Today was a coven meet and she was excited to learn new things. Last time they had learned how to weave a bracelet and imbue it with a small wish spell. They were simple tokens that gained charge each time the wearer wished that same wish again. She went to her altar and picked up her grimoire to slip into her book bag. She double checked that her pencil case had her favorite pens and art supplies to decorate her grimoire.

Her cat mewled at her knowing what this meant. She would be out of the house for a while and he demanded sustenance for the duration she would be gone. She filled three toys with a few treats and food. One a ball that had to be rolled To dispense food, another was a mat that she spread small amounts of wet food, and the last one a plush she had modified to serve as fake prey that held dry food in a small pocket. "I hope you're not too much of a trouble maker while I'm gone, Gremlin. I don't want to find you caught in the blinds again."

She took her water bottle from the fridge and headed towards her closet. She knocked on the closet's closed door and said the coven's spell while signing with her hands. As she stepped in she felt the familiar wash of cold. Instead of the inside of her closet, the door led into a round room with a domed roof. This was their safe space. Most of her Coven friends were already there as were the high priest and high priestess.

Her coven group was the perfect size in her opinion. Thirteen people. Not too many and not too few. It let everyone have the time to speak, ask questions, and get to know each other. They were interwoven by now via their magic by practicing together. She could feel their support both in person and away from them. They had learned how to lend magic to each other when one person speaking their needs and desires into the universe simply wasn’t enough. When they met together outside of the coven meetings they would communicate about our successes, failures, desires, and concerns.

The High Priestess raised her athame, "Welcome my fellow witches. You're closer than friends, we are tighter because we open up our rawest, most vulnerable selves with each other. We share a deep spiritual practice with each other and while this places you into a particularly vulnerable position - the trust required is immense because you open the deepest parts of you to someone else but it is those same parts that can connect to an outside power." She swirled the athame over her head and pointed it to the center of the circular room. A spell circle grew from the center of the room with 13 points, one for each member of the group to sit at.

The High Priest waved his wand made of ash wood to bring in seats and raise a small pillar of stone for each member to use as a small desk. He placed his wand behind his ear. "Today we will be learning why The Veil exists. I have mentioned it before, we get our power from beyond the veil. We can wield it due to our lineage. We have already written about the First Ordeal of Humankind, our creation. The Ordeal of Water."

Rori sat at a seat and pulled out her grimoire and wiped the leather cover with a hand. She was ready to take notes if need be. She had made a special ink with the help of the high priestess so she would erase it by running a piece of clear quartz over it.

The High priestess pulled her cauldron towards the center of the circle. It bubbled with fog which filled the bottom of the room. "This one is the Second Ordeal, our exile. The Ordeal of Fire. The Ordeal of Doubt, Sorrow, and Greed." She began the story and as she spoke the fog created images.

Long ago, after the Ordeal of Creation, Manek wandered into the Forest

In his wandering, he heard the sound of sobbing but he didn't know from where for he was surrounded by a thick fog.

He followed the noise to find a Maiden sitting all alone, weeping by lake near an enormous tree.

She looked up to Manek and he was overwhelmed by the beauty in her eyes.

He asked her why she wept and why she was so far into the Forest.

"I weep not got me but for my mother. I visit her at her grave at the base of this tree" The maiden spoke.

"I'm here only for a visit. I wish to grieve alone for now."

Despite his feelings, Manek agreed and left to wander the Forest some more.

He made a camp in the forest and slept soundly each night.

One day, the maiden spun silk from casted cocoons and wove it into a beautiful cloth for Manek to wear in the forest.

Manek thanked the maiden for her gift and left the forest to show his father.

But the sheer brilliance of the cloth cast a shadow upon his father.

Manek's father was so enthralled by the silk that he ravaged the forest for cocoons.

The worms, still in their cocoons, were boiled alive and perished by the hands of The King so he could have their silk.

The Maiden pleaded to Manek to stop his father's cruelty, but he was sealed away.

The maiden presumed that Manek had been killed and threw herself away into the lake.

As she began to drown, a voice whispered to her. “It is me, The God of the Forest, Tell me what troubles you.”

The Maiden told the God of the forest, “Greed has brought nothing but death and destruction. It is a corruption that will kill the Forest. The man, which I loved, has perished at the hands of this greed.”

The God of the Forest spoke again, “So you claim that your love was torn asunder by the greed and hatred? Light has been swallowed up by darkness, and as such humankind shall be swallowed up by beasts if he ever crosses into the forest again. I shall unleash beasts unto the land born out of body and mind, so they can return all from whence it came.”

