They say that the horn of a unicorn has healing powers. As I can tell you, that is true. An alicorn does have the power to purify one’s body. You have heard the tales, I imagine, of Saint Ardyran, he who had the soul of a unicorn within him, because of the miracles he performed. Well, I know Ardyran. I am him. Yes, I know what you are thinking… how could that be? Ardyran vanished from the face of the earth decades ago. I look nothing like him; Ardyran was a man with dark hair, and I do not look the least bit like that. I don’t look like a man, but I most assure you that I am, just not the way you know.Let me tell you how I came to be this way. Just sit down – I assure you that I will not hurt you. This is not a distraction for an accomplice to grab you. I am unable to hurt even a fly, unless it is for self-defense. I was not born with the name Ardyran. I was born with a much more mundane name: Quincy. I was the fifth son of peasants in a village that likely no longer stands. We were on the edge of the forest. Ever since I was young, I was told not to go into the forest, because of all sorts of monsters that resided within.However, I also had believed there were more than just monsters within that forest. Healers had wandered in, because the herbs they used to ease pain and treat maladies grew within, and they seemed to be just fine. But I also saw something else one day – along the edge of the forest. Unicorns. You may know the image of a unicorn, how they were pure white horses with a horn growing out of their head. Well as you probably know from me, they are just as diverse as real horses. I saw unicorns who were as white as newfallen snow, I saw unicorns that were as brown as a mustang, and I saw black unicorns, too. Their horns had their own diversity, too. Some were simple conical shaped, but the majority of them looked almost blade-like. Like the tip of a saber, with an edge on the front of their blade-like horn. I wondered why they appeared that way, I theorized that maybe some of them were like that because of age. But that was not all I saw with the horses. Some of these unicorns had feather-covered wings. Some were white like a dove’s, others were brown like a hawk’s, while some were even black like a raven’s. I was mystified by the herd of unicorns I saw in the forest – as anybody would be in my boots. I felt myself drawn to the herd, but they scattered. I shouted at them that I meant no harm, and all I got in return was a large white feather that had fallen from one of the winged white unicorns. That was my first experience with unicorns. When I told my family and the townsfolk about it, they said I had probably imagined it, and then scolded me for entering the dangerous forest. Even though nothing had happened, and I did not go too far in, I had still disobeyed them and had to be punished. But they did not take the feather I had obtained from the unicorns – maybe it was from a white bird. A white eagle, perhaps, it was too large to have come from a simple dove. When I was but ten years old, the plague hit town. The town healers tried everything they could to curb the epidemic, but so many townspeople died of the plague. For some odd reason, there were a few people who would not get sick, no matter how long they were exposed to the miasma. I was one of those people. My mother survived just as I did. I had to bury my own father, and three of my siblings. My eldest sister survived. We weren’t able to maintain the farm anymore, and had to sell it. But I kept one of my possessions – that feather from the unicorn. Who would want something like that, anyways? We needed the money somehow. And I had an idea – I should become the apprentice to one of the healers. I was able to survive the plague, and never became sick. It wasn’t going to put food on the table, but I should at least exploit this fact.I trained under the town’s healers for a good two years. The plague returned to the village again, and just like last time, we didn’t even so much as develop symptoms. I once even walked up to a patient without my plague mask on, and I did not catch it. I was chastised for my carelessness, but they were amazed at how I managed to avoid infection. Even some of the finest healers would get sick despite their masks. That was when I knew this was my calling – no matter what; I could not catch the plague. However, the plague was far more than what I had to heal. I helped those with broken bones, those who had eaten something bad, and had caught the grippe. But alas, I could not save everyone. A woman fell ill, and neither the midwife nor I could save her. The baby did not last much longer. A man had an accident, and despite having to lose his arm before gangrene set in, still died. No matter how much I despaired being unable to save some of these people, I was told by the other healers that this was just part of the job. This was the price they paid – you could not save everyone. My life changed forever the second time I saw the unicorns. Or rather, this was just one unicorn. I had wandered into the forest, sticking to a map of the safe areas, where wild animals or monsters rarely traveled. I gathered some herbs to help relieve pain and reduce swelling. That is when I saw her – the unicorness. At first I had thought that maybe it was a simple white horse that had been lost, but then I saw them. It was a horn, the saber like horn. White wings, as well. There were even a few feathers on the ground. Just like when I was a child, a unicorn. I dropped the basket and neared her. Maybe she was asleep – she didn’t react to my presence. However, the second I was close enough to touch her, she immediately awoke. She looked right at me. I was too afraid to move. That horn could have hurt me – but a unicorn would never do that, would they? The unicorn stood up, and yet I still did not move. A mixture of fear and curiosity held me completely still. What would she do to me? At least, I thought the unicorn was a she. (I found out a bit later.)