The Sea Witch

Aster's POV I have been running and running and running since days on end. Whenever I decide that it's safe enough and I can rest, they always catch up. I'm never safe; never safe enough. The last time I fought off my grandmother's men, I had managed to successfully slow them down. But to my bad luck, one of them managed to put a magic blocking bracelet on my left hand. The audacity of these men! Now how am I supposed to ward off threats? And this time I'm not talking about those who are chasing me... I'M LITERALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST, AND LOST. But I am my mother's daughter and she had trained me my whole life for such situations. I know I will manage somehow, but for how long? That I also don't know.. As I climb the 32nd tree in the same day, I start loosing hope to find any body of water at all. But right when I was sure that all was lost, I heard the chiming of fresh water. That was all it took for me to climb higher and look for the source. And heavens have mercy, I finally saw a clear river making it's way through the forest like a graceful Cobra. I was beyond ecstatic. At least no more being lost in the forest for me. Yayy!! But you might be thinking why am I running and who am I running from, right? It's my dictator grandmother: The Sea Witch of the South! She is a force to be reckoned with. She is after me because she wants me to marry this controlling, possessive and obnoxious man who is her right hand's son. Jayden is a successful aqua warlock and a massive dickhead. He has screwed more popular girls than he has teeth in his mouth. That sonuvabitch is absolutely disgusting as a person. And to top it off, he was the one himself who even suggested this marriage to my grandmother. My parents, of course refused. But my grandmother is a power hungry woman. She doesn't care what kind of a person Jayden is. She just wants me to come back home and marry him like a good good girl. She is a calculating woman but she was shocked for the first time in her life when I refused to bend to her wishes! She was horror stricken. I am a girl who is known for being a witch prodigy and an obedient kid. So when I refused to her "proposal", she practically gave me royal decree to marry that piece of s**t. And I ran away. For days. Until I got here.. wherever here is.... To be honest, I know my grandmother and she won't rest until she finds me and makes me marry that douche bag. But I also know myself and I didn't not work this hard in my life just for it to shatter into ruins just like this. So I have three options as of now: 1. Keep on running forever and one day, get tired of it and die. 2. Kill Jayden and become an insurgent and run away, AGAIN! 3. Find the high council and plead for my case in hopes of finding justice. Only that I don't know where the High Council is... soooooo I'll just run till I make it. While pondering over my life's options, I reach the river I was looking for. It was more of a ravine than a river and as soon as I arrived, the water started trying to get to me. It's been so long since I practiced my water magic but now because of this stupid bracelet, I cannot even do that. So I'll have to work with what I CAN do here. I took off my shoes and shimmy out of the tights. Similarly, it doesn't even take me much time to remove my blouse and bra and I jump into the water. The water wrapped around my body like a second skin and took the shape of scales. Hahaha, I'm not a mermaid but this usually happens with powerful water witches. Water shields us just like this. I stayed in the water for a couple of hours until my tiredness had washed away. However when I got out, my clothes were nowhere to be found. I immediately acquired a defensive stance because the first thought in my mind was that maybe those goons that my grandmother hired have caught up. But soon I realised if that were the case, why would they take away my clothes? I'm a runaway girl but nevertheless a princess. Them doing such a thing would guarantee them a death sentence. So, it definitely cannot be them. But who else? I scanned my surroundings and a loud whistle made me jump back into the water. None other than the reason I was running away from, came strolling through the trees, whistling like idiots; JAY-MOTHERFUCKING-DEN! "If this bracelet weren't obstructing my powers, I would literally kill you on the spot you're standing!" I hissed at the shameless brat. In reply, he adorned his face with his signature grin and started coming near the ravine as I backed off from him. "Oh dear Aster. I have been looking everywhere for you but here you are. Do you even know what territory is this? You are such a naive and innocent witch. Tell me this: Who wouldn't want to have you for himself?" "I know many things and the most important thing that I know right now is that I have a choice to select whom I want to be with. And believe me if you were the last man on earth, I'd marry a woman!" His signature smirk faded and a snarl appeared on his face in it's stead. "If I could use magic or take you back home by force, believe me I would! But we're on enemy territory right now and I have to leave, you see darling." "I came here as an envoy from your grandmother's side to distribute our wedding invitation, sweetheart. Let's see how far can you even run that I cannot catch up to." He threw the clothes on a nearby log and strode away in annoyance. I took my chance and hurriedly wore my clothes. I knew I didn't have much time. He would go back and send men my way. I have to leave this place fast. I turned back to run but something hit my head really really hard and darkness consumed me.