CHAPTER 2: Witch
1303 Words
I arrived in a small village not so far from the eastern border of Lorynthale.
Didn't have the courage to witness people bury the dead and pretend life could return to normal.
Trying to heal, but I knew better. Darkness never left that easily.
Neither did I.
I walked alone through the village in the daytime, my hood pulled low, my red hair hidden as much as possible. People here have started to live their lives like there's no tomorrow.
Children laugh, though softer. Everyone in the village was......unpredictable.
I envied them for that.
I couldn’t pretend.
Not after five thousand years.
It always finds me. So maybe, maybe.......it's my turn now to hunt?
No matter how far I ran, no matter how many kingdoms fell behind me, it always returned like a shadow tied to my name. And every time it did, innocent people paid for it.
That was the part I hated most.
I paused near the fountain in the center of the village, watching the sun reflect in the water.
I stayed alert, listening to every shift in the wind, every distant footstep, every unnatural silence. If the darkness moved again, I needed to know first.
Peace had never been something I trusted.
“Either you’re waiting for someone… or planning a murder.” The voice came from behind me.
Male. Confident. Annoyingly relaxed.
I didn’t turn right away.
“I’ve considered both.”
A man stepped beside me like we were old friends meeting by chance. Dark hair, easy smile, sharp eyes that looked far too entertained by my existence.
He leaned against the fountain. “Jinan.”
I looked at him. “I didn’t ask.”
He placed a hand over his chest like I had stabbed him. “That’s cold.”
“I’m trying to set expectations early.”
He laughed, and I already regretted speaking.
He was handsome in the dangerous way some men were....too charming, too comfortable, too certain the world would forgive them for it.
I didn’t trust men like that.
Actually, I didn’t trust most people.
Five thousand years will do that to you.
“You’re not from here,” he said.
“No.”
“Passing through?”
“Trying to.”
He smiled wider.
“Well, this village has a way of making people stay.”
“Yes,” I said. “Usually through disaster.”
That made him laugh again.
I sighed.
One of those.
“There’s a gathering over there,” he said. “Music, wine, terrible choices. You should come.”
“No.”
He blinked.
“That fast?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t even think about it.”
“I did. It was still no.”
He folded his arms, pretending to be offended.
“You wound me.”
“You’ll survive.”
He stepped a little closer, lowering his voice like we were sharing a secret.
“You look like someone who hasn’t smiled in at least three hundred years.”
I stared at him.
Too close.
Far too accurate.
I narrowed my eyes.
“Who are you?”
He raised both hands.
“A very charming local trying to save a mysterious woman from her own tragic loneliness.”
“You’re failing.”
“I’ve been told persistence is attractive.”
“Whoever told you that was lying.”
Before he could answer, I felt it.
A shift in the air.
Magic.
Small. Faint. But there.
My body reacted before my mind did. I turned toward the cabins near the forest line.
Darkness moved there....not enough to be danger, but enough to make me uneasy.
Jinan noticed. “What is it?”
“Nothing that concerns you.”
I started walking.
Of course, he followed.
“That usually means it absolutely concerns me.”
I ignored him.
He kept pace beside me.
“Are you always like this?”
“Yes.”
“Suspicious, dramatic, emotionally unavailable—”
I stopped so suddenly he nearly walked into me.
“I am trying very hard not to stab you.”
He smiled.
“So there is a heart in there.”
“Debatable.”
We reached the older part of the village where the cabins stood closer together, lanterns glowing warmly through windows. One cabin in particular was loud....music, laughter, too much wine, too many bad decisions waiting to happen.
Jinan spread his arms proudly.
“Here we are.”
I stopped.
Absolutely not.
The place practically smelled like regret.
Men laughed too loudly inside. Someone was singing badly. A woman yelled something about cheating at cards.
A gathering.
No.
A cabin full of lustful mortals pretending consequences were a tomorrow problem.
I turned to leave.
“No.”
Jinan blinked.
“What?”
“I said no.”
“You haven’t even seen inside.”
“I have lived long enough to recognize terrible ideas on sight.”
He smiled.
“And yet, here you are talking to me.”
I gave him a look sharp enough to end conversations.
He stepped in front of me.
“Just one drink.”
“No.”
“One conversation.”
“Already had.”
“One terrible decision for the sake of a good story?”
“No.”
He sighed dramatically.
“You are impossible.”
“I prefer selective.”
I moved to walk past him.
Then his hand grabbed my wrist.
Everything in me was still.
My voice dropped.
“Let go.”
His smile faded, just a little.
“I’m just asking you inside.”
“I am telling you to let go.”
Maybe he thought I was bluffing.
Maybe he thought I was just another woman he could pressure.
Maybe mortals never learned.
Either way, he pulled.
“Come on—”
I reacted.
Instinct.
I twisted free and shoved him away.
Hard.
Too hard.
Far too hard.
Jinan flew backward like he weighed nothing. He crashed through the cabin door, slammed into the wooden wall.....and through it.
Wood shattered.
The entire side of the cabin exploded.
Then silence.
Perfect, horrible silence.
He landed in the middle of the street.
Flat.
I stood there staring.
Well.
That was unfortunate.
People started coming outside.
Faces turned.
Whispers spread.
Then someone recognized me.
An older woman near the market gasped.
“It’s her…”
Another voice followed.
“The red-haired woman.”
A man stepped back.
“The witch.”
My chest tightened.
Not that word.
Anything but that word.
More voices joined.
“She brought the darkness.”
“She’s cursed.”
“That’s blood magic—”
“Witch!”
The word spread quickly, like fear always does.
Witch.
Monster.
Curse.
Different people. Same century.
Jinan groaned from the ground.
“At least,” he muttered, “you’re unforgettable.”
I stared at him.
Alive.
Unfortunately.
But the crowd was growing, and fear was becoming dangerous.
I had seen this before.
Villages turn into mobs faster than storms.
And mobs always need something to burn.
Someone grabbed a torch.
Someone picked up a stone.
No.
Not again.
Not here.
I pulled my hood up and stepped back.
Then I ran.
Voices followed me.
“Don’t let her escape!”
“Witch!”
That word chased me through the streets like an old ghost that refused to die.
I ran past the fountain.
Past the broken gate.
Past every place that was trying to feel safe again.
Into the forest.
Into darkness.
Into silence.
Only there, beneath the trees where no one could see me, did I stop.
My breathing was steady.
My heart wasn’t.
I stood alone, staring back at the village.
A village I had tried to protect.
A village that would fear me anyway.
I had been called worse.
But somehow…
After all these years......it still hurts.
- Writer