“What are you doing here?” She asked.I stuttered just a little bit. But I finally found my voice to speak back.“I-I seek herbs. I need them to heal. What are you doing here? Are you… you’re a unicorn aren’t you?” The unicorn nodded. She didn’t stand up at all. I wondered if she was hurt at all. I was too afraid to reach out and touch her to see if she was hurt, or even real. At the time, I didn’t actually know that thing about unicorns, about how only a virgin could touch them – normally getting close to a unicorn is a very VERY stupid thing to do. The unicorn looked at me. She seemed to look through me; I guessed it was how she looked into me. Into my soul. For a brief moment, she looked over my entire body, no, my entire being. Then she finally spoke.“So, you wish to heal?” I finally found my voice again. “Y-Yes!”“I assume you know much of unicorns. We are creatures of healing, you know. Our horns can purify everything. Only a creature who is pure can approach a unicorn…”“A-Are you alright?”“Yes. I have lived long – it’s time for me to move on from the world. And yet you intrigue me. Years ago, the herd saw a human, but ran away from him. You know why we are rare to you, right? We are frequently hunted.”“Was it a hunter who did this to you?”“No. I am simply old. You seek to heal, and you come into the forest. Do you know why your kind, the healers, travel into forests like this one?”“Herbs and plants grow in the forest!” I said.“There is that… but there is also the thought of capturing a unicorn. An alicorn is said to cure any disease. I trust that’s what you came here for?”“N-No. I-I would love if I could use an alicorn but – it belongs to you. I can never hurt you for it.”“What will you tell the others when you leave the woods? That you have discovered a unicorn? Surely they will be in with knives. My horn will be cut off, and I’ll surely be killed. Dissected, cut to pieces.” “I-I would never do that!” The unicorn stared at me for several more minutes, before giving a small huff.“I can tell you are not lying. You really are intriguing… I would like to see how you back this up. But alas, I will not be long for this world. I left the herd so I may die in peace and quiet, and yet I found a healer. Do you wish to use my alicorn to heal?” I nodded. I just could not think of any words to say to the unicorn. “Then I shall give you that power – the power of healing. However, it comes with a price. No power comes without a price. The ruler’s power over their people comes at the price of the responsibility. The magician and the scholar pay for their knowledge with isolation. The devout pay their price for their relationship with the gods with poverty. The healer pays the price for their work with the risk of dying young from a contagion. What do you intend to pay for this boon I will grant you?” I couldn’t think of anything. I did not have very much money to my name. Most of the possessions I owned were medicinal herbs and the clothes off of my back. Healers do not make much money, as you likely know. I remembered something I carried with me, the feather from a winged unicorn. I pulled it out and presented it to the unicorness.“You will have to pay more than that.”“N-Name it!” I said.“For starters, your name. These powers are not to be wielded by someone with a simple human name.”“My name? But how can that work?” I asked.“You will not refer to yourself as Quincy.” I didn’t realize that I did not tell the unicorn my name. “You will refer to yourself by a different name – one much more befitting. Do you still wish to do this?”I should have thought about it. Had I known what would have happened eventually, as you see right now before you, I might have hesitated. Even though I have been reflecting on my decision for so many years, long after I had changed, I do not regret it for one second.“Yes.” I said.“Then here is what you must do.” The unicorn said, standing up on her hooves. “You must be with me until I pass away. Do not feed me – feed only yourself. When I die, you will remove my alicorn. Cut it up, mold it into the shape of a small stone. The rest, ground up into a fine powder. Consume it. Do not leave behind any bit. The ‘stone’ shall be your focus. It is a symbol of the bond we had made. The powder you had eaten will purify your body. As for my body… I want you to bury it under this tree. From then on, you are free to walk your path. But you will no longer be Quincy. Your name shall be Ardyran – something much more fitting of a unicorn. Your ‘stone’ shall allow you to heal any ailment you come across. You shall never marry or have children. Never own more than you can carry. Never act recklessly. Never tell anybody of your secret. If you come across a unicorn, you must never harm them or tell anyone of where they are – they will view you as one of their own. You must remain a virgin your entire life. Do you understand, Quincy?” I nodded silently. “Then Quincy shall die with me – and Ardyran shall be born.” “Wh-What is your name?”