Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Enjoying Peace While it Lasts

  “Hey, someone, catch that punk!” the angry guard pointed toward a girl who was running with a rabbit in her mouth.

  “Out my way!” a second guardian was running on the main road, pushing people to the side and trying to keep up with the unbelievably fast thief.

  The patrols spotted her when she stole a rabbit from the market and now she was forced to try to escape by outrunning them.

  They were slow, though. It wasn’t too much of a bother. More than anything, it felt like child’s play to her.

  “Ooooo, oh, dear!” an old woman was taken by surprise when the young thief bounced off her shoulder with her foot.

  It was so crowded that the girl decided to use any means necessary to put distance between herself and her pursuers, even if that meant stepping on people’s shoulders and heads.

  “How is she so good at this?! How can she not lose her footing at all?” The fatter guard was amazed and angry at the same time.

  The girl reached the top of the stalls with fruits and vegetables and was rapidly leaving the guards behind.

  “You two, go right and try to cut her off!” a new guardian, clearly higher in rank by his clothes, ordered the other two. He was young and had nice, long, and straight dark hair. He skillfully made his way through the crowd of people without slowing down or disturbing anyone.

  “Go get her, lad!” a random seller shouted.

  Seeing that the man was getting closer, the girl went around the corner and used her outstanding physical abilities to disappear, but not before leaving a message.

  Not much later, the three guards reached the corner alley, but it was too late. They couldn’t see the girl anywhere.

  “Shit! How did she disappear like this? How can we simply lose her just like that?”

  “I seriously thought that this time we finally had her. Damn!” The head of the guards, named Ralan, kicked a box in anger. He was clearly frustrated by their repeated inability to catch the thief. Day after day and week after week, it was the same story.

  Having checked the place for clues, they only found a message scrawled on the wall.

  “Wof, wof! Bark incompetent fellas. You are a hundred years too early to catch me.”

  “She had time to write all this and escape?! She must be hiding somewhere. Look around and check every centimeter!”

 

*

 

  The sun was out warming up the flooded paddy fields. A few villagers come here daily from the Bird Valley Village to plant rice seeds or harvest the rice depending on the season. It is very convenient since it’s close to the settlement and the soul is ideal.

  By the rice fields, in a modest wooden house with two levels and a small balcony, an old woman with long white hair was sitting on a couch. Her name was Anta and she was one of the sister witches. She recently survived an unimaginable nightmare, just like her fellow companion, Saori, who was out in the village doing God knows what.

  The light from her eyes was gone, but she was still holding a book. After casting a magic spell, by following the rows and touching them slowly with her finger, she was able to read. The woman loved books from a very young age and losing her vision couldn’t stop her from doing what she liked most.

  -Boom-

  The woman heard a loud sound as if something fell on the roof of the house.

  “This must be her.” She told herself.

  Seconds later, a girl made her way inside by hanging onto the rooftop and throwing herself through the open window.

  “Saori, once again you disappeared without notice. Not to even mention that you should learn some manners and come inside through the front door, not from the freaking roof!”

  She went to Anta with the dead rabbit firmly held in her mouth and peeked inside the book to check what she was reading.

  “Whatchh ya’ reaging gran?” the girl tried to speak with her mouth full as drops of blood fell on the old woman’s coat.

  Anta shut the book with a bang and turned her head toward Saori.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” The girl’s scream reached all the way to the people working on the paddy fields.

  By the sound of it, a few things broke inside the house.

  “I’M SORRY! Can you stop, gran?”
  “How many times do I need to tell you to behave?! You are no different from an annoying brat!” Anta shouted back.

  “But I can’t help it. It’s too much fun to annoy you!”

  “Fun to annoy an old woman, you say? STOP running you cocky little shit!”

  “At least I brought you dinner, ungrateful baba!”

 

*

  The night has come and the girl was upstairs laying in her bed with a lamp open by her side. She was holding a cup of tea waiting for her gran.

  The house was not big in size and had two small levels. It had been filled with all kinds of seemingly unnecessary stuff such as masks, dolls, pictures hanging on the walls, cardboard games, several carpets with weird designs, plants, and even some posters with wanted criminals.

  “We are lucky. It’s raining, which is good for the fields. There is not much longer until we won’t have rice anymore. The cold season is right around the corner.” The old woman said as she sipped from her own cup.

  “How did you get this house, gran?” Saori asked curiously.

  “They have given it to me, but not for free. Nobody was actually living in this house. Some villagers use it every now and then to rest when working the soil. I promised to help them in return. That being said, tomorrow morning after training, at around six, you will give them a helping hand.”

  “Eeeee?” The girl seemed to be pensive.

  “My turn to ask you something, girl. Why did you steal the rabbit from the market instead of looking for one in the woods?”

