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

I am breathless. My hands are so tired that I can’t feel them. There is a pile of dead demon bodies next to me, while my sword is in the stomach of that big and strong Minotaur. After a lot of time, I manage to defeat him.

I was not without injuries. In a matter of fact, I had a lot of bruises and stabbings. I stand to take a breath. Tarragon seems to also finish his battle with that succubus.

A barrack of wind arrows trap her on the wall and one of them, stabs her on her shoulder. The force is so strong that her entire arm is blown away. Her scream is echoing in the cave. Then, she loses consciousness.

Tarragon runs toward the second chamber without resting. I follow him. The moment we get inside the chamber, we can see and hear the chaos of the battle that is taking place in mid-air between Lucida and Alector.

-“Miss Daphne!!!” Tarragon screams and for some reason I felt a squeeze on my stomach.

I turn my head to see a Lich on the girl. Tarragon throws an arrow at him, but a black aura shields him. This Lich called Orphus is an Archduke demon like Alector. It will be really difficult to defeat him.

It is my turn. I rush at him with my sword. He seems confident as he is not reacting. However, the moment that my sword touches his dark seal, I channel my light aura on its blade and the dark shield collapses. My blade cuts down his arm.

Surprised he makes some steps backwards.

-“You are a Holy Knight!!!” He shouts surprised.

Angels can’t fight due to their nature but they can teach those with the light attribute how to fight. The Holy Knights are people who fight in place of angels and are the nemesis of the demons.

-“She won’t wake up. He is still doing something to her!!!” Tarragon shouts as he has already approached Daphne.

-“What did you do? If you don’t let her go, I am going to cut you to pieces!” I say angrily behind my gritted teeth.

The skulled-demon laughs aloud mocking me.

My body hurts like hell as mother is hitting me again and again. She is holding a belt and hits me on my back. I beg for mercy but she doesn’t listen to me. She hits me while cursing and swearing at me.

I can’t stand it. The pain in my body and soul is really unbearable. I don’t want to feel pain. I hate pain. I want to get numb. I want to die. Only then I will be free.

I am lonely in the darkness and I am scared. I want to disappear. I want the whole world to disappear. I want to destroy everything that hurts me.

While I am fighting with Orphus, I feel an ominous feeling. Then, I can feel my body trembling as a large source of dark power is filling the chamber. Orphus is feeling it too. He turns his head to Daphne as he immediately finds the source of darkness.

-“Oh goodness!!! I haven’t seen a human with dark aura before.” He says with interest.

I look at Tarragon and he doesn’t seem surprised. He knew about it. Then, I realize that if she hadn’t it, she wouldn’t make a contract with Lucida.

However, this moment of distraction allows to Orphus to get close to her. With a dark ball, he throws Tarragon away and he grabs her at her chest. Oh no, is he going to take out her soul?

Before I can react, I see Orphus panicking. He tries to pull his hand away but it seems like it stuck there.

-“No, no, no!!!” He yells and the next moment I can see the dark aura of the demon leaving his body and being absorbed into her body.

-“Alector, help me!!!” He yells in despair but those are his last words.

The dark energy of his body was fully absorbed into Daphne’s body and he falls on the ground in a pile of bones.

-“Tarragon, what is happening?” I shout but he doesn’t know either.

However, this was not the end. The dark energy in the room and in Alector and Lucida started to be absorbed into her body. The two of them fall to the ground as they are weakening gradually.

-“Lucida, get out or you are going to die like the demon!!!” Tarragon shouts. She is hesitant to let her master alone.

-“We will protect her!!!” I shout in turn and while biting her lips she uses every ounce of her power to use her ability to pass through space and leave.

Alector realizes the danger and he is also running outside to save his life, leaving behind the Soul, he was holding. The dark energy of even that crystal was absorbed into her body.

-“This is not good. Too much power will kill her, or turn her into madness!!!” Tarragon explains.

I try to channel light energy to her body, but it is rejected. Her body starts to twitch like epileptic and I stop.

I am in pain! I am in pain! Please, stop! Please let me go! I am sorry! I am sorry! It hurts! It hurts!

Then, my mother’s beating stops. I can’t hear her swearing and I can’t feel her hits. I open hesitantly my eyes. She is vanished. However, the next moment, a big red and black dragon is in front of me. It looks at me with some chilly cold yellow eyes.

I can feel his dark energy surrounding me. It is cold and confusing. It is scary, too. However, because of it, I can’t see mother. I can’t hear her. I am relieved. I am so relieved.

The eyes of the dragon feel like hypnotizing me. I can almost understand its will. It wants me to surrender. It wants me to give it my mana. It wants to conquer my Soul. If I allow it, it will protect me from my fear and agony. It is so tempting.

