How To Burn A Witch |DISCONTINUED|

Chapter 14

It was Alev's seventh night in the unmarked town and she could tell tonight would be different from others. The air in the town felt different, heavier somehow.

She walked around the ruins of what was once a town and examined each building, making sure that she was truly alone.

It had rained at night, she could tell. The dome she had built out of pure nima was decorated with droplets of water and the smell of rain followed her wherever she went.

The witch felt particularly attracted to one of the collapsed buildings and walked towards it, making sure not to step on any of the broken glass that had been scattered on the floor.

She let out a string of curses as her foot slipped. She fell into a crater that could easily be compared to the size of a small village.

"What the hell happened here?" she asked herself, getting up and examining the place she had fallen into.

The weird feeling she had about the town only increased. She assumed the crater was the reason for it and took a sample of the soil inside to examine it.

Sure enough, the soil was charged with unexplainable amounts of nima. Blue shards of cold rock were embedded into the small pebbles in the soil. Alev thought they looked like chunks of nima in their purest form.

They strongly reminded her of something else she had seen before but she couldn't place her finger on what it was. Alev let out a sigh and crawled out of the crater. I don't have the necessary resources to conduct any actual research.

The witch grit her teeth as she strained to pull herself out of the crater, letting out a pleased laugh after nearly ten minutes of pathetically flailing around like a helpless chicken.

"I really should go out for a run like Mizuki does every once in a while." she gasped out, resting her palms on her knees as she took in deep breaths and waited for her racing heart to settle to its usual pace. Alev looked up at the sky and noticed the sun was setting.

She knit her brows together, "It was morning a few minutes ago... what happened..." she shrugged and shook it off as the time just passing quicker because she had been busy and went back to her camping site.

Twigs and branches crunched under her feet as she made her way into the safety of her protection circle and laid in it, closing her eyes and waiting for sleep to overtake her. Alev heard a small giggle from behind her and sat up immediately, deciding to add more salt to her circle to keep any evil entity out.

I am not dying because of some creepy girl with pigtails on, I am not dying because of some creepy girl with pigtails on, I am not𑁋 she felt a hand on her shoulder and let out a yelp, coming face to face with a blonde girl in a white dress, holding a teddy bear in one hand and the hand of an identical twin in the other.

The scream Alev let out echoed through the ruins of the city, causing more ghostly heads to turn her way.

"What𑁋 What𑁋" she stammered, unable to even start to formulate her question, "You weren't here for the past seven nights. Why are you here now?" she asked, having calmed down after a few more minutes of stammering and convincing herself that if the spirits wanted to hurt her, they would've done so already.

"We should be the ones asking you that, Outsider." said the twin who was holding a teddy bear. "We haven't been disturbed by an Outsider in centuries and suddenly you appear, touch our homes, eat the fruits of our gardens and drink water from our wells." she continued, "What is your business here in Afanis?"

Alev swallowed, annoyed that she had to explain herself to a child, "Afanis? That's the name of this place?" she asked, turning to one of the older-looking specters for confirmation. An old man holding a pitchfork with spectacles sitting on his nose nodded.