The Void: Azalea's Purpose

The Warning

Today was Coven Day, the day that all the nearby Coven’s joined together to celebrate the victory against The Anue, The Great Darkness. It happened centuries ago, and the details are now fuzzy but I have heard from Villagers most of the lands were covered in a darkness which spread quickly. Once in the Darkness, nothing came out. If the Coven’s had not stood for the world, there would be no world. Once the Darkness had been defeated and evaporated, everything that had been consumed inside was lost. No building, person, or plant survived. Just the dirt had been left behind. 

Today people say beautiful fields have grown back, but no one has been brave enough to resume living in any of these spots. They fear it would anger to Darkness to move back there. Few are brave enough to visit, and maybe one day I will have the strength to join their ranks. Maybe if I joined a Coven I could even be sent on a mission to inspect one.  

 We hadn’t officially joined a coven; my father has never been a very social warlock. He asked that I not join one for fear they would push to make him join. Once part of a Coven, you had to live by their rules and keep their secrets, something I could not do since my father read minds. Coven witches had mind blocks, but they weakened if you are family. And they only had enough strength to block certain things. They had to choose what to keep from mind readers.  

Despite my father’s feelings, I felt there would be more for me if I joined one. I had decided it was time for me to branch away from my father, especially with my 22nd birthday coming in two months. I needed to become my own person, even if that meant a little time apart from him.  

I decided to sneak away to explore Coven Day, and see what being in a Coven entailed. I just hoped my father wouldn’t feel betrayed when he found out. 

I walked into the village and I was immediately impressed with the celebration. There were bonfires around every corner, banners hung in between buildings, and vendors selling potions, food, and mystical objects. The best part however, was seeing all the witch's and warlock’s producing spells in the streets. It was a beautiful sight to see and it made me yearn to learn more. As I walked through the streets, I felt the hairs raise on the back of my neck as my skin ran cold. I looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary, just people enjoying the festivities. But I felt incredibly uneasy, like something was coming for me. 

 You’re overreacting, nothing is wrong. I made an effort to ignore it and continue walking when I was suddenly enveloped in complete darkness. Nothing was around me, no people, no celebration, no village. It was all just darkness. I began to panic until I saw a woman’s back, she seemingly appeared from nowhere. “Hello?” I said as I tried to will my feet forward. I heard her whimpering, hunched and quietly crying into her hands. She had long brown hair and was wearing a tattered purple dress. Against my better judgement, I convinced my body to proceed forward, but as I reached her she turned suddenly towards me. 

 Her entire face was dark except for her grey cracked lips, just darkness. There were no indications she had a head at all on this side apart from her hair surrounding her face. “They are coming for you; you shouldn’t be here. You should be running.” I looked at her, at this point scared out of my mind trying to think of any spell that would help me escape this. “Who are you?” was the only thing I could muster myself to say. “You should have run.” She said and she was suddenly gone again. Like she was never there to begin with, just nothing. 

 As I tried to collect myself, I saw a new figure in the darkness, but it was completely dark. Nothing indicated what it was except the outline of light around it. It looked like a monster; one the humans think we all are. As it moved closer, I could see its black scales and nails. I could feel my heart beat faster as I tried to move, but it felt as though it was pulling me towards it. I couldn’t feel anything at all as my body gravitated towards the thing, as though it was literally the absence of being. I caught a glimmer of its face as it neared and let out a horrible scream at the sight of its facial orifices dripping black goo. Just as its nails were about to graze my face, I realized I was back in the village.  

Everything was quiet as a crowd gathered to stare at me. Above me stood an older man with a deep emerald robe and his eyes were focused on me. He looked terrified, like something had shaken him as deeply as this had shaken me. Visibly unnerved he gained the ability to say one word, “Irella?”