Two Days Ago

There was no escaping this. None whatsoever. There were three straps that bonded Dalton to the metal table. The potion master hung over him like a reaper, doing as she pleased. At this point it was nothing by playing around with the tie Maya had given him.

She looked in awe, holding it as if it were something holy.

“There is powerful protection imbued in the colorful tie you’re wearing,” she said finally. “And here I was wondering why I haven’t been able to feed you any of my potions.”

“Protection?” Dalton blinked at that.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I wonder how a person like you would have been given such a gift.”

“My girlfriend gave it to me,” he said.

“Your girlfriend must have luck. The way the tie is weaved together with the spell is quite amazing. I would not have noticed, if not for the fact that all my tools broke into pieces.” The potion master touched at the tray next to her.

It was true. Every time she used a tool to push one of her concoctions in him, it would break. She tried to pour a potion in his mouth, but a nail that dropped from the ceiling broke it. She tried to use a syringe to inject it in his blood, but the syringe dropped from her hand, and she stepped on it.

Even laying here, Dalton could see that something wasn’t natural. It kept on happening, and happening, until she decided to scan him with magic, and the tie reacted to it.

“I don’t feel so lucky.” Dalton said. He tried to pull from the leather straps that tied his limbs down. The potion master giggled.

“Those straps are cursed items. Even a protection spell weaved in your tie like yours, would have a tough time dispelling…” She frowned. Her fingers touched the strap. “It seems the protection spell is much more powerful than I thought. The curses on these straps are being dispelled as I speak.”

“Really?” That perked Dalton up. Maybe he had a chance to escape after all.

She flicked his forehead. “You have a beautiful woman that plans to attend you tonight. It’s mean to reject her offer.”

“There is only one beautiful woman for me.” He thought of Maya. “I won’t betray her.”

The potion master whistled and turned her back to him. She rummaged in the drawers of her cart. “Wow. Big words for a man that was sold to me doing…an underground Dark Monsters duel.”

“I did it for PTO.” But it was a dumb excuse. “He probably never intended to give me any of it.”

“No. Probably not.” She agreed.

“So, can you let me go then? It sounds like we’re in a stalemate. You can’t do anything to me and eventually these straps will break,” Dalton said.

“That’s true. I can’t.” There was a pop from her. She turned around with an uncorked bottle of white liquid. “It breaks my heart to know that I have to destroy such an expensive item, but my pride is on the line.”

She dumped its contents on his tie.

Nothing happened, and she quirked her lips in disappointment.

Dalton blew out a sigh of relief. “See, it’s best to let me-”

His tie snapped in two. The potion master’s red lips curled.

“Wonderful.” She clapped her hands together. “Now, what potion should I use on you? Oh, how about this one?”

She showed him a vial of pink liquid. When she pulled the cork off, a heart was drawn in the air from the top.

“Wh-what does that do?” Fear invaded Dalton.

“This is my gender-bender potion. It will immediately transform you into a woman,” she said, tipping the vial playfully over Dalton.

“A woman? I don’t think my girlfriend would like that.”

“You shouldn’t worry about that. You should worry about yourself. The last person I tested this on, screamed in pain as their bones broke to try and shape a woman’s body and their bodies ate their genitals. It didn’t turn out well for that man, and he…she died.” Her eyes gave a dangerous glow. “But I think I have it this time. I’ve added bull testicles.”

“I don’t know too much about potions, but how does that make this better?”

“I looked it up on the internet on Fakebook. It said, bull testicles help the body repair itself,” she said.

“That doesn’t sound right!” Dalton yelled. “It’s obvious that you’re being misinformed!”

“I don’t think so.” She folded her arms. “I gave a dying man bull testicles, and he seemed fine. He threw up all the impurities in his body, and then he died because his body could not handle it.”

“It sounds like he died from something else! What happened to the Potion Master who just destroyed my tie? Was that just luck?”

She folded her arms, giving him a scowl. “I don’t need to answer you. I’ve done just fine in my Clinic. I have saved many lives even if my methods are unorthodox. Like curing potion addiction. The only way to cure that, is to give them more potions and then sell it to them for three times the asking price.”

“That’s the opposite of what you should be doing! And it just sounds like your taking advantage of their addiction to make money!”

“Did you graduate from Potion Academy?”

“Is that even a real place? That sounds incredibly fake.”

“I graduated at the top of my class. That six-week course was brutal, but now I understand everything about potions.”

He was screwed. He wasn’t sure what the potion in her hand would do to him, but he doubted it was going to turn him into a woman.

“You know what. Enough of your negativity. Become a woman.”

Dalton closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to come. Instead, it felt very cold. Dalton opened his eyes, and the potion that was about to drop on him, had frozen solid. The potion master was frozen too. Her eyes were wide with horror as a hand clasped her shoulder.

“Hey. What are you doing to my boyfriend?” Blue eyes peered from over her shoulder.

Even though she was frozen, her lips quivered, releasing two words.

