, and the things that had spilt from it.
Ivana threw Knox a moonberry as she got out of the canoe. Knox caught it in her mouth, and Ivana watched as Knox's wings shimmered in response to the berries. Ivana held up her long, black hair before securing the Canoe, and then she began her journey to the clearing in the woods, which was her private and favourite place.
"Come on, Knox." She called, and Knox obediently flew after her as they moved further away from the castle.
Ivana felt the ball in her bag, and her mind raced with possibilities as she thought about what beautiful ancient thing she could have found. She wondered what it was doing in that cave, and how it even got there.
As she skipped through the woods, she could only hope the answers she would get from the ball would be interesting ones.