1. Can witches cry?

A long silence filled the tiny wooden hut. The dark space around us somehow suddenly felt a lot more claustrophobic and oppressive. I wanted to get out.

I somehow managed to stop myself at the door because I didn’t really know what I was feeling. I don’t know if I was sad for her, angry at those who wronged her, or just frustrated in general.

It was a confusing mess of emotions I wasn’t familiar with. I simply paced around the room, trying to process the information I had just been given.

I mean, honestly speaking, she could just be lying too…

But the fact that there was indeed a grave next to the house made it difficult to not believe her. What point would there be in putting so much effort into a lie like this anyway?

No. It wasn’t really even a matter of if I believed her or not.

I didn’t want to believe such a miserable story. I thought the golden-girl was just your average shallow bimbo, who was a bit too full of herself.

Judging by everything Amelia told me, Claire was nothing short of a monster. How does a person grow to be so entitled, that they think it’s okay to kill an innocent child for the sake of their sexual desires?

I did read very morbid stories online in my past life from time to time too… But they always felt somehow distant because they were detached from who I was…

This one was a bit too close for comfort.

I slumped on a worn-out chair. One of the last few that hadn’t been sacrificed to the fire.

Trying to think of what to say, I really only had one thought remaining. It was so permeating and overwhelming, no matter what alternates I tried to think of, the words simply slipped out of my mouth.

“Do you… wish for revenge?”

Another long silence followed. At some point, I started doubting if I even said it out loud.

“Of course, I do…” Amelia’s voice was like the hiss of a snake. It felt like she wanted to whisper in order to hide her words of truth from something.

“…” I remained silent.

“… But what in the world am I to do!? S-somehow, they all believe her… unquestionably… It’s like they’re under a spell!”

I had to think over my words for a moment again. Was I really going to suggest going on a mad revenge-trip with this person I had just met? Why? Why would I ever suggest something like that? I had just gotten my life back. I was free.

Sure, I lost an arm, but I still had the other one left! I had both my legs too. I had much more to lose from going on a lunatic venture, than to win.

And yet somehow… I couldn’t stop myself from speaking.

“I could help…”

“What the hell can YOU do!? Forgive my shortsighted judgement, but you don’t seem to be doing particularly well for yourself either!” Amelia seemed annoyed by my offer.

Her comment was an obvious jab at my missing arm. But it wasn’t without merit. It’s not like I was qualified to offer myself. I did cast a spell to kill a single monster, but I also lost an arm in the process. I was by no means an expert in combat.

I had also spent the entirety of my life in bed so far, so calling myself some sort of cunning mastermind was a shameless overstatement. The only thing I had, was a personal, narcissistic desire for revenge. And yet, I kept talking.

“I know how to cast magic.”

My words got a reaction out of the knight. She turned to look at me with a weird look on her face. As she glanced higher and properly analyzed me in more detail, her eyes widened in what almost looked like horror.

“You’re… a Nightwalker…!” She suddenly gasped.

“A-a what now??” I retorted awkwardly as the knight began shuffling clumsily for her sword.

“No wonder I sensed a strange air as soon as you entered! Fiend… You must be here to feast on my soul!!” I… honestly had no idea what Amelia was on about. She weakly shook her sword around, but not with enough force to actually hurt anyone.

“W-wait! What’s a Nightwalker?! Please! Stop swinging that thing! I did get exiled for apparently being a witch, yes! But I genuinely don’t know anything about this place! Like I said! My memories…”

“Lies! You smelled the blood! Didn’t you?! I can’t believe I exposed my heart to a monster of all things!!” Amelia’s voice was shaky, but it still commanded an air of eminence.

“Mmmghhh….” I sighed and looked at the knight weakly brandishing her sword at me.

How could I play this out… I knew nothing about this world. The only thing I had confirmed so far, was that witches don’t have hearts… and that they can cast magic.

I had no idea what this whole deal about eating souls was about. I didn’t know what witches even were to Amelia, and she kept calling me a ‘Nightwalker’ for some reason… I also had a VERY strong feeling, that the paladin before me wouldn’t simply believe me, no matter what I’d try to do to confirm my innocence.

I took a deep breath and thought about it.

Maybe I could try to play along with her narrative? I was probably suspicious because of how nice I was acting. In Amelia’s mind, witches seemed to be pure evil monsters or something along those lines.

Monsters, that apparently eat souls.

If she were to suddenly be approached by one acting all nice, it’s quite understandable she’d find it suspicious.

I took a deep breath. Acting like a monster was not a foolproof plan either because she could totally lock down due to it.

Wait…

Why was I putting so much effort into convincing her anyway!? I barely knew this person…

It made no sense.

Maybe because they were the first person in this world who opened up to me, or perhaps because I felt empathy for Amelia who had everything taken from her.

I don’t know what exactly it was, but something compelled me to try.

“Fair. I admit. I did smell the blood.” I began, raising my hand up a bit.

