To Isolfar's surprise, a long staff came crashing to her back. It launched her, face-first, downwards to the ground. Who in the? Isolfar thought to herself. When she turned around, she saw a familiar short figure with black long hair. The Witch?
“It seemed interesting to me that you were sneaking out of your mansion at midnight. I didn’t know what you were up to.” Asher said. “Don’t be surprised, I have a very bad habit of stalking my visitors. It looks like we have a problem here.”
Isolfar stood up and laughed. “Now, answer my question. If you had been stalking me, then you were there for a long time, right?” Asher looked confused. “Then, why weren’t you able to save this poor couple over here underneath a pile of rubble? Oh yeah, maybe an earthquake did it.” Isolfar laughed again. “Wrong.”
Isolfar showed her bleeding right wrist and began manipulating her blood into a knife. Asher’s eyes widened at the sight of Isolfar’s weapon. She braced herself as Isolfar dashed towards her and slashed without any hesitation. Asher dodged and swung her staff at Isolfar’s face. Isolfar jumped backwards, fell to a crouch, and immediately leaped towards Asher, stabbing her knife. Asher side-stepped and managed to kick Isolfar’s face. Isolfar grinned like a maniac and slashed her left wrist open, causing more blood to come out of her body.
“What kind of witch are you?” Asher asked as she readied herself for an attack. Isolfar ignored the question and jumped toward Asher. Asher jumped to her right but Isolfar anticipated this and managed to stab Asher’s right forearm. Asher cried out.
“I’m no witch, little girl. I am what happens when the golden rule is broken,” Isolfar asserted. Asher slightly froze in place. She visibly shook from hearing the sentence but she gripped her staff as hard as she could. Isolfar continued to look down on Asher. “I have been around for many centuries. I’ve had many sons and daughters and every single one of them was taken away from me. Mortality, revelations, and rebellion. All those things, I despise! Adopted or biological, they were my children and this world took them away from me! I won’t let that happen anymore!”
Asher quickly jumped as Isolfar rushed towards her. They dodged and countered each other's blows with their blood-knifes and staff respectively. They were at a stalemate. Then, a sudden voice screamed.
“How dare you do that to me and my husband?” a figure demanded as she rose up, wearing a white robe. Sylvia got out from the rubble, lifted a boulder without holding it, and threw it at Isolfar. Isolfar was able to dodge the rocks as they crumbled to dust but Sylvia appeared from the cloud of smoke and punched Isolfar square on her right cheek. “This is for my husband!”
Isolfar got sent flying. Her left shoulder crashed to a tree. Sylvia sprinted and attempted to punch her but Isolfar quickly jumped to her side. Fury could be seen in Sylvia’s eyes. Isolfar suddenly got yanked by a staff causing her stumble on the ground. Asher stood beside Sylvia. It was clear who the enemy was.
“Teaming up, eh? Looks like I have to take this more seriously than I thought. It might have been wiser for you to stay dead because right now, I’ll make the second one even more gruesome,” Isolfar tittered menacingly as she sliced a scar on her thighs, manipulating even more blood. This time, she turned it into a scythe. Asher flinched a bit but Sylvia disregarded her safety and used a chunk of the ground to launch her to Isolfar.
Isolfar swung the scythe, aiming to behead Sylvia but the Meoon made a tree bend in front of her, catching the slice. Isolfar was caught off guard and got sent flying down again with another punch to her face. Isolfar looked at Sylvia and smiled. Her nose bled from the punch.
“Are you so mad that I was more of a mother to your daughter than you could ever be?” Isolfar provoked Sylvia.
“What are you talking about?” Sylvia demanded with clenched fists.
“Oh, so you were actually unaware that you met your daughter? I didn’t realize until some time, so I beg your pardon,” Isolfar mocked Sylvia.
Sylvia clenched her fists even harder and rushed to Isolfar. She manipulated her scythe into a net. She caught Sylvia’s right foot and slammed her to the ground. Sylvia coughed blood. Asher tried a sneak attack but Isolfar sensed her coming, catching the staff with another net. But Asher immediately let go of the staff and delivered an uppercut to Isolfar’s chin. Asher’s staff and Sylvia broke free from the net.
“How dare you take my daughter away from me?” Sylvia, enraged, levitated small pebbles before launching them at Isolfar.
The Meoons from the village shivered; some tried to cheer but most stood frozen. Looks like I’ll be exploiting them. Sorry, little ones. Isolfar went after the villagers. “No!” Sylvia shouted and tried to catch up to her. With one swing of her scythe, Isolfar decapitated multiple children and elderly. Screams from the village erupted as Sylvia and Asher ground their teeth in fury.
“You monster!” Sylvia shouted. She rushed towards Isolfar and Asher followed.
