Capítulo 2: Chapter 2

Every witch had her duty and place in the coven. Elvira's duty due to her gift was to pick up requests and required witchcraft items (bones, blood, hair, etc.) from their human helpers. Such men and women advertised the service of witchcraft for them around the globe.

Lilith had prohibited all direct contact with humans after the horrific wizard ambush, where Elvira was the only survivor.

Elvira opened a rusty old chest. She took out a black box and headed outside. It consisted of all the requests she had collected the day before.

A witch's life was not easy, especially the life of a cursed one. Pleasing malevolent underworld deities were not a child's play. To please them well, one needed to murder every last warm emotion in their heart.

Elvira wasn't after power. Her only goal, for now, was to break free from the curse that grew powerful by the day. The healing potions from Riion were running out faster than before. And the pain was becoming intolerable.

According to many, she wasn't doing enough to receive a permanent cure from Riion. So far, Elvira had run almost every errand for her coven. It included collecting rare herbs and animal parts for spells, witchcraft requests, and more.

Lilith Cain always said that if Elvira wanted to get rid of the curse once and for all, she needed to give in to the evil of the dark arts. Performing witchcraft to kill and destroy the innocent was the fastest way.

Elvira had performed witchcraft for many evils, but her hands were free from the blood of an innocent. All underworld deities were devils and didn't deserve the respect they received from power-hungry individuals.

On the streets, there were a lot of curious faces and hushed talking. Compared to before, everything looked cleaner, and there was more greenery. Since returning from her collector's trip the day before, Elvira hadn't left her hut. What had she missed? Were they celebrating anything?

Elvira crossed the street and soon reached the center of the town, where a tall, white, circular building stood. The building was of prime importance. It was called the Dome of Witchcraft: An underground dungeon and place for performing the dark arts.

It was not anything close to their once majestic kingdom that her mother often described at length, but it was the only home Elvira had known.

Outside the dome, her younger sister Leona was chewing on her fingernails. She had strawberry blonde hair and a baby face with brown eyes. Despite her petite stature, she was less beautiful than Elvira.

"Elvira, thank goodness you're here." Leona hugged Elvira. "Why does our mother want us to gather outside the boundary of the village? Are we under attack? Have the wizards finally found us? What are we going to do now?"

Leona had a habit of overreacting. "I hope not. Let's go outside and find Valaine. She'll know what it's about." Elvira took Leona's hand and ran.

Once they crossed the village boundary line, all the buildings behind them vanished. There was nothing except rocks, grass, and ancient ruins of buildings, among other things, that hinted towards a collapsed civilization.

Their village was still physically there and could be felt by touch. However, one needed to lift off the spell of concealment to see. The Grand Enchantress and the other village elderlies had cast the spell themselves as an extra precaution.

A moderately attractive, tall, pale, thin woman with waist-length jet-black hair like Elvira was there. It was Valaine Cain, Elvira's elder sister.

"Valaine, what's this about?" Elvira asked.

"King Agror has come to our village, and Lilith has commanded us to guard the village till he is here," Valaine answered.

Elvira and Leona shared a look of horror. King Agror was one of the strongest warlock rulers in the world. He was well known for his cruel nature and as someone who still worshipped the underworld deity of sacrifice and chaos, Riion. There were also unsupported stories of him bringing down magical beasts like the Basilisk and dragons.

"Grand Enchantress Lilith has locked herself in the dome along with Uncle Eldritch and her favorite, our elder sister, Ursula," added Valaine.

"Why would she lock herself in with such a scary King? And to have our dear poor uncle inside is a rash move." Leona gulped in fear.

"Perhaps you don't know, but the king and the Enchantress go way back. I don't know everything in detail, but our dear uncle would surely know of their friendship with King Agror. We would have to wait until the meeting is over." Valaine walked away in the other direction.

The older witches and warlocks were secretive about their past relations and connections, especially the Grand Enchantress. Elvira knew nothing about the time her mother had lived as a princess. How they lived back in Zovell was insignificant to Elvira because there were other things she was dying to learn about, like how her father died. Sadly, her mother never answered that question and was the only one who knew what had caused his death.

The relationship between her mother and Elvira was twisted. Enchantress Lilith was a stern disciplinarian. No one was allowed to ask her a question more than once. So, Elvira had to watch her tongue around her, even though a million questions were spinning in her mind.

The sisters were worried about their dear uncle, Eldritch Payne. He was the youngest brother of Grand Enchantress Lilith Cain. And unlike her sister and the other older witches, his heart was not stone cold. It was probably because he never participated in human sacrifices and had left home as a young teenager searching for more. He had only returned after the fall of their kingdom, Zovell, and had introduced the witches to Daxaos, a deity they performed witchcraft to please.

Her uncle was the only parental figure with whom she shared a warm relationship. The sisters concluded that the Grand Enchantress was a wise woman and would never put her life in danger. So, if Lilith wasn't on good terms with King Agror, she would have never locked that door.

During the never-ending wait, Elvira and Leona began a pastime.

