This morning Selene woke up early. She spent the day tending her garden, picking vegetables and going to the woods to pick mushrooms and plants so she has food for a few days. She didn't eat meat, she couldn't bring herself to kill and eat animals that she can talk to, and so she ate plants and mushrooms instead.

The day went by fast. The sun set down, the moon and the stars appeared in the sky, it was almost time. In a few hours, the potion will be complete. Selene went down the basement and closed the entrance to the basement so no light could come in. She walked over to the clay pot with the potion and opened the lid. The potion was gloving but it was still the same color as before, which meant that it still wasn't complete. Selene put the lid back on, sat on the floor, put the pot in front of her and waited.

After a while, the pot shook slightly. Selene opened the lid and saw that the potion was now purple. Finally, the potion was completed. Covering the pot with the lid, so she wouldn't spill any on her way up, she took the pot and climbed up out of the basement. She put the pot outside her front door, on a flat rock, and removed the lid. Not wanting to be seen or to scare off the unicorn, she decided it was best if she waited for him inside the house, so she sat next to the slightly ajar door waiting.

For a long time, nothing was happening and Selene must have fallen asleep because she was awoken by the sound of hoofs walking on stone. Startled, Selene looked through the slightly ajar door and saw a unicorn in front of her door. It was a beautiful being, his fur and mane so shiny and white it hurt to look at them. The only thing that perplexed her was that she could see his soul it was purple.

The unicorn was drinking the potion from the pot on the flat rock, Selene quietly opened the door and said. “I am Selene, the witch who made that potion. I mean you no harm, I just wanted to talk to you.” She tried to sound confident, but in the presence of such beauty, it was a difficult task.

The unicorn looked at her. “I am Hesperos. I see who and what you are. Why did you make this potion? Why didn’t you just summon me?” the unicorn replied.

“I...can…summon you?” Selene stood looking at Hesperos, trying to take in his words, bewildered.

“Yes, a white witch, you can just summon me? You know, use your power to summon me as you can summon other magical beings.” Hesperos answered. He never liked humans. Almost all of them were oblivious to the ways of how the world and the magic really works. He only met two humans that had the right idea but still were missing the true way.

“Forgive my ignorance Hesperos. I didn’t know I had the power to summon magical beings.” Selene said apologetically.

“Isn't the last white witch Althea with you? Didn’t she explain your powers to you?” Hesperos asked confused. Althea should be here teaching Selene how to use her powers.

“No, I don’t know anyone by that name. She is not here with me.” Al this time Selene didn’t know that white witches even existed or that she had more powers. Maybe this Althea could tell her, what other spirit witches couldn’t, about her powers and magic.

“If she is not here with you that is not a good sign. Give me a moment to look for her.” Hesperos closed his eyes and concentrated. After a few moments, he turned his head toward Selene, a sad look in his eyes. “She is not here because her soul is not in this world, but Morgaine the black witch is still here. I thought that you being here, after only a little more than half a millennium, was strange. Now I know why.”

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.“ If her presence was strange even to Hesperos then that couldn’t be good.

“You humans and witches. You think you know how the world and magic really works. You are just children stumbling in the dark. Since Althea is not in this world anymore I’ll explain why your presence at this time is not a good sign.” Hesperos gracefully laid down on the floor. “Make yourself comfortable Selene. I have much to teach you.”

Selene sat in the floor leaning against the wall of her house eager to learn about the white and black witches, the world and the magic. Hesperos started explaining that every thousand years, give or take a few years, two special witches are born, a black and a white witch. They are always born with the same powers and the same magic strength as their predecessors.

The black witches have the power to summon the darkness, they can envelop whole valleys into eternal darkness. However, the most terrifying power they have is the power over the souls of the living, they can corrupt the souls of the humans or, by spreading their evil over the souls, they can enslave humans. Black witches can also summon beings like evil demons and the dead to create their armies. They can go as far as taking the souls of the living out of their bodies, killing the living in the process, and using the souls to reanimate inanimate objects.

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The white witches have the power to banish the darkness, to bring light into the eternal darkness and stop it from ever happening again. They have the power to talk to the animals and, in time of need, call them to aid her in battle. The most powerful thing a white witch can do is summon the magical beings to aid her in the battle, beings like Hesperos, unicorns, dragons, chimera, griffin and the phoenix. The magical beings were powerful allies in battle. White witches also have endless knowledge about potions, especially potions that protect from evil. Hesperos explained how before the last battle, between Althea and Morgaine, Althea made potions to protest human and witches souls and bodies from evil, how that crippled Morgaine's tactic during the fight and gave them an advantage big enough to win and stop Morgaine.