The fog dispersed slowly, revealing the High priest and High priestess each holding one of the two unicorns which formed the handles of the cauldron. The High Priest spoke, " From that day on the land was torn into two. The Veil was formed to keep man out and beasts appeared in the forest to swallow him up if he did cross. The mortal animals that reside in the wilderness now were the beasts created by the destruction in Man's heart just like the magical creatures on the other side of the veil are created out of our minds." He shook his head and the High Priestess walked towards the edge of the circle to take a seat.

Rori had written the entire story word for word. She highlighted parts that interested her about it. At home, she would draw some of the imagery that had appeared in the fog formed by the cauldron.

The High Priestess sighed, "Greed...the love between The Maiden and Man Turned twisted. Divine silk was used in an attempt to conquer doubt and save love. Man was dominated by greed. Light was torn from greed and became misery. This was the second seed of admonishment. This is why normal humans cannot cross The Veil and only those with magic in their blood or those spirited away are able to. An entire race of beings..outcast for the actions of one. Such punishment."

"The king...he was The Magical King Karris wasn't he?" One of the witches spoke up, it was Aine. She was very interested in The King and finding the ruins of his Kingdom. Rori knew that she believed that it would help the witches better know how humans acquired their magic. Those among others were still a mystery despite the millennia that humans have roamed the earth.

"Yes, and as you know, Aine, his kingdom Gernah-Pale disappeared overnight to the droning sound of the Apocalypse Locusts which came from beyond The Veil. We are known as the Minions of Gernah-Pale by those beyond The Veil." The High Priestess shrugged, "Despite the name we're still human even if we are gifted. The question is why some of us are gifted while others aren't. How did we originally gain The Gift or how did the majority of us lose it While others kept it?"

Rori wrote down the question, she would later reorganize the pages in her grimoire to be categorized better for easier reference. She would need to examine the story better at home. There seemed to be a lot of meaning still waiting to be known. What was the Divine silk? Did the creatures who made it still exist? Who was the Maiden? What about her mother? Where was this forest of fog? What about that massive tree? Then the question about the lake, was it also the fountain of youth? She wanted to ask but which one? "High Priestess Lydia, am I correct to think that the tree in The Second Ordeal is The sacred tree of life?"

"Yggdrasil, The tree of life, the tree of knowledge. It is the world tree and the cosmic tree. Mentioned in stories but no one knows where it lies. Does it even exist? My guess is that it used to be a real tree before it was transformed into something else by the divine." Lydia glanced at Aine, "If anything will tell us where it once stood, it would be in the ruins of Gerna-Pale or possibly the kingdom that the few lucky humans fled to when it was destroyed by the locusts."

Without knowledge of the tree, then knowledge of the lake and forest of fog would be missing as well. But the Maiden and her mother's identity might be known. Rori wrote a series of question marks next to the unanswered loose strings. "Do we know who the maiden's mother was?"

"Yes, but her story will be told a different time." The high priest spoke up, "You all need time to reflect upon the second ordeal." he smiled, "before The God of The Forest created the beasts, humans had no fear of the dark or the unknown. Upon their creation our mind became our worst enemy, making our thoughts real and thus showing us how ugly we could truly be on the inside." He stood up and with the help of Lydia, they carried the cauldron back out of the main room. This signified it was time to talk among themselves.

Rori stood to talk with Aine about what she had learned about King Karris. Who explained to her that she found a witch online who said that he didn't die in the destruction of Gerna-Pale. "King Karris changed his appearance and went under the name The Lion of Syrus, a man who had the ability to bend the will of things through his black lute. We all know King Karris didn't have magic, so that means that along the way he must have acquired it." Aine grinned, "and I will find out how that happened. We've heard a story where a beast listened to a Lion's music to protect a small town remember?"

Rori's eyebrows furrowed, "The beast in that story was a beast from beyond the Veil. If The Second Ordeal is correct then why would it listen to The Lion of Syrus?"

"Why it was controlled by the Lion of Syrus's black lute. He used the lute to harness his magic and controlled the very beasts that were sent to kill him to defend Syrus." Aine clapped her hands in excitement. "I'll tell you the story at the cafe next time. I'll scan it at the library for you so we can read it together."

"I would love to read it over some coffee and tea, Aine. Did you want to go to your place so we can do some garden tending? I wanted to grab a bit of catnip for Gremlin from your garden. Do you mind?"

"Not at all. I'll open the portal to my home." Aine closed her own grimoire and pushed up her glasses, "Let us go." She led the way to the entrance, making the spell to open the portal to her home. The two of them stepped through, knowing well that the second half of coven meets were discussion and self-practice. They could practice their craft in the garden, giving the plants a boost. They took turns trying and pulling small weeds. Watering the plants and taking small clippings from herbs and the catnip for Rori to take back home. They spent the afternoon drinking fresh mint tea.