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What are we supposed to do against a monster like this? Asher thought to herself. Not even rogue witches are willing to go this far as to involve innocents. Think, Asher, think! Sylvia and Isolfar were almost at a stalemate. Isolfar was making one-dimensional swings of her scythe while Sylvia utilized her power in every way imaginable. She threw twigs, pebbles, and mud at Isolfar. She momentarily caught Isolfar with a storm of leaves but Isolfar blew them away with her weapons. Asher hasn’t seen a Meoon not in her feline form perform such feats in a while. She looked up and noticed that the moon is nowhere near full. I have to use my imprisonment again. She recalled a precious set of events but denied it immediately. No, not those.
Asher went through her mind as to what memories she ought to sacrifice. She first tried a meeting with an old friend from last year. They had a nice conversation catching up with their lives. There were tiny particles that came after Isolfar but the half-breed noticed and immediately sliced them. Sylvia took advantage of the slight distraction and hurled a boulder towards her. Isolfar manipulates her blood yet again as a shield. Asher attacked her from behind as soon as the shield wears off and smashes her with the staff. She attempted imprisonment again by using 1 year's worth of information about botany. The particles were visibly more powerful trying to immobilize Isolfar but she made tiny drops of blood as if bullets to counter the particles. Damn it, Asher thought to herself. It seems like mere studies won’t cut it. Not enough attachment, I assume. Again, a precious set of events flashed to her, and she had the urge to not let it go.
Isolfar was growing more frustrated and sliced more parts of her body. Oh no, Asher worried. Sylvia didn’t care as she made four trees levitate at her will, hurling them towards Isolfar. Meoons were continuously screaming as more of them died via strays. As Sylvia was about to hurl another boulder at Isolfar, the original sin got to her first and used a sharp whip made of her blood to slice Sylvia’s guts. The Meoon coughed blood and collapsed to the ground. She turns her attention to Asher, whose jaw is slightly open. The Witch gripped her staff hard and engaged with Isolfar. There has to be something I can’t afford to forget. But it can’t be that…
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Screams of terror were just audible in the room of Keira, who had inadvertently awoken. It was midnight. What is happening outside? She asked herself. Upon getting up from bed, she noticed a letter, written by Isolfar. It read, “Keira, my beloved daughter. I will always love you. You are the most precious daughter I’ve had. And if you read this, know that everything I’m doing is for your own sake. Because I love you no matter what. -Love, Mother (Isolfar).” She smiled. But not even this letter was able to keep her from being distracted from the ruckus outside. She decided to go out and saw Meoons near outside their mansion, cowering in fear. She approached one of them.
“Hey, are you alright? What are you doing at a place like this?”
“O-our village is b-being attacked,” the Meoon babbled before his eyes widened. “Y-You’re with her, aren’t you? You two v-visited the v-village t-t-together! You’re with that monster!” The other Meoons panicked as they saw her and ran off. The terrified expression in their eyes told Keira something. Something is going on and it’s not right. She rushed to the village.
Luckily, it was only a few minutes off their mansion. Unfortunately, the village was already a mess. She looked around and saw several Meoons fighting off what seemed to be a blood-manipulating creature. And another familiar figure was on the scene of action but she was still quite far away. So, she slowly snuck to get a closer look. And as her eyes wandered, she recognized Draver’s arm under a pile of rubble. His wedding ring shone, in contrast to his dead body. What happened? And before she could think another thought, she saw Sylvia’s body lying flat on her back with a gaping ravine across her stomach. She was still slightly moving. Keira decided against her safety and went to the Meoon.
“Sylvia!” Keira shouted. She knelt in front of Sylvia’s corpse.
“D-daughter…” Sylvia was coughing blood.
“What?”
“H-hold… my… hand…” Keira does as the Meoon says. “Y…You’re… as… beautiful… as… the… day… you… left… Ly… fyos…”
Keira was breathless. She didn’t know how to respond. She thought that Sylvia was just being delusional because she was near her death. But a certain voice made her confused expression even more doubtful.
“Keira! What are you doing here?” shouted Isolfar as she strangled the Meoon soldiers with her blood-manipulated ropes. Keira couldn’t comprehend the horror that was before her eyes. Her mother, the person who raised her, the person who wrote that letter, is slaughtering for unknown reasons. “They were trying to get between us. That couple, Sylvia and Draver; they wanted to take you from me. I couldn’t allow tha-”
Asher leaped and smashed Isolfar’s mouth with her staff. Then, she brought forth particles that irritated Isolfar. Asher was clearly annoyed. “Don’t listen to her, Keira, she’s manipulating you! Your mo-” This time, Isolfar interrupted and charged at Asher physically before trying to decapitate her with a scythe. Asher intercepted yet again with her staff. Keira stood completely frozen. Sylvia reached out her hand and both of them glowed. What’s happening? Keira asked herself yet again. Sylvia miraculously stood up, gut bleeding profusely yet she was still able.