“Lisyda.” The unicorn told me. For the next few days, I stayed with Lisyda. I made sure nobody wandered into that area of the forest. I never strayed too far. After a few days, I returned to where the unicorn lay, and found her unmoving. Unbreathing. Dead. I swallowed my tears, and got to work on this pact. I tried to remind myself not to be called Quincy anymore – Ardyran. I did just as the unicorn told me to. I removed her alicorn, and gave her a proper burial at the foot of the tree. I had already buried several of my brothers and sisters; I wasn’t a stranger to this at all. I concealed the burial site as much as I could, so that no scavenger would ever come across her. Hopefully, I had done a good enough job removing her horn that even if a wild animal had dug her up, they would think she was a horse. Not a single feather was left over – even the one that I had carried with me. I figured that since it was Quincy’s property, I should leave it behind. I was Ardyran now. I filed a small orb out of the horn as cleanly as I could. I smoothed it over, to make it into a sphere. I don’t know how long I spent on this. Once I was satisfied, I got to work mashing up Lisyda’s horn. I had no idea how to ‘eat’ the powder I had created. I basically just put it in my mouth and then immediately started washing it down with water. I had to resist every urge to spit it out. (Never ever try and swallow a powder by itself – especially this ‘Cinnamon’ stuff I have heard the wealthy speak of.) After I finally got down everything, I felt a tingling sensation.It was the magic of the alicorn, going throughout my entire body. It felt surprisingly pleasant – I wanted that sensation to last forever and ever. After what felt like such a short time, it gradually faded. But after that, I felt… different.I never felt extremely hot or extremely cold after that. It felt almost serene to be outside – especially in the silence. The magic must have kept me warm throughout the harshest winters, and cool throughout the fiercest summers. You know from the tales of the people purified by the healing powers of Saint Ardyran. How they themselves felt serene, no matter what. But for them, it was only temporary. For me, it was permanent: I was kept pure. Thus I had begun the next part of my life. When I left the forest, I managed to amass some money in donations. I paid a jeweler to create a small amulet, with an indentation big enough for the stone. I fit it myself – I could not allow someone else to touch it. I know this became the small symbol, the amulet with the pure white stone. The pearl amulet, I’ve heard some people call it. But if only they knew what the stone really was.I traveled from town to town, healing the sick and injured. I saved the lives of many – I brought a village from the brink of death after years of plague. One who was stricken lame after an accident finally spoke again. Infected wounds were purged of the filth contaminating them. All it took was for my own hands, the power traveling from the amulet into my body, then out through my hands.My newfound healing powers were not exclusive to just people. I found that I could also heal animals. Several times during my journey, I would come across an animal who had fallen prey to a trap, but had managed to escape. At first, I did not know whether or not they would trust me, but to my surprise, they allowed me to near them. This must have been what it was like to be a unicorn. They would find an injured animal, and heal them. After I had healed deer that normally would have died, I realized what else I could do. That is how many hunting dogs were saved. That is how an epidemic of Rinderpest was prevented. That is how I had purified a crop of wheat. The tales of miracles continued to spread – I had, on several occasions, heard people talking about how Ardyran had saved their friend, or had cured a dog that had become rabid. However, there were some things that even I could not do. I may have been able to make some people walk again, but I could not grow back a missing limb. I may have been able to save women from dying during childbirth, but I could not undo a stillbirth. I could not save a beggar who had died of starvation.I could heal a leper, but could not undo all of the damage the disease had done to their body. Sadly, this is but one of the prices of being a healer. You could not save everyone. But I had at least gained a reputation of being a saint – someone who could purify almost any disease. Even though I could not save everybody, I had managed to grant many people a second chance. Life. I continued this for decades. I did not actually age. I had wondered if a powdered alicorn would eventually grant eternal youth, but my question had been answered. I would indeed age, but I would age in a much different way.First, it was my fingernails and my toenails. They turned a jet black. I brushed this