Calytrix's Journey

Part III: New Witch II

I jumped in through the hole in the ground and found myself in an underground cave path that was lit with a single candle standing on top of a wood box. It was hard to see in the dimly lit darkness.

"Ignis spiritus dona mihi clara flamma," I called forth strong bright flames to light my surroundings.

"My eyes!" one of the captive girls complained.

I could clearly see everything around. In front of me were two young girls standing straight, tied up with chains on both of their hands and legs to a supporting beam. There was nothing else around except for the wood box and entrances to cave tunnels. Both of them were somewhere around Rheya's age. They had short brown hair and wore only underwear. Their eyes had trouble adjusting to the light because they were in darkness for too long.

"This is terrible," I said."I'll free you right away."

The criminal held them captive in darkness, starved them and didn't let them wear proper clothes. It was a horrible situation. The mastermind behind this needs to be heavily punished. What I saw now was terrible, but who knows what other terrible things the girls had to go through.

"Catenis liberos!" I destroyed the chains around their hands and legs.

"Now, quickly, it's your chance to escape." I hurried them to take action.

I felt a sudden explosion of magic in the caves. The magic I sensed in the woods activated in the cave and felt stronger than before.

"I feel some strong magic. Did a witch take you captive? Get out of here before she comes back. I'll deal with her as another witch," I said to the girls.

"Why did you do this?" One of the girls started crying.

"Who do you think you are? Showing up all of a sudden and creating a mess," the other girl said angrily.

"What? I don't understand you, "I said confused.

I could feel that the magic was coming closer to us. The witch was on her way.

"The magic is becoming stronger and the witch is coming closer," I said "You need to get out of here. Things could get dangerous."

"We won't get out," the angry girl said. "We're obedient slaves of our mistress."

I couldn't comprehend what the girl said. Being a slave, tied up and forced to do who knows what out of free will seemed wrong no matter from what perspective I tried to look at it. Maybe the witch put some strange spell on them to ensure they won't run away. A dark spell. One that controlled their thoughts.

"Hiya there again Calytrix." Rheya showed up with a crazy look on her face.

The strong magic was coming out of her, but it was heavy, dark magic. I felt nauseous from it. Rheya's face was sprayed with red drops that looked like blood and her hands were tainted by a black liquid. Her big black eyes were now tainted in the color of dark blood.

"You're not the only witch anymore. I'm a witch now too. A new one," she said smiling crazy.

"Mistress! This girl- Calytrix, is she your friend? Why is she wearing your dress? What is your relationship with her?" the angry girl started to bombard Rheya with a lot of questions.

"Shut up! You're annoying!" Rheya lashed out on her.

"Mistress wouldn't cheat on us," said the other girl.

"She was supposed to take my place but since she discovered all this she messed up, "Rheya explained to the girls.

"I always hated girls that were naturally born witches like you Calytrix." Rheya said. "Why was I born as a princess? Who decided which girl would have magic and which not? This world is so unfair. Granting magic to some without a reason and denying other girls."

Rheya said some true words in her angry monologue. The reason why some have magic and others didn't was a mystery. It's been said that all women have a potential for magic, but only a few could actually put it to practice. Magic didn't pass on by a birth line. The mother or other females in the family didn't need to be a witch. It seemed like it was decided randomly. There was no pattern for why it happened. So far nothing about it was discovered.

"I finally managed to escape my fate of being a puppet princess. Doing everything others told me to do all the time -Marrying that ugly barrel prince." Rheya paused for a moment and looked at all of us.

"I killed that old witch and got all her powers." she said enthusiastically."I am free now to do whatever I please!"

"Freedom is a beautiful thing we should all aspire and have, but hurting others isn't what freedom is about," I said.

"You know nothing. Power is great! I'll make everyone who ever hurt me pay five times back. I'll be the ruling queen among all witches and everyone who defies me shall be executed. I'll show everyone who defied my ideas on ruling how it's done properly, " Rheya continued her madness.

"I had to prepare a lot, you see -The old witch I killed, who granted me her dark magic." Rheya paused to take a deep breath. "I was killing her slowly these past few months and today I finally did it."

I covered my face with my right hand. I was suffocating and feeling nausea ever since Rheya showed up. The magic she stole was already black, but she tainted it even more.

"Do you want to know how I did it? I drank her blood, sliced up..." Rheya began explaining.

"Prohibere loquentes!" I couldn't listen to another word so I made Rheya temporary stop talking.

"How dare you put your magic on mistress!" said the angry girl.

"I get it. You're good friends with your mistress. Actually- I don't get it all! Where we listening to the same speech? Didn't you hear that there was a lot of negativity and wrongs?" I said feeling sick.

I couldn't stand being there anymore. I didn't want to have any connections with black magic or know about it in great detail.

"Everything our mistress does is good," said the other crazy girl.

It seems that they were all satisfied with the terrible situation they were in. I had no business being there. A black magic witch was murdered by another of her kind. It was the kind of mess the witch's guild was supposed to deal with. If they were tracking me they should already know the situation. I can't believe they let it escalate this badly. When I tried to do a good deed they stopped me, but they didn't interfere now.

As I turned my back to them I felt Rheya focusing her magic on me.

"How dare you defy me and put a spell on me," she said."Get down on your knees and beg for mercy if you don't want me to torture you for humiliating me just now."

Rheya directed a black cloud towards me. It didn't have any effect. She didn't know how to use her new power yet.

"I had enough! Don't mess with me if you're not ready to get burned," I said angrily.

"Dona mihi magnum ignis," I called forth giant flames that engulfed the entire cave.

"Mistress, this is bad, the flames are everywhere, you'll get burned heavily. We need to get you out of here," the captive girls said.

"Calytrix, I'll remember this! When we meet again,"Rheya said threateningly.

"I'll burn you again and again, as much as it takes to correct your wrongdoings I directly witnessed," I interrupted her.

The girls pulled Rheya in one of the tunnels and started running toward some exit I suppose. I climbed up to the forest. As soon as I recovered from the terrible stench of dark magic, with the help of fresh forest air I stopped the flames in the cave and continued my journey.