Morana knows she's different from other people in more ways than one. Firstly, she's sixty-seven years old but stopped ageing in her twenties. Weird things have also happened around her right after she's wished for it. But most importantly, no matte...
There were six of them before me. The Priestess sat in an armchair, a glass of wine in her hands, and it was obvious she was the center of attention. Two witches, one in red and one in blue that I couldn't remember their names of, but I knew had been among the ones showering me in compliments and were close friends of the Priestess, sat on the couch. Both were on the edge of their seats and their bodies turned to the Priestess. Astria was seated in the armchair opposite the Priestess and like her mother, she held a glass of wine. Senalda stood behind the Priestess, almost as if she was a bodyguard. And then there was Marianela.
She looked misplaced compared to the others, mainly because her demeanor was different. The others were attentive to whatever the Priestess had been saying, while the Priestess seemed languid and basking in the attention. Marianela, however, stood back against the wall, away from the others. And her eyes had been out the window, the opposite direction of the others' attention.
The others' heads snapped to me the second I appeared, while Marianela slowly turned her head in an uncaring sort of way.
"Morana," the Priestess said and her eyes narrowed. "How did you get in here?"
"Magic," I replied in an off-handedly.
"Impossible! You can't teleport in here. And we sealed the building so that..." the witch in red started, but she received a hard glare from the Priestess that made her quiet down.
My guess was that I had done enough damage, scared them enough, so that they had enforced the protection around the house. Maybe even used spells which were specifically meant to keep me out. But whatever magic they had used, the Death Shadows hadn't had any issues breaking through it. Though if they admitted what type of magic they had used to keep me out, they would admit I was stronger than them.
"You ought to double check those spells. They can't have been performed by particularly gifted witches," I sneered.
"Now what might bring you back here?" the Priestess asked, clearly not planning to address the shade I had just thrown.
I scoffed at her. "So you are unable to use your brain for anything."
"How dare you!" the witch in blue exclaimed, but the Priestess held up her hand for silence before speaking.
"I would have assumed you knew there is no point in you returning here. You're outnumbered and much, much weaker than us. Appearing here is the same as sentencing yourself to death. Unless you have some sort of offer of peace."
I rolled my eyes. "Do you really think anything like that is even possible? You killed your own son without regard. What is he even to you? This in itself does not look like you're mourning at all. Do you even have a heart?"
"What's the point in mourning the useless?" Arista sneered back.
"So just because he was born male, you do not care! He's not even worth a second's thought? But I assume if it had been anyone else, you would have been distraught and been willing to do anything to get them back!"
"Morana, you do not understand our ways. I will mourn him, but there are much more important things to consider. He contributed very little to our community. Of course, that means the mourning will be very small in turn," the Priestess answered in a calm tone, which was very different to mine, that had grown loud and accusatory.
"But the ones here, huh? If it had been them? Are they contributing enough to deserve the proper respect in death? Are they ones you'd do anything for?"
"Of course, everyone here belongs to the most important of our members. I'd do anything for them."
I felt triumph in my whole body, but I kept contempt and anger on my face.
"And the rest of you? Would you do anything for the others here?"
"Yes!" the one in blue exclaimed, and the others followed. Except for Marianela, she stayed silent and just watched me with a penetrating gaze. But that mattered not. I didn't need her to agree. In fact, it pleased me that she was not so rash to agree to the unknown.
"Is that enough?" I asked in a much lower tone and the smile I felt started showing on my face. A smile that mixed with the contempt I felt towards them.
The Shadows came out again, casting the place into the darkness of the beginnings of night. The five witches looked around and at each other, and exchanged a few "what is happening" and "I don't know". Marianela kept looking at me.
The Shadows didn't give me an answer in words, but they sniggered, and that was all I needed to know that it was indeed enough.
"What was that?" the witch in red yelled and jumped up from her seat. She twisted around some more before her eyes, that brimmed with worry, landed on the Priestess.
"I've had enough of this!" the Priestess stated and got to her feet. Her eyes flickered around in their sockets, and a few beads of sweat could be seen at her hairline. "Senalda, kill her."
Senalda moved from behind the armchair and towards me. I didn't raise a finger, didn't say a thing, or move a single muscle to get away. My back was straight, chin held high, and my eyes met Senalda's.
I leered at her, and her lips trembled in response.
She looked away and to the side before saying an incantation and then doing some movements with her hands.
Flames burst all around me and started eating my skin immediately. It hurt and stung so badly, but I refused to scream. Instead, I stood still and let the flames engulf me, a smile on my face. When the pain became unbearable, I opened my mouth, but didn't let out a scream of pain, or at least not purely of pain. It was mixed with laughter.
The scent of burned flesh and hair filled my nostrils as I fell to the floor and all went black.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
