Covens and Proxies

13

When he sets his phone and harness on the table, you yank him into your lap. When he objects, you clap a hand over his mouth. "Tonight, we're going to be normal 22 year olds." You chide him, taking another sip.

He groans, though relaxing onto your lap and tossing his goggles onto the table with his other items. "Fine. But I'm not getting cuddly." He warns.

You smirk. "Of course not. Can't have the infamous, insane Ticci Toby get caught cuddling a silly witch."

He hums in agreement, propping himself and chugging the rest of his drink and dropping the bottle on the ground, grabbing a second. "I've been won-ondering. Do you have a coven, or is that so-ome ridiculous legend?"

You think a minute before answering. "There were covens, but witches have become so rare that we've all come together as one."

"Were the witch trials so taxing?" He asks after a slight burp.

You glare at him. "Believe it or not, the Hunters aren't the only organization that hunts anomalies. There's a group that call themselves the Witch Triers. They've tracked down witches since the first was discovered."

"Who was the witch?"

"Do you want a history lesson?" You ask in exasperation.

He hums and shrugs. "Sure. I'm spending the night, so might as well."

You sigh. "Silly, clueless boy." The comment earns a weird glare from him before he shuts his eyes and relaxes for the story. "Witches can be dated all the way back before Mesopotamia. And there was only one. He was a great sorcerer that could control the very climate. He was a god to the people. He had almost twenty wives, each having around ten kids. About two thirds of them took on his powers. Anyways, of course there were people that thought he was actually a devil sent to destroy them all. They killed him, and became known as the Slayers of God.

"The wives were forced to flee, scattering to the farthest corners of a world so that their holy children could be safe from the Slayers. As time went on, the children grew and had families who had families who had families. The genes of God were so widespread, that it started skipping generations until only one in five had the powers. One in thirty two thousand people were witches by the time the Ancient Egyptians came around.

By this time, witches were finding that forming small groups kept them safe. So, covens were formed within every few villages. One from each would be part of a continental coven, which each had one in the world-wide coven." You pause, taking a long drink.

"As witches grew, so did our hunters. The Slayers of God found that people didn't like their deities being killed, so they went underground. Became known as devils, as witches were known as angels. Well, until they found a very destructive coven around where Russia is now during the 1300's. After that, witch trials spread like wild fire through Eurasia. The Slayers of God became the Witch Triers." You pause, remembering the stained history of your people.

"Not all covens were good, so much of our destruction was self-inflicted and inevitable. Still... So many innocents were slaughtered blindly by those that couldn't identify witches for what they were. It was an act of full-blown war, the witch trials. Covens banded together on each continent, attacking with a full frontal assault. We decimated the people that have been slaughtering our kind for millennium, but they nearly wiped us from existence. That was back in 1821. Now, there's 4,753,852 total witches left in the world."

Heavy silence rests on the room as you take another drink, letting him process the rich history of your people. It's not happy, but it's rich, like any other empire or dynasty.

"You weren't a per-sonal victim, were you?" He asks finally.

You shake your head and sigh. "No. No, of course not. I'm the first in my family since the war to inherit the genes, so I've been safe."