Pantophobia

Wiccaphobia

Velairania let the large amount of people on the streets of Belford lead her to the town square because she knew she wouldn't have been able to do it herself. She let the swirling skirts and shoves of gentlemen show her the way to where the big drums called loudly to the people, signaling the start of another execution. She dreaded this day.

She stood firm on the ground when she finally saw the cardinal climb the high ground. She shouldn't be here, she knew she should be far away from this place, this town. She was supposed to be running away to a place where she could start afresh peacefully, instead she followed the sounds of the drums to this dreaded place.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. We all know why we've gathered here once again" The cardinal started and a woman was dragged in. A woman she knew all too well but couldn't recognize for she had been beaten and wounded in the place where she was kept.

Velairania tried to cry, to scream, to feel pain for the woman who raised her, her mother was about to be killed, burned right before her for being different but she couldn't. Velairania had never shed a single tear in her life, not even during her birth. It was a curse. Her curse.

"For years our land has been plagued by these people and their wickedness!" The cardinal spat as they proceeded to tie her mother to the stake. It wouldn't be long until they come for Velairania so she had to run like her mother had instructed. "They fed on our children, milked our women, cursed our lands and filled our men with lust for their kind".

She watched her mother who began to say the list of words she was supposed to. A spell of preservation to ensure that she is reborn in the not so near future. Velairania knew exactly what had to be done. She'd help her mother complete the spell that had also been taught to her. She let the cardinals' words fade away as she pulled up the hood of her green cloak and continued the spell with her mother far away. She was almost distracted by the man next to her who screamed and launched a tomatoe fruit at her mother and the angry towns people who joined in. Some with very terrible aim but that didn't stop them from landing a couple hits on the witch about to be burned. It pained her. She wanted to curse them, even kill all of them for their ignorance and cruelty.

A torch was lit and the fire was shared with the stack of hay and lamp oil at the feet of her mother and cheers were heard from the mass of people around her. Velairania watched with great pain in her heart as her mother burned but never stopped her spell until it was over. She turned and walked through the people who cheered and paid no attention to her. She ran to her shed and threw up out back. She packed her things which wasn't much and stopped when she sensed a presence approaching her shed. An unfriendly aura.

"No, it's too soon. I need more time" She almost screamed to herself.

"Hello?" A harsh voice said and it was followed by a knock which made her little door rattle.

"Blast" she cursed aloud and ran out of the shed through the back just as the little front door was shoved open

"HALT!!!" the soldier ordered but she paid no heed, she burst through the back door only to be met by more soldiers as they surrounded the house she used to call home. 'How did I not sense their presence?' She asked herself as they drew their swords at her.

"Surrender you evil wench" A soldier ordered

"No, Please I mean you no harm. I've done nothing wrong I..." She stopped herself for she remembered that her mother had once said these words to them but she had been burned alive instead. She was not her mother. Feeling a new wave of anger, She dropped to the floor on her knees and placed her hands on the solid earth. It was a simple spell her mother had taught her to plant seeds easily with, all she had to do was amplify it. As she thought up the word, the earth gave way and the soldiers and her shed were buried underneath, leaving no trace of broken earth. She knew she had killed but thought little of it as she ran into the forest. It wouldn't be long untill new soldiers come searching for her, she had to be long gone by then.