“Mile, be careful!” A man’s fatherly scolding cut through the dark, though it made little sense to Cira, “That rag is far too rough to clean her face with such heavy hands.”
What is this? Am I dead? Why does it feel… so scratchy?
No… I can also feel the warmth of daylight on my skin. That I still have skin is a good sign.
Cira fought hard against her heavy eyelids but eventually managed to open them.
“D-Dad, I think she’s waking up!” Cira’s bewildered eyes met a girl a fair deal younger than little Bin Bon from before. “Come quick!”
The sky could be seen through thatch walls, while the windows were covered in dried fronds for curtains. The worried young girl and older man with bags under his eyes were the only two in the hut she found herself in.
“Where… am I?” She looked at the man and his expression overflowed with relief. “And how did I get here?”
What was I doing before this—oh… Cira remembered burning herself up to rely on her father’s most reliable staves to stop one island from crashing into another. I feel like I would have remembered succeeding… That really hurt. I remember that.
Cira placed a hand on her chest and cycled mana through her body. And my soul is… undamaged? Now, that’s a surprise.
“Our savior!” The man gently knelt down beside her and clasped his hands together in a show of gratitude. “I could not bear the thought of you sacrificing yourself for us… Your uncle will be so relieved to see you up. Quick, Mile! Go get him!”
The girl ran out the door leaving Cira even more confused, “My… uncle?”
“That’s right.” He nodded emphatically, “He appeared in a panic not long after you crashed into the earth. Had he not healed you, I fear you may not have made it.”
I don’t think I have an uncle… Just who—
The girl ran back through the doorway and in followed a man she knew all too well, “Io… So you followed me, hmm?”
A vein popped in his forehead, “Idiot! Must you do everything in your power to die the moment you leave?” His voice startled the two. They looked uncertain of what to do.
“And what would you have had me do?” Cira stood up now and tried to speak as confidently as possible, but she was tired after that ordeal, no matter how healed. “Carry on with my day and turn a blind eye to this island’s imminent destruction? I like to think I was raised better than that.”
“Somehow, I doubt you were raised to throw yourself to your death.” It was infuriating, but he was right, despite the fact that her father had more or less done exactly that. “To put it in your simple-minded terms, how many helpless strangers should die tomorrow because you burned yourself to ash today?”
“Tch. You expect me to live my life on speculation and guesswork?” Cira turned to the petrified villagers and offered a smile to set the girl at ease, “You know, I’m quite parched. Perhaps you two could gather me some water while I speak with my uncle here.”
“Y-yes Ma’am!” Mile was pulled out of her stupor and trotted out the door, leaving her dad to follow.
“We’ll be back soon!” He said, hurriedly exiting the hut.
“No need to scare the villagers,” Cira continued. They were alone in the hut, but the walls were not super effective. She could see many people outside listening in without using Spatial Sight, “Though I suppose I do owe you my gratitude for saving me.”
“Damn right you do!” He growled, sounding less ancient by the day, “And the villagers are not my concern. You saved them like you wanted. How ungrateful would they have to be to forget that over a little yelling? It is my responsibility to scold my successor when she is acting foolish, just as it is evidently yours to treat your soul as surplus materials. Idiot—if I hadn’t arrived when I did you would be long dispersed across the sky.”
Cira had felt the aether’s pull before, so she knew he was serious. It was a strange feeling, dispersing like a mere conjuration, so that she felt completely normal was miraculous to say the least.
Let’s see… Curses are intact. All those people I killed, check. Dad showing up, check. Then he died and I lazed around for a few years and here I am… It’s all there. Have I really not lost anything? Old Io was no slouch—that much was certain.
“Right… so what happened?” Cira was honestly drawing a blank. “Did I really pull it off?”
“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Io headed for the door, “And while you’re at it, you should really do something about those artifacts.”
Now that he mentioned it, Cira realized she hadn’t had the chance to dispel them. Following him outside, she could see the Six Pillars still hovering in the sky, while Prismagora still blazed in the center. Surprisingly her Bastion had not dissipated completely, but wasn’t far off. Only fringes of the shining dome remained a few stories up from the island’s surface. It gradually burned out leaving frayed edges, but there was so much mana involved that it could go for some time without having to defend against anything.
There were spires of earth where the barrier failed and let the falling island pass through. Like a rock was extruded into a rain of spears as it slid through the holes in the Firmament. Where it was noticeably the most damaged by the Eastern shore, a massive hunk of stone rested among a ring of raised earth. It looked like the surface of an island, but sideways. There was grass on it and trees that threatened to snap under their own weight as they dangled precariously.
As she looked around the island to take it all in, Cira’s eyes met a young woman in simple brown robes who seemed a little alarmed.
“Hm.” Cira inspected her curiously, “What are you supposed to be, some kind of witch?”