Hesperos continued to explain that the destinies of the black and white witches were always intertwined. It has been like that since the beginning of the world, it was just how the world works. The witches were born at approximately the same time, they were destined to battle after they both reached their full power and, depending on the result of the battle, the next thousand years will be chaotic or peaceful. The black and white witches couldn't be killed in battle, the witch that won the battle just took the magic of the one that lost, living her to live the next thousand years as a normal human, waiting for her successor.

The magic the winner takes amplifies the power of the witch that took it. If a black witch wins, her amplified evil magic envelops the world and the world is thrown into chaos. The next thousand years her magic feeds the souls and minds of humans with darkness and the world is plagued by wars, disease, hate and misery. If a white witch wins, her amplified benevolent magic envelops the world in peace. The next thousand years her magic purifies and rejuvenates the world bringing joy, peace and prosperity to the world.

When the next black and white witch are born, it is the job of the last black and white witches to transfer all their knowledge and teach the new witches about their powers until the new witches reach their full power. After that, the last witches die, leaving the worlds fate in the hands of the new witches.

“That’s why I said that your presence after only half a millennium was strange. Althea won the last battle and took the black witches magic. That meant that the world needed Althea’s magic to bring peace to the world for the next thousand years.” Hesperos turned his head towards the forest, a worried look in his eyes. “But somehow, for the first time in history, a white witch who won a battle died before her time and the world has no witch whose magic it can use to keep the balance.”

“So what now? There is probably a new black witch, because I’m here, and, as you said Morgaine the old black witch is still here, so the new black witch has a mentor. I don’t. ” With panic in her voice, Selene stood up and started to walk in a circle. “I don't know anything about my powers. I have never been in battle. How do I even know where the black witch is and when she’ll attack? How do I prepare if I don't know anything?” Selene was mumbling to herself, panic now clearly apparent in her voice.

Hesperos stood up and walked in front of her. “Althea was my friend. She told me a lot about her powers. I will tell you all I know including the incantations to call the animals into battle and incantations to summon each magic beings to your aid.”

Hearing those words Selene felt like a large weight fell off her shoulders. Legends were true, seeing a unicorn did bring you unworldly luck.

Selene, excited that she could summon magical beings, asked Hesperos to tell her more about the magical beings she could summon. Hesperos first explained his powers, powers of the most magical beings in the world, unicorns. Unicorns horn had healing powers and the power to purify things, like lakes, rivers and springs. Unicorns had the power of true knowledge, the knowledge of how the world and magic worked. The ability to see in the eternal darkness, enhanced speed, unbelievable strength and they could not be tamed, like other animals. They were the only magical beings that could turn invisible so no other beings, human or magical could see them. They were also the longest living magical beings, they lived for many thousands of years.

The second most magical beings in the world were dragons. They rarely left their nests, most of their time they spent sleeping for centuries at a time deep inside volcanoes, caves, deep underwater or on top of the highest mountains, depending on what kind of dragon they were. They left their nests and spent their time awake mostly to feed, to find a mate and to take care of their young. They were connected to nature and the elements so there were fire, earth, water and wind dragons. Depending on the kind of dragon, only meant what kind of element they had control over the rest of the powers were the same for all dragons. They had enhanced senses, speed, strength, they had nearly impenetrable scales and were highly intelligent. They were capable of living for up to more than a thousand years.

The third most powerful magical beings were the chimera and the griffin. They both had enhanced strength and sight. The chimera could breathe fire, and its snake-headed tail has venomous fangs that could excrete venom. The griffin had enhanced speed and agility while flying.

And there was the phoenix. He was a special magic being that was immortal, it never died like the other beings in the world. It could die, but when that happened, his body just turned into ashes and stayed like that for some time until he rose again from the ashes. The phoenix was the only being that went through a constant cycle of death and rebirth in the world. His power matched the power of the unicorn and the dragons, sometimes even surpassed it, but the phoenix couldn’t always be summoned. His most powerful ability was to incinerate anyone or anything with a single touch. That ability was so strong, it could reduce a whole human to ashes in seconds. He had unbelievable strength, rapid regeneration, it could regenerate from any and all non-fatal injuries The phoenix was the only magic being that could teleport, disappear and reappear at will in bursts of flames and take whoever is holding them along. Having a phoenix as an ally in battle was a big advantage.

Selene absorbed every word, Hesperos said, with so much eagerness. She couldn’t believe how much about the world she didn’t know.