BrightMoon: Path of a Witch King

Chapter 5

That pulling sensation appeared once more and before I knew it I was staring up at the ceiling of my parents house. “Was it all just a dream?” I raised a hand in front of my face, my eyes shot open and I blinked repeatedly. I scrambled to my bed and turned on the light.

My vision was clear, I had no aches and pains, and crazy as it sounded I could see my spirit body from the other world. Like an energy shield it was wrapped around my body from earth, I ran to the bathroom and double checked, looking in the mirror I was face to face with my other self. Except they had their eyes closed as if they were asleep, which I guess they were at the moment, or I was? That made my brain hurt.

Processing that it was all real I smiled and sat at my desk. 

“I can't believe it. It was all real. That means that I have less then three days left on earth, f**k that bastard. I am going to ruin his life, even if it's the last thing I do.” My relative had murdered my parents, attempted to murder me, and had gotten away with it. All for a bit of money.

I had turned eighteen a few weeks ago, my parents life insurance and all their assets were left to me and my parents lawyer had called me a few times to set up an appointment to finish the paperwork.

The easiest way to make my relative pay was to see that he never saw a cent of that money, but that was too easy, all I had to do was to write a will.

To be honest I didn't want to kill him, as that wasn't much of a revenge, sure he would die but that was the end of it. He didn't have a family of his own, and though that was a dark route to take it would have made us even.

There was almost nothing I could do to him that couldn't be healed from or cured of, even if I could get my hands on a disease or something it was likely the hospital could cure it. 

My stomach started to grumble pulling me out of my darker thoughts, I got up and made a light breakfast before rinsing off in the shower. I found myself an hour later in my parents bedroom, I had taken a glock from my dad's safe along with a shoulder holster.

Just in case that relative tried anything in the next few days, taking out my cell phone and dialed my lawyer, the phone rang a few times before Miranda picked up.

“BrightMoon! It's so good to finally hear from you, how are you feeling?” The soft voice of my lawyer greeted me.

“I am alright Miranda, I called so we can set up an appointment to sign that paperwork.” I said before I started looking through my parents' safe.

“Of course, today or tomorrow just stop by the office before five. We can get everything settled with a few quick swipes of a pen. Is there anything else that I can help you with?” I smiled and thought for a moment.

“Yeah, can you get the paperwork started for a will? The accident made me realize anything can happen, and just in case another one happens I would like to make sure my things go to someone who deserves it.” I said, a part of me wanted to tell her that my relative was a murderer but without proof no one would believe me. 

The phone was quiet for a moment, “Yeah I can do that for you, just stop by soon so we can get it all taken care of.” I thanked her and used my phone to order a taxi to pick me up.

As I rummaged through the safe I found a pair of sunglasses my dad owned and a leather bound book, a quick glance at the contents revealed it was my moms. Inside were rituals and spells, I took the book with me as I could read it on my way over to Miranda's office.

I took the book into the kitchen and grabbed a twinkie from the pantry. I enjoyed the delicious little cake that in a few days I would never see again. Just as I finished the first little treat and  was thinking about grabbing another one my phone dinged, letting me know my ride was here.

I put on a jacket and grabbed the book before leaving the house, I placed the sunglasses on to hide my eyes, both my neighbor Jess and my lawyer knew my eyes were basically incurable at the moment. I didn't need the extra attention of a miraculous recovery before I was spirited away to another world.

I locked the door behind me and went to the vehicle waiting for me at the roadside. I opened the door and sat on the comfortable seat, “Please input your destination.” came the feminine robotic voice.

“The legal offices of Miranda Bernas in midtown.” I replied. The onboard computer input the information before asking for me to strap my seatbelt on, which I complied with a click, once the belt was in the taxi pulled away from the house and headed towards the city.

It was about an hour's drive to Miranda's office so I cracked open the book and got to reading. The first page was an introduction of the owner, Malinda, or mom to me. It described her path as a witch, which was actually more along the lines of creating protection charms and blessings though on the final page of the introduction it mentioned curses for those enemies who would wish harm upon her or her family.

“If only there was mana in this world, then maybe she would have been able to do something about him.” I said aloud.

“Now that right there is a true wish, kid. That is going to be the main wish.” The sudden voice made me jump in my seat.

“Holy s**t dude!” I grabbed my chest, my heart was racing. A shadowy figure was in the front seat looking back at me. I glared at the shadowy figure, which just made the man chuckle.

“Well don't you worry you won't be seeing me around after this one, but thanks to your wish you are altering the events of this world pretty heavily, any more wishes I can grant before I skedaddle?” The smooth southern wish granting shadow propositioned me once again.

Seeing as how I probably just sent this world spiralling out of control with a slip of the tongue I wasn't really sure how to feel, but if this world was going to go out of control then I would do what I could for those that had done right by me. “Can you give Jessica Green and her family a head start?”

The shadow looked at me for a second, “Sure kid, I can give them a head start. Alright well with that I'm out of here, you better hurry with your things. Your wish is gana make your time on this planet short. Good luck!” the shadow man vanished as fast as he had come.

What is with him and the sudden appearances and exits? 

I shook my head, ‘I wonder what earth is going to be like with mana.’ even with that though I could feel a tingling sensation in my fingertips. It wasn't like how it was with my other body which overflowed with it. I felt an odd fluctuation in my hands and looked down at my mothers spellbook, or rather my mystical grimoire that had popped into my hands. 