  “You know too much, gran. It’s just more fun messing around with people. But don’t worry, just like usual, I wore a robe and nobody saw my face.” The girl said joyfully as she flexed the muscles from her right arm.

  The old woman stood there looking at her with an expression that seemed to be saying “Just how stupid can one be?”.

  “Idiot.”

   Anta opened the door to the balcony slightly to let some fresh air come in. She then turned her head toward the very tall, sinister, and distant mountain. That was the place the two of them escaped from, the place where unimaginable horrors occurred, the place where so many people dear to her had lost their lives. Yet despite her best efforts, she couldn’t do anything.

  The woman was more worried about Saori, though. She was only a kid compared to her and she had been through the same things, if not worse. Not to even mention how she saw everyone dying before her eyes.

  Luckily, she didn’t seem to give a shit about all this right now, therefore, the woman decided to explain to the girl more about the world they live in. She took a seat on the bed and put a hand on the girl’s foot.

  “As I have already told you in the letter, there are five witches in total. When born, each one of us seemed to be better with one kind of magic. I was good at controlling and bending the earth for example, while Elya, the witch of the moon, was better at using water magic. It was the same for the rest of them. The only exception was Emer. She was outstanding in all our areas of expertise and much more. She was simply able to do almost anything that crossed her mind ever since she was three years old.”

  “Wow!” The girl was astonished.

  “I remember our mother came home crying one day. It was after one of the many fathers we had cheated on her, not that she was a saint herself. When she saw this, Emer simply wished for him to die and it happened. She didn’t use her wand, nor did she recite a spell. Just like that, he dropped dead.” The old woman said with an emotional voice as she snapped her fingers.

  “We sisters are all outstanding when it comes to materializing the force within us and transforming it into magic, but Emer outshines all of us. I don’t even want to imagine the level of power these monsters have got their hands on during these past thirteen years that I haven’t seen them.”

  “About this force gran—”

  Saori got interrupted by Anta who put her finger on her lips.

  “Shhhht. Don’t interrupt me, it is not nice. You should show more respect to the elderly.”

  “Ok, sorry. I forgot you read minds. I am sure you already know what I want to ask as always. From now on, I’ll just ask in my mind and wait for your answer.” The girl said while rolling her eyes.

  “It’s called life force, my dear. Most people are born with an extremely low life force, therefore, the chances of survival when encountering stronger and more evil beings are very low. There are exceptions. Among these exceptions are us, the witches, you, the beast, and others that you may or may not have heard of.”

  “You know a lot.” Saori was giving Anta all her attention while playing with the ears of a plush doll.

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  The woman stood up and closed the door as the chill of the night was slipping through.

  “Anyway, I believe that everyone with greater life force should be able to use magic, but it is unheard of for someone who’s not a witch to do it.”

  In the blink of an eye, Saori leaped up on one knee and stretched her palm in front of the woman’s face. After a few seconds of silence, she said with a serious tone: “Just splashed your face with my inner magic water!” Nothing actually happened.

  “This is why you kids make me sick.” Anta stood up and left the room, then with a swing of her wand, the door closed suddenly.

  Meanwhile, the beast girl stood there with her hand outstretched, disappointed with her lack of skill.

 

*

 

  After her morning routine and the early physical training, Saori went to work the land just as she had been asked to. It has been less than three weeks since she came down the mountain from the nameless cursed village, and this was the first time Anta asked her to do this kind of work.

  “It’s not bad! The views are incredible.” The country girl said as she took a short break from work to admire the wet shining grass and the green hills around. She then closed her eyes to feel the cold wind coming from the sunrise and the fresh air that gave her a feeling of inner peace and blessing.

  The cherry on top was the fact that Anta decided to help her choose a new pair of clothes today. She could barely hold back her excitement.

  “Enough! Let’s go.” Gran ruined the moment.

  The road to the closest village, Bird Valley, was not very long, typically took half an hour of walking to get there.

  “So, what do you say, kid?”

  “Are we talking about money again?” the girl replied with a question.

  “We need to, dumbass. You want to train with the famous swordsman from around these parts, right?”

  “True. But why do we bother to get all this money? I could just threaten him to rip his thing off if he refused.”

  The woman sighed disappointedly. She didn’t know how much longer it will take for the girl to grow up and understand how things worked.

  “Money won’t be enough either I believe. You need to stand out somehow. That is why you will enroll in the street fighting competition. This way we might even find some clues about a witch.”

  “True, the more stuff we do and the more we travel, the higher our chances to encounter one will be.” Saori looked at the endless blue sky. She felt like there was so much she didn’t know and so many things left to try. Every cloud felt like a cart heading toward a new adventure.

  “Glad we’re on the same page.”

