Stolen Soul

It is said that all magic is rooted in sacrifice.  It is known that all creatures that possess magic were given that magic by the gods, and to be bestowed with that magic the beings have to sacrifice one of two things, love or soul.  When the gods created us, they too had to give a part of themselves. Gods being the selfish beings they are ensured that the cost of magic would not be cheap, and we too would sacrifice, but in reality, isn’t being alive all about sacrifice and consequence?  From what I’ve observed even the humans have their struggles.   When you are what fairy tales and nightmares are made of, you have to know where you came from, especially when you spend a good amount of time blending into a world with non-magical beings, hiding away parts of yourselves. We are told the stories of how each creature was created from the times of our childhood, and while we know these as facts humans tell them to their children as fairy tales.  While not one hundred percent accurate, human folk lore does hold some truths. The first thing and most important thing we learned is that each creature which possesses magic is ruled by an old god, gifted part of their magic and part of their sacrifice.    The god of creation is the same as the god of death known to us as Balance.  He created the unicorns; they can know neither regret or love.  They are creatures of logic, that are able to create and give life.  However, I have never known one to bring back the dead, it is rumored they possess this gift, but it would bring no balance, that sacrifice would cost them their soul.  For some reason humans are really into unicorns, but really, they tend to be assholes, who stick to their own kind, and are really hard to find.  At least human folklore got the hard-to-find part right, but they won’t come to you if you are a virgin, they don’t care.   The moon goddess, Hanwi, and sun god, Helios, created the wolf and dragon shifters.  Each half man half beast, with souls joined together.  Each soul sacrificing for love, a four-point square only complete when it finds its mate.  Rejection is possible, but with rejecting a gift from a god creates everlasting despair, for all four souls, the human, the animal and its pair.  It is said that the sun god and moon goddess did this in representation of themselves, as the moon can only shine in the light of the sun, and the sun can only see its greatness in the reflection of the moon.  Each creature they have created serves to worship their vanity, but also the duality of their relationship, a representation of their connected souls.  These half beast half men creatures are beautiful, both forms magnificent.  The only issue, they are only into their mate, once they find them everyone else might as well be four hundred pounds, with really bad acne, and a super unattractive face; they are seriously that spell bound by the soul mate connection. I am a witch, created by the Earth goddess, Atira. As an immortal being I am forbidden to love, to do so I would have to give up my powers or my soul, personally I am not willing to part with either.     Besides love is messy, painful; I don’t see the appeal. Although, that has not been the case for all witches most of us have been able to avoid the allure of love.   It is said that the god of chaos was too selfish to sacrifice a piece of itself for any one creature, rather it found a way to sacrifice others.  True to its spirit it tricked a witch, Hilda, to fall in love, with a human none the less.  She met him when she was young, he helped her pick the ripest vegetables from his stall in the market. Every week he would help her pick the best produce until one day he asked to make her dinner.  It was rare for a man to perform such an act for a woman, and Hilda was taken under by his charm.  He continued to do so for the next 6 months until she had fallen in love.  Knowing that it was forbidden to love the man, or bed him, she called to Atira to grant her one kindness, but Atira refused, asking to strip her of her powers and make her human or leave the man and move on.     Hilda, however had a different idea. She was a powerful witch, one of the first blessed with the gifts of the earth goddess, and did not wish to sacrifice her power.  She called upon Chaos, asking him to make the man immortal, so that he too would possess magic and she could love him.  Believing this was the way around the sacrifice Chaos agreed.  However, her deal sacrificed her soul.  She was a witch of the spirits, drawing her power from the souls she consumed, which had intertwined with her soul.  Chaos knew her soul was bound to countless others, so when she made her deal, she gave up some of her power and her soul to make him immortal.  The souls which she had consumed were those of the dead.  Her choice gave birth to the undead, vampires, and she became their queen, no longer a witch, but a creature able to create vampires with her bite.  The bloodthirsty monsters seeking revenge against all witches, mortal enemy to the Earth goddess and her creations.  It is said Chaos did this in spite, because Atira refused his love, but no one truly knows the drama of the gods.   As the vampire army grew, it began to target the covens.  We struggled to vanquish them; our powers limited in killing something already dead.  We turned to the gods but our prayers fell silent. We asked the dragons and werewolves for help, and they too did not want to involve themselves in a war yet to impact them.  We even asked for the unicorns to help, believing that this new creation held no balance, but it was “rooted in the balance of consequence.” Translation, f**k off we aren’t helping. Thus, the vampires made us create the hybrids, still we should have known better than to deal with Chaos again.