TEN DAYS LATERSet deep within the ancient oak trees and ghostly willows of the Forbidden woods was an old Manor with ivies creeping over the walls and tree branches growing into its roof. Bad things had happened here a long, long time ago. Stuffs of nightmares that minds only cooked up under the most sinister of nights and scary takes told with shivering breaths and in tentative whispers. There was just something about the old Manor that chilled blood and shook bones. The Manor was dark and silent, giving no clue of what was going on inside…in the basement, where six witches in black cloaks were gathered in front of a stone altar. A single light orb hung over their heads, casting everything else in shadows. The heavy doors of the basement grinded open and another witch ambled in. She was also wearing a black cloak but she was set apart from the others in the confident way she carried herself and her tall, slender frame. Her dark hair was as was the night sky outside and her violet
Chapter 5) Shades of a Witch. “She’s not here.” Cried Hestia, clutching the fronts of Elliette’s robe like it was her sole source of life. “I can’t find our daughter. I’ve searched everywhere! Aelise is gone, Elliette!” Elliette’s heart was practically severing in half right then at the fear on her face and the severity of the situation. “I think I know where she must’ve gone.” Even as he thought about it, he was hoping beyond anything that his hunch was wrong. Hestia stared at him with frantic, misty eyes. “Where could she have gone? And at this time of the night?” “I’m not sure but I have to go and check.” He pried himself away from her and hurried back into the house to grab a few things he thought he might need ; A bone dagger from a rack on the kitchen wall, gulped down a bottle of strengthening ointment from their medicine cabinet and tugged on a fresh robe, this one spelled for protection and resistance. Elliette had to touch the rune the witch had left to know whe
Chapter 4) Elliette makes a Choice.The strange witch's impossible request haunted Elliette over the next couple of days. He couldn’t get it out of his mind. The more he thought about it, the more hopeless and disgusted with himself he became.There was no choice to be made. Give up his daughter to save his son’s life? How could he even consider doing something so diabolic? What sort of a father would he be if he even considered it?Both of them were in his sight right now. Once he made sure the sickness wasn’t anything contagious, he had allowed Aelise into the room to be with Solaris for the first time.He had watched the horror pass over her face when she took her brother’s frail fingers in hers. She was constantly at his side now, reading stories and singing folk sings to him even deep into the night.Time was running out, and it was showing. The red veins now covered his entire skin like a net, leaving just his face clear. He screamed harder this days, and barely held down t
Chapter 3) The Curse of the Silver Chalice.The mist around the witch glowed brightly. “I should reduce you to ashes and bones.”“That’s little compared to what I want to do to you right now.” growled Elliette. “ Did you invade my thoughts?”Legitimency, or rather, mind reading was one of the most complex of magical arts. Only well advanced magic wielders could accurately tell the immediate thoughts of others, much less correctly follow the fleeting flow of inner voices.The witch inhaled deeply, and the mist vanished. The glare also left her eyes as she regarded Elliette with pity. “Your mind is fractured by grief, so you are quite easy to read. I have a unicorn necklace that makes it far possible.”All the fight left him. “You know of a cure?” He asked quietly. Hopefully.She nodded with intent eyes. “There’s no potion I cannot brew, no antidote I cannot make as long as I know the poison. It might sound trivial but at the sip of the right potion, any ail could be fought.”“
The red spots spread all over his skin and his body temperature rose even higher by the time night came. Elliette took one look at him, and came to a heart lifting conclusion. “Blood fever.” Hestia perked up. “Are you sure?” She could remember Finnard's reaction at the market. Elliette felt around the boy’s forehead and nodded. “He must’ve caught it some days ago. That’s why the symptoms struck him badly this afternoon.” Hestia cried out in relief. She had assumed the worst thanks to her fear and worry. “Stay by his side.” Elliette said, rubbing her shoulders. “I will make him a few potions. The fever would be gone by morning.” Despite this, morning came but Solaris’s body remained hot and the spots multiplied. Elliette brewed more potions and Hestia forced them through the boy’s lips with much hope every time. But they had no effect. On the second night, Solaris woke up screaming and clawing at invisible worms crawling over his skin. His screams were loud and agonizing, and H
Chapter 1) In the Beginning. Once upon a time long ago, when magic was young, wild and as free as a seaside wind, the world was divided into twelve realms, each of them forbidden and secluded from the other by ancient forces and dark powers whose names have been lost with the passing of time. Little was known about any of the realms except for Terradine, the oldest and oddest of them all. It was home to all creatures imaginable, some magical and strange, others human and normal. At first they coexisted with each other, living in peace and harmony despite their many differences in nature. But alas, the peace was one that would not last. After a hundred day War throughout which the sky stayed blood-red, and many were lost to terrible weapons and horrible spells, the realm was cut in half, into Neverhill for the Magical folks and Evergate for the humans. This was the birth of the Treaty of Solstice Moons that kept everyone in their place. It was into this world that twin children wer