“You fiend…!” The knight hissed.

“But, hear me out a bit. The story about being exiled from the kingdom is also true.” I continued, causing Amelia’s eyes to widen a bit. “I only recently came to understand I am a witch. My missing arm should be proof enough. I tried casting a spell in an attempt to fend off a monster, only to end up like this.”

“…” Amelia stayed silent.

“Back in the kingdom… I didn’t get accused of actually doing something terrible. It was stuff along the lines of spilling water on the princess and other petty garbage like that. I have no memory of ever doing anything particularly bad to people.” I sat down in front of Amelia, still out of sword-swinging range.

“B-but…” The knight’s hand shook.

“Being accused of being a witch only came later… at a convenient time, when otherwise the accusations would have been nothing but shallow love-drama.” I continued. Amelia’s sword clattered as it fell on the ground.

“N-no…” She muttered.

“Yes, to them, being a witch was secondary. Being a witch was just a convenient excuse, and the real reason I got exiled, was because I apparently bullied the girl by spilling water on her” I took a deep breath. “Sounds pretty familiar, right?”

Amelia was gritting her teeth. She seemed utterly consumed by her own hatred. I think what I was implying was good enough to convince her that I was in a somewhat similar situation to her.

“Allowing a monster inside the kingdom is a lesser offense than intruding the golden-lunatic’s harem… Sounds familiar indeed.” Amelia sighed, sounding almost defeated.

“I might be a monster, but even I can tell there was something wrong with that place.”

“What the hell did she turn my beloved kingdom to…!” Amelia curled up a bit, hiding her face.

“I honestly don’t really care about the golden girl that much myself. I was treated like trash, but I have my freedom to go anywhere I want, which is a luxury I haven’t enjoyed in a long time…” I spoke. “But… After hearing your story, I’m convinced there is something bigger afoot… which might eventually harm the uh… life of peace and freedom I wish for.”

“…” Amelia remained silent.

“If you wish for revenge… let’s work together.” I got up and walked up to Amelia. This time within sword swiping distance.

“…” The silence continued.

I reached out with my remaining right arm, offering Amelia my hand.

“In my youth… I heard stories of demons and witches appearing before people at their weakest moments to take advantage of them…” Amelia mumbled quietly from behind her arms.

“Mmh… I’ve heard of stories like that too.” I admitted.

“A witch, that listens to stories…” She chuckled a bit.

“Hey… A good story is worth listening to, monster or not.” I smiled at her awkwardly, seeing my own face reflected off of the remaining luster of her armor.

“I really hope this’ll be a story worth listening to…” With that, Amelia’s hand grasped mine. Her grip was firm, but I could still feel a hint of anxiety to it, like she wanted to let go the moment she put some force behind her hold.

I responded in kind and took a good hold of her hand properly. I realized I had been incredibly tense the whole time I spoke to her. My entire body seemed to relax as Amelia seemed to have finally lowered her guard around me.

“Uh…! Amelia.” I started. “How did you figure I was a… Night… walker? Or a witch?” I pondered simply out of curiosity.

“Your eyes…” Amelia pointed at her own. “Legends say monsters always have eyes in the hues of fire, to represent how close to the cinders of hell they are.” She continued. I reached a bit for my own eyes in turn. “Your eyes are a burning orange, and your pupils are thin and cat-like.”

“R-really!?” I leaned in to look at my reflection more properly against her armor. “HOLY HELL! THAT’S COOL!!” I sparkled in place due to my witch-fetish.

“Mm… Fh…?” Amelia let out a perplexed chuckle in response. “Hahah… hahaha…” She laughed a bit weakly.

“H-hey! Don’t laugh! I’ve never seen stuff like this before!” I mumbled grumpily.

“An amnesiac witch, huh…” She kept chuckling. “Being amazed of being a witch…” She shook her head. “What in the world am I getting myself into…”

“W-well!! Life sometimes works in strange ways!” I tried acting philosophical. Quite ironic considering my extremely lacking life-experience.

“Do you have a name…? Calling you a witch might raise some eyebrows…” Amelia smiled a bit weakly.

“Ah…!” I jumped. I realized I never introduced myself.

I stopped myself right before blurting out my old name because something about saying it felt like a piece was stuck in my throat. Honestly, I didn’t want to be that person anymore, and I didn’t want to be reminded of living in a bed for the entirety of my life.

I was a witch now. Why should I cling onto my miserable past for no reason? A monster needs a name fitting one, and there was a name that popped into my head as soon as I thought about it.

The witches in the game I mentioned earlier were generally enemies you’d encounter randomly when exploring certain areas.

They most often had no names, but there were a few named witches too. They were special boss encounters the players would need to overcome during the story.

One among them was optional. Optional bosses in video games are most often known for being considerably more challenging than the story bosses, and their purpose is to push the players' passion towards the game to its absolute limit.

There was one secret optional boss in the game, who was a witch. A horrifyingly difficult secret boss one could randomly encounter in the most dangerous areas of the game.

