The Unordinary Life of the Enchantress

Chapter Five: The Strange Child

The marble seemed to turn to liquid as it fell to the ground, landing in a disc-like shape and appearing almost like a puddle. The Enchantress pointed her hand towards the stone and focussed as the flat disc rippled and from it raised the familiar form of the Enchantress's marble monster. The apprentice stared at the stone beast, it's stature... notably smaller than he recalled. The monster, standing no taller than the apprentice's knee, charged into the dense fog, towards the rapidly moving shadow.

"Boy!" the Enchantress shouted. "There is someone here, quite close - I saw a figure. The fog is just too thick to see it clearly!"

"I know!" the apprentice responded with angst. "I saw it too, we need to clear the fog before we're downed!"

The sounds of rushing steps neared, getting louder and louder as the duo searched frantically for their source. Left? No, right! No! How can so many people be surrounding them from every imaginable angle yet not give away their exact physical location? Amidst their hysteria, the apprentice caught sight of something that should have no business appearing as it did.

At a slight distance, a feather fell, dipping in and out of the fog. It drifted near enough for him to see it fork and vanish for a moment before returning to his sight. Then, it became two feathers- falling parallel to one another... exact and identical... like a reflection...

Realisation hit and the apprentice hastily grasped the Enchantress's arm, pulling her with him as he charged towards the feather.

"Boy, what-!" the Enchantress started but was immediately cut off.

"It's and illusion!" he hollered. "A reflective illusion! The shadows and fog, they're hiding something – or someone."

The two stampeded past the tell-tale feather and the hindering fog vanished in a flash.

The Enchantress stumbled back in shock, taking in the scene of a thriving winter forest. The bare branches and few evergreen leaves filtered the sunlight, leaving the rays to dance in fragments on the earthen floor. The apprentice awed at the slight crystals of ice that adorned the lower plants, which, like jewels, glistened with an ethereal radiance. The fog was gone, the path was clear, and the Enchantress was baffled.

"How did you notice it was an illusion?" she inquired.

"There was a feather," the boy explained. "I saw it warp, join, and split as it fell. I was confused at first, but then I looked a little closer and realised there was a seam and everything on either side of it was identical."

"A seam?" the Enchantress looked confused.

"Ah..." the boy started. "I'm not sure what it's really called- but the point where the reflective illusion closes and joins to the world outside it," he fumbled to explain.

"Ah!" the Enchantress vocalised, clapping her hands together, finally understanding her apprentice's ramblings. "Alright, then, we need to be wary from here on. Keep an eye out for a person! An illusion like that does not occur naturally!" she explained.

"O-okay..." the boy answered. "But... did you really not notice the illusion?" he pried.

"Oh, I did," the Enchantress responded. "at the same moment you grabbed my arm."

"How?" he inquired.

"Erkir," she started bluntly, "ran into the fog, but then ran back towards me from a few steps left. A monster made of a rock doesn't have the sentience to run from something, so I assumed it was just redirected."

The apprentice stared blankly at her, noticing the mass of marble that had found its way back into her hands. Here he thought he'd managed to outsmart her at something! He huffed as the Enchantress turned away from him and began walking.

The Enchantress and her apprentice took no more than five steps before hinderance approached them again. The branches of an apparently dead bush lashed out and grasped the leg and arm of the Enchantress, restricting her movement. She quickly looked over to it, watching in shock as the dead exterior of the bush fell to reveal the tooth-like thorns of a carnivorous plant. The flesh-eating Venus started to pull her towards it, creaking as its appendages tightened their grip on her. She grunted, raising her staff and using it to hit the plant. Much to her dismay, the plant did not weaken. The bits of bark that her staff struck off regrew just as fast as they fell and the plant kept tightening its grip. She dug her heels into the ground, begging it would not give way and to allow the plant consume her.

As the Venus's grip grew tighter and its pull stronger, the Enchantress found her feet slipping and being dragged across the dirt. Just as she prepared to launch her staff into the mouth of the monstrous plant, a figure leaped in front of her, slicing the plant's reaching branches and releasing her from its grip. She hastily stepped away and studied the scene. Her apprentice stood before her, in his hand was a large rock that held an uncanny resemblance to the blade of a knife. He immediately dropped the rock and ran towards the Enchantress, his eyes filled with a mixture of fear and excitement.

"Quickly! We have to get out of its reach!" he cried out, pushing the Enchantress back.

Understanding his panic, she turned and ran with him. They stamped through the forest, with no clear direction and trying to avoid destroying foliage on the way. As they darted past a large tree, the apprentice halted his step, turning to look at the tree – or rather, at what was behind the tree. Noticing his hesitance, the Enchantress turned and approached him. Following his line of sight, she spotted the subject of his gaze.

A child sat, cross-legged and head tilted town, behind the broad trunk of the large oak. It seemed curiosity bettered the researcher's senses than caution, as he stepped towards the tree. As he approached, the child slowly stood, turning to face him.

Wearing a yellow frock, tattered and stained with the earth- the child took a step towards the researcher, provoking him to step back. Long hair, with no discernment of any fringe, hung low before the child's face, giving it the terrifying demeanour of a village witch. The enchantress stepped closer, standing beside her apprentice to consider the child. Before she could open her mouth to speak, the child reared its head, revealing the face of a little girl. Beyond her dishevelled look, there was another matter to be noted of her appearance. Her eyes both had a glaze, her pupils clouded to an opaque white.

Noticing this, the Enchantress's apprentice hastily ran to the child. He cautiously crouched beside her – as if afraid she would run in fear, and gently laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey..." he started. "Are you okay? What are you doing here?"

The child turned to face him, her expression was calm and blank, but the sickly pallor of her face gave way to her condition.

"Do you need a place to stay?" she asked in a cold, raspy voice.

Taken aback and slightly confused, the apprentice stared.

"What?" he asked.

"Do you want a place to stay?" the child asked, changing her words.

"Oh... we'd love to, but we have to keep going," the boy stated, looking feverishly to the Enchantress.

Hearing this, the child took a hard grip of the boy's hand. Shocked and afraid, the apprentice snatched his hand from her shoulder and attempted to do the same for his captive hand, finding the child's grip was astonishingly strong for her stature.

"Please," she started. "You have to come with me. For even just a moment." Her voice garnering a hint of anxiety.

The apprentice turned to look at his mentor, his eyed plead for support. The Enchantress gave him a look of concern and pity, unsure of what to do. Was this really a child- or another illusion? While she was busy conjuring a reasoning for the situation, the child turned her head to face the Enchantress.

"You too," the child stated. "You need to come with me too." She held her free hand out, as if inviting the Enchantress to hold it.

Wary, the Enchantress took no initiative to approach the child, eyeing her with slight fear. Seeming to notice the Enchantress's unwillingness to move, the child dropped the researcher's hand and approached the Enchantress, taking grip of her wrist and dragging her past the oak tree.

Knowing of the child's unusual strength, the apprentice speedily chased after them, involuntarily complying to the child's request.