Ghost (Lewis (Mystery Skulls) FtM TFTG)

Note to self, hiking by yourself in uncharted territory is a very, very dumb idea.

Lara cursed herself out further as she felt the first drops of rain fall. She’d decided to go on ahead with her little excursion after the rest of the group dropped out, only to end up utterly lost in the mountainous wilderness.

As she climbed the seemingly endless slope, a glimmer of hope crossed her vision. A long, dirt road that led to some large building, nay, a mansion.

On one hand, this seemed like a horror flick waiting to happen, on the other, she wasn’t exactly doing great out here either. Death by crazed slasher, or death by exposure? Decisions, decisions…

Ultimately, Lara figured that she’d seen enough horror films to at least stand a chance. Genre savviness don’t fail her now!

A firm series of knocks on the old wooden doors caused them to creak open ominously. Lara shuddered, but the dwindling daylight and harshening weather forced her inside with no further hesitation.

The dark, empty mansion seemed almost frozen in time as Lara entered the main foyer, dominated by a grand staircase. Despite its apparent age, there was no dust or wear, only a strangely… lonely atmosphere.

Did anyone ever live here in the first place? As she sat on the steps, something caught her eye. A glint in the darkness.

A small, cracked silver locket in the shape of a heart.

Lara leaned over and picked the odd, out of place object up, eyeing it curiously. The locket clicked open in her hand, revealing a photo depicting what appeared to be a group of friends. A blue haired, spectacled girl, a blonde young man with an artificial arm, a white furred dog and a tall, purple haired gentleman.

Looking at the photo, Lara couldn’t help but feel a sense of… loss. As if she were looking at a beloved, but long lost memory.

Maybe that was the odd energy that pervaded this place? Something, a tragedy had occurred, and only this little freeze frame of better times remained.

Suddenly, the broken heart shape of this long lost trinket was all the more poignant.

Lara, sadly, could relate. She knew what it was like to lose friends, but for her, it was merely the ever inevitable march of time. People change, they drift away…

It hurt… even after all these years. If she could help someone else heal from those wounds, to keep such a rift from forming forever, she would.

As if reading her thoughts, a tiny pink wisp of a spirit faded into existence behind her seated position. It floated behind her for a few moments, as if in thought, before suddenly shooting into her back, disappearing.

Lara shot up with a gasp at the strange, chilling feeling that coursed through her, looking around her in an attempt to find the source. Looking down to her hand, the locket hand vanished. Had she dropped it? Looking to her feet, she instead found the trinket now firmly attached to the front of her shirt, almost floating.

Trying to pull it off proved fruitless, instead causing pain to shoot through her, as if she were grabbing hold of her actual heart. Said organ was now beating rapidly as she felt the cold feeling rise instead into an intense heat.

Lara doubled over as a feverish sweat covered her, before an aching pulse in her hands brought them into her view, watching them slowly grow and broaden before her very eyes, only for them to seemingly catch aflame with what she could’ve sworn was a hot pink fire. Screaming out, when the flames dispersed, she could only stammer at the sight of bleached bare bone.

Nervously clenching them into fists, her face showed complete disbelief and fear. Tears pooled in her eyes, unknowing to her, an inky black.

“Wh…” Her voice was deeper, more of a whisper, before crying out as her chest suddenly snapped, broadening rapidly, causing her shirt to tear and reveal more inexplicable bone.

A… a curse! That had to be it! She had to get out of here and maybe… maybe!

Her plans were quickly thwarted as she found herself taking a single step before falling to her hands and knees, her limbs lengthening and bulking up as she grew several feet, another choked cry escaping.

Oh God… I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to trespass or whatever… I just needed shelter, please!

She screamed out in her own mind, pleading to whatever force was doing this to spare her, before she screamed out in reality, the skin of her face burning and peeling away. Her bottom jaw disappeared completely as her eyes were reduced to pink pinpricks of light as her vision returned.

Her mostly destroyed clothing too disintegrated as a strange, glowing material creeped over her new body, an admittedly stylish suit with a decorative bone motif forming around her, pinkish-purple accents blinking into existence and a pair of skeletal print gloves appearing as well. The locket still firmly attached to her breast repaired it’s own cracks as it took on a glimmering golden sheen. Finally, a coiffed hairstyle seemingly made of the very spectral flames that burned away her human form appeared upon her now bare skull.

Lara stood up shakily, touching her new body in confused disbelief and horror, stumbling slightly as her balance was thrown off by her altered build.

A distant voice echoed from the back of her head.

“I’m sorry… I was fading, and I could sense your wanting to help… just please… let me make this up to you…”

Suddenly, being lost in the wilderness was the least of her problems...