I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me borrowing her name… We’re fellow witches, after all, right?

Yverna.” I stated with strange confidence.

“HM… Quite an unusual name.” Amelia nodded. “As expected of a witch. Does it have its origin in the word ‘Wyvern’?”

“AH…” I just now realized the similarity. “I THINK IT DOES!” I slapped my hand against my thigh. “I never realized that!! That’s so cool!! W-what an epic name!! I like it even more!!” I realized I had let my love for all things witches leak out a bit too late yet again.

Amelia’s defensive curled up posture loosened a bit. “Y-you didn’t realize it before…? Even though it’s your own name…”

“H-hey! I’m sure there are plenty of people who don’t know the meaning behind their names!” I tried to argue weakly.

“You’re a named monster, though… Surely, the name was given for a reason…” Amelia was dumbfounded.

“S-shush… I just chose it because it sounded cool…” I could feel my ears turning red.

“S-sounded cool!?” Amelia’s expression grew even more puzzled.

“Yeah… It’s a cool name…”

“PUHA… PUAHAHAHAHAHA!” Amelia burst out laughing properly.

”IT IS COOL TOO!!” I tried to whine at her as she kept laughing at me uncontrollably. Eventually, I couldn’t stay serious and started giggling with her.

We laughed for a good twenty or so minutes, Amelia was crying and laughing at the same time. I don’t know whether she was crying because of the laughter… or because of something else… but the laughter alone lifted the mood a lot already.

I guess I can officially say, that I made myself an adventuring companion.

…

“So… Do we need to make some kind of a demonic contract?” Amelia began speaking after we finally calmed down.

I had no idea what she was talking about. Instead of trying to figure out things bit by bit, I felt I should just ask her the most important question directly.

“Um… Amelia. What exactly are witches to you? Can you please explain your view on us to me? I’m a bit lost in some of the things you say.”

“W-what in the world kind of question is that? Witches are witches! Monsters! Your kind is mostly famous for guiding lost souls to ruin, casting horrifying curses and eating souls to increase your magical powers.”

“Riiiighht….” I nodded, crossing my arms. “Have you ever met a witch before me?”

“No.” Amelia replied bluntly.

“Have you ever seen a witch… guide a lost soul to ruin… or eat souls at that?” I continued.

“N-no…” Amelia probably had a hunch on where I was going to go with this.

“I see…” I decided against questioning her beliefs. “Now. This might come off weird, but I actually don’t really find the thought of eating someone’s soul particularly appetizing.” I went on.

“How do you supposedly sustain yourself, then?” It was a fair question of her to ask. If witches really ate souls, I guess I’d wither away and die without them… But that didn’t seem to be the case, so…

“I seem to be doing quite fine with just eating normal food.” I pointed at the pantry. “I actually have no memory of ever eating a soul.” Crossing my arms, I presented my case.

The armor clattered again. “W-what?!”

“N-now! Don’t take my words too seriously. Like I said, I’m suffering from a case of amnesia.” I lied. “I only have memories from the point when the golden girl began accusing me of being a man-stealer.”

In theory, I wasn’t lying… kind of. I was just… selectively revealing the truth in a manner that gave off a very different impression of how things actually were. I wasn’t comfortable telling her I got reincarnated into this world from an entirely different world, and I also really didn’t want to tell her about my past.

“No wonder you’re behaving so… strangely.” Amelia’s line of sight was quite focused on my eyes. My guess is: They made her uncomfortable to an extent.

“Strangely…?” I repeated.

“To my understanding, witches can converse with people, but they’re emotionless and cold to an effortlessly noticeable degree.

“Oh…”

Somehow, this statement reminded me of the fact, that I hadn’t cried at all after hearing Amelia’s story. I used to cry a lot when I was younger, but over the years things grew dull and gray. When you sit in a hospital all of your life, you’re bound to see a few tragic events.

Eventually, they all begin mixing together into a mush, just like how you can grow dull to violence on television, I grew dull to tragedy at the hospital. The cries of families mourning the passing of a loved one… the cries of those at death’s door howling desperately for some magical entity to save them… I have heard all of them…

But… I wonder if that’s really what it was? I did feel troubled and strange after hearing Amelia’s story, but no tears came out.

I wonder if witches simply cannot cry?

My self-analysis was interrupted by Amelia. “Ahem… So, about the contract?”

“R-right… what was that again?” I shook my head.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Well. I agreed to an evil demonic pact with you… didn’t I…?” Amelia muttered under her breath, clearly conflicted about the subject.

“RIGHT!” I nodded. I seriously thought she was joking about the whole demon pact thing… I thought we both were on the same page about the stories about witches and demons exploiting people at their worst moments were simply THAT! STORIES! NOT REAL!! I GUESS THERE WAS SOME MISCOMMUNICATION GOING ON HERE!

“So, how does it work.” Amelia asked nervously.