“Y-yes Ma’am!” She straightened her back, “I was granted the title of Mudrock Witch, Ma’am!”
“Mudrock, huh…?” She couldn’t help being even more curious, “Were you raised by goblins?”
“Wha—er, no… I wasn’t…”
“Hm.” Cira did notice, however, a spatial ring on her finger with Earth Vein’s insignia on it.
___
They never cared much about islands with so few resources, but wherever Earth existed, my employers wanted a piece of it. Of course, the Adjutant cared even less about a case like this. If debris stones crashed into this island, that would only make it larger. Of course, the people living here were worthless to her as well.
Still, money was money, and money was made of earth. I was elated to be scouted from the academy and granted the title of a full-fledged witch, but to think they would choose something as dull as Mudrock and throw me into a job so obviously far above my level…
Chief Raum was grateful when I showed up and introduced myself, but I could tell he was hoping for more of a helpful response than me preparing the debris for transport ships to come collect. I had to coat it as clearing up the island for them, but inside I felt terrible. What good was it to them if the root of the problem didn’t get addressed? In just the week since I landed, the falling rock nearly outpaced my ability to ball it all up.
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Staying awake long into each night and skirting along the last of my aura perpetually through the day wasn’t enough. I was simply too weak. Useless in a case like this. No matter how hard I worked, all the villagers saw was me harvesting materials for our own profit—but I couldn’t do anything else.
Still, I don’t think anyone could have expected a rock like that to fall. All I could feel was the impending pressure of earth before a massive shadow appeared in the sky. At a glance from that distance, I could have swore it was bigger than this island. One way or the other, it would end catastrophically.
I always admired how stone could hang in the sky, seemingly against all logic. As soon as I was old enough, I trained every day to do something meaningful with my affinity to earth, and after all this time, I would meet my end helplessly crushed by it. What a cruel joke.
The villagers looked to me pleading for help, but it was useless. There was nothing I could do.
As we all gazed up at our impending death, the aether seemed to trembled. A sudden influx of mana swirled through the sky and brought us to our knees. I couldn’t handle it any better than these magicless folk, but it was so dazzling, no one could stop staring up.
Six points blazed like guiding stars, each color representing the primary elements and even space. As they pulsed with mana on par with the Adjutant herself, my jaw dropped under their weight. The aether seemed to stabilize as their power spread through the sky like a blooming domain the likes of which I had never seen. There was something in the middle burning up like a meteor falling through the atmosphere, but I discovered that to be the mysterious caster who saved us all in the end…
The massive stone came so close that it completely blocked the sun, throwing this island into darkness. I really thought it was the end. I could tell the debris slowed down considerably, but it wasn’t enough to change anything. This island would be obliterated.
The aether shook again, or shifted like a legendary spatial witch had just appeared on the scene. Soon, a blazing pillar of pure light formed in the center of the island, and a glimmering shield rose from the shore, encircling everything. In moments, I couldn’t even see beyond it. We were hidden within a shell of light. There was so much mana focusing on this place, I wondered if the Adjutant could command this much—or had she come herself? Was this personage on a level above the High Coven? I thought such a thing was impossible.
This still wasn’t enough to quell anyone’s worries, but they seemed to be praying and pleading to the sky to make it out alive, and I’m not ashamed to admit I joined them. I could feel the earth closing in. It would reach us in seconds. There was really nothing to do but pray.
My heart stopped when I saw something fall through, but it seemed to be the figure of a person. That’s when I felt the earth burn away above us, dispersing against the shield of light rapidly. The island shook and I could see dim spots appearing in the barrier. No matter how powerful this light was, the element it was defending against was a poor matchup. I couldn’t believe it worked at all.
Dammit… isn’t there something I can do?
Holes appeared and shrapnel fell like rain. I watched a house crumble as countless rocks pelted them, and the rest of the island was soon to follow.
I can’t just watch!
I pointed my staff to the sky and cried to the villagers, “Get near me!” I didn’t have a domain, or impressive range, but the least I could do was try to deflect the falling stones. If there was a chance that anyone could survive, that was enough. I was dead anyway if the barrier failed, so there was nothing to lose.
They did as instructed, and those that didn’t listen were pulled away by those that did. Despite my uselessness, they still put their faith in me. I couldn’t let them down.
I did everything I could to force my mana out and pull even more from below. Scraping the bottom of my aura, my entire being was directed towards the single goal—don’t let these people die. I couldn’t.
Rocks were slightly diverted or slowed down as best I could. Which wasn’t much. There were a lot of near misses, but the only screams thus far were of terror rather than pain.
Maybe we can get through this… There can’t be that much more stone, right?
