So there the triplets were wandering through a mysterious forest following their captors, the Triad, wondering just how they had gotten into this mess so quickly. One moment they are preparing to scope the area and hunt down their next set of triplets to interrogate and the next they are being led through an eerily quiet forest as the prisoners of said triplets.

Zarel and Mitra tried to keep a steady pace behind the ominous women that had imprisoned them, hoping not to have a similar encounter with them as their sister Rolas had who now slowly trailed the rest of the group in utter shock and fear. She was still unable to grasp what had happened to her. One moment she was able to speak, and the next her mouth was gone, completely erased from her face as though it never existed. She was used to seeing bizarre feats occur due to the nature of their mission, but to experience such a transformation first hand had left her truly befuddled. She was in charge of navigation and battle strategy, but how could she relay any information of the sort without a mouth? These sort of thoughts kept popping into her head the entire march towards the Triads home. Meanwhile, Zarel and Mitra were distracted by not only the lack of sound in the woods, but the mysterious way their captors seemed to glide across the ground, not taking a single step. It was mesmerizing to them really, seeing the ease in which each of the triad sisters moved across the amber colored leaves that covered the ground, not causing a stir in a single leaf. It added to the ominous setting of the evening.

As the group was approaching their destination, Zarel finally worked up the courage to ask the triad some questions. “So. How did you know we were going to be landing where we did? We were pretty stealthy on our descent into the atmosphere and we never sent any signals that we were coming.”

Seref, the leader of the triad, disturbingly turned her head a full 180 while still moving forwards to acknowledge her prisoner. “We have been watching you three for some time now and have been preparing for the day you would arrive on our planet. We see everything and know everything, which allows us to stay one step ahead of you at all times.” Just as she finished speaking, they arrived to the Triads rather large cottage at the edge of the forest. The cottage had trees and vines engulfing it, making it blend in with the forest scenery. The front door looked rather plain, made out of a misshapen piece of wood that didn’t seal completely and had a few holes in it. The windows were plain too, with no glass at all, allowing the outside air in at all times. Regardless of its appearance, Zarel, Mitra, and Rolas knew better than to underestimate there enemies, and could only assume what lied inside was much more dangerous than they could imagine.

As they walked inside, the girls were not surprised when they saw how creepy and decrepit the cottage appeared. The walls were covered in patches of moss, the floor was made of uneven stones. It definitely gave off the impression of being a witch’s home. Eventually they were guided into the central room of the cottage that was clearly the triad’s main work area. In the middle was a cauldron with bubbling green liquid that gave off a disturbing odor. The walls were lined with shelves full of ancient looking books, and in one corner was a large prison cell, which was where the Triad was leading the three sisters to.

One by one, Zarel, Mitra, and the mute Rolas, stepped into the cell and soon the triad locked the door and began to glide over to where the cauldron was. Once there, Isobel, the more mysterious looking of the triad, leaned down and took a huge whiff of the gurgling green concoction. She when she came back up, she shuddered with excitement. “Mmm, I believe our special brew is ready sisters.” She said as the other two smelled the green substance as well.

“Yes, I think you’re right sister. And what impeccable timing no less.” Nyx, the more intense of the triad triplets, said before whipping her head around to face the three girls in the cell. “Now who wants to be the first to try our new creation?”

Frozen with fear, Mitra and Rolas did not respond. Zarel though, wanted to not look weak and decided to speak up. “Why are you doing all of this? We came here peacefully, hoping to discuss with you about the Prophecy that we are all a part of, and instead, you locked us up, and are now threatening me and my sisters with whatever that horrible smelling slime is. What did we do to warrant such treatment?”

Nyx backed away from the cell as Seref came over to stare Zarel directly in the eyes. “Ah yes, you wanted to discuss the prophecy. The Prophecy of Three as it is called by many. I assume you’ve read the entire manuscript of said prophecy, yes?”

“Well, no, but that’s only because the tablet on our planet was old and in rough condition. We made out the gist of it though. We know that we are one of many sets of triplets around the universe chosen for whatever the prophecy actually is.”

Seref scoffed at Zarel’s lack of knowledge about the prophecy. “So you mean to tell me that you set out on this journey to discover the other triplets of the Prophecy of Three and you don’t even know what the prophecy foretells?”

