II New Mission

The snow was falling relentlessly. Millions of flakes made almost everything white. Trees and small plants looked sad in the freezing cold. The strong wind seemed to make everything harder, but not as hard as the task we were given. Me, Emma, Alden, Kingsleigh, and Marlon had to walk down Windstone, which was very lonely and cold. 

This is the westernmost area after York that borders the forest. The whole area was completely silent. The trees seemed to be watching our movements. The sound of the wind seemed to hint that Windstone was not a safe place especially for this kind of atmosphere.

We continued walking down the path for a while. I was always on alert and gripped my rifle tightly to deal with the attacks that sometimes came quickly and blindly. But there was no need for this. There was nothing in this place, no mysterious sounds or movements let alone two witches on the loose.

"We've been searching this place for a while and there's nothing here!" said Alden.

"I'm not sure what Francis is talking about. It seems like this place is quite safe and free from his accusations of witches on the loose." I added.

"Come on, let's just go back. It's obvious that we didn't find anything. The snow is thick enough to walk through, and it's really difficult." Marlon shook his coat off the snowflakes that had gotten him wet.

We walked east and decided to turn back. Then we had to take the downhill and winding road, the most difficult and frightening terrain in Windstone. Especially in winter like this, the road was filled with piles of snow almost knee-deep. Emma and I went down first while holding on to Alden and Kingsleigh. Trying to plant our feet firmly on the ground to avoid slipping while holding on tightly. 

When my right foot stepped on the snowy ground at the bottom of the incline, the part I stepped on experienced a small landslide that made me fall. Alden held my hand tightly but he too slipped and fell with me. My head felt dizzy and my body shivered after falling through the thick snow.

"Are you okay Jenna?" Emma looks worried.

"Um, just a little dizzy." Emma and Kingsleigh helped me up.

"We'd better head back! We haven't found anything since earlier, and this place is quite dangerous in this atmosphere." said Marlon who had been sulking like a child.

"Alright. It's cold here anyway." Kingsleigh agreed to Marlon's suggestion. His black coat was almost white with snowflakes.

Finally, we returned without any result. After making it through a sharp descent, we came to a more gentle place filled with trees. This place was quite far from the forest and closer to the former witch village to the west. It was equally quiet, but the snow was not as thick as at Windstone. We only had to walk about a kilometer to get to York. 

In the middle of the vast plain, I could sometimes hear the sound of the wind and animals, and I could even hear my own footsteps. Suddenly, there was a clear footstep amongst the trees. We stopped and the sound came back faintly.

"Did you hear that?" I asked the others.

"Yes. It was pretty loud and I'm sure it was nearby." Alden replied as he walked towards the trees.

"Everyone stop!" Kingsleigh held up his finger to command Emma and Marlon who were still walking.

"We'll make sure that's not our voice."

The clomping of feet became more and more audible, occasionally accompanied by the faint sound of trees. After only a few seconds, the sound disappeared again. We made sure it wasn't our own footsteps. There seemed to be other creatures, humans or witches who were in this place besides the five of us.

"Shall we split up? Emma and Jenna to the west, me to the south, Alden to the east, and Marlon to guard this place." suggested Kingsleigh.

"Alright, I don't mind." Emma replied confidently.

Emma and I headed south towards the former witch village. The place where Francis had seen two suspected witches. Along the way, the snow was getting thicker. The green trees were tall and everything looked the same. If you are not careful and pay attention to your direction, it is very easy to get lost.

Between the roar of the wind and the friction of the leaves, I heard strange noises again. This time they were clearer and sounded like people talking. I held my gun firmly and prepared to pull the trigger. Suddenly a woman in a black cloak flew quickly from the trees and tried to slash me with her dagger. 

Emma pushed me away and the witch's dagger stuck in the ground. Meanwhile, I shot the witch with my rifle and managed to hit her arm. But apparently my bullet didn't have much effect and she attacked me again.

