R, R & RR

A story attempt?? (I tried)

Hello helloooo
How are you??

So, not much to say here, except I tried to write something. I 'm not sure if you would call it a small story attempt, as much as an attempt to open up a bigger story. But in any case, please check it out and lemme know what you think, both positive and negative stuff~
Let's begin:

In the Eighth Continent, no one used maps. At least Ephe had never seen anyone do and she was particularly annoyed at this bad habit. For all she knew, she had already got lost in the forest. Well, to be fair it’s not like she had anyone else to blame but herself. And that bird.

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It had happened two days ago.
She was trying out a protective sealing spell, like the one back home and having no luck with it. The Ladies of the Green had left instructions but they were uncompleted. You see, those great witches had crafted that spell for the first time to protect the forest city known as Thálpsi from the Dark Wave that rummaged the land at the time. Scrambling fast, they began leaving notes for their heirs to remake the spell in a time of need, but the Wave caught up to them and then, they were never seen again. It was said that many plant witches tried to complete their notes, resulting in similar smaller barriers but none had managed to uncover the original in all its magnitude.

Ephe was just a novice. She knew there was no way she would be the one, but nevertheless she wanted to try. A Dark Wave hadn’t been observed in a long time but oh well, you never know. For someone who was a bit of a coward like her, it felt better to have, if not the original great barrier, at least, a smaller version of it to protect herself just in case.

For the time being, though, the process was proving itself more hazardous compared to the risk it was meant to protect her against. The long leaves of her aloes begun to glow faintly as she willed them through the first steps written on the instruction paper. A glimpse on the edge grew to lean ribbons of light and her eyes reflected their soft green hue as they danced before her in the air, trying to find their partner in this little tango of magic. One aloe curiously scouting the other, trying to understand who it was and what it wanted and then…thunder shuddered their witch! The loud booming echoed in her ears and she barely managed to think Not again before her vision filled with bright green. She was distantly aware of a feather landing on her nose. A few seconds later, she found herself crouched on the floor, hands covering her ears.

The trainee witch rose unsteadily and grimaced in contempt. She hated loud noises. The usual circus of voices conversing in her head had faded away only to be replaced with a distant observation of where she was. She stood there for a few minutes, staring at the swirly patterns of the trucks making up the walls of her little home and the sunrays filtering in through the two great windows and the fluffy wings of the small bird perched up there, with its beak a lively yellow and a paper tied carefully on its leg…

Wait, what? As her mind recovered from the overwhelm, she realized a bird was resting on her window, despite the explosion that should have scared it away. She had seen messenger birds before but this was the first time, one had come from her.
The poor thing… It stared at her startled, but it was brave enough to remain to complete its mission despite having borne witness to her magnificent failures. Ephe reached for some bread, on the other side of the room where she hoped her food supplies would be safe from her adventurous spell experiments. She threw the pieces to the table for her messenger to satisfy its hunger and, as it enjoyed its reward for the long journey it had finally completed, she removed the paper with slow movements.

Her inner voice tried to guess who it might have been from, as she opened it. Her parents, might have gotten worried and wanted to know how she was doing, a friend who was summoning her to meet… Round, satisfying letters unfolded before her wide eyes, as the message they carried announced itself: “The Quest has begun. All who wish to be called witches must earn their hat. The ceremony shall take place in the place known as Spring upon arrival.”  Beneath it lay the sender’s signature, a magnificent R, that she had never seen before. Guess, it wasn’t her parents after all.