In the town of Greendale, where it always feels like Halloween, there lived two girls who are half-witch, half-mortal, who, on their 16th birthday, would have to choose between two worlds: the witch world of her family, and the human world of her fr...
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"Now your aunties tell me you have questions, about your baptism and such." Father Blackwood started. "I do but I'm not sure where to begin." Sabrina said curiously. "Allow me. A witch's dark baptism is our most sacred unholy sacrament. The oldest of our rites. We've been performing them for centuries. Our Dark Lord's book, the Book of the Beast, is the most ancient tome in existence."
"About that. If I sign my name in the Book of the Beast, does that mean I'm giving the Dark Lord dominion over my soul?" Sabrina asked him. "That's one interpretation, but it's largely a symbolic gesture, as rituals in most religions are. What else?"
"Let's say I do sign my name in his book. Doesn't that mean he can call on me? To do his bidding?" Sabrina asked him another question. "All religions demand some sacrifice. But signing your name is more like a pledge, let's say. That you'll abide by his commandments. Do either of you know your Thirteen Commandments?" Father Blackwood said asking us. "We've taught them. They've learned them by heart." Zelda called out.
"I'm not an evil person, Father." Sabrina said making me smile. "I am glad to hear it.Neither am I.Neither are your aunts." Father Blackwood said and I leaned up from my seat next to Ambrose. "But the Devil, excuse me, The Dark Lord, he is the embodiment of evil." I called out. "Incorrect.He is the embodiment of free will. Good. Evil. Those words matter to the False God, but the Dark Lord is beyond such precepts." Father Blackwood told us.
"What about Hell? I don't want to go there when I die." Sabrina called out, "First of all, if you accept the Dark Lord's gifts, you won't die, not for a very long time. Second of all, Hell is for mortals. In exchange for their service and devotion, witches are exempt from the eternal flames of damnation. Really, what's needed here is a fundamental shift in thinking." Father Blackwood answered.
"Okay, well, what about my boyfriend?" Sabrina asked, "Why do I have to break up with him?" Ambrose nudged me with wide eyes. "Your boyfriend, I assume, is mortal? There is an inherent incompatibility. Should you become a full witch, your human partner would age much faster than you."
"Except, our father married a mortal." I called out, "True, but he was High Priest of the Church of Night and was granted a special dispensation." Father Blackwood told me, "By whom?" Sabrina and I both asked, "The Dark Lord. Satan himself blessed the union of your warlock father and mortal mother, but even then, even then, it was not without controversy."
"Some girls at the Academy of Unseen Arts have suggested that my parents' deaths weren't accidental, that maybe they'd been murdered." Sabrina said, "An inquiry was held. No malfeasance was detected. It was a terrible accident that befell your mother and father, but it was just that an accident."
"Earlier today, I took a bite of a malum malus." Sabrina said and my eyes went wide. "You did what?" All the adults practically exploded. "And the future it showed me was horrible." Sabrina said, "The biting of a malum malus for prognostication of the future hasn't been recommended for decades. Specifically because of its wild inaccuracy. But if I may your father was one of the Church of Night's greatest thinkers. He wanted you to follow in his footsteps. It's right that you have so many questions. My advice? Take your baptism. Come to the Academy of Unseen Arts. Learn our history. Find answers to your questions. Challenge them. Make better answers. Make us stronger. Will you try, at least? And should it not be to your liking," Sabrina cut him off, "You'll let us leave the Church?"
