Day: 97

Days Left: 5383

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They fought through the storm with Harmony leading the charge, dragging Corinna by the arm, her blunt claws scratching her skin as they clasped around her wrist.

Corinna struggled to keep up, her knees buckling under the force of the wind, leading to Harmony hauling her off the ground.

Reaching the front door, Harmony let go of Corinna and retrieved the key on her belt then attempted to unlock the door but failing due to her impatience.

"Here, let me-"

Harmony snarled when Corinna offered to help, eventually unlocking the door, slamming it open, then shoved Corinna inside. With her now safe, Harmony whipped around and stomped back to the door.

"You can't escape, Harmony!"

The chimaera froze, almost through the doorway.

"You'll never escape! It's impossible..." Corinna's voice croaked and faded away.

The stifled silence lingered in the air. It tightened and strained, ready to break, ready to be released but neither Harmony nor Corinna spoke.

Harmony fought the urge to look back at the young woman, knowing that if she did, she would never leave. Instead, she focused on the rock tower in the distance.

"Harmony?"

Do not look.

"Harm?"

Go outside.

"Harmony?"

And close the door behind you.

"Harmony. Look at me."

She'll leave you.

"Please, look at me..."

She'll be gone by the time you're back.

"Please..."

No more distractions.

"...please..."

Harmony looked up. Her eyes could not escape it now, they would not focus on anything else apart from her.

Corinna's face became blank and vacant, void of emotion and unreadable. It was like she was a porcelain doll.

"Don't leave." Her voice was flat and monotonous. It frightened Harmony, hearing her Corinna like this. That tone and that expression were not her but rather a mask that she adorned to prevent her mental state from collapsing any further.

The wind slammed the front door shut.

They both looked at it before returning back to each other. Harmony was the first one to avert her eyes to the floor. She stared down at her legs, unsure if they were shaking or perhaps her vision grew blurry, maybe even both. Knees buckling, she slumped onto the floor, her paws cradling her snout.

"I need to go, Corinna," mumbled Harmony. Her talons gripped at her fur. "I have to get out of here."

Even from this distance, Corinna could hear the chimaera's breathing, its irregular and rasping gasps of air, her rib-cage showing whenever Harmony breathed in.

"Harmony...?" Corinna's gaze lingered on the chimaera, travelling down from the jackal face to the visible rib-cage through the skin, to the three-fingered hands, the black-feathered wings on her back, then finally to the snake tail that hid underneath the green cloak.

Something was different. Something had changed.

Seeing flashes of the tail moving underneath the cloak, it confirmed her suspicions. The snake-tail was shorter than before, its scales now faded.

Harmony's fur was no longer as thick and mangled as before either. Instead, it was thin, almost like bristles, with patches of baldness where the fur had easily pulled off.

She was definitely changing.

Corinna edged closer on her knees until she was a mere inch away from the chimaera, who still had her head bowed in disgrace, arms dropped to her side, lifeless, and her legs splayed out on the floor.

"Harmony...?"

The chimaera did not respond and continued heavily breathing through her mouth.

The young woman reached out and caressed Harmony's face. At first, the chimaera flinched when Corinna touched her face but soon melted into it, her ears flattening and twitched as they were patted. Even by gently brushing her fingers against Harmony's face, clumps of black and white fur fell onto the floor.

"Are you sick?" asked Corinna.

Harmony's eyes looked up, trapped in the young woman's gaze then eventually managed to escape, and her head lowered back down again.

"Hey." Corinna lifted Harmony's face back up. She felt something underneath Harmony's jaw, a line. Tracing it with her fingers on either side of Harmony's face, Corinna followed the line as it travelled upwards, they then curved to meet each other on her forehead. Corinna's hands returned to Harmony's cheeks, brushing parts of her fur to see the line that framed her face in a border.

Harmony's hands lingered on top of Corinna's, holding onto them, before eventually guiding them off the monster's face, and resting them on her lap, still clutching onto each other.

Corinna let her fingers brush against the chimaera's paws, travelling from her wrist to her claws. Her eyes shot down as she felt not three fingers but five. The chimaera's hand now resembled more of a human hand than a monster's, the claws short and blunt, and with four fingers and a thumb. The four fingers were attached together to create the image of two fingers, fused together by a layer of skin. Harmony's hands had not been like this before.

Corinna looked back up at the chimaera's jackal face. "What's happening to you?"

Harmony's green eyes avoided the young woman's, choosing to settle upon the image of their hands almost intertwined. Before their fingers could lock together, Harmony pulled her hand away.

"I'm turning back into a human," she replied.

Corinna paused, noticing the sadness in Harmony's eyes. "Why is that bad?"

"Because I'll be weak," Harmony snarled, her heavy breaths resonating into growls and grunts. "I'll be too weak to escape." Her arms wrapped around her legs tightly. "My mask is broken. It doesn't have that many uses left. That's why I need to maintain this form for as long as possible."

Corinna remained silent.

It was selfish.

Selfish.

Let her go.

Just let her go.

She wants to go.

She needs to.

Once she's gone, I'll be alone...

And that's fine.

Everything will be alright.

She raised her head. No. She wouldn't be alone.

"I'm sorry," Corinna said in her monotonous voice. "I was too overprotective of you. I just didn't want to see you hurt. But... I realise now that you're suffering more from being imprisoned here." She paused and looked up to see those bright green eyes gazing at her. Corinna lowered her head. "And I'm stopping you from escaping. I'm distracting you by being here." She swallowed, her mask of indifference almost breaking. "I think I should move out."

Harmony did not respond. Instead, she too lowered her gaze to the floor. It was the same plan that she had.

"Ivette said I was free to live with her. I think that's what I'm going to do. Tomorrow... I'll move out tomorrow."

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