Nattalie Huang sat trembling on her bed, a thick blanket wrapped tightly around her small frame. Only her head peeked out, her face pale and drawn. She wasn't shivering from cold — but from fear.
Fear of herself.
Her mind replayed what had happened — the moment her body had twisted, her bones shrinking, her skin sprouting fur, her limbs reshaping into four legs. A tail. A snout.
It felt impossible, yet the memory was sharp and cruel, carved into her mind like a scar.
Just hours ago, she had celebrated her sixteenth birthday.
Now, she was trapped in a nightmare she couldn't wake from — a nightmare that was all too real.
Tears welled in her eyes as she whispered brokenly,
"How… how could this happen to me?"
The room felt smaller with every breath. She wanted to scream, to tear away the reality pressing down on her, but all she could do was sit and shake, suffocating in disbelief.
Her parents' voices echoed in her mind — their confessions about an ancient sin, a curse passed down through generations of the Huang bloodline.
It sounded absurd. It had to be absurd.
Yet, the memory of her gray fur and trembling paws told her otherwise.
"Do you really expect me to accept this?" Nattalie snapped, her voice trembling with anger and despair. "You're asking me to just… believe all this? To live with this?"
She looked up at her three older brothers — Vincent, Norte, and David — her eyes burning with tears.
"Why me?! Why not any of you? Why do only the women in this family have to suffer because of that woman's sins?!"
Her voice cracked, raw and furious. "Why do her daughters, granddaughters, and every female descendant have to pay for something they didn't do?!"
Her words struck deep — each one filled with the pain of injustice.
It wasn't fair.
If her ancestor, Lie Niu Er, had been cursed for her betrayal, that was her own burden to carry. But why had that curse been chained to every woman in their bloodline? Why were the men untouched — free to live in peace, while she bore this twisted legacy alone?
Nattalie glared at her parents, her voice low and bitter.
"Tell me, does any of this make sense to you?"
Her mother, Nakulla Huang, stepped forward, her face pale but gentle. "Xiao Lie…" she began softly.
But Nattalie stiffened immediately, the name slicing through her patience like glass.
"Don't call me that," she said sharply. "Don't ever call me Xiao Lie again!"
Her father blinked, startled.
"Why, my dear?"
"Because it sounds like Lie Niu Er," she spat. "The woman who cursed us. The one who doomed me. I don't want anything that ties me to her — not even a name!"
For a moment, silence filled the room. Nakulla looked lost, torn between guilt and sorrow.
"Then… what would you like us to call you?" she asked softly.
Nattalie looked away, bitterness twisting her expression. "Anything," she muttered. "Anything that doesn't carry her name."
Her brothers exchanged uneasy glances. They didn't speak, but their faces said everything — sorrow, pity, and helplessness. None of them could imagine being in her place. None of them could feel what it was like to lose your humanity to something beyond your control.
To wake up and realize you weren't entirely human anymore.
---
A few hours earlier…
When Nattalie had first transformed, panic had spread through the Huang household like wildfire. Her small, furry body had been trembling uncontrollably, her cries muffled into soft, frightened barks.
It was Lilian, her mother, who found her first — eyes wide with horror and disbelief.
"Nattalie!!" she screamed, rushing forward. "My baby!"
Her hands hovered over the tiny gray Pomsky, unsure whether to touch her or not. Tears streamed down Lilian's cheeks as she looked to her husband.
"Dear, what do we do?" she cried. "It's her sixteenth birthday — she shouldn't have to suffer like this! How do we bring her back?"
Nakulla Huang stood frozen at first, his face pale, eyes shadowed with the weight of a truth he had tried to ignore.
Behind him, Norte and David came running up the stairs — expecting chaos, but not this.
Their breath caught when they saw the small, trembling creature on the floor.
"Nana…?" David whispered in disbelief.
No one spoke after that. The silence was heavy — filled with fear, guilt, and the knowledge that the curse they had long hoped would fade… had finally awakened once again.
***