The World in Dissonance (Volume 1)

Chapter 2 - Part 2

Part 2

Time came to pass and it was finally lunch break for everyone. Alyss and Sonya, who were now presented as Laura and Elena, were on their way to meet the witch boy and his friends.

The hall set aside for the scholar’s repast was a long and somewhat draughty room, its windows high and arched in the manner of municipal architecture, allowing in reluctant wash of daylight. The tables, fashioned of stout wood and bearing the scars of a hundred hurried meals, stood in regimented rows, as if marshalled by some unseen hand. The air was thick with the mingled fragrance of boiled vegetables, baked puddings, and that most democratic of fare—bread in abundance.

At the far end, a counter stretched like a modest shop-front, behind which the matrons of the kitchen, clad in aprons and armed with ladles, dispensed portions with a rhythm that spoke of long practice. The younger pupils pressed forward eagerly, trays in hand, while their elder fellas lingered with a studied nonchalance, trading witticisms and jests as though the place were a tavern of their own invention.

There was a low hum about the room, not unlike the subdued roar of a marketplace—chairs scraping, spoons clattering, voices rising and falling in lively chorus. Yet amidst the clatter and chatter, one could discern a curious order, as though the place, for all its rough noise and jollity, were bound by unspoken rules of youth and customs.

This time, there were less students than usual in that place. And it was pretty obvious. With the current situation, classes should have been suspended, but the rules in the society required youngsters to attend school, which would avoid having them doing something stupid while a Witch Hunt was on going.

Until there was a positive change in the current situation, classes would remain for half a day. And thus, most of those who were still present the afternoon would ever spend time at the Library or doing club activities.

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Eldritch was sitting with his friends at a table in the middle of the vast room. With the way things were presented, one could say that he was like the leader of the band. Generally, like in those high school themed movies, students were divided in different groups and each was sitting at distinct tables. As the adage said: ‘Birds of a feather flock together’.

The moment the witches saw the impostors Laura and Elena walking in their direction, they started to react badly. It was like a healthy body being invaded by infectious bacteria.

“Look who is showing up, it’s Miss detective and her hunt dog!”, said one of the witch girl.

“But who is who? They both bark and bite, just like we saw yesterday!”, added another one from their group.

Alyss and Sonya were still considerably far from them, yet the two girls spoke loud enough to the point the younger Christian girls could hear them

“Calm down both of ya.”, suddenly cut Eldritch. “Behave yourself, Tabitha. And don’t encourage her Stella. They came here to help so don’t make a scene!”

“No need for you to try defending us, we can do it ourselves if we want. And it won’t help you putting us in your bed, forget about it and stick to your two w****s!”, replied Sonya

“Who are you calling w****s?”, replied both of them at the same time.

But before they could express it fully, all of them could hear Eldritch talking to himself.

“Well at least I tried.”

Trying to take a side would have only put Eldritch in a far worse situation, as he actually looked like a man thrown into pastures to dozens of lionesses. If Wisdom was considered as knowing what to do, what decision to take, at the right time in the right place, then the witch boy likely raised to a higher degree of wisdom at that precise moment.

A few moments later, the tension between the Christian Girls and the Witches cooled down. They could finally get down to business, or they thought so. It was still unsure if they actually could come in terms. It was like Science and Religion, it was hard for a scientist to believe in an Almighty God who spoke the Universe into existence, just like how Believers wouldn’t believe that the Big Bang was the origin of the universe. Those were two different forces with two different sets of laws. And here, on one side there were Alyss and Sonya, who were devoted followers of the Almighty God, and Eldritch with his witch friends, who were devoted followers of the Dark Lord Satan.

“First of all, before we even think of starting this, we need to make things clear.", said Sonya as she and Alyss sat among the group of witches. “This will be a temporary collaboration, and the goal is to find the culprit behind this mass hysteria.”

“Once this matter is solved, you won’t see us around anymore. It would be like our path never crossed!”, added Alyss. “The existence of Witches and Wicca shouldn’t yet be revealed to the masses. History has taught us that human beings have a tendency of rejecting and harassing what they don’t understand. Even nowadays, they reject the sole existence of Miracles. They don’t believe in the supernatural and they will choose to remain that way instead of accepting miracles exist even if they would come to witness one.”

“Even among the 2.5 billions of Adherents to Christianity, rare are the sheep that really believe in Miracles. For them, that is a past story. They believe in a God who can make the impossible possible through Miracles but they don’t believe in Miracles. That’s the kind of era we live in. They would reject Witchcraft the same way they reject Miracles, and they will persecute those who preach or practice it.”, followed Sonya.

The witches were somehow bored while listening to the two girls, but they had to bear with it as Eldritch was giving them insistent eyes.