“Huh… Right-o… Demon pact… lemme… go pick one up real quick.” I muttered and got up, shakily wandering into the pantry.

But seriously, though… WHAT THE HELL IS A DEMON PACT?! I’m a witch, aren’t I?! Why am I writing a demonic pact instead of something more witch-like?! Now, was truly a time to improvise! Amelia was dead-set on us forming some kind of evil contract…

WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND DEMONIC ITEMS IN THIS TINY HUT?!

But then, my line of sight made contact with something with potential! One of the dried food cans had a label made of paper. It was worn out and peeling off slightly.

Better than nothing, I guess!

I walked out of the pantry, trying my best to ignore Amelia’s wary gaze. I walked to the fireplace and took out a charred stick. Without a word, I returned to the pantry.

I did my best to look like I knew what I was doing. In actuality, I had no idea what the hell a demon pact was even supposed to be.

Admittedly, after doodling said pact on the piece of paper, I did feel pretty proud of it.

It honestly looked really convincing!!... At least for someone who had no idea what demons did in the first place! I drew various mystical symbols I knew from my past life on it to make it seem more convincing.

Now, the only issue was… how to make it feel magical. I managed to cast a spell in a panic, but I genuinely had no clue to how magic worked in general.

I knew it had something to do with the tiny sparkling things I could see all over the place… But that was about it.

Sadly, I didn’t really have the opportunity to start studying magic properly in the heat of the moment.

Buuuut… if by carving the sigil for ‘fire’ into my arm caused it to burn… Maybe if I drew the same symbol on to the paper, it would also burn? It was worth a shot, right? Having the paper go up in flames would surely make for a cool magical effect to seal the deal. Sadly, I didn’t have any more paper to use as guinea pigs for my little experiment.

So, if it wouldn’t end up burning, I’d just need to… wing it somehow, I guess.

“Okay! I have the um… witch… contract here!” I staggered back into the room with Amelia.

“It’s not a demon pact?” Amelia was somehow still stuck on the whole demon thing.

“I’M NOT A DEMON! HOW WOULD I MAKE A DEMON PACT FOR YOU!?” I let my inner voice become my outer voice for a second.

“Ah… I suppose you’re right.” Amelia seemed a bit taken back by my suddenly increased volume.

“AHEM! Anyway… just uh… let a drop of the blood you spilled on this, and we’re good.” I explained with utmost confidence. Surely, a mystical contract would require a blood sacrifice.

“How vile…! Will I lose my soul for this?” Amelia gulped dryly.

“I already told you I don’t need your damn soul! It’s just a mutual co-work contract!” This paladin and her fixation on losing her soul was starting to get on my nerves.

“A… mutual… co-work contract?”

“Basically! We mutually agree to put all of our effort into fulfilling the shared goal of revenge! It simply prevents one of us from going back on the promise later on.” I did my best to explain my fake contract. The lore behind it was mostly a safeguard to make sure Amelia wouldn’t backstab me in the future.

“Sounds… too good and simple to be true.” Amelia was still doubtful.

“HEY! WITCH CONTRACTS ARE DIFFERENT, OKAY! You’re too dead-set on the whole demon contract thing! Witches can make more mutual contracts too! Revenge is evil! We’re doing something bad! That’s enough evil for me!” I flailed around with the paper in hand.

“R-right… right! Forgive me… I’m still unfamiliar with these unholy happenings…!” Amelia admitted nervously. “Are you sure I won’t lose my soul…?”

“WHO THE HELL WANTS THE SOUL OF A GRIEVING MOTHER?!!” I finally snapped, going on a tangent for a bit. “OKAY! LISTEN UP WOMAN!! I DON’T NEED YOUR GODDAMN SOUL! YOU HAVE NO MAGICAL POWER AT ALL TO BEGIN WITH! WHAT WOULD I BENEFIT FROM THIS?! DON’T YOU UNDERESTIMATE WITCHES, OKAY!? WE NEED A GOOD DEAL TO…” I kept going for a good ten minutes about my… witchy values.

“Fine, fine! I understand!” Amelia groaned… then grasping to her chest as if to protect her soul…

“YOU TOTALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND, DO YOU?!” I went on another rant about witches, even though I honestly had no idea what I was talking about. My only guess about Amelia not having a lot of magical power was due to her not shining a whole lot. My assumption was, that the more of those tiny sparkles people attract, the higher their magical powers are. This assumption was due to the lights amassing around my arm when I cast my first spell.

After a good thirty more minutes, I finally convinced Amelia to press her thumb on the paper, leaving a red fingerprint on it. I then drew the magical sigil for fire on it… and to my relief, the paper actually burned on the spot. It didn’t really flare up in a big flame or anything, but instead it just singed slightly and turned black.

“WHA!?” Amelia gasped at the… most impressive showcasing of magic. “You truly are a witch!” She was straightforward to impress.

“So! Do you feel somehow lacking in soul yet…?” I asked the knight who was poking the burnt paper.

