The sun was setting down and the forest was getting dark. Selene was still in the forest looking for dark wolf mushrooms she needed to finish the potion she was working on. They were hard to find because they grew high up the tree bark and the trees in this forest were ancient and high.
Soon enough, only the moon and stars illuminated the forest, their light barely reaching the ground. Selene didn't want to give up her search. However, the dark wolf mushrooms were hard enough to find during the day and it's going to be impossible to find them during the night. Finishing the potion will have to wait until tomorrow.
"It's not safe for a human to be wandering at night in this magical forest alone." Selene heard a soft voice speaking slowly somewhere above her.
"I'm not a regular human. I'm the witch Selene, powerful and magical as the forest itself. I assure you I am quite safe. Who are you?" Selene tried to sound confident. She knew that the magic of the forest was stronger than her magic but she won't let that show in her voice.
"I am Rowan the owl. How come you can hear my voice Selene the witch?" This was the first time a human talked back to him. Usually, humans just walked passed him not noticing him or his warnings.
"I told you that I am a powerful witch, powerful as the forest itself." Selene answered.
"This is my part of the forest, my hunting ground. What are you doing in the forest alone so late?" Turning his head towards her, Rowan said slowly, his eyes glowing in the dark.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Rowan. I was looking for dark wolf mushrooms." Selene explained. She tried to be as polite as she could to Rowan. Who knows, maybe he could find the mushrooms for her? He could see in the dark better than other animals and definitely better than her. Maybe her potion wouldn't have to wait until tomorrow. "I can see you are a wise and good-natured being Rowan. Would you help me with my search?"
"I will help you in your search. The mushrooms grow high up the trees. Wait for me here." Rowan said and Selene heard flapping of wings and rustling of leaves. She sat on a moss-covered rock and waited, looking up at the moon and the stars, happy that she'll be able to start making her potion tonight.
Selene wasn't a powerful witch so she was happy Rowan believed her and agreed to help her. The most powerful witches were those that were born with black magic. They had control over darkness, the souls of the living and control over the dead. These witches were evil and when they appeared they caused nothing but chaos, suffering and destruction. Because of that, they were hated and banished from society. Every black witch was born with the same magic and the same abilities. They had the ability to see in the eternal darkness, spread their darkness over the souls of the living humans and use them as their slaves, they couldn't do this to other witches. They could take human souls out of living humans and put them in inanimate objects bringing to life rock golems and such as their slaves. They could also summon evil beings and the dead making armies of slaves for themselves.
As far as anyone knew, there was only one black witch in history that didn’t use her powers for evil. She used her powers to punish the really evil or wicked humans. She did it in an evil way, taking their souls out of their bodies, spreading her darkness over them and entrapping their souls in the walls of a cave in their own internal hell. Fortunately, witches born with this kind of magic were rare. The last witch with dark magic was born more than half a millennium ago. It took almost two hundred earth and spirit witches to stop her. Legends even say that there were unicorns, dragons, griffins and other magical beings helping the witches stop her. None of these magical beings was seen by anybody since that battle, so everyone started believing it was just a legend, to make the battle with the black witch more exaggerated, nothing more.
The most common witches were born with either earth or spirit magic. Earth magic gave the witches power over the elements, supernatural strength and the ability to defy many laws of reality, like levitate. The strength of the magic of the witch determined how many elements she could control. The stronger the magic of the witch the more elements she had control over.
The earth magic gave the witches power of healing, the gift to rejuvenate and invigorate others and the ability of augmentation, to enhance other's abilities. It also gave them increased knowledge about the real truth, the truth behind the deception and lying, and the true sight, the ability to see human souls and see good and evil in them.
The least powerful were white witches. They were as rare as the black witches were but their magic was benevolent. All that people knew about them was that they had a deep connection with nature and endless knowledge about potions.
Selene once talked with a powerful spirit witch that had the most powerful real truth ability. As far as the spirit witch could see, Selene was a white witch. Selene thought as much. The only powers she had was the power to talk to animals and endless knowledge about potions. She knew about potions nobody else knew even existed or were even possible. She just knew them and what they were for, she couldn’t explain where she got the knowledge. She also had the power of true sight, but unlike the spirit witches, she saw the souls of the witches, not humans.
Selene never told anyone she could see the souls of the witches, no spirit witch ever had that power, she thought that if she told anybody it would just make her life more complicated. Seeing the souls of the witches gave her an advantage over other witches. Spirit witches could see only human souls so they knew that if they don’t see the soul of a person that that person is a witch. The only thing they didn’t know was what kind of a witch that person was. Selena knew.
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Earth witches had blue souls that ranged from light blue to dark blue, depending on their power, the stronger the magic, the darker the color. Spirit witches had green souls that also ranged from light green to dark green, also depending on their power. Spirit witches told her that normal people had grey souls.