“St..star wit..ch.”

“Time to be punished.”

The potion master was dragged to where Dalton could not see, but he could hear her screams and everything that happened to her.

#

For the five minutes, there was nothing but silence. The screams had stopped and Dalton waited for that person that saved him to come back.

But he already knew who his savior was. The aroma of ice flowers tickled his nose. A scent he would always remember.

“Maya. I know it’s you. Can you untie me?”

Finally, Maya stepped into the light. She was a woman with long straight blue hair that touched her shoulder blades. Her eyes were a darker shade of blue than her hair. She was wearing a traveling cloak. She held her arms close to her chest and looked like a puppy that made a mistake.

“How did you know it was me?” She asked.

“I heard your voice I would never mistake it,” Dalton said.

“Ha!” She smiled, giving a small tap to his shoulder. “You romanticist. You know exactly what to say.”

“Can you get me out of here?” Dalton waved his hand, to show the ropes binding his wrists and ankles. “They’re very uncomfortable.”

With a snap of her fingers, the ropes became cold and brittle. It took just a slight tug for the rope to break apart.

Dalton rubbed his wrists, and then he looked over to the other side of the room. There was nothing there. “What did you do to the potion master?”

“Potion Master? Is that what she called herself.” Maya snorted. “Might as well have been an amateur.”

“Maya.” Dalton stared at her.

She sighed. “I punished her.”

And that was all she said. Dalton wanted to press more, but he could see that she did not want to speak anymore about it. So, he changed the topic.

“So, you’re a Star Witch?”

“Yup.” She wagged her finger in front of him playfully. “One of the Eight in the universe.”

“Huh, neat.”

“That’s a dull reaction. I was expecting you to be surprised. Like, ‘my girlfriend is one of the notorious Star Witches!’ You know that reaction.”

Dalton scratched his cheek. “I am, but I’m also not. I felt that you were…different when I met you. But that doesn’t change how I feel.” Dalton gripped his chest, remembering how tight his heart felt when he saw her. “The moment I saw you, I truly wanted you. I can’t help but feel that way, so it doesn’t matter whether you’re the devil himself. I’d stick with you.”

Maya threw up her head and laughed. “Oh! You never change. Even all these centuries, your base never changes. That’s wonderful. That’s fantastic. I’m a Star Witch, we’re pretty notorious for being called devils.” She wiped away a tear. “It’s what makes you so wonderful, Dalton.”

“Centuries?” Dalton repeated. “I’m not that old.”

“Oh, come on. You work in a job…you know, you’re selectively dense. But that is part of your charming nature,” she said with a refreshing smile.

“Thank you?” Dalton cocked his head.

“Anyways, Dalton. What are you doing in such a dangerous place? I know I imbued magic in your tie, but that doesn’t mean you act reckless. That woman might just be an amateur with potions, but she still is able to create negation potions.” She was giving him a lecture “What would have happened if she dosed you with this incomplete gender bender potion? I can tell you, I’ve seen terrible reactions from things like this.”

“It’s not like I wanted to be in this situation, Maya,” Dalton said.

He explained to her how he winded up here. From being forced to duel, and then to be sold. After, he was finished, Maya looked around the building, and nodded as if she just decided something.

“Okay. I will have to go, but before I do, I’ve decided that I will destroy this potion den, and I will destroy your boss’s favorite brothel.”

“Wait, I still need to talk to you. If you’re a Star Witch, we should talk about it.”

“Ah, that’s right. You’re looking for a new job right? I don’t think it’s a good idea if you remember right now.”

“What? What do you mean?” Dalton took a step back.

“Well, it’s just that you tend to be distracted. Knowing you, tomorrow you will wonder so many things, and forget about your interview tomorrow. I can’t allow that to happen.”

“That doesn’t happen,” Dalton said.

“It does.” She nodded her head. “When you met me, you were supposed to meet the woman your father wanted you to marry. You proposed your love to me, and we went on a date while your father and fiancée waited hours for you to come.”

“I…” She was right that did happen. “That’s different though.”

“Then there was that time when you got found out a game you like was coming out, you kept on watching the trailer until it was midnight, forgetting to get the ingredients for dinner.” She took a step forward. “I cannot allow you to do that.”

“I swear. That’s not going to happen. I plan to go to the interview. Nothing is going to stop me.”

“You’re probably going to look up Star Witches on the internet tonight, rather than prepare.” She touched his forehead. “I’m going to freeze the memory until I come back in a few days.”

“Wait, I-”

His train of thought froze. He couldn’t move, and he saw her take a step back, and nodding.

“Ah that’s right. I got you a new tie.” She rummaged in her cloak, bringing out a tie with little rockets on it, as well as a metal ring. “And this ring.” She held it up to his eyes for him to see. “I have cast a spell on it. It will appear to you if your tie breaks again. Just put it on.”

Then she pressed her lips on his forehead, and with that, everything went black.

The next day, he woke up in his apartment, only remembering that he had an interview that day.