Calytrix's Journey

Prologue

A black hole manifested from thin air. It opened up, just for a second, before snapping shut. I rubbed my eyes because I couldn't believe it. I'm a witch, but I should have been the only one in the area. The one who called it wasn't me, so where did it come from and how? Perhaps I was just seeing things because the day's events had been more taxing then I thought. 

Many thoughts circled in my head as I looked up at the dark, black sky. Everything would change soon for me, whether that'd be a good or a bad thing is something I've yet to find out. When thinking about difficult things I'd start from the basics, for example sometimes I'd reevaluate myself. I'm just a normal girl, but there were a lot of people who'd look at me differently just because I'm a witch. Magic or no magic, we were all the same in our essence of being human. All of us grow up, find our purpose in this world, grow old and in the end, we return to the realm of lesser spirits. Even in my home village people here treat me like an outsider.

To find our purpose we all go through a journey of self-growth, whether it's a figurative or a real one. As a witch, I'll go on a journey around the world next year, just like all the other witches have done before me. A messenger from the witches council came yesterday to check my magic progress and informed me that I'll be ready to start my journey on my 20th birthday as it was customary.

"Dona mihi fugatur spirituum flamma, virdi, caeruleus, flavus, purpura," I called some colorful flames to light up the darkness around me.

I was sitting next to a small pond near my house. It was a cold, cloudy, summer night and no stars or the moon could be seen. There was no breeze and the pond was very still. The fish didn't swim near the surface. I looked at the water but the only thing I saw was my own reflection. At the moment my face looked very pale. My skin complexion was fair but I rarely look like a piece of white paper. Maybe it was because this night was depressing. I couldn't see my eyes clearly but they were probably blue or gray now. At least my hair looked okay. My blonde hair was tied up in a bun but my one natural red hair lock was free from it. Red hair was a mark of the fire spirit and it was very rare.

"The fire spirit loves you," I remembered the words of my mother.

"The spirit blessed you," I remembered my father's words.

I never met the fire spirit. Everybody told me that the spirit favored me but I didn't know if that was actually true. I tried to call the spirit many times but it never responded. In my incantations, I would usually call the spirits for help to perform magic but during its creation, I never felt a presence of any spirit. I gave up on contacting the fire spirit a few years ago because it only made me lonely. It felt like I was waiting for someone who doesn't want to meet me.

The only positive thing about the so-called fire spirit favoritism was that I never had any problems with catsing fire spells but I did have some trouble with other elemental spells.

I wondered whether I was doing okay with magic because I couldn't compare my magic levels to other witches. The only witch in this larger area was me. There were less and less witches with each year all over the world, according to the messenger of the witches guild.

The fireflies I came to see weren't here and it wasn't likely that they would show up. I got up and walked towards my home. On the way, I spotted a familiar figure.

"Calytrix! Are you going to the birthday feast?" Otto, a village guy two years younger asked me.

"No," I answered.

"Why not? Everybody is there," he tried to persuade me.

I didn't want to answer him but he was intently looking at me while waiting for an answer and I couldn't ignore him. He had cute puppy-like eyes.