Crowpeak Forest

“My younger brother and one of his friends used to live here with me in this town. I hid my powers pretty well from both of them, but our lifestyle was hard. The crops kept dying, the cattle spontaneously disappeared, and everyone was starving.”

She took a seat in the same chair she was sitting in before, “Knowing I had this power to make things right, I took it upon myself to study the ways of mythic. I wanted to know my potential and how far I could go with it.”

Aleyah saw her take a sip of her tea and smile. The warmth from the heat brought her joy somehow. She could not help but smile back at the woman sipping her tea.

“After weeks of studying, I found a spell that did what I needed it to do, but the only problem was that it required sacrifice.”

“What kind of sacrifice?” Aleyah asked.

“One that only a person in hiding could give,” she sighed. “I gave up who I was. Revealed myself to the town, my own brother. I showed them what I could do and they saw it as an act of a rising tyrant.”

A tear fell down Sinclair’s eye, “That’s when they shunned me and pushed my brother and me out of the village. His friend refused to follow because he believed their poisonous words. In the beginning, I didn’t care. Their words never bothered me. I had my brother, my blood by my side. I did what I did for him mainly, but it sadly didn’t take long for my brother to follow the words of the priest.”

“Your brother left you?!” Aleyah shouted. She was heartbroken to see Sinclair confirm it with a nod. Aleya’s brother was the only family she had left and just imagining a life without him shattered her heart and soul.

Another tear fell down her cheek, “His words hurt the most and when he passed only a week after he left, I felt as if that town took everything from me. I became their nightmare…I became the warlock, a cursed mythic user drenched in greed and wrath.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Sinclair placed her teacup on the small table, “I blame that priest. He took away their trust from me. He took my brother from me. He took my identity from me…”

“The priest?” She was curious. Aleyah remembered that she mentioned the priest once during her story. “How does the priest tie into this?”

“The priest came into the village one day and started spreading his teachings to the people. He was poisoning their mind and when he heard about me, he was the first to question my motives. Everyone eventually followed his lead.”

“I knew something was off about him. When we entered the town, it seemed empty. My brother couldn’t sense a soul, but then the priest suddenly appeared out of the temple and all the townspeople followed behind him-”

Aleyah stopped talking. She was staring into Sinclair’s eyes and a cold shiver went down her spine. Sinclair looked worried to her and it bothered Aleyah. “What’s wrong?”

She did not respond.

“Sinclair, please tell me what’s wrong.” She grabbed Sinclair’s hand and got her attention. She still looked frightened but began to speak.

“You said we, did you not?” She said with concern in her voice.

With an expression of uncertainty and apprehension, she nodded at her confirming what she asked. With much force, Sinclair pushed the chair from under her and stood up. She almost knocked her tea off the table while doing so.

“You came here with other people?!” She asked abruptly.

Aleyah stood up as well, “Yes, what’s wrong?”

“How many of you?” She went to grab Aleyah, but Aleyah stepped back feeling uneasy. “How many of you came here?!” She repeated.

“Eight! There was eight of us. Why? What are you not telling me?” Aleyah demanded.

“You brother, your comrades, they’re in danger!” She yelled.

Sinclair ran behind Aleyah and started to push her out of her home, “Quickly, you must go save them from him!”

Aleyah tried to stop her by pushing her feet against the wooden floors, “Tell me what is going on!”

She stopped pushing her and opened the door. Afterward, she stood there undecided. “There is a reason why your brother could not sense anyone,” she said.

“I am sure the process has already begun,” Sinclair said to herself. She then looked at Aleyah who was standing near the entrance, “You must save them before it’s too late.”

Aleyah walked out of her home and turned back to speak to her, “What is going on? Please tell me something!” She begged.

“The priest is an awful man. I failed to stop them, but maybe you can Aleyah. Many people suffered because of him including my brother.”

She walked to Aleyah and held her hands, “He brought something with him. Something that can’t be stopped alone.”

“Then come with me,” Aleyah pleaded. She started to become scared. This was the first time Aleyah ever had to go through something like this. She had doubts about her being ready to take on something like this.

“I am sorry, but I cannot. I can’t show my face. If anyone amongst your group is like you and me, then you must save them first. It cannot get to you or them you understand?”

Aleyah nodded.

“Now go!” Sinclair released her hands and Aleyah started running back to the town. As she saw her sprint away, she went back into her house and locked the door behind her. In a rush, she walked toward a pile of books and shuffled through them. After a few, she spotted the book she was looking for. It had a maroon color on the cover and read “He Who Prayed” in bold letters. She flipped to a page that was bookmarked and started to read a text from it out loud:

“…And as the people prayed, the Gods listened with open ears.

They heard their children call out for them, but in response, they did not answer.

It was only when the child of the most faith cried for their voice.

Without hesitation, their voice is what the child had received.

The child was not their favorite, the child was not their most trusted.

No, the child was their voice and whom would follow under the judgement of this child

shall be bathed in the blood of the those would seek them harm.”

She looked out her window and said her final words, “It is too late.”

From a normal person’s perspective, the night sky was filled with clouds and barely any stars. To Sinclair however, as she looked up at the sky, she saw a horrifying mass of aura flowing from the temple’s location. The color of it was blood red and as Aleyah got closer to the village, she saw the same thing, but all that blood red aura was coming from one location.

Crowpeak Village

The stream of aura was coming from the center of the town where two of the five soldiers had their neck slit open. The other three were tied up against wooden posts in front of the townspeople. Five hooded men in dark purple robes were next to each post. She couldn’t believe her eyes, but everything became unreal once she saw Aleyos and Yuto hanging by their hands from the top of the temple. Both soul witches were knocked out cold, unlike the soldiers.

“A- Aleyos. Yu- Yuto…” She slowly stepped closer to the townspeople and the soldiers.

The priest walked around the posts that held the soldiers in place and opened his arms greeting Aleyah. “And the Gods have blessed us again bringing our stolen fruit back to us! Oh, how we will celebrate their blessing by bringing back their anointed son!” He shouted.

The people of the town shouted and cheered. They were ready for something that Aleyah was not and although the whole situation intimidated her, she took another glance at her brother and her childhood friend whom now hanged from the top of the temple. She took a deep breath and exhaled from her nose. While closing her eyes, she said, “You…”

Everyone stopped shouting to look at her.

“You will all pay for this!” She yelled out. A burst of nova aura flow surrounded her body and lifted her hair.

“Nova Gate Open, Searing Soul!” Two blades appeared in Aleyah’s hands and her clothing changed as well. The aura that surrounded her vanished and her hair were brought back down. She pointed the blade at the priest and the people of the town.

“Whatever you’re doing, I will stop you.” She declared.