“A-admittedly, I may have been a bit hasty in my judgement… Forgive me… Yverna.” Seemed like she was finally done with the doubting.

“THANK YOU.” I nodded in an exaggerated manner. “Ahem… Anyway… now that the f… I mean… totally real contract is dealt with, I think we should plan on what to do from here on out.”

I couldn’t help but question why I put so much effort into something this stupid. I was probably going on a complete suicide mission with this paladin. Not to mention I was weak and so was she. How in the world would we ever oppose a golden princess who seemed to make everyone around her fall in love!?

Despite the lunacy of the whole plan, I still somehow felt happy about it. I made my first companion in years. Amelia was a bit stern and somewhat shortsighted, but she seemed like a nice person overall.

“There’s a lot of preparation and planning we need to do.” I began. “We need supplies to journey out of the swamp… and proper equipment and maybe a few more allies to take down an entire kingdom.” I counted the things I listed with my fingers.

“I think it’d be best to start off with basic supplies. After I recover my strength somewhat, I can go on foraging trips around the hut in order to find whatever I can get my hands on.”

“What about me?” I asked her.

“Does your unholy magic work on other monsters?”

“Uhhh…” I had no idea what she meant.

“I heard it’s very unusual to ever see cursed monsters… so I assumed witch magic simply doesn’t work on other monsters.” Amelia went on.

“MMmmmm… I-indeed…” I crossed my arms. Oh, no... I seriously had no idea what she was talking about. “I think I need to do some research into this subject… I’d appreciate it if I could leave the heavy lifting to you.” I tried my best to sound confident.

“I expected nothing less. While I may no longer have my divine protection, I still pride myself in my strength.” Amelia smiled at me in a slightly warmer manner.

“Fair, but please don’t overdo it. Your body is still weak. Please focus on recovery first.”

“V-very well…!” The knight seemed a bit taken aback over my concern for her health.

“Ah! But speaking of. Can you… explain to me what divine protection is?” Amelia kept mentioning some kind of divine power, but I honestly wasn’t too clear on what it meant.

“Of course. Forgive me. It slipped my mind you might not be familiar with the subject due to your magical alignment.” Amelia was using mysterious words again.

I had no clue on what magical alignment was… Or maybe it was one of those dark and light things? Because I was a witch, divine powers or something were incompatible with me?

“I-indeed.” I nodded my head yet again… with utmost confidence.

“To put it simply, when a knight becomes a paladin, they can swear allegiance with a divine entity. This process is called ‘forming an oath’. The oath is a promise between you and a God or a Goddess, and it generally consists of you worshiping said entity and following the conditions they set for you, while they provide you with divine power to protect you from harm and to give you strength.” Honestly, I think I had heard of something along these lines in fantasy books before, so what she explained to me didn’t feel like complete nonsense.

“I see. I think you mentioned losing your powers during your story. Why is that?” I figured I knew the answer to this question already, but it wouldn’t hurt to just make sure.

“I… I swore an oath to protect the people of Rachasia…” Amelia grimaced, as it clearly was a tough subject for her. “I broke my oath and thus lost my powers as soon as I raised my sword against the knights of the kingdom.”

“That seems a bit unfair, considering what the knights did. I feel your rage was pretty justified.” I couldn’t help but voice out my concerns. “You chose a pretty fickle God to worship!”

“I… It doesn’t cease to amaze me how freely you can voice such heresy…” Amelia sighed a bit.

“Hey. I am a witch!” I quipped.

“Indeed. I’d be lying if I didn’t feel betrayed… But the deities work in mysterious ways.” Amelia seemed a bit conflicted about badmouthing the divinity she used to worship.

“So, is there no way to ever get your powers back?”

“I’ve never heard of an oathbreaker gaining a new divinity to worship.” The paladin spoke solemnly.

“Oath… breaker?”

“It’s what they call paladins who break their oath.” She confirmed.

“It’s a pretty cool title!” I quipped again, as my inner edgelord couldn’t help but voice my thoughts once more.

“Psh…! I can’t say I’ve ever heard of anyone sharing such a thought.”

Luckily, it seemed my adoration for the title of oathbreaker was enough to lighten the mood a bit. It honestly was a cool set of words, but I did wish she would one day get a new deity to worship, considering how important it seemed to her.

“I honestly doubt there would be anyone, but a witch, who would be willing to pair up on a journey with an oathbreaker paladin.” Amelia seemed almost… relieved?

“I don’t really care whether you got an oath or not. You’re strong even without one! That’s all I need to know!” I tried my best to give her a reassuring grin.

“Well. That much, I can assure you of.” She waved her hand a bit dismissively.

I didn’t really expect to gain Amelia’s trust just like that, so it eased my anxiety levels a bit to see she was at least willing to joke around a bit with me.

…

Amelia needed a couple days to recover a bit more. Her wound healed somewhat well, but the low quality of food and water did keep us generally tired while we hid in the hut.

