I got up without thinking so I wasn’t paying attention to how off my balance really is. Now that I’m calm again, I stand up and stumble to the ground. A lost limb doesn't happen to my kind, or any spirit really, so this is all new to me. I miss my arm. And my eye. 

I lean against the wall for support as I follow the Bruxa to Mael’s office. The decor is much brighter on the inside of this tower. I expected blacks and grey with a bit of red. But the walls are deep blue with shades of purple and pink. Electric lights litter the ceiling although they aren’t on right now since the windows let the light shine through.

Bruxa and other classes of vampires here aren’t harmed by the sun, it just gives them a headache like some humans used to get in the heat. Not that there is any sunlight in this winter hellscape. 

“Whats Mael’s plan? What does she think is beyond the clouds?” 

“A solution to this never-ending winter, hopefully. Its the only solid plan anyone here has come up with. Everyone else is content with just dealing with the bad weather and ignore the species that are dying out due to scarce resources.” The Bruxa glances over her shoulder to look at me, “We’ll be finished in about twenty years. We’ve started rationing but the other bloodsuckers are getting greedy.” 

“Mael isn’t a vampire.” 

“I know. You think we don’t know?” She stops and turns around to point her finger at my throat, “We aren’t stupid. Mael isn’t one of us, she’s too focused on this ‘beyond the clouds’ nonsense, bring up Fae and she’ll rant for hours on how inferior they are, but she’s also the only one with an inkling of a plan. Will it fail? Pfft. Maybe.” She pulls her hand back, “but trying a useless plan is better then what the rest of us are doing. Sitting around waiting to die.” 

The Bruxa points to the double doors up ahead before going down the stairs to my right. Approaching the door, I notice carvings scattered about both doors, and not by an expert hand. Its mostly crude pictures of Fae dying in gruesome ways, vampires being worshipped, cooked fish.. what is this? 

“Oh, you’re her—“ I was leaning against the door to keep my balance when Mael opens the one I was using. I fall forward with a hard thud and manage to pick myself up in fear of being ridiculed. 

“Can you see okay? Should I make it brighter in here?” Mael sounds genuine as she fiddles with the light switch by the window. 

“Its bright enough. I have some questions of my own.” I walk over to one of the chairs by the desk and take a seat. I gesture to the new blue coat I’m wearing. Its nice and the same shade as my cloak but.. its not me. 

“Did you change something about me?” 

“Yes.” That was blunt. Mael takes a seat in the large office chair and swishes her wrist, making some papers float over from the other side of the room, “Let me explain what I think I know.” She holds up my own map from my journal, 

“You tore the page out. That was mine.” I frown and reach for it with my left hand then switch to my right, ‘Why did you take it?” 

“Touchey. Your journal makes you sound so composed!” Mael grins and points to the fort, “I picked you up here. I was watching the attack and after you made that lycan explode into bloody paste, you busted the last bit of power you had left. Not very smart.” 

Mael puts the map down and gets an empty syringe out from a plastic bag, “I like your drawings, by the way. Reminds of my own. You saw them right? On the doors? I made them when I first got this office. I needed to vent that day.” 

She taps the syringe with her finger, “You see this? I had to inject you with something that would actually effect your spirit body. I know there’s something beyond the clouds because thats where I got the formula for this injection! It was a scale, and even better, a UNICORN scale!” 

I can feel Mael beaming at me but I can’t even look at her. . 

“You ruined it.” 

“Heh..” Her tone shifts slightly, “..I beg your pardon?” 

“Becoming a Unicorn was mine! It was my belonged to me and it can only be perfect if its done by my hand!” 

“But you said in your journal that you don’t even know what it truly looks like.” 

“Of course I do!” I stumble out of the chair and grab my left arm, “Its white, a horse, has a horn on its head that can heal anything..!” 

“Thats a generic description. And boring.” 

“I don’t care what you think! That was my goal, so you had better get whatever you put in me—!” At this point, I’ve rounded the desk and grabbed Mael’s arm. I can’t control my anger. If my powers were working, I would have filled this room with water. 

“You’d better watch your tone.” Mael frowns and shoves me to the ground, stepping on my stomach, “I turned you into something better then that shitty version you were thinking of. I mean, I don’t know what you’ll look like when it kicks in but it has a horn.. I think.” 

She gets off and pulls me up, “I’ll work on a cure, alright? And when we restore the world, you get your river back and then you’ll be your boring version of a unicorn even though mine version will be better.” 

“I never verbally agreed to help you.. but if I didn’t have a choice before I certainly don’t now.” This is all going by so fast.. I can’t process everything right now. All I know is that Mael has promised a cure if I help. She’d better. Or I’ll die trying to kill her for injecting me with.. whatever this is. 

“Do you even know the side effects? When will this kick in?” I slowly take a seat in the chair, “What will it do?” 

Mael snorts, “I don’t know. All I knew from the sample I got was that it was a reptile and has a horn. From what I dug up at the library on old world animals. The magic of the storm must have mutated something up there.” 

“You changed me on a whim?!” If I had both hands I would strangle her. But maybe if I aim right, I can beat her to death with my nub. 

“For the good of our goal. Get beyond the clouds and fix this mess. If you’re like whatever is up there then we won’t get attacked as much, I figured. But before that we need to collect some materials from these places.” She points to the little icons I’ve drawn, “The mountains. I know dwarves and oth—some ugly Fae live together in harmony or whatever. I need some ore from their mines. Then, we need to go here.” She points to the desolate farmland, “My scouts said that there’s still livestock running around. I need two for power.” 

“So..” She hands me the map, “..Which one do you want to go to first? You can get your bearings as we travel.” 

I stare at the map. I want to go back to the fort, to see how they’re doing.. dammit. 

“We can go to the farmland first. Are you looking for another horse?” 

“I’m not using you as fuel! I need two non-sentient mules! There must be some still hanging in there because the farm is still running even though its a shithole.” 

“Alright. We’ll head there first.”