The marsh lay silent as I threw caution out the window moving through the murky waters straight toward the valiant stallion.
I was so captivated that I ignored the fact that it was getting harder and harder to reach the horse as the muddy water kept trying to trap me.
Pulling my leg out of the now shin-deep mud I was doing all that I could to make any bit of distance.
When I was still a ways away suddenly, the water began to churn. Worried I commanded the alligators to protect me from any attack that might come from the horse.
However, they refused to move despite my command so I threw that thought out the window and focused on the great stallion.
Normally this would have caused warning alarms to go off in my head as puppets were meant to be totally and utterly under my control.
I was literally the one keeping them active as I made use of the curse to take over their minds.
So if something was interfering with that it meant it was far stronger than any of my current abilities.
Yet I was too preoccupied with the emergence of another figure to have such thoughts.
My mind was instantly overwhelmed by anger as the beautiful horse I had been so desperately seeking and finally found was about to be stolen from my grasp.
Just ahead in the distance, the figure of a person I barely recognized was reaching out their hand to grasp onto the horse.
"You damn shadow! That's my horse!"
Screaming I trudged around in the mud barely making any progress as I watched in horror while the female shadow was mere inches away from touching the horse.
Her appearance was barely recognizable due to her worn clothes, torn skin, missing leg, and being covered in mud but I still knew it was her.
What I didn't know was that the poor shadow had gone through so much just to survive this wicked dungeon to end up at such a location.
Somehow unbeknownst after being attacked by the gator it dragged her away and brought her to a nearby island.
The shadow managed to hold her breath the whole time and once on land after a terrible battle, she managed to come out victorious.
The only reason this happened was because the gator wasn't as strong on land and it had thought she was long dead so it only wanted to enjoy the meal in peace.
Unfortunately, the meal ended up killing it, and since the shadow had been dragged so far away and didn't know where the boy was she started moving again until she came across a specific horse.
"You can't just hide the whole time then come out in the end and steal my treasure!"
Roaring out in anger I slammed my fists in the water causing it to splash like a kid throwing a tantrum but I didn't care as I was too enraged to care.
Hopelessly watching on as the shadow that was meant to protect me stole the treasure I'd been searching for so long.
Then it happened, against every wish I could have possibly made the shadow's hand connected with the black of the stallion.
After that, all hell broke loose.
As if hearing the shattering of glass, my mind was assaulted with pain and my vision went blurry.
A horrible headache pounded within my skull as I struggled to stand upright.
However, I didn't have to worry about falling due to the large amount of mud that was keeping me in place.
As I slowly recovered and tried to figure out what happened I heard a terrifying scream in the distance.
Shifting my attention to where the shout came from I watched as what looked like a horse made from the heart of the swamp began sinking into the water.
It was a horrific creature that's mane seemed to be made of seaweed, while the rest of its body was entirely black covered in layers of mud.
Everything about its existence pointed towards it being a devilish monstrosity yet attached to the creature was the shadow.
Once again another scream came from her mouth and when I paid closer attention to her I saw that she was desperately trying to pull her hand off the horse.
All her attempts were in vain as whatever made up the muddy hide of the horse seemed incredibly sticky.
I watched on as within a matter of seconds the horse sank into the mud forcefully dragging the shadow with it and leaving nothing behind.
Shuddering I scanned the area and realized that had I not been in such a muddy place I would have been the one to be pulled under.
But the fact that I was in such a predicament meant that the evil horse had some kind of mind-hexing ability.
It was able to completely change its appearance in my mind and make its charm seem greater than anything I had ever desired.
Figuring that I didn't have much time before the horse returned to the surface hungry for another meal I had two problems to deal with.
The first was the mind hex and I knew if I fell under its influence for a second time it would mean my doom.
Also knowing that I couldn't make use of the curse because whatever power the horse had it was much stronger than mine.
That left me without any viable options and I still had the second problem of escaping the mud.
By now the mud was up to my knees and all the thrashing around I had previously done made me that much more stuck.
Being without a plan, knowing that the gators were useless, and trapped with only a few seconds before the monster came back I decided that it would be the best time to use my ability.
Using 3rd Person POV my eyes glistened for a split second and afterward everything was revealed to me.
Letting out a calm breath my anxiety dissipated and I was full of overwhelming confidence.
"Time to hunt."
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