Elvira gestured her hands towards a big rock. A cloud of almost black smoke came out of her palms and lifted the rock in the air. With another gesture, she threw it into the stream, flowing close to them with force.

Witches could use much of their magic without a spell, as only witchcraft and healing magic required spells and other specific ingredients.

"Beat that, sucker!" Elvira stuck her tongue at Leona.

Leona gave Elvira a blazing look of rage. She lifted an even heavier rock with energy and threw it with impressive force. The rock went through a shadowy figure with winter-white skin and hair that appeared close to the stream. Its feet were above the ground, and it had glowing red eyes. That was a spirit in its true form. They could also shapeshift into almost any creature flawlessly but made defective humans.

"Charlotte!" Elvira recognized the spirit. She was a dear friend of hers.

Spirits were not souls of dead people trapped in the physical world, as the humans believed. Instead, they were magical shapeshifters invisible to humans. Some served a purpose on earth by guarding and hiding enchanted treasures and other deep-hidden secrets from humans and other magical beings. However, the majority of them lived their lives in vain. Terrorizing humans for fun and sometimes even killing them if offended.

The spirit floated towards them.

"Long time no see! I am surprised to see you here in my village. Is everything okay?" Elvira asked with a nervous smile while glancing back at her village several times.

"I am sorry, Elvira." The spirit's voice was exactly like that of a woman. "I shouldn't have come here as your mother thinks lowly of spirits."

It was the truth, and Elvira would probably get an earful later, but since Lilith was occupied, there wasn't any need to worry about it.

"Nah, it's okay." Elvira diffused the situation with an odd laugh, "I just hope everything is okay with you."

The spirit looked away. "It's not about me. It's about Serena."

Elvira's expression stiffened. Serena was a very dear friend to her who had been lately acting strange and rebellious around the village while neglecting her witchly duties.

"Come on quickly, tell us, what about her?" asked Leona,

Charlotte, the spirit hesitated. "She has fallen for a human and wants to elope with him."

Leona and Elvira shared a confused look and roared in laughter.

Elvira slouched and placed her hands on her stomach. The uncontrollable laughter was making her knees weak.

"That wasn't that bad, but you could have at least said that she has fallen for a spirit to make it more plausible." Leona shook her finger at the spirit.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "I am not joking, Leona and Elvira. I saw her with some human in the woods where I live now. She must not know that I have moved to a new location. They were all alone and..."

"Charlotte, I know you have never been in a relationship, but you can't conclude that she has fallen for him just by spotting her with some man in the woods." Elvira shared a high-five with Leona.

"Elvira, they made love in those woods. And before you say even that isn't enough, let me tell you that I heard them talk about their love for each other and their plan to elope soon," said Charlotte, all in one breath.

Elvira and Leona went silent.

"There is more to it," said Charlotte. "I confronted Serena about it the next time I saw her, and she didn't even deny it. She said that's what she wants now. She wants to leave her life of worshipping evil deities behind her. According to her, that human man had opened her eyes with his unconditional love. Now, she only wants to do good in this world."

"She must be out of her mind!" Elvira shook her head in disappointment. "I can't believe she fell for something as absurd as true love. He would decapitate her or give her away to the wizard once he finds her truth. There is no place for a witch to do good in the world. Witches have been like this for centuries, and our reputation is set in stone by now. So, what one witch wants won't even matter to them. They would never believe her and would kill her anyway."

"Only if she had come to me once, I would have made her understand that what we're doing now is not all wrong, as Uncle says. Humans are up against each other by coming to us for their selfish desires. They truly deserve it," Elvira added.

"I am sorry," said Charlotte. "I wish you had found out earlier about this."

"It's okay." Elvira tried to hold back her tears, but a drop escaped and rolled down her cheek.

"She knows you would come here to tell me about this. So, I think she might be planning on running away today." Elvira wiped her tears. "I need to go there right now. She might be gone by now, but I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't go after her. She is my best friend. I need to try, at least."

"Of course," said Charlotte. "I'll take you there."

Leona placed a hand on Elvira's shoulder to comfort her. "I want to come with you too.

"No, I am leaving with Charlotte, and you need to stay here in the village with Valaine. Please make some excuse for my absence if I am gone for too long." Elvira pushed Leona's hand away.

Elvira used a fast travel magic spell to take them to the woods within seconds. She took a horse with her as the woods were too close to human civilization. It was wise to ride through the woods on horseback to avoid getting spotted as a witch.

They moved through the forest. Elvira was on horseback with her spirit friend, flying above her. Mist filled the forest, and tall, thick trees gave it an eerie appearance. The humans had named it the Devil's Groove. And they weren't wrong because the eerie atmosphere made it the perfect habitat for spirits.

In her mind, Elvira was practicing a speech for Serena. Her horse kicked in the air and bucked her off when a blue bolt of magic hit the ground. Her eyes moved up, and her spirit friend was no longer there.

Elvira was panic stricken. Nothing was visible in the thick mist.

A few vague shadows appeared in the mist, and Elvira's chest muscles tightened. It was the same energy she had sensed during her first encounter with a wizard as a teenager.

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