One thing was for sure at this point, though. It was highly unlikely anyone from the kingdom would follow us here. If they were interested in chasing either one of us, I’m sure they’d have done so already.

The only noises in the seemingly endless mist were those of beasts. I remembered making note of the mist thinning out around my torch fire when I was wandering in the swamp for the first time. Normally, you’d expect the fire to draw in attention from the monsters, but they seemed to steer clear from me as soon as I lit the torch up. Maybe the monsters around these parts were particularly weak to flames? It would explain why a feeble bag of skin and bones like me was able to kill the wolf-thing.

We left small torches alight around the hut each night as my knightly companion slept. I did suggest to Amelia about finding the wolf I killed, so we could use its fur as bedding, but Amelia said it might be too dangerous to go wandering too far into the mist.

I didn’t talk a whole lot with Amelia during the couple of days she took to recover, so I don’t really have much in terms of interesting conversations to report here. I think she’s wary of me, even though I haven’t really… done anything.

“I’ll go on a small surveying trip.” Amelia declared after she had recovered enough to move around properly.

“Don’t forget to bring some kind of kindling with you, just in case you encounter something big, and don’t wander off too far!” I mothered.

Amelia gave me a bit of a funny look, but she respected my wishes and grabbed some burnable twigs I had collected from around the house.

As the door closed with a creak, she was gone.

I was left by my lonesome in the hut. I can’t really say I was uncomfortable or anything by myself there. Furthermore, I had grown quite used to solitude over my life, so there was maybe even a sense of peace to it. I was still confused and worried about some things… but they could wait for now, since I had to focus on recovery.

I also had a bit of a project to work on as well! Namely, in the study of magic.

If I wanted to be of any use at all during our travels, I’d need to understand the nature of magic better. What good is a witch who doesn’t even cast spells?!

First things first, the shiny stuff is definitely magical energy or something like that. Maybe, for the sake of convenience, I’ll just call it ‘mana’.

Everything around me sparkles with mana, but some things such as inanimate objects sparkle with a lot less than people for example.

The more sparkles, the more mana something has!

The only thing I’ve ever seen with no mana was that freaky hand-stone at the castle. Outside of that, every single thing I’ve seen has at least a tiny number of the glimmering lights.

Judging by how everything has mana in it, my theory is, that it’s something necessary for things to exist in this world.

Why do I think it’s that important? Well…

The one thing about this world’s magic I know about from my past life, is the magic language of the witches. The witches could write magical sigils to things to invoke spells.

Items with these sigils were like…magical artifacts! The fake magic contract I made for Amelia was a bit like that. I took an everyday item and then wrote the magical command on it.

The sigil was that of fire, and when the paper caught aflame, the sparkles flared up around it for an almost unnoticeable moment.

Just like when they shone around my arm when I carved the symbol of fire on it.

What do both of these have in common?

WELL! The catalyst was destroyed in both! The paper… and my arm!

Now, this might be complete nonsense to you, so let me simplify it a bit! Basically, there are different ways to cast magic, but the core concept is always the same:

Mana travels through an object in a specific manner in order to create spells. The more mana an object has, the bigger or more effective the spell is.

I found a strange clay jar with an odor reminiscent of pickles. It was to be my experiment subject number one to prove my theory! The vase didn’t have a whole lot of mana, so it was sparkling very lightly.

When I drew a sigil of fire on the vase, it turned completely black and then into gray dust, not too different from ash.

Here is an explanation of this incredible scientific experiment!

The witch sigils allow me to cast spells through other objects without using my own mana, but the effectiveness of the spell is dependent on the mana capacity of the catalyst AND the physical structure of the catalyst.

If I write the sigil of fire on a piece of wood, it will burn. If I write the same symbol on a piece of rock, it’ll turn dark, but it won’t burn, simply because rocks require a lot more heat and energy to burn. The amount of mana they possess isn’t enough to make them catch on fire, so they just get slightly singed or heat up.

If I found a rock with an incredible amount of mana, maybe it would be able to burn!

NEXT FACT! The vase turned into ash. This is simply a guess, but I believe when an object completely runs out of mana, it turns to ash.

Mana seems to be an essential energy that keeps everything in this world together, which makes me really nervous about that horrid stone slab I saw during the trial.

How did it stay in a solid shape without any mana? If I don’t remember wrong, it seemed to be absorbing mana from those around it as well. I couldn’t help but wonder what it was, but I also really wasn’t curious enough to want to see one again.

Ahem. Anyway, a couple last notes from my experiments.

I do remember the witches being able to cast spells without always sacrificing something for it. I don’t remember the exact details, but it had something to do with dark-patterns they had painted on their bodies, those were the kinds I loved to draw on myself as a kid. They looked a bit like crudely made electric circuits, I think. It was a mixture of those and magical sigils, but now that I knew writing magical symbols on your person was a bad idea, I figured I might want to avoid drawing more on myself in the future.

I had no clue if those circuit-like patterns were really a thing in this world to begin with though, so drawing magic commands on items had to do for now.

