Witch at the Crossroads

Chapter One

She placed a key upon the altar. The raised dais stood court over an ancient, forgotten crossroads. The cobblestones were cracked and in rubble, their heat fading away with the light. She tore her gaze from the small, rusted silver key. Lifting her gaze above the ancient woods that were slowly turning from rich emeralds to the vibrant rubies and dandelions and daffodils of autumn. The sunset bleeding out into the sky was strangely mesmerizing, turning the sky brilliant shades of crimsons, violets, and blues. The cloudless dusk was an invitation to see if she could touch the stars. However tempting that was, that was not her purpose here tonight. She shifted her gaze toward the other horizon. There. The Star of ZaLea climbing steadily into the night was a guardian over the half moon, signaling the beginning of night. The time of dreams, nightmares, and everything in between. She turned back to the altar, some part of her sad to see the star go. But that did not matter. It was time. She cleared her throat, preparing to speak. "Lady Hecate, I need your help."

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"Astra?" A hand waved in her face.
"Hm? Do you need something?" She said, snapping back to reality.
"You were zoning out again. Is something on your mind?" That's what this was about. She turned all the way to Evela. She felt a small blush bloom on her cheeks.
"O-Oh, it's nothing. I was just stressing about the mysterious alchemy test." She tried, knowing that Evela might sense the half-truth. She was worried about the alchemy test, as the teacher refused to explain what it was going to be on. However, that was not all that she was worried about.
Her dreams that night were of terrible beasts lurking in the shadows, and elders speaking in forgotten tongues that humans were not supposed to be able to utter. Every time she saw a misshapen shadow, she nearly jumped out of her skin. She was just mulling over what it was before Evela interrupted her thoughts. Evela just sighed.
"Ast. You are literally the best in the class you'll do fine." Evela said cheerfully, though she squinted at Astra. Yeah. She could tell. BRRRING!
"I'll see you at Alchemy, then." Astra said, not meeting Evela's eyes as she got up and put her tray in the stack at the other end of the rooftop cafeteria. Time for woodworking.
"Yep! See you!" Evela called after her.

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Astra slid into her seat just as the bell rang. The old fleabag of a man that teaches this class wasn't here yet. Rifling through her bag, the woodworking teacher strolled in just as she got out her nice toolset. She had grabbed the right one. For a brief moment that morning she thought she forgot her toolset and would have to use the school-provided ones. The ancient tools were infamously hard to use, their unusually slippery handles making woodworking almost impossibly difficult, their dull heads not amounting to much other than being lumps of dull metal. Honestly, how could someone work with those tools? Her tools were nice and clean, with relatively grippy handles. The old coot started to speak.
"Greetings, Class."
"Good morning Mr. Woodrow." The already bored class dutifully replied in unison.
"Thank you. Now, onto business. Today, we are creating our wands. You have been learning how to make a Phile of Animation in Alchemy, have you not? So, today we will work on creating our wands. The rest of the day is on a fixed schedule. After this, you will go to Gardening, then Metalworking, then at last Alchemy." He droned. After stopping for a split second for breath, he continued, gesturing to the central worktable. "We will take our pruners and go outside to the ZaLea Starwood grove." At the mention of the special species of tree, a few young witches perked up. The trees were legendary. Said to be seeds made at the dawn of time by the goddess ZaLea, with help from Hecate. But, those were just rumors. There seemed to be some truth to the myth, though, since the wood was a prime catalyst for pure magick.
She tuned back into what the teacher was saying. "-Meditate and use the branch that calls to you. Clear?" He stopped, and at a few of his favorite prodigies nodding yes, he resumed,  not missing a beat. "Then, after we come back inside, you will choose the selenite tower to wrap your branch around. After you choose your tower, you will do a mock fitting, and will have enough time to trim and shape it to the end of the period." He finished, before striding to the ancient oak doors that marked the entrance to the dingy classroom. Opening the door and ushering everyone out, he made sure everyone had their pruners.
Astra, rising from her seat with the gleaming pruners, strolled out the door with the rest of the students, following the pack to the outside. She got only a small amount of time to realize that this may correlate to the mysterious Alchemy test. Breathing in the fresh air, she stepped over the threshold.

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Out in the grove, Astra reached out a hand. In deep concentration, she swept her hand back and forth, and stopped when she got a small tingle in her arm. She opened her eyes and looked down. A small, supple branch was just below her fingertips. She sighed. Time to strip the beautiful tree. She felt bad, really. The tree was the most gorgeous thing she'd ever seen. The crimson leaves looked like rubies, the thin, reed-like trunk was wafer thin, but surprisingly sturdy as the tree towered over her. Still a sapling. Some trees could grow over 300 ft tall. How, with those thin trunks, she had no idea. She gripped her pruners, and set them around the small branch. With considerable force, she slammed them together, severing the branch from the magnificent tree. Bending down to pick up her branch, she noticed a small mold on the tree near where the trunk met the soil. Frowning, she plucked it off and tossed it away. Strange.
Grabbing the branch, the sharp nodes poking her hand, she straightened. Brushing away the dusty copper hair that fell out of its braid with a slightly tanned hand, she trudged back inside. Striding down the miserable little hallway, she passed through the huge oak doors. There, she veered toward her workstation. Placing the branch down gently, she went back to the central worktable. Reaching out to the smooth hardwood surface, she surveyed her options. That one. The one she picked out was a near-perfect tower, slightly less cloudy than usual. Returning to her workstation, she placed down the intricate spire, and started to sketch.

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BRRRING! The bell sang. Astra jumped, nearly knocking her sketch off the table. Obnoxious thing. She gathered her things. As she left, she realized she left her project on the table. Swearing softly at herself, she raced back into the classroom, grabbed the branch that had finally started to look like a wand, not a random pruning of a tree. Sprinting back out to Gardening, she raced to the courtyard. The hallways went by in a blur. Hang a right. Straight on for two turns. Take a left. Straight until the courtyard. Flinging open the door, She slowed her speed back to a walk. Panting heavily, she slumped onto her little patch of gravel, as marked by the small twigs that outlined small circles on the rocky ground. She looked around. Most people were already here. BRRRING! The bell intoned again, and Astra pondered how much trouble she would get in if she tore the superfluous instrument right off the wall. Not worth it, she decided, as the young female teacher started to speak.
"Alright guys, gals, and nonbinary pals! Listen up! We've been focusing on nature magick for a while now, so get out your wands that you started in Woodworking!" Rummaging through her satchel, Astra found her small wand-to-be.