I found myself delighted to know that this small group that I had gathered by chance had managed to survive this disaster. In the end, the seal I had placed on this door was much more effective than I ever thought.

However, if it had been my mother who had placed this seal, she probably could have created a much more effective and powerful seal,acting on the whole building. This seal creates a bubble invisible to the naked eye around the target, the outer surface nullifying attacks of a karmic nature and the interior neutralizing physical attacks.

As I was caught in my thoughts, Melessy rushed towards me, her face deformed by tears and snot.

"Mwiss Lila, I twought this wub bi for us!!!! (Miss Lila, I thought it would be over for us!)"

She had this annoying habit of being very easily frightened. An unfortunate habit that made me wonder every day why she wanted to join an occult research club, given her tendency to take the scarce for nothing. The other member, on the other hand, was lounging in this room without a care. This man always had a disconcerting attitude in extreme situations.

"Maybe you and your friends are picking the wrong time for emotional meetings. May I remind you that this building is going to burn and we will if we don’t hurry."

Despite the fact that agreeing with Allison on anything was absolutely out of the question, I had no choice this time.

Indeed, she wasn't wrong, when I took into account the fact that I can only hold this spell for a period of fifteen minutes, her opinion began to take it's sense.

"In the end, your so-called prophecy came true. Why did it have to be right when the summer vacation was about to begin?"

He breathed a long sigh, slumped in his chair, and began going through the pages of a book he had just retrieved from the table. With this kind of attitude, he could only get on my nerves.

"How many times must I tell you, Marth! Be more serious in my humble abode!"

"Meow."

Cat Sith had just explained to me in his own way that we had better hurry in view of the five minutes we had left. Fortunately, someone had dedicated himself to being the voice of reason in our magnificent occult research room. Although this person was a cat …

"I want to go home. Even being eaten by fire would have been better than coming back here."

Expressed Allison, not concerned by her share of responsibility in this incident. I could even see her talking with the air in. I guess she was having a discussion with her "parallel".

Melessy approached me slowly, while observing Allison attentively, her eyes swinging between me and Allison, judging her with her gaze.

The door of the room began to tremble, as the heat of the room soared.

Without saying a single word, everyone nodded with a simple movement of the head that it was time to get out of here and leave pointless matters aside. Magic can make miracles, but it is not without defects, if a karmic energy of an even more negative nature comes into contact with it, my magic will dissipate. In the end, this is only a demonstration of the weakness of my will. Magic is only as strong as the will of the user, like a fuel only fueled by your desires.

The flames created from Allison’s wish were extremely stronger than my spells. I could ward off any flames with any basic liquid-based spells my mom taught me, in theory, however, even then these flames would continue to exist. I could sense it just by feeling the karma they manifested, this fire was beyong logic and comprehension, even for a witch.

They are born of disaster and its manifestation. One cannot stop a disaster,one could only hope that it will cease to be.

Which means these flames …

"Will continue to exist until it burns all the people inside the building."

These flames were made to cause despair, so they will only stop when at least the fire of the will is extinguished in its victims.

As soon as I had reached my conclusion, I made a sign to everyone to follow me, as I created a portal fifty meters from here. I would have created a portal much further, alas, here lied the limits of my teleportation abilities. This innate spatial magic that I had inherited was practical in many situations but limited due to my lack of my knowledge as a witch who only started praticing months agos.

We all jumped head first into the hole create in space, taking advantage of our success if only to rest for a bit.

Suddenly we were presented with a heavy silence, as if even the wind itself had taken its breath away.

The others were not able to feel it fully but I could feel them, karmic energies of the same level as the fire that had burned our school grounds.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

This silence and this energy could only be synonymous with one thing, to stay here would be to sign our death warrant. But if this place was like this, what did become the rest of the world?

Concentrating my hearing, I could hear sounds of terror right to left, interspersed with the intense sound of flames.

I could see Allison’s usually closed face, devoid of any traces of emotion, tinged with a whitish colour.

Similarly, the others were equally terrified.

"Look, Allison, this is the price of your wish."

I then pointed her to the pile of lifeless bodies that littered the road before our eyes. Some whose eyeballs no longer existed, others as if shredded by a wild and bloodthirsty beast. The floor painted with the red color of death.

If it was necessary to open her eyes that she followed a road that would only lead her to self destruction, it was the moment.

I remembered the circumstances in which we met. How could anyone resent the world so much? Blame themselves that much?

Apophys had chosen the perfect target for his misdeeds. After all, only total annihilation seeks a heart corrupted with black. A heart in prey to despair.

The desert landscape where the peaceful inhabitants of this city still lived yesterday served only to remind me of the cold reality.

Our cold nature. The refusal to accept one’s heart, the refusal to forgive oneself, the refusal to accept the hand that would only offer warmth oh so comforting.

