The Chronicles: Green Night

My First Mission

After the schoolyard incident, the days that followed were relatively uneventful. The only notable event was the absence of vampires from the school for three days. Every day after school, I practiced combat magic diligently while receiving instruction from Lys on supernatural creatures and herbalism. She assured me that if I kept up this pace, I'd be ready for my first Roots Rite.

For witches who wanted to increase their magical powers and perform more powerful spells and rituals, the Roots Rite was a crucial undertaking. During this ceremony, a witch would go into a trance and face mental challenges to achieve a deep connection with the natural system. Unlocking all the chakras was essential for magical beings, especially witches, to enhance their abilities. It may sound esoteric, but that's how it worked.

Lys stressed that the ceremony could only be performed after my first task. She revealed that Anna, Lucas and I would be sent to Romania for our first mission. A coven in the area had contacted Lys and asked her to send witches to retrieve an artifact connected to the Old Ones.

The Old Ones, the original magical beings of Earth, did not bear the label of witches due to their distinct physical characteristics. According to legend, these beings possessed the strength of werewolves, the immortality of vampires, and the magical abilities of witches. The mystery of their disappearance remained unsolved, and every supernatural being sought to uncover the truth about their ancestors. The only hope was to find and decipher their artifacts. If we could use these artifacts to our advantage, it could bring peace and eliminate the fear that the witches faced from other beings. More importantly, discovering the Ancients was crucial to understanding the hidden forces within our universe and the reason for our creation.

Lys' quick response to the coven's letter was surprising; within two days, she had Anna, Lucas, and me on our way to Romania. We secured our absences from school with a few clever witch tricks to avoid trouble. As we left the airport in Bucharest, the question arose: How would we get to the other coven's location? Lys had given us the correct address of the village, but it was in Transylvania, and we would have to find our own way there.

"Why don't we rent a car and rely on Google Maps?" Lucas suggested as he led us to the car rental. Anna and I followed, carrying our bags. "Could we rent a car for a week, please?" Lucas asked the woman behind the counter. The woman, with her pale complexion and unnaturally thin figure, gave us a bizarre smile at our question.

"Of course, sir. Do you have a particular car preference?" she inquired, her behavior bordering on the unnerving. However, she seemed to be an ordinary person without any special aura, at least to my eyes.

Lucas replied with a slight smirk. "Any car that can get us from point A to point B will do." The lady printed out a document that Lucas duly signed. Finally, after about ten minutes, we were handed the keys to the car.

Curious about the village, I asked in the parking lot as we were getting into the car, "So what is the name of the village?"

Anna answered from the front seat, "The village is called Runc. They had discovered a crypt near the forest with a large wall with carvings of the Ancients.

Despite the summer heat, we had packed clothes for different weather conditions. However, Anna insisted on bringing a straw hat. We advised against drawing extra attention to ourselves in the village, since we weren't tourists, but Anna stubbornly declared, "I'm not leaving without my hat. She was making a statement, and we reluctantly accepted her oh-so-important fashion statement.

"Now let's start our road trip, Francis!" Anna called out of the car window. I could only hope that my first mission would go smoothly.

I jumped into the car and we drove out of Bucharest. We mostly followed the main road, passing picturesque towns and castles. Unfortunately, the village was in a remote area, so after an hour of driving, we were forced to leave the main road and venture out onto dirt roads. We drove for hours with no sign of life, only fields, forests and mountains in our view, until we finally reached our destination.