Witchstuck

Chapter 4

Rose turned seeing a dark figure holding a lantern lit by a single candle. It was hard to see who was behind the lantern, hard to even look at the figure. God dammit that lantern is annoying. Rose shielded her eyes from the lantern a bit.

"Who's there," She asked in a stern voice.

"Rose?" The figure asked slowly putting down the lantern so Rose could see the figure. It was John, the Priest. Great, this is absolutely  perfect. She stared at the Priest before running off. It wasn't a good idea but it was the only thing she could think off. Running as her voice staggered, passing up her house without noticing. She lunged towards the forest hopping over a fallen tree into the darkness. Dodging trees and watching for that lantern light in the corner of her eyes she kept running. The light of the lantern disappeared when a loud crash was heard.  It couldn't have been the lantern breaking right? That would cause a forest fire.

Rose glanced around the darkness. It was light for her, for she was using her powers to cast night vision. A cool small little thing she can do. Nothing was seen and nothing was sensed as Rose scanned the trees. She panted a calmed down closing her eyes, her purple eyes were glowing in the darkness and the slits where her pupils used to be are completely visible. She sighed a relieved sigh leaning back a bit, her rest was interrupted by a body lunging at her front the back pinning her down.

Rose shrieked and struggled underneath the body. The night vision was able to see. John. Her eyes widened, he would definitely see her glowing purple eyes. She saw his expression. The expression of fright. John opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a harsh knee crashing into his stomach. He gagged and Rose kicked him off. The raven haired boy was rocketed against a tree, knocking him unconscious. Perhaps not to awaken until tomorrow when it's brighter?

Rose bounded and ran through the forest as fast as possible Her mind raced with insecurity at this rock in the middle of their plan. Her legs moved faster and grew lighter with every step until each footstep tapped across the air. The uneven forest floor curved downwards as Rose's galloping floating towards the branches of the trees. The magic in her feet wanting to leave her body and this place. She wanted to reach the stars, but to destroy the world before she conquered death. She bounded and bounded across the dark sky with only the late night shine of the moon being her lamp. She took a breath above the trees and stood in place. She thought of the priest she had just flung across the forest. What business did he have that deep into the forest so late at night? Perhaps the father had become restless and God had called for him to rise. It only chopped him down for the night. Rose thought about how easy he had overpowered her female form. She let out another breath of air, letting the floor of air drop beneath her. Her body raced towards the ground and the air caught her delicately before laying her feet back on the forest floor.

Although revenge filled her mind, she had a thought of John once again. It would do no good to leave him there with the memory of her flinging him against the trees. Her eyes trailed back to where she ran and where John's body lays. Jade wouldn't like him there and thinking he saw Rose use some sort of sorcery on him. The thought gave her a smirk, she had a different plan in mind. She continued walking to her cottage leaving John to bleed at the floor of the forest.

Dave carefully walked through the forest humming a tune he made up. The sun had risen to a new dawn and he was on his way to a hunting spot, now strapped with a rifle and other hunting weapons he may need. He had made a path to his area, a rough one at least by just clearing the way of leaves and twigs. He had always enjoyed the scenery although the colors were bland through the goggles he used to shield his eyes. His appearance was relatively normal aside from the tinted goggles he always wore. He had an issue with his eyes that made natural sunlight sensitive to his eyes, the townspeople knew this well and did their best not to knock him down for his disability since he did the most hunting. His honesty and calm appearance made him warm to be around.

As he glanced around the forest he had walked through everyday since he'd started hunting, he caught a glimpse of a lump through the trees. His sensitivity to light didn't stop him from being able to spot an animal through the leaves. He drew his rifle and carefully walked off the path with soft footsteps. The animal was large so he made sure a crack of a twig didn't scare it off. The animal laid on the ground unmoving and Dave clicked the safety and held to the trigger, stepping ever so slightly closer and moved slower as he became a few feet away. He couldn't get a good look but he aimed and looked closely at the animal from the ground to hide from it. The eyes behind the goggles studied the bit his eyes could see and paused. He lowered his rifle and rose from the floor, strapping the weapon to his back and hurrying towards the lump.
His pace grew faster as he saw the familiar raven hair he had seen every Sunday. The priest laid at the forest floor with his head down at the base of a thick tree. Dave stared at his body with terrified eyes and even more terrified hands that reached towards the Father's body.

"Father...? Father Egbert?" Usually Dave held a stoic expression, rarely letting emotion through to his face. His voice almost cracked seeing his priest face down in the dirt. He kneeled beside him and softly touched his shoulder, calling to the priest again. "Father Egbert? Can you hear me? It's Dave."

No response once again leaving Dave restless and trying his best to carefully flip John onto his back. Dave sighed relieved to see a bruise on his forehead and a slight scratch on said bruise where some blood leaked a dried the night before. He was a bit dinged up but he was still breathing, a little staggered but breathing nonetheless. Even on his back and his head towards the bright sky, John didn't stir awake. Dave shook John more, "Father wake up. Father wake up you're laying in the dirt."

Silence. He sighed, "FATHER WAKE UP!" With that John's eye blinked open and he inhaled sharply before tightly gripping his chest and coughing. He tried to turn to his side but winced in pain again. Dave carefully held his shoulders to steady him and calm him down, "Father you were sleeping on the forest floor. What happened you look like, and excuse my language, but you look like shit."

John flopped back onto his back and carefully exhaled, "I don't know what i was doing out here, but I saw someone... A girl. She was glowing."

"...A glowing girl. Like as in pretty and glowing in the moonlight Father? Sorry to remind you but isn't that like illegal in God terms."

"That's not what I'm saying. Her eyes... Her eyes were glowing this purple, I thought she was an animal with her eyes reflecting with my lantern... My lantern!" John quickly got up but fell back to the ground in response to a pain in his chest.

"Father stay down I'll find your lantern."

Dave rose from John's side and looked around for a lantern. He carefully looked around through the shrubbery and caught the shine of the metal lantern. The dry twigs and dead leaves on the forest floor collected by the new fall season approaching were unharmed by the fire the lantern held the night before when it was knocked out of the priest's hands. He didn't acknowledge or notice it when he picked it up. The fire hadn't touched any of the dry foliage although the candle had fallen out of the broken glass that had shielded the heat.

"Is this it?" Dave presented the broken lantern to the Father and John exhaled relieved.

"Yes it is thank you Dave."

"Let's get you back to town so someone can fix you up," Dave reached under John and lifted him from the ground. Dave had lifted dead deer heavier than John and he was relieved it was him who found the Father. He made his steps delicate as to not stir John's injuries any further. Dave didn't press why John was in such rough shape in the forest. It's not exactly a written rule but all townspeople are to be in their house after dusk to restrict sin and demons from penetrating the village. Dave wasn't exactly one to go with the current and the unsaid rules definitely didn't stop him, but John? The pastor and priest of the town's church? It's strange to say the least.

//It's quarantine and I randomly decided to pick up this story from 2016... I want to fix some things from before but next week I'll post chapter 5 then!! If you still read this holy FUCK. Ur crazy. Anyways tysm <333