The Witches Hunt

3

Most witches avoid Palisea for the reason of the witch hunters, so it's very rare when someone is brave enough to venture to this country. But that didn't stop them from getting hunted, in fact, most of the witches that get taken by witch hunters have never been to Palisea, including Asteria's mother. She had only heard about Palisea but had never actually been there due to the fact that she would have been taken into custody as soon as she stepped a toe over the border. The witch hunter's emblem is a snow leopard, that's where Asta had seen the pin, in the old fairy tales her mother had read to her when she was younger.

Asteria went to the stables, retrieved her horse and set off for the journey; in order to get to the border without being noticed, Asta will have to go through The Great Wood and stay quiet.

She came to a halt at the edge of The Great Wood, it's large dark trees acting as a wall with a hole in it. It's quite magnificent size is a home to many unknown and mysterious creatures,magical ones that can fly and cast curses upon you if disturbed. Asta hesitated at the entrance to the forest, staring into it's vague darkness; she may die before she reaches the border of Palisea; but she was willing to take that chance.Asta pulled the witch hunter pin from her pocket and fastened it to her shirt, if they see her wearing this, they might think she's one of them

The Great Wood is dark at first, with the only sound being the crunch of leaves underneath the horses hooves and the sound of crickets chirping, it's not very different from any other forest. Asta sees a small light in the distance and more and more start popping up, pixis.

The forest starts to light up like it's on fire, until it's so bright that Asta can see the pixis all around her. They start to come closer, Asta doesn't stop, pixis are vile creatures that don't like being disturbed; they start to bare their teeth at her and she doesn't take her chances, kicking her horse into a gallop, they begin to escape.The pixis start to follow her now and Asta's horse starts to run as fast as it can.

Eventually the pixis lay off and Asta realises that she is getting close to Palisea's border.The closer she got to Palisea the colder it got, until snow started to fall in her hair and her horse's mane, it looked like flour except it turned to water if you touched it. The trees started to look different and it was getting louder with the sounds of the forest; the small portion of the sky Asta could see was getting darker, and clouds had begun to cover it, so she stopped in a clearing where she could see the sky and the first stars. Asta slid off her horse and listened for sounds,she needed to make sure it was safe before she set up to camp. All the people that say the forest comes alive at night were right, there were bright yellow and orange lights in the bushes and trees from all the fireflies and every so often Asta would hear a loud,wolf howl or an owl hoot,that was on top of the constant chirping of the crickets. Asteria ventured into the trees with the little light of the sky she had left to retrieve fire wood when she heard a stick snapped not far from her,she stopped and listened and then without thinking called out

"hello!"Asta stood and listened for a reply but there was nothing,she ignored it and continued to collect wood.Asta returned to her camp with fire wood and created a fire, for dinner it wasn't worth her energy to go back into the forest and hunt an animal so she pulled out the fresh loaf of bread she packed and ate half. After the fire started to die out Asta tucked herself under a wool, ragged blanket and stared at the stars; tomorrow she will cross the border into Palisea and it will be more dangerous, she will have to be on high alert.

The next morning Asteria awoke to a golden sunrise and birds chirping high up in the trees,it felt like a fairytale. She stood up and stretched, looking around her when her stomach grumbled

She considered having breakfast ,and went into the forest. One of the best parts about being a life holder was Asta didn't need a gorey weapon to collect breakfast so when she found a fat, little squirrel she just stopped it's heart,quick and painless. Asta made her way back to her camp and something felt off, it looked like someone had been there, someone that wasn't her. She made it quick to cook and eat the squirrel before packing up getting on her horse. The forest felt different today, it felt more alive, it might have just been because Asta had spent the night in there but it felt comfier and more like home. When she was younger she used to dream that when she was older she would live in a little cottage in the forest like the ones her dad used to read her from the fairytales, but she used to also dream of finding her prince charming, which is something that isn't in Asta's priorities right now but the cottage is nice idea.

Night began to fall as it got later and the snow got heavier and thicker on the ground, which was now fully covered by the white power.Asta took out her map and tried to look for the right signs that she had crossed the border into Palisea,like blue lilies in the grass, markings left by wolves or ... Asta stopped