The Making of Witches

Chapter 2

The world was on fire.

The screams and cries were silenced by the ringing in her ears, the endless scream that would never stop.

Her vision was red and dim but all she could see was that moment.

The moment when the boards dropped.

The moment when Emmerie's neck snapped.

The moment her scream tore the world in two.

She felt her knees hit the ground and the arms restraining her suddenly let go. She could vaguely hear the screams coming from all around but Lore only truly heard one sound.

The snap as something forever shattered in Emmerie's neck.

Lore could vaguely make out the heat that was travelling all along her body, licking her limbs and coating her in a warm embrace. She wasn't burning but she felt hot - hotter than she had ever felt in her life. Her eyes were clenched shut as tears spilled through, hissing and sizzling as they hit the ground. She couldn't pry them open and face the scene in front of her, the body swinging from the noose. She was still screaming, even as the horrible sound tore through her throat as if it was paper.

Lore opened her red and raw eyes, gasping as the dirt on the ground got into her eyes. The heat was unbearable and it was everywhere. Not just on her body but the ground she knelt on and the air she breathed. She lifted her head and gasped as she took in the scene.

The hall had cleared rather quickly and the people were rushing to escape, barreling through the doors with as much care for each other as strangers. They were screaming and flinging weapons but some of the burly men were surrounding her in a wide circle, pointing pitchforks and shovels rather menacingly. The platform had been abandoned but the body still hung limply like a rag and another whimpering sound forced its way through her lips as a fresh wave of grief crashed over her. The ground was crackling and burning beneath her as soft flames wormed their way across the dry ground.

Finally, Lore looked to herself, to find the source of the unbearable heat. She found it in the fire that was consuming every inch of her skin.

She screamed, flinging her head back and hitting her arms frantically, yet the ruby flames wouldn't die. They grew stronger and the conflagration soared higher with each sob and each tear. The flames did not consume her, they welcomed her, embraced her, loved her. Lore developed a strange liking to the rippling river of red flowing around her - loved the power it made flow through her veins. And for a moment the rest of the world fell away as Lore stared in wonder at the fire and marveled at how similar it was in comparison to one of Emmerie's hugs.

But one thought of her fallen friend brought the real world right back into focus and Lore became aware of the terrified yet approaching attackers and their weapons. She stood on shaky legs as the flames dimmed slightly, keeping her eyes towards the ground and not the platform. She kept her eyes down as she bolted through the gaps in their circle and out into the town. The people screamed as she ran past and fear unlike anything she'd ever known coursed through her veins.

Memories whipped past her as she ran through her hometown- the only place she had ever known. She fled from the town hall where she had spent so many years watching speeches and important news from the back, giggling with Emmerie at the head's shiny red nose longer than his finger. She sprinted past the shops she had bought from every day of her life, where all her food and trade had taken place. She saw Gray Old Sae's stand where the wrinkled old hunchback would take coins for chunky soup served in metal slop bowls. She had always been kind and welcoming to the girls, offering a rare Sae smile to Lore whenever she passed. She leaped back and yelled when Lore ran by, all kindness gone from her warm eyes. Her expression spoke volumes as Lore caught a glimpse.

Disgust. Horror. Regret that she had ever spoken to a demon. Lore ran past her own home, a modest little barn she and Emmerie had occupied together after her mother's passing. Grief coursed through her as her panicked brain made the connection that she would never come back here. She could never return to Bellweather or any neighbouring town. She would never laugh with Emmerie in the old barn ever again, or buy food from the market, or choke down Sae's chunky soup. She would be hunted until her dying breath. Hot tears sizzled on her cheeks as Lore burned.

She ran and ran into the woods, not stopping even as her muscles cried out in agony and the fire dimmed and eventually quelled. She did not stop until she was drenched in sweat and her legs fell from beneath her. She fell in the forest, under the cover of night, and wept.

She wept for her fallen friend, for the home and the life she would never get back.

She wept for her hopeless future, bleak and empty.

She wept for the fire that still rolled in her blood and coursed like power through her veins.

She wept until she fell asleep and in her dreams she cried and cried for it felt as if the end was coming and there was nothing she could do to stop the oncoming doom.