Casting spells like I did with the wolf should be a last resort in all situations. I needed to keep this in mind. This world isn’t a game, and I would definitely die if I got too crippled by my own spells.

“YVERNA!! I found something bizarre! I believe you should see this!” Amelia burst in through the door in the middle of my musings. She was covered in what was hopefully beast blood from head to toe. She tossed a few dead wolves to the side of the hut as she rushed over to me hastily.

“A-aah…right! Uh? What is this about again?” I got up and adjusted my clothes a bit to get ready to depart.

Speaking of clothes, mine were in tatters. I was still wearing the same outfit I had in the ballroom. The black dress was ripped apart at the bottom, keeping a large part of my legs exposed. Both of the sleeves were gone too. One ripped off, and one burnt to cinders. Needless to say, I looked like a scarecrow. My hair was a mess of dark tangles with some twigs here and there as if to act as a filthy cherry on top.

My high heels had their heels detached, but they were still serving their purpose as shoes to an extent.

At least, I had well matched to visuals with Amelia, who looked quite horrifying in her own way, being drenched in blood and all.

After a brief discussion, we made our way through the swamp. Walking in the wet marsh was quite disgusting, but somehow despite the grossness, it did fill me with a sense of excitement. It was a very new experience for someone who had never really gone to a swamp in their life. This kept me in rather high spirits.

“Hum...hum hum…” I hummed to myself as I followed the paladin through the mist.

“You seem quite positive despite the circumstances…!” She commented.

“The scenery is pretty interesting! I’ve never seen a place like this before.” I tried explaining.

“Oh, if only you knew…! There is much more interesting scenery up ahead.” Amelia’s words certainly piqued my interest. I picked up the pace and ran up to her a bit. “It’s just up ahead. I… can’t quite explain it myself.”

At first, I found it strange Amelia was so keen on me seeing whatever it was for myself, but as soon as it came to my line of sight, I understood her words exactly.

There was a door. A door made from… maybe stone? It was worn out, but had clear signs of rather eloquent design to it.

Now, a mysterious doorway in the middle of a swamp was eerie enough, but this one was standing on top of a metallic staircase.

It took my brain a moment to properly process the sight, so I had to blink a few times. It was just so incredibly out of place. I had to take a moment to realize, that it looked like the stairs from a fire exit were crudely extending out of the swamp, as if there had once been a building that the door and stairs were a part of. Over eons of disrepair, the entirety of the building had simply vanished with time, leaving only the metal stairs and stone door.

“I’ve never seen metal craftsmanship this exquisite…” Amelia commented as she walked near the staircase.

“W-what do you mean?” I staggered, slowly making my way to the stairs, following my knightly companion.

“Look at how thin, yet sturdy the metal is… How does one even craft this?” Amelia muttered, observing the stairs.

My confusion only grew as I got closer because Amelia was correct. The metal was really well crafted into pretty shapes along the railing leading up the stairs. Now, I hadn’t seen a whole lot of things in this world, but the overall feeling of things was always that of a medieval fantasy.

The kind of world where knights fight dragons and princesses know magic.

The way the stairs were made really reminded me of something more modern. It felt like it had been ripped straight out of my world and had simply been forgotten here for ages. The metal was still clean and not rusty at all, in addition to also remaining sturdy. There were tiny holes on the stairs to make them lighter without making them less structurally sound. I wondered if such science existed here?

The door on top of the stairs looked old and fantastical, which in turn made it mismatch with the steps even more.

All in all. It was a hauntingly mysterious sight.

“What… is this…?” I carefully slid my hand over the metallic support railing of the stairs.

“I was honestly hoping you’d have the answer to that…!” Amelia sighed.

“Unfortunately, I’m as lost as you are…!” I laughed nervously. But then, my attention was drawn to something. There was a noticeable increase in mana around the door. The sparkles were amassing there in considerable numbers. It was a bit difficult to see from the bottom of the stairs, but I was almost sure there was something up with the door. “The door…”

“What about it?”

“I think it has a high amount of magic concentrated around it.”

“Does it…?” Amelia peeked up at the door, gauging it a bit. “If I may be completely honest, I don’t like it at all.” The knight crossed her arms, causing her armor to clatter a bit.

“I couldn’t agree with you more!” I pointed at her, at which Amelia seemed almost surprised. “Hey! I don’t think witches are famous for being suicidal.”

“Psh…!” She chuckled a tad and we decided to head back home.

“I’ll write a memo on it, so if the situation calls for it, we can try to see what it’s about, but I’d really rather not just go poking at potentially dangerous things like that.” I reassured the paladin.

Amelia and I returned to the hut and we had a quiet chat about our days. I explained my magic theory to her, but it seemed to fly over her head a bit. Somehow, she seemed content just listening to me gush about my discoveries nonetheless.

Maybe my constant blabbering helped her feel distracted from the grim reality of our situation.