“Thank you, Ly-, I mean, Keira. That’s what you’ve been used to, right?” Sylvia asked calmly. “This will be enough time for me to get some sort of revenge. Thank you for holding my hand one last time. I may not be the mother you grew up with, but you’ll always be the daughter I gave birth to.” Sylvia rushed towards Isolfar, who was surprised that Sylvia was able to move.
“How are you still alive? What did you do to my daughter? You will pay!” Isolfar screamed.
“Your daughter? Give me a break. You just admitted to kidnapping her and you dare call her yours? How many more have you gotten? You’re the worst kind of person I have ever met,” Sylvia was unnaturally faster than before. She manipulated rocks, trees, and plants with ease. “I’m a Meoon of Nature manipulation. And you’re in the front-row seat for a spectacular show!”
Isolfar, enraged, cut more parts of her body. What is she doing? Keira thought. What’s happening? Keira repeated to herself over and over and over. When things don’t make sense to a child, they can’t help but question yet it all stays within her mind. She can’t possibly confront her mother who’s running rampant on her actual mother, gut open, bleeding and all, and a person she had just recently met. It just didn’t make any sense. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she look to the ground begging for an explanation.
“Witch, now!” Sylvia shouted, commanding Asher while she was able to get a grip on Isolfar. She was screaming, struggling to get out but Sylvia, with the help of trees and rocks was able to hold Isolfar in place. The vines of trees covered most of Isolfar's wounds and the rocks kept her feet in place. Asher closed her eyes and released a powerful wave of particles that agonized Isolfar. “Is it working?” Sylvia asked as Isolfar lets out echoes of screams.
“I think so. I put five years of knowledge into that attack. She can’t possibly get out. As the particles surround her, she’ll be transported to a separate space where she hopefully can’t reach us anymore,” Asher explained her imprisonment magic. “However, know one thing. She won’t die from this.” Sylvia looked indifferent to that piece of information but she just kept a tighter grip on Isolfar. The half-breed’s scream gradually died down. Then, a mute dropped. An explosion of wood, leaves, rocks, particles, and blood scattered all over the village.
“You think that was enough to beat me?” Isolfar devilishly laughed. “I may as well be immortal, you know? A fully healed ‘Nature manipulator’ and a Warden working together still can’t beat me. The only thing beating me is if a God were to personally punish me for existing! I was born to die yet I live. I was born to not be anything other than an afterthought yet I became a mother. Who would’ve thought that destiny was on my side?”
Sylvia could barely stand up, holding her slashed stomach. Asher shivered from the fact that she did not succeed. Then, there was Keira. She suddenly stopped being frozen. She slowly walked towards… Where am I going? She thought. She felt as if her body was moving on its own. Isolfar smiled, gesturing to her daughter with a motherly smile. And it was wiped out as soon as Keira knelt on her knees. She went to Sylvia.
“Keira,” Isolfar said. “I’ve given you everything. A mansion, a healthy life, a home, a mother, a name. Didn’t you read my letter? I love you. Whatever I do or do, it was all for you. As your mother, I will always love you. No matter what.” She insisted as she walked to Keira’s place.
“You know,” Sylvia coughed. “Maybe what she’s saying is still true. I know the sincerity in a mother’s voice. But sympathy isn’t really an option when that person kills your husband, right?” Sylvia giggled a little bit. “Be good.” Sylvia’s head got chopped off. Blood gushed out of her neck and rolled over. She smiled at Keira before her eyes inevitably went hollow.
“Now, don’t worry, sweetie, you have me. You will always have me,” Isolfar declared, hugging a frozen Keira. “And I will always have you,” she whispered.
A slight crying out was heard from Keira and she shone brighter than a thousand suns. Isolfar was blinded by the light. A glowing lion-like creature stood. It had white skin with an orange coat with streaks of black fur. It had amber eyes and a glowing red aura. The lion-like creature - Keira, let out a wild roar that stunned Isolfar. The half-breed was taken aback and noticed particles surrounding her. She turned around and saw Asher on one knee, looking down to the ground, murmuring.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Asher kept repeating but none of them knew who she was apologizing to. Niacin, I’m sorry. A few seconds passed and Asher got up. “This time, you’ll be gone and I’ll make sure you won’t be able to escape!” Asher pointed her palm at Isolfar and closed it.
Isolfar screamed as she got transported to a different space. A different realm that she didn’t understand.
Keira suddenly reverted to her regular form. She felt dizzy and somebody carried her. “You deserve to rest, little one,” she heard a voice say. Then, she saw black.