Lucifer's Daughter

Chapter 34- Casualty of War

Thank you all for continuing to read my story. You don't know how much I love you. ❤️❤️❤️
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🎧: Nightshade - The Lumineers

Chapter 34- Casualty of War

The whole way to Witch's Vale, I felt an ache in my wrist. It's been aching since the morning, but I didn't pay it much mind until now. The pain was unbearable. I checked my wrist multiple times, but there was nothing there.

I admired the busy streets of Witch's Vale as Maeva and I walked in silence. The attire of the people roaming the area was everything but normal. You could see a couple of Witches and Warlocks as the embodiments of characters in adventurous children's books, where the children fight the evil enchantress to save the Kingdom, or the classical disney princess movies I used to watch growing up. However, the majority wore attire from different times throughout history and all over the world. It was truly a wondrous sight.

You could see 15-16th century european custom wear, you could spot french powdered wigs, colorful indian saris and much more. "What's beautiful about Witch's Vale is its diverse nature. Witches are hearty and free-spirited. They are also highly attached to their backgrounds and roots, hence the traditional wear." Maeva finally broke the silence and explained. We soon reached a street buzzing with life.

The scent of spices invaded my senses and I felt immediately rejuvenated. "This is the Mystic Dust& Spice Market. It's the busiest street in the district and where the Jinns and Nephilim usually reside. You can find witches, but they mostly lives in the more posh areas of Witch's Vale."

"Hello, Miss!" A man with a scar etched along his face diagonally appeared out of thin air, almost giving me a heart-attack. He wore a generic 18th century black tailored pants and a tailcoat to match it and a top hat to add a little life to his outfit. Yup, straight out of a history book, alright.

"Would you like to buy some slumber dust, maybe even some vanquishing potions?" He offered in a thick british accent laced with amusement. "Vanquishing potions are strictly forbidden in Witch's Vale." Maeva replied harshly. "Oh really? And what will you do about it?" He challenged her. Wrong move, buddy. "Well, considering I'm the one who enforced this law, not to forget that I run this district you should re-think your challenge." Maeva replied confidently with her chin held high.

The man's face paled instantaneously and he visibly gulped. Just a moment ago he was laughing at "Bet you wish you could slurp that potion and vanquish now, do you?" Maeva smirked sinisterly. I stared at the poor man. Although he scared the shit out of me, his vulnerable state brought a feeling of pity along with it.

"I will spare you of the penalty of this law, but should I ever catch you with vanquishing potions again, you will be beheaded. Let's go, Thana." She demanded and we continued walking. Soon enough, we were out of the beautiful buzzing street and into a shady alley.

Wind swept through the empty place, much like an abandoned path in a horror movie. The houses were stale and gloomy. Filthy gray cobblestones decorated the path in front of us. "I feel a dark energy in this place. Is this the Voodoo Wynd?" I muttered in tge lowest possible voice and Maeva nodded.

The dark aura the place held triggered something in me. My body was on full alert, but oddly, I felt my heart indulging in the excessive amount of evil lurking in the place. I involuntarily drew in a deep breath. Maeva stayed silent and wouldn't answer. We kept moving forward until we reached an empty field overcome with macabre thorn bushes.

I noticed a dark liquid staining the thorns. A single drop fell to the soil underneath. My hand reached out to inspect the murky substance.

The liquid was thick. On the thorns, it seemed to have been black, but the sickeningly sharp metal stench made me second guess. As soon as the liquid made contact with my hand, I noticed that the color was not black, the deep dark shade was in fact red. "Blood." Maeva replied through gritted teeth. "Someone broke in. I can sense it." She said hastily as she performed an incantation.

Soon enough, a large abandoned home appeared in front of me. "We have to go in and see. I have a bad feeling, Thana. A real bad one." Maeva's heart was beating frantically and I could see her breaths growing ragged by the second. "But they couldn't have gotten to the fountain without your or Lucifer's blood..." she tried to convince herself.

Both Maeva and I entered the large house. Maeva led the way along the halls. The walls were decorated with striking 18th century paintings. Though, the paintings weren't anything you'd see in museums. They were much too satanic to be put up for the public eye.

We reached an extremely narrow hallway where the wallpaper lined walls were slowly decaying and peeling off the walls. "Maeva, who's house is this?" I asked her. "Thana, I promise you I'll tell you everything once we get out of here." She explained and continued.

Maeva suddenly stopped and turned towards one of the many peeled sections of the wallpaper. Her hands roamed the wall until she settled on a particular area. She pushed the wall and it opened to reveal an ill-lit staircase. "Ignis." Maeva whispered and the torches positioned at either side of the walls of the staircase. "Hurry!" She exclaimed and quickly descended the staircase, while I followed.

The stair-steps ended leaving us standing in a foyer with a bloodied amethyst stone in its center. As soon as I saw the amethyst stone, a sharp pain erupted in my hand and I cried out clutching it. "NO!" Maeva cried. "How could they have gotten your or Lucifer's blood?!" She broke down.

A warm liquid trickled down my hand and I felt dizzy. "Ma-eva." I whispered in pain. "Thana! What happened?!" Maeva looked at my staggering state and ran to me. "How could they have gotten to you? I don't understand?" She erupted in tears. "Go to the fou-ntain, we have t-o kn-ow." I stuttered feeling darkness start to engulf me. " I have to heal you first." She said and began chanting a spell.

A sweet essence overwhelmed me and crawled to every inch of my body. I felt a relieving feeling wash over me. " The healing spell will last us 24 hours, it will only stop the blood flow but the wound will still be open." Maeva warned and I nodded, starting to feel better.

Maeva dipped her finger in some of the blood that had dropped to the floor from my wound and ran it across the amethyst stone. The whole room shook and a stone wall vanquished to reveal a mountain of rubble. That's when I knew the Fountain of Truth was long gone. A casualty of war.