A reflection of my own weakness…

If only I were not a shadow of myself, perhaps I could have saved her heart, like her soul. Saved more people.

Allison’s very essence was black, a fact denoted by her lack of joy and laughter. If only…

We did not have time to linger in front of this landscape that a child began to run towards us.

"Mom! Dad! They killed them!"

I could see what looked like a horde of flies behind him, a putrid smell accompanying the sinister rush.

Without hesitation, I took command.

"Melessy,it's a demon."

I could smell the foul odour of such vile creature any day.

"A demon! Really!",Melessy said, completely terrorized.

For a person who was interested in demonology and exorcism, she decidedly took off quite quickly when confronted by the creatures of her dreams.

"Prepare your mantra!"

Despite shaking from head to toe, she nodded and pulled out a sheet of paper and a brush.

She marked "barrier" on the talisman, then threw salt into it and began to incant:

"A white dove tinged with black,

In your mercy, you grant him a last supper,

That’s why you’re inviting him to banquer prisoners."

I could see karmic energy coming out of the talisman and heading towards the insect horde.

However, my mother had warned me of the absurdity of the personality of the exorcists and their wacky and somewhat sadistic nature. I didn’t really like what this so-called mantra implied. A notion that directly contradicted Melessy, which always made me wonder why she was one.

Not to mention the fact that I was always amazed by the fact that there were humans who were not hybrids like me capable of using karmic energy.

The energy generated by the talisman turned into steel bars and locked the flies.

Without devoting a single second to rest, the child continued to run in our direction.

"Help!" he kept shouting, raising his voice as high as he could.

If I wasn’t helping someone in need, then I had no reason to call myself an extraordinary witch. It was then that a shiver ran through my entire body, like a dangerous embrace ready to take my breath away.

I was obviously not the only one affected, the others also nailed on the spot.

In my panic, I lightened the spell that allowed me to restrain Allison, freeing her from her shackles. She was the only one of us who had not changed her expression in any way despite the intense weight of the presence that we could all feel. As if it forced reality itself to recognize its existence, its immensity.

Before we knew it, the kid was flying in the air carried by mosquitoes.

"Aaaaaaah!!!"

"Cath Sith, catch him!"

Cath Sith nodded, crawling along the wall of a nearby building with her claws, running vertically.

"Méléssie, stop shaking a little and make yourself useful, create barriers around us."

Without ceasing to shake, she did:

"The swallow began a last journey into the Holy Land,

To atone for his sins not without mercy,

Alas, a fisherman is still a fisherman."

Immediately after her incantation, bars made of steel and manganese covered Melessy and Marth, leaving only Cath Sith, Allison and me without protection. A single metal bar remained under my feet, Melessy having anticipated my plan by herself.

At the same time, in a split second, Cath Sith grabbed the child from his mouth, forced back down in full speed to flee from these insects, opting for a large dive to join us downstairs.

Using the metal bar and the little energy I had left after opening a portal, I gave bouncing properties to the space under my feet, in order to propel us high so as to reach this horde of flies. Alas, even if I wanted to, I could not be the one to put an end to the existence of the demon responsible for this child’s dread, for I would only have relatively five percent of karmic energy left after treating and manipulating so much space.

I could only leave it to Allison, releasing her from my grip as we reached the desired place. Determined that she would finish the job, I cried out:

"Switch with her, Allison!"

How surprised I was when I heard these cold words without any feeling coming out of her mouth when I asked:

"Look, Li... Lila. I don’t see why I should save this kid.Besides that I can’t change the possession of my body the way I want and even less why I should partner with you and help you in an absurd quest that you imposed on yourself."

The fall of my expectations was terrible, I who had thought that her heart was not yet so corrupt. But it was precisely in these kinds of situations that I had to remember my mother’s words.

The flies gathered together to create a new entity, a creature with spider-like legs, a massive bust with a humanoid appearance and two globular eyes.

With my body devoid of energy, I began to feel the harmful effects that my birth in this world had brought, the consequences of the union between witch and human and the effect that emerges on the body when magic is used by a fundamentally human body. My body became stiff and I could not feel my weight as I headed down a deadly descent. But I couldn’t leave Allison.

Despite everything she said, I could see it in her eyes, the twinkling of those who never want to bow down to fate.

Using my last strength, I drew closer to her and hugged her to her surprise.

"I know you won’t believe me, but if you need help I’ll always be there for you. Deep down, your heart is just sad and lonely, that’s why you wanted to end it. But I will never let you end it as long as I breathe the same air."

My mother had a tendency to say that when the soul is bruised, the heart only needs to be healed. This may also be the case with Allison, a thought that crossed my mind as I fell head first to the ground, my last sight being her expression of disarray.