  Just over half an hour later, the two arrived at Bird Valley Village, which resembled a wild west town. Here one could find people traveling both by foot and by cart, several shops, bars, restaurants, a saloon, a post office, several houses, and so much more. It was amazing, but Saori already knew about all this because she had been here many times to steal food.  

  “That’s your first target,” Anta said as she pushed the girl with her cane toward a bar.

  “For a young beautiful girl, this kind of place is like an information point. Use your fists or use your boobs. I don’t care how you do it, but don’t come back to me with nothing.” She added as she left and entered a church just across the street.

  Saori thought that was pretty weird. What connections could someone like Anta have with the church, or was it just a simple visit? The woman didn’t bother hiding it from her, so it meant she wasn’t keeping it secret. Therefore, nothing to worry about.

  After she stopped overthinking, she went inside to see what she could find out. Several glances fell on her instantly. It was unusual for a young girl to come here unaccompanied by at least two guards and she had none.

  “Ha, ha, ha! Looks like I win again, lads!” a man laughed satisfied by the win of the poker round, took the money, then grabbed the deck to shuffle it.

  A few men at the table seemed angry and upset with the game, while others were relaxed. There were seven in total. 

  A thin guy wearing a straw hat lit up his cigar and spoke with a husky voice, “Did you guys hear about what happened last night?”

  “No, what?”

  “Our old man Mitch disappeared. The last one who saw him was his wife when she asked him to gather some plants.”

  “See? That’s why I hate women. All they do is get us in trouble. They cry all the time, they are fragile, and most of them even suck at sucking. Ha, ha, ha!” another one intervened, making most of the group laugh.

  “Right, let’s get the next round started. I need my money back.”

  Realizing that the men dropped the subject, Saori decided to pay them a visit to get more information on the witch.

 

*

  Meanwhile, in the heart of the forest, in a cave that can only be found once a year, deep inside and underneath the surface of the earth, far away down in the pitch black, there was a huge corridor made of rock with cells on both sides.

  A skinny man, wearing only a couple of rags, couldn’t hear or see anything around him, not even his own hand. He didn’t even remember whether he had one left because he couldn’t feel it. 

  “My haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand! My haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand!” a scream came not very far away from him.

 “MY TOES ARE MISSING! WHAT HAPPENED?!”

  “I can’t stand up! Please, someone, help me!” This time, the voice sounded like it belonged to a young girl.

  Numerous screams could be heard from every direction and they didn’t stop for a good couple of minutes. Even worse, more terrified voices joined in.

  Scared, the man covered his ears and tried not to panic. He was not young anymore, and because of his many health issues, panic could prove fatal to him.

  How did he get here? Was this the real-life hell people were talking about in town or was he only having a bad dream?

  Suddenly, he remembered. Yesterday evening he searched for tea plants in the forest just outside the village. That’s when he encountered a lady of massive proportions.

  The obese, but veiny and muscular woman was wearing a dark-blue dress. Her hair, eyebrows, eyelids, and her lips shared the same color as her clothing. There was at least one ring on every single finger of her hands.

  Her face, well, that was something completely different. It was the face of pure evil. Despite having human features, its demonic aspect scared most of the people she encountered. It was an image that would most likely leave one sleepless for weeks, if not for months.

  “Hey, my love! You have the honor of meeting one of the five infamous witches. My name is Dragnya, also known as the Devouring Witch.”

  She stuck out her sharp tongue that looked as if it belonged to a snake. It was much longer than normal as the tip reached just below her fat belly.

  “W-W-What… d-d-do you—” the man stammered and wasn’t able to form the sentence.

  “I used to be small, just like you, but I kept on growing. How? I ate a lot. In the beginning, I only grew in width. I didn’t like that, so I changed my diet. That’s when I started getting taller and taller. Ever since I began eating humans on a daily basis.”

  An evil smile spread on her face, accentuating her demonic and ugly features even more.

  “P-P-Please! I have a family to take care of.”

  “And I have a belly to feed. Surely you can understand that!” the witch cut him short and stretched her tongue toward him, grabbing him by the neck, and pulling him closer.

  “Thanks for the meal!” her mouth grew in size as she opened it, revealing the numerous sharp teeth on her palate. 

  “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

  The villager had been swallowed entirely. The demonic face and the thickness of her neck returned to their normal proportions immediately after.  

  “You will enjoy your time here, I promise. It’s a very special place to me.” She patted her belly, satisfied with the meal, and went back into the heart of the forest with her bow legs.

  The trees bent behind her as if they wanted to protect her from being chased as she left.

  After coming back to his senses, the man shook his head and touched the bars of the cell. A terrifying thought came to his mind.

  “Am I in a prison deep underground? Or am I inside of her?”

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