off as them simply being dirty, until I noticed the inky blackness spreading past the exposed nail. My entire nails were blackened in but a week.Then it was my neck. My hair had started to grow longer and longer. And yet it was not coming from the side. I felt an itching at the back of my neck. My hair had started to grow all the way down my neck. Just like an equine mane. My ears changed third. They started to grow pointed near the top. Then, I found myself able to move them. They grew, and eventually, I felt them piercing through my hair. My ears were changing. They were becoming a set of equine ears. My body hair changed from a black colour to a brown. Then, it started to become much denser. This wasn’t the unshaven body hair of a human… this was the fur of an equine. Around this is when I vanished off of the land. I had traveled long enough to see what had happened to those treated different. It had to have been a curse – a malady that came from a supernatural influence. At first, I was scared. By the time I had healed the sick and injured in a mountain village, my shoes barely fit. I could not feel my toes anymore. I had vanished out of sight, and saw that the toes on each foot had been encased in a rock solid cast. They were turning into hooves. By the end of the month, I no longer needed shoes. I could simply walk around on hooves. I had grown too tall for my pants, they only went all the way to my ‘second knee’ – these used to be my heels. My body was entirely covered in brown fur. Yet still, I found myself able to speak – just as I am now. A black tail the same colour as my hair (Now my mane) had grown overnight. I no longer craved meat – I was able to get sustenance from just vegetation. It tasted so odd, but eventually, I became used to it. My teeth changed to fit my new diet. Canine fangs became dull, no longer needed to eat flesh like a wolf would. I was covered in brown fur, with a white blaze on my chest. Just where my amulet would be if I still wore it – if I still had any need to. The most awkward change of all was my neck. My nose vanished, leaving two large noseholes. My face expanded – massively. My entire skin had turned into leather underneath this layer of fur, no different at my face. My chin seemed to all but vanish, as my head grew into a horse’s head. Surely, if people had seen the creature I had become, they would burn me at the stake, or shoot me dead. Especially when the final change happened. I awoke one morning to feel serene. Like the sensation I had felt the second that I first consumed the alicorn. The flesh around my forehead felt a bit raw. I reached up to feel over it… and gasped.It was a horn. An alicorn. I looked over the amulet, and felt for the stone. It was gone. The setting was there, but not the stone. I knew I had not lost it. After I frantically searched for it, I suddenly had a strange realization. The alicorn had not been lost… I no longer needed it. It had become attached to me. Lisyda’s horn had finally ceased to exist – now becoming a part of me. This was the other price that I had to pay for gaining the supernatural healing powers: My humanity. I am still able to speak to you just as a human can – but I can also speak to animals. Animals treat me as one of their own, and yet I walk on two legs just like a human. I thought this must have been some kind of a curse at first, and yet I realized it wasn’t.But what more of unicorns? I managed to see a few winged ones flying towards the mountain range, and stopped for a drink in the brook over there. (You know the one. It’s where you saw me first.) Ever since I had seen Lisyda, I had never encountered another unicorn. I was indeed excited to see more unicorns – more of my kind, just as much as a human were my own. The two winged ones looked over me rather oddly. I cannot blame them as to why they did it. After all, you had never seen one such as myself until today, have you? They smiled and spoke to me. I had so much to ask them. There still do exist herds of unicorn out there, as I had found out. I asked about wings. Why is it that some unicorns had wings, but others didn’t? One of the unicorns answered me that wings come with age. When a unicorn ages, changes happen to their body, just like any human being. Their horns become wider, more bladelike. When they reached old age, they grew wings. My horn is already starting to thicken just a tad. Surely when I am older, I will possibly grow wings. But how long may that be? Unicorns do not live as long as a standard horse. I have accepted this ‘fate’ of mine long ago. Will I return to humanity? Maybe. Surely, they must become ready for someone who calls both humans and animal as their kin. I may be alone, but surely, there are others out there who may be like me. Others who have been granted permission to consume an alicorn, and use its powers selflessly. Or maybe people who are an animal, but not a unicorn. I had heard rumours of werewolves when I had traveled. Now you know. Now you know what had happened to the Saint Ardyran. Now you know how the brown unicorn in front of you had come to be. I request that you please be nice to your animals. Treat them with the utmost respect. Especially unicorns – it is a crime to kill an innocent unicorn, just as it is to kill an innocent animal.