A Devastating End

This is part of a Choose Your Own Adventure story, Through the Black Door. Go back to the first chapter. You can also return to the previous chapter. Check out the chapter guide.

“Asha’s right,” you say, furrowing your brows. “I don’t like punishing a child, either, but if we let the foal go, we’ll be completely vulnerable to Shi Lei’s attacks. We can’t hide inside this church forever.” Not that you even want to stay in this eerie church.

Lionel looks at you like you’ve betrayed him. Asha is just smug. “Good. I’m glad you’re finally talking sense, Isabelle. The faeries don’t have power over everything. They need to learn that their actions have consequences. They can’t get away with these cruel tricks!”

You agree with Asha, yet…You once again gaze out the window. Is it just your imagination, or is Shi Lei glaring especially at you? As if she blames you the most for her son’s predicament?

Lionel grunts at this point and says, “This is folly. Maybe you can endure this, but I can’t.” He hurries back to the foal’s room.

“Stop!” Asha cries out and runs after him, her purple shawl flapping behind her.

Lionel ignores her and yanks the door open. The foal is right at the threshold, and he peers at you all with mournful eyes. Lionel says in a grim voice, “I’m so sorry we trapped you in here for so long. I hope you and your mother will forgive us.” With that, he starts pulling away the iron bars at the door.

Asha tries to stop him, but you reflexively grab her arms. She hisses. “What, Isabelle? I thought you were on my side and agreed to keep the foal captive.”

You grit your teeth. “I don’t really want to free the foal, but…At the same time, I would feel too guilty if I let him stay trapped like that. I just can’t bear it.”

Asha struggles in your clutch and says, “Ugh, both you and Lionel must have fallen under that witch’s spell. Few mortals can resist the black mare’s mesmerizing gaze. It does things to your mind that you might not even be aware of.”

You frown. While the black mare does have very striking — and beautiful — eyes, Asha must be exaggerating the mesmerizing effects. You are in an iron-fortified church, after all. Can Shi Lei’s spells bypass even iron protection?

You can’t help but glance out the window again. The black mare’s eyes are a pretty, glittering shade of green. But you also know that she’s a dangerous and treacherous faerie.

Regardless, you have now freed the foal, who seems a bit disoriented. Lionel soon dismantles all the iron around the church, while Asha seethes and curses in your arms.

At last, Lionel removed all the iron, and before long, the black mare steps into the church.

A thrill of fear and excitement surges up your veins. She truly is a gorgeous mare — faerie. But beautiful things are often not what they seem.

The colt dashes over to his mother, and she nuzzles his head.

Then, Shi Lei says to Lionel, “You have done well, human. Now you may go free.”

Lionel’s shoulders slump with relief, and he looks like a doll that has just been released from its puppet strings.

The black mare turns her burning green gaze on you. She whispers, “You could have persisted more in saving my son, but you did help in the end and that counts in your favor.” Before you know what’s happening, the black mare tosses her head, and a sprinkle of green dust falls on your head.

Asha has wrenched herself out of your embrace by now, and she stares at you with horror.

You have turned into a white mare. In a panic, you stamp your hooves and shake your mane. But you can’t shake off your new reality.

The black mare casts a mirthful glance at you. “Don’t worry. You won’t have to live in this body forever. When you have thoroughly learned your lesson, I will turn you back into your human form.”

Shi Lei then levels a piercing glare at Asha. “As for you, you are stubborn and cruel. I cannot let you live and have my son be threatened.”

Asha clenches her teeth and speaks in a haughty tone, “Faerie, you have taken everything from me — my lover, my home and family, my youth and beauty, and even my colleague, Lionel. I’m tottering towards my grave anyway, so feel free to take my life as well!”

However, the black mare shakes her head. “Killing you would be too easy. Instead, I would pay you back just the way you did to my son.” She casts another spell that wraps Asha in a ring of blue light.

The ring acts like a rope and binds Asha to one of the church pillars. She swears and struggles but cannot break free.

Shi Lei goes on, “I’ve enchanted you so you won’t need to eat, drink, or sleep. So you can enjoy being eternally bound here inside this dark and lonely church. No one will care for you, and you get to rot in solitude as your life trickles away bit by bit.”

You want to tell her that this is too cruel, especially after all Asha has been through. But your words come out as neighs and whinnies. Even if Shi Lei and her son can understand your language, they’re disregarding you now.

The black mare gives you an appraising look. “I have given you a graceful and exquisite form, but I won’t allow you to run just anywhere you want. Until you have truly learned your lesson, you need to follow us around and be my maidservant.”

Become a maidservant as a mare? But Shi Lei doesn’t seem like she’s joking. The colt just looks amused.

Shi Lei bids Lionel adieu, and the man rushes off like he has just been liberated from hell, which is probably accurate. The storm has receded by now, and even the sky is brightening.

As much as your heart beats with pity for Asha, you are powerless and you follow Shi Lei and her son out the door. Perhaps, Shi Lei will grow to like you, even love you, and you would be able to beg her to free your former lover from her woe.

But until then, you are nothing but a servant trapped inside the body of a mare.

The End