Like a hypnotized person, I wield my hand toward it and the moment it is ready to touch me, a really strong shaking is taking place. This is enough to make my mind clear for a moment and I feel fear for the beast that it is in front of me.

-“Help! Help! I am going to be eaten! Please, go away!!! Grandma!!! Grandma, save me!!!” I shout when I see the aggressive look on dragon’s face. My tears are running.

-“Grandma!!!” I yell and my voice is echoing throughout the darkness.

-“Look at this!!!” I shout at Tarragon as I see the Soul’s crystal flying on the air.

It is no longer black. It has a bright golden color. This crystal has a platinum hue. It is of the highest grade of Soul a human or other tribe can possess. Whose soul is it? It belongs to Daphne’s grandmother. I know that much but who is that person?

Nevertheless, right now there is a more urgent problem. However, the crystal is flying towards us and more specifically, towards Daphne.

Tarragon and I are watching the scene in which the crystal is emitting a really bright light above her body. The light is trying to penetrate the dark aura without effect.

-“Unbelievable!!! Their souls are trying to resonate.” Tarragon mumbles and I am watching dumbfounded.

-“How is this possible?” I ask.

-“A Soul doesn’t only possess mana and aura. It is not only for the purpose of power. A soul is full of the feelings and emotions that a person has come across in his entire life. It represents the person himself. I believe that because of the love of this woman for her granddaughter, her Soul responding to the suffering of this child.” Tarragon says.

It is hard to believe. I have never come across something like this. Even in the land of angels, we didn’t learn something like this.

-“However, how can a soul emit light? Was this woman a Holy Knight?” I ask.

Tarragon waves negatively.

-“It is because of an angel’s soul.” He mumbles again with bright mysterious eyes but I don’t understand.

-“We must help them to connect.” He says in the end.

-“But how? You saw how her body reacts to light energy.”

-“We need Cielo. Let’s get out of here!” He says and he is ready to take her into his arms but I am faster and I take her into mine.

As we run out of the underground floor and out of the Tower of Sins, Tarragon turns on me.

-“Aren’t you in pain?” He asks.

Well, I feel like my body is being stabbed with a thousand of needles but I can tolerate it. I can’t even think in what kind of pain is this frail and weak body I am holding.

When we finally arrive at the point of meeting with the rest, my legs and arms are numb. We run at least five kilometers to arrive. However, I don’t regret it. I put the girl down and Tarragon gives a brief explanation.

-“Cielo, use your power to help the soul to resonate with Miss Daphne.” Tarragon explains.

The Pixie concentrates on Daphne as she is flying above her forehead. Her eyes are turning into rainbow irises. When her eyes come back to normal, she falls on the ground.

-“It is impossible. Every dream, every memory is surrounded by darkness. I can’t find a trace of light in her mind.” She explains.

-“You useless Pixie, save her!!!” Gina shouts at Cielo. The fairy really wants to help but can’t.

-“If her grandmother’s Soul is trying to resonate with her, maybe there is also a calling from Daphne’s Soul.” I say and everyone are looking at me.

-“That’s it!!!” Cielo shouts.

-“Daphne is calling for her grandmother, but the darkness doesn’t let them meet.” Tarragon mumbles.

-“I have a pact with Daphne and I am a demon. I can go through the darkness.” Lucida appears.

-“She might absorb you, too.” Tarragon warns her.

-“Don’t worry. Through the contract, we share a piece of soul. Even if I get hurt, I won’t die.” Lucida is determined.

-“Even if you connect with her, you can’t bring light in her soul.” Gina notices.

-“But I can be the bridge.” She says.

-“Of course! Your ability to go through space is deplorable in any space. This is the source of the ability to hypnotize.” Tarragon shouts excited.

-“But we can’t let the Soul of Matilda get inside her body. It will be absorbed and the whole purpose of our journey will be in vain.” Cielo warns us.

-“I will do it. As a Holy Knight I can use light energy and I can also trap a little light energy of the Soul.”

-“It will be a temporary solution. To my opinion, we must return to the Valley of Dreams and return the soul to its body. The witch can replace Leonard as she is the one that Daphne’s soul is calling and she can save her.” Cielo concludes after some thought.

-“Let’s do it!!!” I say with determination.

-“Our journey will take some weeks. In the meantime, you are going to be weakened inside her darkness. You may be hurt irreparably.” Cielo warns me.

I turn my gaze at Daphne and her pale constitution. I can already feel the darkness that surrounds her. This is a much worse darkness than the one in me or even in demons.

-“I will still do it.” I say. I don’t know if it is my duty as a Holy Knight but I can’t let her die.

I can’t let her be eaten by darkness.