Mistica Chronicles


Welcome to Issue 66

Lugia Winning Entry

I'm a loner. This is how it's always been. Waking up at the crack of dawn to an unwelcoming sun and running. Running nowhere in particular. Just running. Why do I do this? To get away from it all. The stress of my life, the worry that I won't be good enough. Can't be good enough.

It's almost like you're in a trance. Some sick, twisted image of reality. A normal person wouldn't understand it, they'd crack under the pressure. But I'm not a normal person. I am the Rougarou.

Yes, you heard me. I am the Rougarou; basically a more terrifying version of a conventional werewolf. Except I wasn't bitten. I was bewitched. I will never know who cursed me and made me into this monster, and that hurts. Maybe I'm running from them, worrying they'll find me again. Or maybe I'm running towards them, hoping for an antidote that will turn me back to normal.

Now the sun is rising again, and that means it's time to leave the cave I'm residing in. I don't pack up any belongings, because I don't have any. Just and a beaded necklace hanging around my throat. Now that I think about it, I don't remember this necklace. Did I have it yesterday? The day before that?

No, I couldn't have. But there it is, it's presence mocking me. As if it knows I am confused by it being there. I attempt to take it off, throw it somewhere far away from me. But something stops my arm. A force so powerful even I cannot overcome it. So instead I run. I don't know where I am going, but the necklace seems to pull me there.

Eventually, I reach a point between swamp and dry land. A marsh. The pull of the necklace weakens, and I take a moment to glance around. Even though I've never been here, it calls out to me. In the pit of my stomach, I know this is my home. This is where I belong. Even if it's only for a day or two, I don't have to run anymore.