Zarel was getting frustrated, “We set out to find the other triplets for just that reason. We hoped to discover more about the prophecy by meeting others like us and hearing their interpretation of the ancient writings.”

“Ah, well then I’m sorry that we are among the first triplets you meet on your journey, because your little field trip across the stars has come to an end. You see, we have read the prophecy multiple times and have analyzed it’s meaning over and over. After reading it we have come to one simple conclusion. Only chaos and devastation awaits the universe if the prophecy comes to fruition. And we do not intend to be a apart of the downfall of all living beings so that is why we have made it our goal to stop any of the other sets of triplets that seek out the truth behind the prophecy… Starting with you three.” Seref said disturbingly.

“Wait, before you do anything to us, can you at least tell us what the full prophecy says then? If what you say is true, then we might reconsider our mission.” Zarel pleads to no avail.

Nyx and Isobel let out a snicker, “We don’t like to share sensitive information with our prisoners, especially since we’ve already told you too much. Now, which of you will be our Guinea pig?” Seref asks as she eyes the three prisoners.

“Ooh, how about the mute one? She looks like she would be fun.” Nyx says sinisterly while licking her lips.

“Yes, she will do nicely.” Seref said. She then snapped her fingers and suddenly Rolas, who was trying not to look nervous, disappeared from the cell and reappeared naked in the middle of the room surrounded by the triad. Panicking, Rolas tried to run away, but found that she was frozen in place by some invisible force. On top of that she was stuck in a sultry pose with her arms caressing her body. “Now, now Rolas, no need to panic, you are in good hands. In fact, we have a nice refreshing drink here for you that will calm your nerves.” Seref said as she took a ceramic cup and scooped out some of the green substance from the cauldron next to them.

Zarel and Mitra looked on in horror, wondering what was about to happen. They wanted to help Rolas badly but all they could do was watch and hope their sister would be alright. Rolas, who was typically unfazed, was staring back at her sister with tears starting to form. Then with no trouble at all, Seref grabbed Rolas’s head and whispered words in her ear. Soon her mouth returned to her face, but before she could relish the small victory, Seref forced open her mouth and poured the green drink down her throat, forcing her to drink all of it.

After the last drop was swallowed, Seref and her sister took a step back from Rolas and waited for the drink to take affect. Rolas didn’t know what to expect. The drink had an oddly sweet flavor to it, but she didn’t feel anything happening to her body yet. Then in a burst of sensations, Rolas felt a rumbling start in her stomach. She peaked down and gasped as she saw what was happening. At the middle of her stomach she saw that her skin was turning a cream white color with swirling dark designs on it. She continued watching in shock as the transformation spread out from her stomach and slowly covered her torso.

The Triad watched on with crooked smiles as their brew was working to perfection. “Ah, the transformation has begun right on schedule.” Seref then peaked over and saw the two other sisters’ petrified looks and smiled even bigger. “Oh yes, while your sister goes through her metamorphosis, I can answer another of your questions. One you never got around to asking us, but I know you wanted to. What ever happened to all of those villagers that came to us and then suddenly vanished?” Zarel gave Seref a disgusted glare. “Well, they didn’t actually vanish. They were simply…hmm, how do I put it…Repurposed. She gestured to Nyx who was by a curtain at the other side of the room. She pulled it back to reveal at least a dozen full size statues of men and women, all frozen in different poses, and all looking terrified.

Zarel and Mitra gasped as they now knew what awaited their sister. Meanwhile the Triad snickered at the girls’ response. “You see, we wanted to make sure our special drink was made just right before you three arrived.  So we had a couple of trial runs to work out the kinks.” Seref said as she walked over and caressed a female statue that was made from solid granite. “We tested different materials, speed of transformation, and even what pose to freeze you in. Of course, as you can see, we ended up going with a marble texture with a moderate speed transformation.”

Seref then walked back to Rolas, who’s entire body except for her head had fully transformed into marble. “Of course there was one last element that we hadn’t tested, but decided to add as a special surprise for your sister’s petrification. Size change.” At the mention of size, Rolas’s eyes went wide and she began to scream out muffled pleads for help as she felt the marble overtake her head. Soon, she was rendered speechless as her body completed its transition to marble, her face coated in a mix of light and dark swirls. But as Seref mentioned, the transformation was not quite finished there.  After a brief moment, the marble sculpture of Rolas began emitting a soft glow, and Zarel and Mitra watched in silence as their sister turned statue began shrinking.

