The Second Witch War was the most devastating conflict in human history. Witches had been fighting wars of politics and sabotage for centuries alongside normal humans. The Second Witch War changed everything. For the first time, official, state-sanctioned units made of witches, shamans, and other practitioners were deployed as military units. As scientists led an arms race of bombs, guns, and toxic gasses, opposing groups of practitioners wielded rituals and powerful Craft in magical battles across Europe. Witches unleashed plagues, storms, and natural disasters that completely decimated areas of the continent. Seers employed scrying and divining implements to inform on enemy movements and supply lines. At the height of the conflict, covens of witches bound powerful spirits into weapons of mass destruction. The war ended very quickly after that, but much of Europe was left a ruin, and the Empire of Japan never surrendered, although they quickly lost most of the territory that was claimed during the war due to combined efforts of the Soviet Republic and regional resistance.
What followed was an economic depression matching the war in both scale and severity. The Craft used in the war left zones of fallout that were contaminated by the remnants of workings done during the war, displacing millions of refugees. Other areas were simply destroyed by the years of fighting and bombing. Large scale loss of farmland and manufacturing capacity, as well as diminished population , stalled the economies of Central and Eastern Europe and led to widespread famines. As the many countries floundered, the Soviet Union took the opportunity to expand. The Soviet Union quickly expanded into Eastern Europe, absorbing and taking control of most of the countries of Eastern Europe within a decade of the war's end. The newly formed USSR quickly became a world power equal to the United States, and eclipsing most of the countries of Western Europe.
When the Cold War ended in 1991, the initial reaction from the United States and Western Europe was a general sigh of relief. Tense relations with the Soviet Union had strained global economies since the Second Witch War and the following Great Depression. The relief did not last. Barely hours after the official dissolution of the Soviet Union, witches and practitioners around the world felt a shift. Almost simultaneously, nearly all major workings simply… collapsed. Wards, enchantments, anything powered by a spirit larger than a pixie blinked out of existence. The first ones to feel it were medical facilities. Protections against disease and infection, wards to hold death at bay just long enough to operate failed all at once. Hospitals worldwide experienced a sudden and drastic spike in critical patients and in-hospital cardiac arrest.
Priestesses and acolytes were the next to fully comprehend the shift. Priestesses and priests accustomed to a direct line to their deities suddenly found nothing but silence waiting in answer to their prayers. The High Priestess of more than one faith sealed the doors of her temple, waiting on a sign. It took the public longer to understand what that truly meant. The realization came soon enough. The absence of gods caused an end to all forms of divine magic, and, most importantly, miracles. The powerful healing magic possible by channeling the power of a god had given hope to many afflicted by debilitating or terminal diseases, its loss left them without a chance of respite.
In the chaos, the power balance of the world flipped on its head. The heads of state of the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Venezuela, and several other nations were assassinated within hours of their magical protections failing. State governments and political systems fell apart overnight as “Human First” and other anti-witch movements staged coups and takeovers. In the United States, multiple major cities saw widespread rioting. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston all blazed for days as different law enforcement and militant groups fought to seize and hold power. In the end, the militarized Children of Adam were able to hold the majority of the east coast, from New Hampshire south to Georgia, and as far west as Tennessee, although the border wasn’t exactly undisputed. Or completely controlled. In the early months of CoA, hundreds of thousands of refugees, mainly practitioners fled west to escape the new anti-magic regime. The remainder of the former United States split into various smaller states, forming a loose coalition in an effort to hold onto their remaining territories.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
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Juno
I still remember the exact moment when my parents told us that my dad was going to die. My mom came to the door of my room. I was slogging through a stupid math worksheet when she knocked. I was so annoyed at being interrupted. My little sister was only twelve then. I remember her clinging to my mother’s hand with white knuckles. I used to tease her about being such a kid, but the look on my mother’s face made me pause. She looked tired, and sad. I didn’t like the way she was looking at me, like she was apologizing for something.
“We’re having a family meeting in the kitchen. Right now.”
“Mom? Is something wrong?”
She sighed, and it sounded like a weight was forcing the air out of her.
“Just come. Your father and I will explain.”
I looked to my sister then. Aya was tall, almost as tall as I was then, and dressed in her favorite ratty purple sweatshirt. Dad gave her that. Her eyes were huge and round. She could feel the energy coming off of our mother just like I did, even if she didn’t know what it was for either. She reached for me, on instinct it seemed like, and I took her hand. I don’t think I’d held her hand since she was seven.
Our dad was already waiting at the kitchen table. He tapped a finger on the table, looking out the window at the snow. He must have heard us, because he turned and smiled. I loved my father’s smile. He had a way of smiling, like he was about to let you in on some joke or secret.
“How are my girls doing? I haven’t seen you all day.”
He must have just gotten back from work, because he was still dressed in what he called his ‘uniform’ of khakis with a button down shirt and tie. He’d taken his glasses off though, resting them on the windowsill, where he would mostly likely forget them. Aya ran straight to him, practically throwing herself into his arms. I was still in that phase where I pretended I was too cool for my parents, so I just walked over and gave him a hug.
“Hey Dad. How was your day?”
He gave Mom a look. She came around me to take the chair next to me. Dad gestured at the two remaining chairs.
“Girls, sit down. Your mother and I have something very serious to discuss with you. It’s important that you know that nothing is set in stone.”
He looked away and our mom took over.
“Do you remember when your father went to the doctor a few times a couple weeks ago and then he went to the hospital to get an MRI?”
Aya and I both nodded. I didn’t like where this was going. I could feel a weight settling in my stomach. My father resumed speaking.
“What the scan showed is that I have a… growth in the right side of my brain. The hospital ran a few tests, and diagnosed it as a brain tumor.”
I shook my head. This couldn’t be happening. I felt the floor drop out from under me, and my father’s voice sounded far away, like I was underwater. I couldn’t breathe. I heard Aya taking deep, shuddering breaths next to me.
“It’s- it’s important that you know that this isn’t a death sentence, okay? Just because nobody’s going to snap their fingers and magic me better doesn’t mean there’s no hope. There are doctors, surgery, and new medicines are made all the time. I’m not going anywhere soon.”
“I don’t want you to die.”
I hated how my voice sounded then. Weak and small, like a child’s. He got up and came around the table to kneel in front of me. My vision blurred, and I could feel hot tears beginning to run freely down my face. His voice was fierce as he looked into my eyes.
“Listen to me. I am not dying. I promise you that. No matter what. I will always be here for you.”
I was really crying then, painful sobs echoing from deep in my chest. But my father wrapped me and Aya in his arms, holding us tightly. It felt like ours that we spent on the kitchen floor, clinging to him as if he were a life raft.
Outside, snow was still falling, quickly turning into a blizzard. The thick white flakes muted any sounds from outside our apartment, and I could imagine that everything was frozen. If only I could have stayed in that warm moment, kneeling on a hard tiled floor, holding on to my father for dear life.