บท 45: The cauldron

She had no time to waste in taking a disciple. She had no time to spend in nurturing one then the backstab of a knife in her abdomen followed afterwards. Trust had to be earned and the apprentice mage wasn't in any way trustworthy… Because she, as well, wasn't trustworthy.

Soprana wore her standard uniform known as a robe for sorcerers and mages alongside witches. However, her clothes had an insignia that belonged to the house she used to be part of before the war that condemned her whole household to fall into ruins. It looked like the shape of three gems brought together by blood. A drawing she came to perfect each time she stitched it on her clothes and a symbol of her old identity or what seemed like it.

She was of average height and had beautiful features. As a wise man said; when you are strong act weaker to not attract any unwanted attentions and if you are weak, act stronger to push away all your enemies. She always took the skin of an old woman as her own to push any unwanted attention and in case someone wanted to cause harm to her, she just struck him hard taking his soul to the demon she served. There was a price to the power she had and souls were the perfect payment.

"Aurora Von Peregrinator. It seems that your disciple found his way to me. Don't blame me if I take him away from you!" she smirked while stirring her cauldron and adding more ingredients to the purple shaded solution. There were bubbles surfacing and a foul smell propagating in her potion room.

There was an admiration each time she articulated the name of the female mage. The first time she met her, it was of that time when the war against witches happened. An army of knights marched towards her land and claimed it as the human's possession saying it was only right to take the belonging of a misfit. Aurora allowed her to save the people she protected and deceive the whole world of her own death… That if it could be called real death.

She glanced at the cauldron and felt satisfied with the finished product; she simply had to lure the mage apprentice to it and push him to finish the experiment and end the whole thing.

Her hand reached for her diary to remind herself of what the rest of the month held in store. She started dreaming about that future she planned once she would get the weapon back to her and get what she wanted from the mage apprentice.

Obviously, Stephan wasn't oblivious to Soprana's personality. He knew without a proper blood pact, he would be still in danger. However, she wouldn't kill him. No matter what she would try to do, his death wouldn't be involved in anything and it was a test; all side effects would be left aside, since form a starting point, anything he did and caused didn't shape the past in any way. He had nothing to lose as long as he finished the test and didn't die, he would return to the castle of Dimitruicasten.

He walked to where Soprana would be since a new idea formed in his mind. Since he was in the past and a witch was near him, she could teach him about one thing or two. As he learned from the system, all skills had to be learnt manually, which meant there would be no way to acquire a skill if he didn't learn it.

The beautiful voice of the maiden attracted him again. However, the voice changed slowly into a rough manly one that whispered to him that something wasn't right. Stephan followed the sound to the outside and instead of the maiden, there was a hunchback. His mouth gaped open and he almost screamed. With a hand over his mouth, he hid since his commotion made the hunchback turn around and check his surroundings.

There was a garden of medicinal herbs and the hunchback was taking care of them. Hunchbacks were the right-handed servants of witches. They were bound by a slave crest and their back was deformed forming like a second head in addition to the original one.

"What was that?" the hunchback kept examining the window and realizing nothing moved, he returned to his humming and singing.

Stephan hurried to the potion room where Soprana just finished the sticky solution that filled the entire cauldron. His voice shattered the dreams she had been indulging herself in for a while. His anger was visible on his face, so red because of the emotions. But soon, he calmed down. Remembering that emotions were just a waste of time, he calmed down quickly. He was rather happy he didn't let the maiden take advantage of him. Oh! Not a maiden, a hunchback!

"The deal was so that you don't disturb me and I don't do it from my side. Such a bad thing to think that the great witch Soprana who always was loyal to her promises broke it first! Shall I take it as a way to break the deal between us? I can always hire others."

She tossed the diary aside and watched him invade her private space easily then stop in front of a table that had a broken leg. It was one she wanted to get rid of for a while. She smiled confidently as if she did nothing wrong. After all, anyone was free of his own choices.

"May I ask that you enlighten me because I don't know what you are talking about?"

Stephan looked at the wooden shelves while the witch was talking. There were many books that time had made colourless and old. The room itself had a foul smell of a mixture of old books and the solution in the cauldron. His eyes moved to the big container and sighed.

"Were you making some kind of poison to kill my comrades? I don't hate the dwarf and the elf to a point I would want to kill them. Furthermore, I have a use for them later."

Somehow, Soprana felt vexed by his remark. Her potions weren't in any way poisons. However, realizing he was in the room and near the cauldron also, she smiled brightly, showing all the warmth she could produce.