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

When I open my eyes, I can see a wooden roof. I try to stand up but my body is in pain. I was so desperate that I didn’t think that my lightning attack would affect me too.

I notice that I am lying on a bed made of leaves and woods. There is an elixir next to me. A healing potion. I drink it immediately and I already feel better. Now I can stand up.

As I am getting out of the hut, I can see my companions sitting with Baron and his son chatting and laughing. I don’t understand the situation.

-“Miss!!!” Lucida is the first to notice me. She approaches me and helps me sit with the others.

Baron looks at me in the eyes and then he burst into laughter. Then, he gives me a pouch. I can hear something jiggling inside.

-“These are your scales, Miss Daphne.” He says with a smile. At least, he kept his promise.

-“I really wanted your help in this war. However, I can stand it if I know that the Witch of the Gate returned.”

I freeze in his words. I look at the others. I am sure that they wouldn’t talk about it so easily.

-“Don’t worry. I won’t speak to anybody. I just want to see how you are going to save Etheria.” He says.

I want to tell him that I didn’t decide yet about it. I am only here so I can save my grandmother. I am not a savior. However, for some reason I can’t speak. I feel my throat dry.

-“Are you not blaming me or my grandmother? I thought that Etherians despise us Witches of the Gate.” I mention to him.

-“Your companions explained to me some things. Even so, I didn’t make the Witch of the Gate responsible for this chaos. I am smart enough to realize that a lot of factors pushed us to this ugly and horrible situation.” He explains.

His words make me feel worse than before, as they are full of understanding and sincerity.

In the end, he says goodbye to us with a lot of best wishes and wide smiles. His son, Sloan is going to be our guide once more to get us out of Emerald Swamps.

I am still confused and weak. I am still thinking of Baron’s words, as Sloan screams.

-“These are the swamp lilies. This is a nickname for these beautiful flowers.” The lizard boy explains.

-“These are lotuses!!!” Cielo shouts surprised to my mind.

I thought that it was a myth, but lotuses did exist in this area. I don’t know why but I feel like picking up a few of them. They may be useful in the future.

With Sloan’s guidance, we get out of the Emerald Swamps without getting involved with battles and wars. From this point on, we need to continue our journey for finding the other ingredient.

The moment we get out of the Emerald Swamps to continue our journey, I vomit. I have a very pressing and unhappy feeling in my heart.

-“What happened?” Lucida asks as she gives me some water.

-“She vomited because she couldn’t stand the pressure and expectations of others. She is still mentally weak.” Cielo explains to everyone. Her words don’t hurt me but they are not relieving at all.

Nobody comments anything about my situation and I don’t think that it can change so quickly. I can’t change my timid and submissive self. I can’t push away my fears and insecurity. The only thing I can do is to make a step at a time.

Our next destination is the land of Higher Elves. It is a vast area of dense forests and a lot of greenery called, Mystical Forest. There are a few clans and smaller settlements of them throughout the area and they possess their own territory inside the Mystical Forest.

Every clan has one leader to represent it and all of them are reporting to the monarchs of the tribe, the royal family of the Higher Elves, who lives at the centre of the Mystical Forest, to a place called Green Valley. This is also Tarragon’s homeland and he is also part of the royal family, as he is a prince.

At the centre of Mystical Forest, there is also a very big and magical tree, the Tree of Life. This is giving a lot of mana to the land of the Elves and is responsible not only for the magical attribute of them but also for the higher percentage of mana in whole Etheria. For that reason, Elves protect it with their lives and the demons don’t attack it.

Its fruits are magical too, as they have a lot of mana and some amazing healing properties. However, the Tree of Life bears fruits every one hundred years and only a few of them.

It is quite far away from here and we will need at least some weeks to reach that land. Our journey was somewhat uneventful until now but I can’t say the same at the moment.

As we were travelling, a group of beastmen attacked us. At the beginning, I didn’t understand the reason of attack but it is certain that our opponents hadn't have any good intentions.

