The Darkness

Chapter 16 Witch Please!

A few weeks later

It took Adrien, few weeks to completely finish almost all the books he bought, he learned a lot about this world's supernatural culture. When he wasn't reading his books, Adrien was meditating. He started getting visions and memories that weren't his own. They belonged to Amara. He felt everything she felt, saw everything she saw and soon he started thinking of her as himself. This world is fascinating. From what he learned there are five kinds of witches here. Natural-borns, are witches who, as the word implies, were born with the gift of magic, then there are natural-born wand-wavers, as Adrien likes to call them, people born with natural magic, yet unable to use it without foci, such as wand, staff or an amulet of some kind. People with naturally present magic, either inherit it from the ancestor or it randomly appears in the family. Looters were whiches who didn't have a single speck of magical power but acquired it by making a deal with a demon or pagan god. Servants of Nature, witches who possess power, yet it doesn't fully belong to them. They draw their powers from the ancestors, without their permission or help, they wouldn't be able to practice the craft, thus why other witches look down on them. At least, most of them. There is an obscure practice called Expression, that draws power from Darkness, invoking it and strengthening Darkness' influence in this world. Last, but not least were Apprentices, people who learned the craft from someone else, developing magical core in the process, and with time becoming fully-fledged witches. Witches weren't only supernatural beings walking this earth. Vampires, Werewolves, Merfolk, Elves, Dragons, and Monsters being one of them. You may ask, why were mortals oblivious? The answer was simple. The Mist, something Adrien learned from the mythology/history book. A mystical veil that covers every supernatural being, or activity, from mortal eyes. Some mortals were immune to the mist, which caused the magical society to train people, called obliviators, a group of witches who specialized in memory alteration, modification, removal, and creational magicks. Being immortal, Adrien had nothing to worry about, but people living in this town had no such luck. He needed to make sure that nothing from the outside world, would be able to enter Storybrooke, their little town, where everything stays ever the same. The curse worked in mysterious ways. While it wasn't a replica of the movie Groundhog Day, it felt monotonous. If you were to ask someone specific date or when they were born, they would get confused, laugh it off and change the subject, completely forgetting about the question they were asked. Adrien was snapped out of his musings when he heard Regina's voice.

"Still in the books?" asked Regina, taking a seat across him, "what are you reading?"

"This is the last one" answered Adrien, "from the few books I bought..." at Regina's disbelieving face he amended, "okay, maybe a lot of books I bought, in a magical book shop, I'm reading about the culture and history of this realm. I finished the last one, you can borrow this if you wish."

 "Thank you, not everyone can read at your speeds," remarked Regina.

"It's not a speed, more of a time" answered Adrien, "I don't sleep, remember?"

"Yeah right..." Muttered Regina, completely forgetting that little detail. "Any plans today?"

"I was thinking of going out in the outer-world, try and locate any natural-born witches, get to know them maybe, ask few things" informed her Adrien.

That's how Adrien found himself standing in front of the hotel room number 666. He honestly wanted to laugh at the irony. He knocked. Twice. Still no answer, so Adrien decided to invite himself in, with a wave of his hand the lock gave a click and the door opened. When Adrien went inside, the room was empty, but he could feel her magic, diminished, yet powerful. "Blocks perhaps?" mused Adrien. He raised his hand, twitched his fingers, and the door locked itself again. That's when the witch emerged from the adjacent room, holding a hexbag in her hand.