We skinned the wolves Amelia brought into the hut earlier and turned their pelts into some bedding and crude clothing. The clothing was mostly for me because my outfit was coming apart at the seams.

Literally.

I got a wolf pelt coat to cover myself with. The coat was a bit heavy and smelly, but it was warm, so it did its duty perfectly well.

That night I felt warmer than ever, and it was a lot easier to experiment with magic without being constantly chilly. Amelia seemed to get some proper rest too… Or so I thought, until said paladin suddenly barged into the pantry where I was studying in the middle of the night.

“Yverna… Yverna!” She spoke sharply, but in a strangely hushed tone.

“W-wh-what is it?!” I was a bit surprised by the sudden interruption.

“We need to leave.” She whispered quietly. “There is a search group currently fighting some wolves not too far from us. I can hear them.”

I’ve heard of coffee and tea being mentioned as good ways to stay sharp. Fear of death seemed to work too. I sure as hell got focused instantly, and we made our way out. We were almost on our way away from the house, when I suddenly grasped Amelia’s hand.

“W-what is it?” She whispered.

“I… I just… think.” I gulped, worried if I was overstepping my boundaries a bit… but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t ask her. “Shouldn’t we say bye to Amy?”

The expression on Amelia’s face crumpled. It was more than clear she had forgotten about the situation, and was now feeling guilty over it. Almost in tears, she nodded shakily and we made our way to the grave.

“Amy, my dearest. Mom has to go now. There are bad people still after me. But it’s okay. Mom is strong…” Her voice cracked as she spoke. The tears drew pale streaks on the dried blood on her cheeks. “M-mom is strong, so one day I’ll return here… and give you a proper place to rest in. Please don’t worry too much. I… I did what you always scolded me about… and I’ll give it a shot! I promise.” Her smile was heart-wrenching to look at.

I reached for Amelia and patted her back. “Hey Amy. I’m Yverna. I won’t really go too much into detail, but I’ll do my very best to protect your mom. We’ll come get you soon! I promise!”

Amelia looked at me in surprise first, but her expression softened quickly. I helped Amelia wipe her tears on the wolf pelt, and then we were off.

“Thank you…”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s focus on surviving for now! We can get sentimental later.” I tried to be cheery, even though I was a bit nervous too.

“Mmmh… You’re right.” Amelia was still sniffling a bit… I felt a bit bad for ushering like this, but we were on the run.

Amelia glanced back at the hut as we vanished into the mists, but something about her expression changed as she saw some of the armored men approaching the building.

She seemed like she wanted to say something, but we had to stay silent as we ran further and further into the white veils of fog.

And then, it was there again. That haunting staircase sticking out of the swamp.

It felt as if the world was suddenly engulfed by a blanket of total silence. There was no wind, nor the usual bubbling of the swamp.

Simply total silence.

“You mentioned…the door has mana to it?” Amelia’s soft whisper pierced through the quiet.

“Mmh…” I nodded.

“Do you think it could be a transportation gate?” The paladin questioned.

“A what now?”

“A magical gateway connecting two places. It’s rather basic magic. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of them.”

“O-OOOHHH… T-those… right…!” I think even Amelia noticed I had no idea what they were until now.

“If it truly is one, we could escape our assailants rapidly! I’m sure they’d have to think twice before they’d touch something this eerie.” Amelia did make sense… but only if she was correct. I couldn’t help but wonder if this really was something that convenient.

“Mm. You have a point. I suppose we could at least open the door to see where it leads.” I agreed to go along with the paladin’s plans, but something in the back of my head was growing more and more nervous by the second.

From words to actions, we decided to give the door a go. Good thing I had Amelia with me because climbing up the steel stairs was surprisingly scary. They went a lot higher than it looked like from the ground.

After my shaky legs finally carried me up to the door, it was time for the next challenge. It seemed like Amelia knew how to play rock paper scissors, so we decided who touches the door-handle with it.

As usual, fortune didn’t smile upon me.

Now… When I imagined myself as a witch, I certainly had a cooler concept in mind. Wearing a big hat… maybe a staff made of some cursed old tree! A jet-black dress that turns into what looks almost like dark mist at the bottom…

Aaaaa…! How I wish I were that…

Instead of my reality of squealing like a little girl in terror over just touching the door handle while biting my lower lip to calm my nerves. It was by far the most terrifying door handle I had ever had to touch.

All jokes aside, it made every fiber in my body scream in horror. Something about the door felt fundamentally wrong. Not just visually, but there was like… an instinctive fear I felt towards it. It wasn’t much unlike the feeling I felt when I saw that sinister stone.

And it was completely warranted…

As soon as I touched the handle, all the light was suddenly gone. Within the space that the door previously occupied was now a pitch-black void.

An incredible pressure, almost like gravity, started forcing Amelia and me inside the darkness, and with a few silenced screams of horror, we disappeared within the murkiness of the doorway.

It wasn’t a transportation gate.

At least… not the kind we were hoping for.