Gina seems more irritated and angry than usual as she defends and attacks her enemies. Maybe it is because she has to fight her own kin. The beastmen keep attacking even though their opponents are powerful.

I stand in place with Cielo and Lucida at my side. In the end, the group draws back and I am relieved.

-“These are some beastmen who lost their land from the demons. To survive, they became thieves and robbers.” Tarragon explains and Gina seems angry.

-“Beast kin is a proud and strong tribe. It is really unsightly to regress in this state.” Gina says with an irritated tone. It must be painful for her to see her fellow countrymen behaving like this.

We continue our journey but we have met some more groups of rogues. Tarragon and Gina are our main force. These two warriors are more than enough to face these situations.

In a matter of fact, meeting so many rogues is due to our decision to make a detour to a more isolated path so we won’t meet the demon’s army. However, this situation is tiring for these two as we have to fight almost every day. I might not fight but it is tiring for me too, at least mentally.

I couldn’t be used to these violent incidents. I didn’t like violence and fighting. I had enough in my life. Well, it is inevitable in this world.

As we are travelling in vigilance, we hear some pretty high screams and a horrible howl. At that moment, I was sure that it was a monster. There must be a settlement nearby and people are in danger.

Tarragon looks at me and waits for my permission. I sigh inside me and I nod. Then, we take the way to that place.

From up the hill, we can see the chaos in the small village and when I thought that the two warriors will rush down, they seem to not be moving.

-“There is indeed a monster there, but not alone. There is a group of Ork and Troll soldiers. This is an conquering attack.” Cielo explains in my mind.

-“We will attract their attention if we attack now.” Tarragon says and I notice the tighten fists of Gina.

The screams of despair of the people of the village are reaching us and shake our hearts. They are suffering without reason. I can’t stand it anymore and my tears are running down. We need to leave or act. I can’t stand those screams of despair.

-“There are not many soldiers. We can manage it.” Lucida says in the end. Tarragon and Gina look at me and I just nod.

The three of them rush down the hill as I stay in my place with Cielo. Even Lucida follows them as they will need more help with the monster. I grab my arms as I see little fire pits and people running crying for help. It is my first time seeing this misery and despair, another kind of despair than mine.

-“It seems that the demons will start to move to these isolated lands, too.” Cielo explains.

-“Why must they be so violent and rough?” I mumble. I know that this is the real and ugly face of war but I don’t like it.

The screams continue for a while, while I can hear the loud roars of the monster. They are fighting it at the moment so its screams are more intense. Then, a few moments later, there is a creepy silence. I walk down the hill as Cielo is flying next to me.

As I am approaching, I can smell the burned houses and the bloody corpses. I can see misery and chaos. Some people are standing here and there. They have lost their homes and some of them are injured, too. Some kids crying in their parents hugs and some elderly look around them with desperation. The labor of a life was destroyed in a moment.

In the middle of the village, the monster is lying dead on the ground with the three warriors trying to take a breath. A little far away from them, there are some dead demon soldiers.

The people of this village can’t stay here anymore. Even if they build again their houses, a new army team will come to conquer them or they might even be counted responsible for the death of this team of soldiers.

However, they don’t have anywhere to go. They will settle in the woods and they will become thieves and robbers like those we had met. This is truly unpleasant.

-“They are of the Cats clan, of the Feline tribe.” Gina recognizes them.

According to her, it is one of the weaker clans. They are good farmers and hunters but there aren’t any remarkable warriors.

-“Can’t they be accepted by the central hegemony?” I ask Gina.

-“This place is quite far from the Black Forest, where the leaders of the Feline Clan are located.” She informs me.

-“Even if they survive, the Black Forest can’t accept everyone. It will be overcrowded and more people will suffer.” Tarragon concludes.

So, is there no other choice for them but to become rogues? I keep looking at the small children with worry.

-“We did what we could. Now we must leave and they must survive.” Lucida says and I can’t stand it.

In the end, we leave that destroyed village to continue our journey.