It had only been a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. More holes appeared in the barrier and my eyes went wide as massive columns of stone slowly fell through in places where the barrier failed. They lodged deep into the earth like pikes. I don’t know if it was luck, but just a single one could have killed everyone here. Despite the monolithic effort this person put in, it was known that a falling island was a natural catastrophe that could not be stopped. Not that this happened often, but there was an old nursery rhyme about it.
Suddenly a massive tear in the shield appeared and a debris stone larger than any other that had ever hit this island fell through. I swear I felt the island tip when it crashed into the forest, and a pillar of dust exploded into the sky.
I was in shock for a few seconds, as was everyone else present.
“It’s… it’s over.” I managed to spit out. There was no more earth above us—and the island had fallen silent aside from dust settling in the distance. “I don’t believe it.”
But… who was that? In a panic, I ran towards the first object to impact. It wasn’t far from the village, and some of the others followed me over. We found a crater dug into the earth with mana wisping away within it.
“A… a skeleton?!” Raum shouted in shock. That was all we found at the bottom of the crater. “It’s burning away as we speak…”
“No… That can’t be—” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. To think someone could reach such great heights… and sacrifice themselves for an island like this? Even I thought that was insane. I couldn’t help but notice how willful the mana festering in the crater felt, even in death. Then a force of mana far greater began to concentrate.
Is someone else appearing? But who could be—is it the Adjutant?!
The villagers and I all stumbled back as waves of pressure descended on the island, and a man stepped through from seemingly nothing. He glared at us all before his eyes settled on the crater, “Foolish girl…”
The man held out his hand and the aether seemed to twist beneath his grasp. Streams of light fell from the sky like a spell dispersing in reverse and swirled around the crater before settling at the bottom. Flesh burst from the chest and wrapped around her bones, solidifying into muscles as streams of blood became veins. Eventually skin stretched over the muscles and revealed her face. It was a beautiful girl with brilliant golden hair. The peaceful smile on her face as her chest heaved with its first breath was in stark contrast to the disaster we had just survived.
The man turned to us with the deepest irritation I had ever seen behind his eyes, “If you wish to express your gratitude, then prepare a bed at once.”
Naturally, the entire village jumped to task, preparing the only hut left half-standing and creating a makeshift bed out of cut up wool clothing from around the village. They slept on the ground here, but no one wanted to take the chance angering that man.
Who could he be? I didn’t realize someone could be that powerful. He brought the girl back from the dead and I can feel no end to the depth of his mana. Were he to face the Adjutant, would he just laugh at her and shoo her off like a child? That was the feeling I got. The last thing I wanted to do was incur his wrath.
The first to do so, however, was the girl herself. The island was in shock to see their savior get scolded so ruthlessly, but they were each beyond us. We just had to wait outside until it was over and hope a fight didn’t break out.
She finally emerged and addressed me directly for some reason. I couldn’t understand her intentions.
“Were you raised by goblins?” She asked.
“…No. I wasn’t…” Is my power truly so insignificant in her eyes that I appear as vermin to her? I… I did everything I could. I had to know, “Who are you?”
“I believe you people know me as the Hidden Witch.” Gasps rose around the village, and I too was in shock. It can’t be… Murmurs of her deeds on Fount Salt and connection to the recently crowned Pirate Empress from up north swirled around the crowd. And here I was starting to think the Hidden Witch was just made up.
“But why… are you here?” I blinked helplessly. Someone of such stature… would throw her life away to save an island with hardly a hundred residents? There was nothing to do but be grateful, “I-I mean, thank you for saving us!”
“You’re… welcome.” She seemed guarded for some reason.
“You should actually be thanking her,” the man who introduced himself as her uncle cut in, making the blood drain from my face. Before I could vehemently deny it, he continued, “You may have saved the island, but the only reason nobody died was this girl’s intervention. Weak as she is, she managed to get everyone through with only a few major injuries.”
“Oh… thank you.” She offered me a genuine smile—the kind witches don’t often show. One which betrayed relief and sincere exhaustion. She glanced around the village and looked over the piles of rocks I deflected that formed a vague ring. There were at least more rocks outside than inside the village, but I lost count of how many skulls were almost crushed in before my eyes. “And well done. I know geomancers who couldn’t accomplish half as much with easily twice your mana.”
“N-no! No need to thank me! I couldn’t have saved anyone if you hadn’t appeared. This island would have been destroyed!”
What is this legendary witch thanking me for?! Is she crazy?! I’m the bottom of the barrel when it comes to witches—
“Sure, but what good would this rock be if everyone living on it died?” That’s… definitely something the Adjutant would never say. She must have noticed my shock and put a hand on my shoulder. Her smile was disarming, “All my effort would have been for nothing if you weren’t here. I am truly grateful.”
She’s grateful… to me? Did I really make a difference here? All I ever wanted was to use my powers to do some good, but nobody ever seemed to care about that type of thing. Is this what the real witches of legend are like?