“To sum it up, we will have to deal with this whole mess to keep things the way they are supposed to be. The natural state of the world shall remain balanced.”

The witch girl Lilim, who just had her dark baptism recently, finally decided to speak for themselves.

“And you think we would need your help to find the culprit? You came to our Coven, provoked us and now, you expect us to collaborate like we are some underlines you can order around?”

“Ho~ You wanna throw hands or what!? For a girl your age, you reek of semen. Not just regular semen from a guy, more like semen of a beast. You, young girl, recently had your dark baptism. This explains why we can still smell the scent of a beast from you, and why you feel overconfident in yourself.”, replied Alyss.

Lilim stood right away, as if to show up her claws, followed right away by Alyss who didn’t seem to care about what would happen next.

“Stop right there, both of you. We already have one major problem to manage here so don’t put on more add-ons to it.”, declared Eldritch as the situation dangerously escalated.

Christians and Witches weren’t meant to collaborate, as that one girl named Dedicatus highlighted long ago. Both sides had no business with each other, they won’t listen to each other as they antagonized each other. Albeit, Alyss and Lilim cooled down after Eldritch addressed them to set aside their conflict. The young warlock may have been a playboy like none, nevertheless he was undeniably charismatic.

“I apologize for the harsh word I stated, it wasn’t professional of me!”

“Yeah, I am sorry for earlier as well. We should just focus on the actual matter.”

“Thanks for your understanding and cooperation, both of you!”, said Eldritch as he was addressing to Alyss and his littler sister Lilim.

“Since everything has been set aside, now we can get down to businesses!”, introduced Sonya. “What me and Alyss are going to share here are only statements, without any clear evidence yet, and this is why we need your cooperation in this case.”

It was lunch time, and since classes were suspended the afternoon due to the Witch Hunt, there were few students around. Nevertheless, Eldritch and his friend Mathers wrote runes on some paper to avoid their conversation being leaked. It happened right when Sonya and Alyss, who were actually known by most as Elena and Laura, showed up. This could be considered as a bold move as in normal circumstances, witches and warlocks were prohibited from using magic arts outside their Academy of Dark Arts. But Eldritch and Mathers were skilled enough of a witch to have the permission to break that rule if labelled as necessary. It was due to their runes that no one suspected their discussion when Alyss and Lilim had a serious argument. From an outsider’s perspective, they were having a quarrel about who is dating Eldritch as the spell from the runes would trigger an auditory illusion, which would trick a regular person’s brain into misinterpreting sounds.

“First of all, we know that the person behind it probably knows all of you here, and may have probably discovered that all of you were witches.”, explained Sonya with a serious expression on her face. “As we speak, they may even observe us secretly. But let’s not focus on that for now... The identity of the person is still unclear, and I am sure they are taking as many precautions as necessary if they are aware of your identities.”

“So you mean that instead of directly accusing us, that person is taking precaution? But why would they even do that!?”, questioned Tabitha.

“Elementary my dear!!”, replied Alyss. “We live in a society and you cannot just accuse someone of something without tangible and concrete proof.”

“Then here comes the second point.”, continued Sonya. “If you recall correctly, we’ve been asking you all if some of you were often venturing in Lord Lot’s Forest!”

“Yes!”, answered Mathers.

“Here is our next question. Did you sometimes practice witchcraft to sharpen your proficiency in dark arts out there?”, questioned Sonya. The way she was asking that question made it felt like she was leading an inquisition.

“Mmmmm~ not really!! With the exception of Eldritch and Mathers here, we are not allowed to make use of witchcraft outside the academy. So even in the depth of the forest, we respect that rule.”, answered one of the twin girls Inès.

“To be a witch means being disciplined.”, added her twin sister Anès.

“Magic is prohibited, but our familiars often contact us whenever we wander in the depths of the forest.”, suddenly highlighted Eldritch.

“That could do it.”, continued Alyss. “That person may have noticed it while some of you here were in contact with your familiar! Lancaster has a precedent history with Witchcraft, and by that we are referring to the Trial of Pendle Witches. In other words, that person could have linked the fact you guys were exchanging words with your familiar to find the truth about your true nature.”

It was just a statement, no concrete proof has been presented as evidence, but if that Dedicatus girl was there at that time, she would acknowledge that theory. After all, Dedicatus was just a regular person specialised in supernatural knowledge and conspiracy theories.

“To sum it up, the culprit has most likely found about your identity after finding one or some of you exchanging with your familiar deep in Lord Lot’s Forest. Then they set up a fake witchcraft ritual in the forest to accuse you. But when they reported the fake ritual they made themselves , they couldn’t directly charge you due to unknown reasons. They expected you to return to the forest like usual, then get caught by the authorities! But they didn’t expect that the false ritual they set up would provoke a general Witch Hunt in the village.”, finished Sonya.