Before I knew it, Emma was facing two other witches. These witches attacked me with their magic, but I always managed to dodge them. I kept firing my gun and finally one of my bullets managed to pierce the witch's heart, instantly she fell to the ground. As soon as the witch was caught off guard, I rushed to Emma's aid. With our energy still full, we faced the old witch. After wounding her leg with a single shot, Emma pulled out a dagger from her boot and cut her throat with a single slash.

"Good job!"

Seeing her friends defeated, the oldest and creepiest-looking witch knelt down and threw her hands up in the air. I prepared to fire my rifle into the sky, thinking there would be other witches she summoned. Soon there was a noise from the sky. Hundreds of crows circled in the sky and flew towards us.

Emma and I ran and occasionally hit the birds and shot bullets into the sky. But our efforts were to no avail.

"Jenna! What should we do? There's nowhere to hide. We could be killed by hundreds of birds." Emma was anxious and scared.

"They're not real birds. Our resistance will be meaningless!" I replied as I drove them away.

"We just need to run Em! A few meters ahead of us is a small cave and we can take shelter there."

We held hands and shouted for help. But our voices only echoed through the dense trees. No one heard us. Fighting the birds was a waste of energy. They were just part of the dark witch's evil spell. The only way to save myself was to find a proper hiding place.

Luckily, I soon found the cave I was referring to and we quickly entered.

"That's the cave! We can hide there." We nodded to each other and picked up speed to get to the mouth of the cave.

The cave was small and safe. A stone door was placed in front of the cave in a slightly stretched position so that Emma and I could enter easily. With all our might, we pushed the stone door shut. The sound of hundreds of crows could be heard quite loudly outside. I shuddered in horror until my hair stood on end.

"Huhh that was close! I can't imagine my body being pecked by those birds. I hate crows!" Emma snorted in annoyance.

"Real crows aren't like that Em." We laughed after the panic attack.

Before long, their voices disappeared. I put my ear to the stone door to make sure the birds were gone.

"Looks like they're gone."

"Thankfully, I don't think they'll wait for us to come out from behind the door."

"francis Blake was right. I didn't believe her at first. But those witches started reappearing and roaming the Greenleaves forest. Whereas they completely disappeared like the earth after their village was razed to the ground." I leaned my back against the door and placed my rifle on the ground.

"They bounced back quickly after that incident. Willleth has indeed been abandoned, and it's possible that they've established a new village elsewhere out of our reach."

"Should we go out now?" I asked.

"It seems to be safe. We can't stay here for long anyway. Our friends will be looking for us." Emma replied confidently.

I ventured to move the door. My guess was right. The birds had left and it was completely safe outside. We exited the cave and ran as fast as we could back to where Marlon was standing guard.

We walked down the path and were only a few hundred meters away from our starting point... Unexpectedly, the noise returned. Quick as lightning, hundreds of crows swooped towards the two of us. I was unprepared and swatted at them with my rifle. The hundreds of birds tried to gang up on us and there was no way but to run.

Without having time to think about anything else, I spontaneously left Emma behind and continued running north. The snow was getting thicker and the road was quite downhill. The terrain I was running on was getting steeper and more dangerous. I didn't care and kept running, until I ended up repeating the same thing. Slipping and rolling on the steep road.

With my last strength, I tried to stand up with all my might. Apparently I had gotten so far away from my original position, I had also left Emma behind. My mind was a complete mess. Panic started to creep up on me and I couldn't handle it. Without caring about myself, I forced myself to run.

Because my balance hadn't recovered, I was only able to run shakily, and worse, my foot tripped over the base of a tree that had been cut down. I fell and my arm bled from the sharp edges of the wood. My sleeve was torn and I felt the blood begin to flow, turning the snow around me red. I winced in pain as I held my injured arm.

My head ached and throbbed after hitting the ground hard. My vision began to blur. The trees and ground around me felt swirling. The snowflakes raining down on my body seemed to numb me. Slowly, everything went dark and I couldn't feel anything.