Witch Hunt

Prologue

"Keep moving!" A man screamed behind a set of bars towards the line of people on the other side. In a dark, gloomy hall, sets of people walked in a straight line down a narrow corridor, each a different age than the last. The law didn't care if you were young or old. Everyone was a culprit, and everyone walked the same boat. 

Towards the front of the line stood a smaller girl at the age of ten. She was anxious of her first experience and she hated being isolated from her parents. The law prohibited relatives to be near each other because of how it could influence the tests. The most stress-inducing tests a person could take in their lives, because if they didn't pass, it would cost them theirs.

The "Witch Tests" were unforgiving and unrelenting, pestering every one of your nerves, emotions and wits to test if you were a human or a witch. This would have been a useful tool to have it didn't have as many flaws as it did. Hundreds of innocent people were killed because of these flaws, failing a portion of the test that would force them into the final test. 

The final test had just been a test for the ones in charge. At that point, it was already too late for the test-taker, already sentenced to death. According to history, a person can truly be discovered as a witch if their body would erupt into a flurry of shining, green particles if their body had been burned. And to set the stage for the tragic event, the big man in charge thought it good to burn a person at the stake, fitting of a witch or even a potential witch. It sickened the masses enough to have this take place against so many innocents, and yet it was also shown to the approaching group through reinforced glass on one side of the hallway. Anyone about to take their tests could see the final one to their side as well as a good length behind as well. 

The window had been very large, opening up to a small yard on the other side. A metal stake was sticking out of the ground on one end, another end sitting a male inside of a reinforced structure in the event of an explosion of the body. There wasn't much to the room other than the amount of space between the stake and the structure, a fair amount for what may have happened in the event of a witch burning. 

At that exact moment, there were guards, dressed in all-black body armor, carrying an individual into the room from the center door. The male had been swinging his limbs, his legs flailing in the air as he tried to escape the two guards' grasp. From the other side of the glass, the effort looked futile, his struggling looking of nothing but wasted energy. His screaming had been inaudible from the other side, his face looking as if it were in pain as he was carried towards the stake. He couldn't see through the one-sided glass, unable to peer out at the gazing glances toward his struggle. 

Easily, they tied his hands behind the stake, his feet tied as well and yet he didn't give up his effort. The man looked to be in his early 20's, his face showing that of a young child as he looked to be pleading his life towards the older male inside of the structure across from him. The man's tearing face wanted drastically to escape with his life and still, the panels underneath him began to slide open, a set of small circles on each of the four panels around him. The spectators knew what would be next, a few of them turning away as a set of flames then shot out from underneath him, a lot of other heads turning to look away from the gruesome scene.

"I said, keep moving!" A bang was heard as a baton slammed against the bars, making the young girl jump in her place as she then looked ahead of her, shuffling forward slowly as she made her way through the doorway with a few individuals from ahead, and behind her. 

The door to the cold hallway closed behind them, the eerie silence still lingering in the small, pitch black room. Almost immediately, a screen had turned on in front of the small group, a majority of them squinting their eyes at the sudden brightness. The large television screen gave light to the room, and yet there was nothing to give light to. The room the group had been in was completely barren, not a sense of style on any piece of the wall or flooring. A single guard blended into the background in the corner of the room behind the horde of people. Nearly undetectable, he watched any sudden movements as the pictures on the screen began to move, a voice just becoming audible as the volume increased. 

"Hello, everyone!" A male voice spoke on the screen, the face of a middle-aged man fading into view as it looked out at the audience staring back at him. "I'm sure everyone here is accustomed to the routine, but in case you aren't, I welcome you!" The blond male spoke, smiling in an entertained way. "We will put you through a series of small tests so that we may know your identity. If you are a witch, please say so now and our guard will escort you to a safer room," he told the thin crowd, pausing as if waiting for someone to speak. They had all known it was a prerecording and still, they also knew that they weren't the ones that were being sought out.

"You see, about a hundred years ago, the world was never like this. There was green grass growing everywhere, sun shining on all the architecture and the trees," he spoke to the crowd, his face now gone as the screen ran through a slideshow of old pictures. "But then, there were five witches that came to our world and they brought about destruction with their beasts and monsters that terrorized the entire planet as we know it!" The screen had run through a slideshow of the army as well as one of the spoken beasts. "We were able to chase them back to their home planet but those witches are still out there! They're living with us and we have to find them before they bring these creatures back to our world to take out the rest of the population!" The man had come back onto the screen, his face full of concern as he tried to relate to those in the room. "So we need you all to take tests so that we know that you aren't a witch and that the world can be a safer place. We've already caught one of them, so we know that there are four of them left. They could be able to live forever or they could have children so we need to keep searching until they're all gone!" he explained, his facial expression changing as if he were trying to speak to a young teen audience, showing less maturity in his explanations.

"But, now that we have that out of the way, let me explain what you'll do from here! First, you will enter the next room and take a written test, then the vision test, then the hearing test, and...you get the idea. But if you fail enough of the tests, then you'll be put to the final test to see if you're a witch! Or if you don't want to take any, we can skip the process if you speak up now," he paused again, not a sound to be heard through the short period of silence. "Alright then! Off we go!"

The screen had suddenly shut off at the last word, almost seeming as if he had been cut off and yet no one could tell. A light suddenly came into the dark room as the door to the next area had then opened, the guard holding it by the handle. The crowd obeyed, slowly going through the door one-by-one, knowing that they would be scolded otherwise. The atmosphere had been thick through the entire ride, the experience bringing that much more tension. Even the small girl had stayed quiet, following her parent's instructions from the day before. She was simply told to keep her mouth closed until after the presentation and only speak when asked to. She was to follow the crowd without a word and mimic them and where they went. Of course, she listened, knowing she was scared of what may happen if she didn't, her heart pounding harder at every instance. 

The girl followed behind the crowd, small sections being seen throughout the room as the guard by the other side of the door had been pointing in multiple directions. The large, office-like room sent chills down her spine, watching as each person went in one of two directions, heading towards where they had been assigned and without speaking a word. All that could be heard were the sounds of pencils against paper and the occasional number that was spoken by the guard that directed each person to their booth. Compared to the theme before, they were in a brighter room that felt more like they were trying to obtain a license rather than passing tests to save their lives. And yet the small girl didn't question this, heading closer and closer towards the guard as the line moved forward, her heart beating faster as she anticipated her fear of assessments. She didn't know what was going on but she knew that it wasn't going to be fun, and as she approached the guard finally, she could hear the sudden slam of the door behind her, closing off from where she came.