Witch of the Gate (Part I): Empyrean Crystal Soul

Walking through the Gate, it was like passing through a door. It was so simple to leave Earth for another world.

The moment I step out of the Gate, I freeze in place. In front of me, there is a completely different view from the forest in Ohio. The only thing I can see is a vast range of desert. Some mountain-like boulders are here and there, resembling a canyon.

There is nothing there but rocks and soil and a hot sun on the sky. I can feel the hotness and I can smell the dry soil.

-“Once upon a time, it was a green and beautiful valley. Even the boulders were full of grass.” Tarragon says while wal king behind me and holding grandmother on his arms.

-“This is the Valley of Union. That was a name that the first witches gave to it as they decided to open the Gate here. It is a little far away from the other tribes, somewhere in the south.” Tarragon explains.

-“How long must we travel to reach the Valley of Dreams?” I ask.

-“The Valley of Dreams was once the centre area of Etheria that belonged to the fairies. After the war, their territories were destroyed and soiled from dark energy. Now the only place for fairies to live is a small territory. It will be difficult to get their permission to get inside and I don’t know if they will help us.” Tarragon explains once again.

-“Anyway, how long will it take us to go there?” I ask again.

-“If we find some horses, we will need about a month.” He says and suddenly I realize that in this place there is no technology.

Transportation is through carriages and horses. We will need a lot of time to just go for one place to other. And then, where are we going to find horses in this empty valley and how are we going to pay for them?

Anyway, I follow them as they take one direction in this vast valley. Gina takes the form of the panther and Tarragon puts grandmother on her back. With this way it will be easier temporarily.

We walk at day and we camp at night. We do this for a couple of days but I still I can only see soil and rocks. At day, it is really hot but at night it is cold. It is similar to a desert’s climate. Fortunately, I have the power of fire so we can cope with the night’s cold.

After a week of foot traveling, we finally exit the rocky valley. After a high hill, a not so beautiful view is expanding. I can see empty and deserted fields. I can see some black and old forests. The rocky road is passing through this ugly landscape.

-“South belonged to Humans. The territory was occupied by three great kingdoms. In the deep south, the Kingdom of Bluerose was located. A little higher was the Kingdom of Dandelion and at the western borders was the Kingdom of Dalia. If we keep traveling for about a week more, we will reach the lands of Bluerose.” Tarragon says as we are looking at the vast range.

-“Or at least, its ruins.” Gina sneers.

-“After years of war, the Demons are the main conquerors of Etheria. Except of Humans that were destroyed without mercy, the other tribes managed to have at least a little piece of land to live. However, Demon’s army is everywhere and patrols the conquered territories.” Tarragon informs me.

We must be extra careful in our journey.

After leaving the Valley of Union, the climate is more normal. It is warm but humid during the day and cold at night. We repeat this boring routine of traveling and camping for at least one more week. Then, we start to spot some ruins in the place where there were villages and towns once.

It is really a miserable view of stony ruins. Houses and other buildings are wrecked and there is only a small trace of civilization in these parts. They seem like archeological ruins but before just twenty years ago they were inhabited areas.

-“Are there no Humans anymore?” I ask.

-“Well, there are some working as slaves but they are not more than a few hundreds.”

It was sad. Then, I thought of something.

-“If this is a magic world, how come there are humans here?”

Tarragon seems surprised from my question.

-“It was the idea of the first Witch of the Gate. Historical books report that it was because of balance in the laws of nature, but there is no clear explanation on that.”

-“So the Humans here comes from Earth.”

-“Yes, they do.”

-“Can’t we just bring more people to bring back the “balance”?” I wonder.

-“I am not sure but I think that it is not so easy. In the first place, who would like to come and stay here in this world? Humans of Earth aren’t born with magic and they will find it difficult to survive in a world that the level of magic defines the existence of others.”

He has a point.

-“I smell fire.” Gina says suddenly and points out the right direction. I am really curious about the first person that I will meet in Etheria.

There was indeed fire as we can see the smoke emerging behind a hill. Now we just need to make some careful movements as we don’t know what kind of people we will meet.

-“They are demons.” Gina says again recognizing them from their smell.

-“Soldiers?” Tarragon asks.

-“Two of them seem to be warriors but there are two more civilians.” Gina answer.

-“Civilians? What do you mean?”

-“Isn’t it obvious? After conquering Etheria, the Demon kin was dispersed to the continent to make some new settlements. It is not rare to find Demon villages where the territory of the other tribes was once.” Gina says and I notice anger in her eyes. I can guess that her tribe suffered too.

-“However, they are too deep south. What are they doing here?” Tarragon wonders.

-“Is something wrong?”

-“You saw for yourself. The territories, we passed, are empty and useless. They can’t live there.”

-“I am going to scout.” Gina says. Tarragon takes grandmother from her back and she leaves still in the form of a panther.

Late at night, Gina returns without noise. Then, she takes her human form.

-“There are two Ork soldiers traveling with a mother and daughter couple. The mother and daughter are trapped in a cell-like carriage. The mother is a vampire but her daughter seems to be a hybrid.” Gina reports.

-“Vampire?” I ask. The more I listen to them, the more unreal they seem.

-“Every tribe has different kinds of clans. Demons are separated to high level of demons or Shadows. Those look-like the man you fought and they are the strongest. There are also the clans of Orks, Trolls, Vampires and some others. A hybrid is a child that is born between different clans.” Tarragon explains.

-“The Beastmen have four clans, the Felines, the Canines, the Serpents and the Fowls.” Gina explains too.

-“Elves have three clans, the High Elves, the Dark Elves and the Dwarves.” Tarragon says now.

-“Fairies have about two clans, the Elementals and the Pixies. As long as the angels concern, there are two clans, the Guardians and the Balancers. Angels doesn’t form big communities and their civilians are a small number.” Tarragon continues to explain.

-“Then, Dragons and Humans don’t have clans. Of course, in Human’s societies there is a social scale similar to your world and dragons just live in harmony without discrimination.”

Each and every one tribe or clan they mentioned, are parts of the Earth’s fantasy myths and fairytales. I don’t think that it is a coincidence. This must have a relation to the connection of the two worlds of Earth and Etheria. I am sure that I am going to find more wonders in this journey.

-“Then, what are we are going to do with the Demons?” I ask.

-“They have horses.” Gina mentions.

-“Are we going to attack them?”

-“You don’t want to?” Gina asks sneering. She is really rowdy at me.

We didn’t start off well.