“Sometimes I wonder if the inequality is somewhat to blame for the rebellion of some men. Maybe our members felt diminished as they became a tinier fraction of our congregation. They were still a crucial fraction of the Patrol and we depend on them to labor the farmland aboveground, but there aren’t many men in supervision duties in the cavern community. I can't blame those who wanted to leave and went to the nearby villages. Even the man from last week, the hunter, wasn't eager to stay even if the women persuaded him to stay.""Who?""The hunter who brought one of the chief missing daughters.""I see." Tommy nodded.“Didn’t you say that the men revolted because they were getting anxious? Because the mother church has been hunting your kind? And your women aren't laboring fast enough to cast a spell to fight them off? Was it true that witches nowadays have a problem with their spell and enchantment?” Tommy said.Before Celestina could answer back they entered the end of the alley. In
Celestina twitched in her seat, exhausted and impatient. Boredom expands as nothing as if one could reach out into the place of nothingness and the hand would return empty. It was a painful disconnect, a stalling of passions that need their time in the sun. She was beyond bored. It was like killing her inner peace.She obviously learned this story, Tommy thought. She must’ve heard it when she was a little girl. But Tommy was captivated so he continued to ask. “Why did so many of your grandmother's offspring die?”“They were a coven of witches dwellers and gatherers. In times of abundance, offspring were allowed. When there were severe winters or food shortages, famine, and plague the children starved. This was an existence of spirit for all witches hundreds of years ago. What made my grandmother different was that she was determined to change this fact.” the head chief thumped yet another orb on the table, which accentuated some of the symbols on the edges, coloring them golden as she
Then the old woman continued after a deep sighed. "...The human Lords and vicars, wealthy men, were murdering any Supernatural beings, witches, vampires, anyone stronger than them, and our covens. I should’ve known that we would be next. But I was too involved with my other concerns, my masterpiece, spell manuscripts, and herbal concoction. When the carnages commenced, we were entirely unprepared. They have dark creatures with them, conjured by their black magic. They've used one of our kind to defeat us...”Celestina intruded. “Come on. Lucinda, please. You can’t condemn yourself for—” “Callah, my friend, my own hardship and grief was the slightest. I had no offspring,” She lifted her wooden hand and held it at her one-eye level. “...All I lost was my left hand, my eye and was lopped off by a raving vicar with a sword. But our coven was nearly obliterated. At the beginning of the tenth century, there were five hundred of us, scattered across the villages and Munster Village main haml
Going down the stone stairs, Celestina and Tommy continued their conversation. His mind was screaming. Most importantly the scream was pain put into the air, writ large for anyone who cared to help end it. In the end what he got was a spank of the brain, sending his mind into a spasm of desperation until the inevitable shut down response. Something is wrong with him. He knew it for sure. Someone was stirring up his mind."What's with this Fated one matter, Celestina? Tell me more about this errand of mine." Tommy asserted. Watching the little woman's back as they descended the stairs that were covered with precious stone and artwork."I don't know if I have the right to tell you everything Tommy, but know this. All we were to the fates: curiosities, entertainments to pass the long centuries, pawns in their eternal game for superiority and power. They were the ones who weaved our thread of destiny, but the Fated one was different. She has her own thread, which fate couldn't touch. So th
"Celestina, is that a vampire fang?" Tommy asked. His curiosity couldn't be wielded any longer."What? Really?" The girl raised a brow, watching the runes closely. "Wait. I've seen that often but I never realized it to be vampire fangs." Celestina watched it carefully again as she slowly traced it with her finger. "...My heavens. Yes it looks like a vampire fangs. I never realized it till now. This is amazing. How did you know it?""Oh well. That symbol is so common. I know, I have seen that before. I just can't remember where or when.""Lovely. Nice to hear that. You might want to see all the manuscripts then. It took me ages to decipher that silver manuscript and yet you did in a blink of an eye, interesting,” she took a glance at the man and started, “...that symbol is something that indicates the thread of the Fated one. One of the many clues left by the deities. A loophole. And this particular symbol or shall I say a 'fang' shows all the possession of the clue that can ensue from
"Good to hear that. This makes things easy then." Celestina uttered. Her ponytail was ragged, loose hair falling over her features that contorted with effort. On her feet were only animal socks that helped her cover her feet not to get loose with the animal-skin shoes. Her eyes were as they had been days ago when she knew her beloved families were no longer in this world."What do you mean by that?""Later. Wolf. Later. For now, let us continue. "The dormant bloodline of the Fated One couldn’t produce the activator alone, so the changeover halted her abilities. But it also raised the dormant power and her reproduction rate. But to the ordinary witches like myself, offspring was everything. It was the survival of our lineage and because having lots of descendants is more important to the survival of our heritage than everlasting youth, and the Fated One has eventually been forgotten in years. They gave rise to all the dark natives we have today.”Tommy’s head was spinning. “Alright, I
"How did the chief's elder react?” “They supported me, but not because they had moral burdens. Lucinda was disturbed about the pragmatic outcomes. The only beginning for so many witches would be sacrificing ourselves. The power within us was slowing down and we can't risk that just for the sake of our men. Every month we gather dozens of witches' parts but we eventually stopped. A good number of those maybe a couple of dozen and would be large enough for our purposes. But even if we could privately obtain some of those genes, we couldn’t keep the arrangements secret for very long.""That is beyond creepy. You guys sacrifice too much for that purpose alone? And yet have nothing in return?" Tommy thought. No wonder almost half of the natives have their peculiarities, some without limbs, eyes, toes, fingers, and many more. Such foolish sacrifice."Yes, our spell was beyond powerful but we couldn't regenerate ourselves. And the nonnatives would eventually realize what we were doing. So t
Within a week, after Celestina and Diana's group went on their journey, dozens of witches were dead in the villages of Munster, Winterberg, and Redberg. Bodies full of bloated, pus-filled boils, and half-burned-filled the alleys and waste trash yard.The human knights were ordered to move them away from the borough and burn them all. But the people accused them of trying to kill them with such insolence. They had gotten wind of the diseases and deaths that followed the witches. It was believed that their corpses could bring famine, plague, and illness to the village.Leo and some of his men within the church knights' ranks implied that he and Ambrose be demoted for bringing the carcass of this condemnation upon the village people. But the village's Lords knew the Knight Ambrose and his troop ranks were too important to their accomplishment as a battalion, so rather, they agreed to accept the burden and get rid of the obnoxious error.They brought the cadavers away on a carriage pulled