I watched as my grimoires pages began to fill up with my mothers hand writing. I was conflicted about how to feel about this, part of me was upset that my grimoire had absorbed my mothers spell book. On the other hand I would never be without my mothers work in my next life.

{Examining the contents of Melinda's compendium}

{There are two new spells available.}

Enchant magic charms- By using a variety of resources to create an item and combining your mana to draw out the full or hidden potential of the item. Can be used on any item, even ones not made by the witch.

Curses- The witch uses mana in various ways to afflict curses onto items or people, curses vary on the intent of the witch.

I ignored the main body comment from my grimoire and focused on the two new spells that would be available to me, though they were more like spell types then actual spells themselves. Enchanting a charm would mean I would need to have knowledge of a particular plant, metal, or other object to know what exactly I would be getting from the spell. 

The enchanting skill or spell in this case would probably be very lucrative, all I would need to do is purchase or order a particular item and cast my enchantment to bring out the potential of the item. I could then sell it as an entirely new item for an inflated price.

I smiled at the thought of earning gold cubes by the bagful, who doesn't want to be rich in a new world? Though I would need to be careful, Petra had warned me quite often about violent people, including bandits.

I was nearly drooling over a chance to try out all my spells when I received two more, I thought about the curses spell, which like the enchantment spell was more like a type of man manipulation then a spell itself.  It mentioned that the curses were a part of my intent and mana, meaning my imagination would play a big part in this spell type.

I took a moment to think carefully about my situation, being an earth spirit would paint a target on my back, being a witch however would probably be the best cover for me while I accumulated mana in my heart. 

According to Petra spirits like myself just accumulated mana until we reached immortality, forming a body as spirit was a big step for the spirit, but it also made them vulnerable. Spirits were strong but they were not all powerful, and being a slave to be used as a metal detector until I was either killed or I managed to escape sounded like a horrible option. 

Rather be a spell slinging witch then a metal detector. With that decided I placed my hand on the hand print and slowly injected mana into the grimoire while ignoring the warning from earlier.

This turned out to be a horrible idea, as the mana transferred to my human body I felt a slight stinging sensation and when I focussed the mana into the grimoire the mana began to burn me. I had heard about mana burn in video games, as it turns out it was a real thing, my human body hadn't been ready for it as there was hardly a trace of mana inside me.

I gritted my teeth and tried not to scream, I wasn't a huge success, but at least no one could hear me.

I was staring down at my hand that now sported a nasty red patch of skin, “You have arrived at your destination, please insert cash or pay on your mobile app.” the robotic voice spilled out of the speakers, I inserted a few bills into the one of the collection trays which swallowed the bills whole. A few seconds later and my change was now in my pocket while I was standing on the sidewalk.

I made sure my sunglasses were on before hiding my left hand in my jacket pocket. I walked into the two story building and met with the receptionist, after confirming with Miranda that she was expecting me, the receptionist let me through to the second floor. When I got up to the second floor Miranda was there waiting for me outside her office door, “Everything is ready for you BrightMoon, how are you feeling today?”

I knew she meant my eyes as they were the major dysfunction with my body, “Same as usual unfortunately.” I was going to make this office visit as quick and painless so I could go test out my spells, I had a feeling that I wasn't long for this world. Even now while I was sitting in Miranda's office I could feel my other body trying to wake up, that strange pulling sensation had returned much sooner than it should have, with my deductive reasoning skills it was most likely because I had inadvertently brought mana into this world.

“Alright on the left is the paperwork to accept the last will and testament of your parents, as their sole beneficiary the paperwork is straightforward. On the right is a will, read through the top page and name your beneficiary and sign below.” I faked not being able to read quickly even as Miranda helped me find locations to sign and initial, once the paperwork was signed by the both of us I was preparing to leave when Miranda stopped me.

“You should be careful BrightMoon, someone claiming to be you and your fathers relative tried to file ownership of your parents assets a week ago.” Miranda said while leading me out of the building.

That bastard!

I took a deep breath, “Don't worry Miranda, I'll be careful, besides if I were to die mysteriously then you know who to put under a microscope.” I walked out with a smile on my face, that i***t actually tried to get my parents money? What a buffoon, did he not know I was alive? 

I got into the cab as it pulled up to the side of the street, on the way home I brainstormed how I was going to make that wretch suffer, I finally came up with a way to get justice for my parents just as I got home.

I pulled out my keys and unlocked my door, as I was about to push the door open I heard something from behind the door. All I heard was a loud bang and a terrible pain in my chest, the next thing I knew I was staring at the sky.

“What the hell.” I wheezed, it hurt so bad to breath.

“You little piece of s**t, I don't know how you survived that accident but this time you are going to die good and proper.” I recognized the face and voice, it was that bastard relative of mine. My thoughts were all over the place, I heard a car start not far away, “now we are going on a final road trip.” With cloudy thoughts I watched my cousin open the trunk of a car.

With my hands shaking I grabbed the gun from my concealed holster, it wasn't what I had planned but I guess this asshole just wanted to die. I took aim just like my dad showed me and squeezed the trigger. The shot was off due to my hands shaking but it caught my attacker in the back.

He stumbled forward against the car, my target was probably in shock like I was, my numb brain realized I hadn't killed him so I pulled the trigger a few more times. I missed as much as I hit and soon my cousin was bleeding out in the gutter, exactly where he belonged.

“This really sucks. I thought I would have been able to get some poetic justice.” I breathed a ragged breath. Well at least that scumbag is dead.

Looking up at the clear blue sky I suddenly felt tired, “I guess I can take a nap one last time under this beautiful sky.”