Selena was curious about her own soul, but she couldn’t see hers in a mirror, she had to look directly at herself without being in herself. She made a potion that took her consciousness out of her body for a short time and drank it. It felt strange to be outside your own body. She looked at her body, standing like a zombie in the middle of the room, with a white soul inside it. Selena was now sure she was a white witch. As soon as the potion stopped working, her consciousness was pulled back into her body. After that, she felt drunk for a week and decided never to use this potion again.
Selene heard flapping of wings and the rustling of leaves again. A few mushrooms fell down in front of her.
“Will this be enough Selene the witch?” Rowan said slowly. Selene saw his glowing eyes in the treetop.
“Yes, this will be enough wise Rowan. Tell me, how can I repay your kindness?” Selene asked. It was hard to find animals who would even talk to her, let alone help her, so she wanted to repay his kindness somehow.
“Pass on my warning about wandering this magical forest at night to the other humans that can’t hear my voice and I will consider the favor repaid. The forest is not a place for humans.” Rowan said slowly.
“Thank you wise Rowan. I will pass on your warning.” Selene picked up the mushrooms and walked back to her cottage at the edge of the forest.
At the cottage, Selene saw that the fire in the fireplace was gone. She started a new fire under the cauldron. While she waited for the base of the potion to heat up, she sliced the mushrooms into smaller chunks and prepared the rest of the ingredients for the potion. She loved making potions.
This one was a complicated one, but it was worth all the trouble. It took her weeks to get all the ingredients needed to make it but now that she had all of them, she was eager to start. It will take her a day to make it and two days to complete it. After cooking it at a low temperature for a day, it will need to sit still for two days in a dark and cold place. Fortunately, she had a basement where she kept most of her ingredients for potions so she already had a place to put the potion to rest for two days.
Selene was so excited, the potion she was making was a potion to attract unicorns. It meant that, if she succeeded in making the potion, she would be the first person in a thousand years to see a unicorn and with her power maybe even talk to it. Unicorns were the most magical beings in the world. Legends say that even seeing one would bring you unworldly luck, she wondered what talking to one would bring her.
The base of the potion in the cauldron started to boil so she moved most of the burning wood to the side of the fireplace, to lower the temperature, and started putting the ingredients into the base of the potion. For a day, she sat beside the cauldron, mixing the potion and keeping an eye on the temperature. After a day, the potion changed color, which meant that it was done, ready to rest for two days. Selene put it in a clay pot, closed it and put it on a shelf in the basement.
Exhausted, after two sleepless days, Selene ate and went to sleep.
Loud thunder woke Selene. This wasn’t thunder from a normal thunderstorm because she could see that it was sunny outside. Selene walked over to a window, opened it and saw two earth witches using their power over elements to fight. One of them had a darker blue soul, which meant that she had power over more elements, but Selene knew that that didn't mean an automatic victory for her. In battles the sheer power isn't the only factor in winning, she witnessed witches with lesser power win using better tactics and being more cunning than their more powerful opponents.
Selene knew why they fought here, but she didn't know why. The magic of the forest amplified the magic of the witches. That was one of the reasons Selene built here cottage here. She never understood the earth witches, they were the only witches that fought amongst each other and that never made sense to her.
Not interested in the fight, Selene closed the window and went to make something to eat. By the position of the sun, it was around midday so she made lunch. Selene grabbed a book, into which she began to write the recipes for the potions a few years ago, grabbed a plate of food and sat down at the table. While eating she opened the book at the last written potion recipe.
The last one Selene wrote down was a recipe to get rid of ants in your house, a potion you pour around your house and on your floor and your house will never have ants. She decided long ago that she would only write down recipes that help people or protect people from evil. Even though she knew potions that can make people do something against their will, like a love potion that can make a person fall in love with someone against their will, she vowed that she will never write down recipes for those kinds of potions.
Selene struggled over the unicorn potion. She didn’t know if she should write it down because she was afraid that others would use the potion for evil, to try to capture a unicorn or even try to kill it. She decided not to write it down.
There was still a day and a half until the potion she made was completed. There were potions Selene promised to make, for the people from the village nearby, so she started making them while waiting. When she finished the potions, she packed them in her bag and left for the village. The village wasn't far away, Selene actually enjoyed the walk after a whole day sitting beside the cauldron, it was a pleasant and sunny day, just a perfect day for a walk.
In the village, she visited the houses of the people she promised the potions and after she gave the last one away the sun started to set down. The sunset was beautiful, the scarlet sky and almost astounded her, it looked magical. During her walk home, she couldn't take her eyes away from all the beautiful colors of the sunset. ‘This really was a wonderful day for a walk.’ She thought.
At home, Selene made dinner, showered and wrote another recipe in her book, a recipe for a potion for protection from evil summoned beings. The potion creates a magical barrier around the one who drinks it and it prevents bodily contact by evil summoned beings. This causes the attacks of such summoned evil beings to fail. After she wrote down the necessary ingredients, the process of making the potion and its effects she put the book back on the shelf and went to bed. Selene wasn't sure she’ll be able to fall asleep at all, because the potion for the unicorn will be complete tomorrow, but at one point, she did.