Inch by inch, the girls watched until Rolas’s marble body stopped shrinking and the glow faded. “Ah, it seems her transformation is now complete.” Seref said as she approached the now foot tall marble figure of Rolas. She kneeled down and picked up the object to get a better look at it. She stroked the figurines marble bosom and grinned. “Look sisters, our new paper weight turned out better than we hoped.” Nyx and Isobel snickered at their sisters joke as they approached and began fondling the marble figure as well.

Meanwhile, Zarel was through being a silent observer. “That’s it! I’ve seen enough. You’ve messed with the wrong triplets this time. What you did to our sister is unforgivable, and I promise that you will pay for what you’ve done.”

The triad stop playing with their new toy, and all turned to Zarel with an evil red glow in their eyes. Seref glided over slowly to the cell before coming face to face with a perturbed looking Zarel. Without breaking eye contact, Seref shoved the marble figurine into Zarel’s hands, pushing her back a bit in the process. “Here, take the paper weight you call a sister back for now. Let it be a haunting reminder of what will happen to you two very soon.” Seref said as she walked away towards the exit of the room. Nyx and Isobel followed suit behind their sister, until Isobel stopped briefly to turn to her prisoners once more. “Don’t be too jealous of your sister. I think you two will make for beautiful statues as well.” She let out a small giggle at her own joke before leaving the room with her sisters for the night.

Zarel and Mitra sat in their cell the rest of the night on the cold hard floor staring at their now inanimate sister. “So what are we going to do now Zarel? We don’t have our weapons, and Rolas was our muscle. I don’t see anyway out of this.” Mitra said with a bleak outlook.

Zarel continued caressing and staring at her statue sister, not registering anything Mitra said. After trying to get Zarel’s attention all night, Mitra was finally fed up. “You know what, that’s it. I’m done with this. You’re supposed to be our leader and be able to face adversity like this without batting an eyelash. But look at you. You’re a mess!”

Finally Zarel turned to her yelling sister, “What do you want from me? Our sister was turned into a paper weight and we are stuck in this cell helplessly waiting to join her.”

Mitra came over to her crying sister and put an arm around her shoulder. “Look, I know it looks like we are doomed. But we have been in no-win situations before and you’ve always come up with a plan to get us out it. This is no different. So pick yourself up and let’s figure out a way to free ourselves and restore Rolas.”

Zarel sniffled and wiped some tears from her eyes. She turned and looked into the eyes of her sister. She had never seen Mitra this confident before. It was like she was a different person. Seeing this strength in her sister, Zarel began standing up, Mitra joining her as well. She regained her composure and looked down at Rolas with determination and then back at Mitra. “Thank you Mitra. Thank you for reminding me of who I am. Now let’s come up with a plan to escape this hell hole.”

Mitra smiled giddily seeing her sister so confident again. “ That’s the Zarel I know. So do you have any ideas on what we can do to get out of this cell?”

“Not at the moment. The cell is made of a super durable steel and there’s no way we can fit through the small gaps between the bars. We’d have to have rubber bodies to slip through that tiny space.”

Hearing that, Mitra gasped. “Wait. I just thought of a way to escape!”

“Really? How?”

Mitra smiled and reached into her mouth and pulled out a small capsule. “With this! I had totally forgotten about this until you mentioned needing to be rubber to fit through the cell.”

Zarel stared at the capsule confused, “And that little thing will help us escape?”

Mitra stared at the capsule for a moment before biting down on it and breaking it open, releasing a liquid substance into her mouth. She swallowed it completely and stared at her sister with a grin. “Yep. This will solve all of our problems.” Suddenly she stepped up to the bars of the cell and closed her eyes. She focused on her body being rubber and opened her eyes again. Then, to Zarel’s surprise, Mitra squeezed her body through the steel bars of the cell and popped out on the other side with no trouble at all. Once free, Mitra struck a pose. “Tada! Told you it would work!”

Zarel was stunned, “B-but, what?”

Mitra giggled quietly at her sisters bewilderment, before turning back to the middle of the room where the cauldron of green substance sat next to a stand with a spell book on it. “Now let’s save our sister and get out of here.”