The Witch

by V. A. Lewis

  Everyone was staring in stunned silence at where the thug boss blew up. At the crater surrounded by flames, crackling, and burning up the remaining shrubbery that survived the blast. The only exception was the Plague Doctor— he was looking at me. But all the thugs?

  "M— that’s magic!"

  "A Dark Crusader? Run for your lives!"

  "She killed the boss! She’s a Demon!"

  "Goddess grace us—"

  Pandemonium broke out. The thugs threw down their weapons, making a break for it. I was about to stop them. Maybe with an area of attack spell. But the Plague Doctor just shook his head.

  "Hm, if that was your secret, you should have just said so." He raised an arm, opening his hand up towards the sky. "I don’t think she’d like it if any of you tell on her. So unfortunately, I’ll have to stop you."

  A mass of energy began to form on the palm of his hand, and my eyes went round. Glowing green particles shaped into an orb. About the size of my head. Magic? I thought to myself. No— where’s the spell circle?

  The thugs that saw this screamed as well. A dozen of them scattered in all directions, fleeing from us both. But there was no point. The first beam shot out of the green ball of energy, curving midair to strike the nearest thug. Then another came out, followed by another, and another.

  Shouts of pain came and went one after another. The last of the thugs only managed to get several dozens of feet away, before they, too, dropped dead.

  The Plague Doctor lowered his hand, the green energy dissipating into nothing; he nodded his beak-like mask to himself, then started for me. I took a wary step backwards as he approached.

  "Are we going to do this again?" he asked. "Calm down, Melas. If I was going to harm you, I would have done so by now."

  He’s right. I knew he was right; however not only did he now know about my magic. There was also…

  "What was that?!" I snapped, pointing a finger at all the corpses, then back at him. "Why didn’t you just do that the entire time!"

  The Plague Doctor shrugged, replying as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The same reason you did not use your magic. I believe we were both at fault for being too cautious of one another, choosing not to reveal our secrets unless absolutely necessary."

  "I— but, that’s…" I bit back my tongue, sighing. "Well that’s fair, I guess?"

  "Indeed," he concurred casually.

  I heard a branch snap; I cast a glance to the side, and saw the flames from my Fireball were spreading to the rest of the woods, looking as if it were not stopping anytime soon. I should probably put that out, shouldn’t I?

  Unfortunately, since the magical flames went on to create regular fire, I could not just put it out with Dispel Magic. I could theoretically force the fire to extinguish itself, but not only was it more than I had ever done that on before, it also usually made it burn up all its fuel at once— something which I was certain would get pretty bad here with all the potential sources of fuel.

  I knew a few Hydromancy spells, but not enough to quickly put it all out. It would have taken a while for me, so I turned to the Plague Doctor.

  "Do you know any water magic?" I asked, gesturing at what appeared to be the start of a forest fire.

  "No," he said simply, "I do not know any magic. Especially not water magic."

  I raised an eyebrow at that. "But what you did earlier— wasn’t that magic? Thaumaturgy?"

  "There were no spell circles, no?" he pointed out the obvious.

  That was true; I noticed as much when it happened. I assumed that maybe it was something similar to pre-casting, or maybe he was hiding the magic circle somehow. But now that he admitted that was not the case, I was… lost as to what he did. It could have been some advanced mana tool, however I sincerely doubted it.

  "Wait, so how did you do that?"

  I heard a muffled exhale. The Plague Doctor took a step forward, reaching for his mask. "You know, I knew you had a secret from the first time I saw you at the orphanage. Magic was… not unexpected. But I believed that maybe there was something more than that."

  I folded my arms. "What do you mean by that? Magic gets you killed!"

  "Only in some places in this continent of Vitae. And while it is illegal in both continents, especially so in Soli, that is only because of the influence of the Church. Even so, the Dark Crusaders exist. Some criminal organizations employ spellcasters within their ranks. And there are many stories of children finding a book they should not, and picking up magic in their adolescence before an adult or a member of the Church ‘disciplines’ them."

  I… did not know that. "Is magic really that pervasive?" I asked stupidly.

  "Not pervasive. It’s uncommon. Rare, even. An average person would never meet a practicing spellcaster more than once in their life. And that is unknowingly. However, I am a master of secrets. I have seen many in my time, and I know for a fact, that secret is not the grandest of them all." The Plague Doctor pulled off his beak-like mask. I caught a glimpse of his face underneath his face covering. He was... handsome.

  I had thought he would be ugly, or at least, terribly scarred across the face, which was why he wore the mask. But instead, his face was unmarked. His skin almost glistening under the pale moonlight, and his face was almost perfectly symmetrical. He had sharp violet irises, and curly blonde locks that went down his shoulders. It was almost a crime to cover up a face like that!

  "What do you want from me? It’s still illegal!" I argued, as the Plague Doctor yanked a glove out of one hand.

  "I know it is," he said, "but something tells me that’s not your only secret."

  I scowled, pocketing my hands. "I’m not telling you anything else. You won’t even tell me how you did that weird magic thing!"

  "True, you did reveal a secret to me," the Plague Doctor remarked, rolling up his sleeves. "Now it’s time for me to reveal one of mine."

  Then he raised his arm up, pointing at the flames. There was a glimmer, then I squinted as it turned into a flash of light.

  Lines began to form. Not into a magic circle, or even in midair like they usually did. No— glowing green lines began to draw itself down his arms. Up into his hand, forming a complex pattern. Like some kind of magical tattoo. But it was not magic.

  It was a miracle.

  The lines stopped at his shoulders. I could see some of it peeking up the right side of his neck. Otherwise, however, was left alone. A globule of water amassed in the direction he was aiming; it quickly ballooned up in size, covering most of the area on fire, before dropping. The water splashed over the flames, putting it out completely.

  I covered my head as thousands of little droplets rained down on me for a moment. But it ended soon enough.

  "You—" I whirled on the Plague Doctor. "You’re a Saint?!" I exclaimed.

  "No," he said simply. "I am not."

  "But that was a miracle! Only Saints and Saintesses can—"

  I was halfway speaking, when it finally dawned on me. It was not so much of an epiphany, and more of putting the pieces together; I realized what was going on right as the Plague Doctor put my thoughts into words.

  "I can perform miracles, but I am no Saint. That is my secret."

  I put a hand up to my cheeks and felt it for a moment. I slowly brought it down to my arms, feeling the smoothness of my skin. It felt… good as new.

  Better than ever, in fact. Almost as if I had been applying some skincare product my entire life— which I had never done once in this world.

  And yet, when the Plague Doctor performed his miracle on me, it not only healed all the minor injuries I suffered from the battle, it made me feel gorgeous!

  "How does that work?" I asked. I quickly realized how dumb my question sounded and elaborated. "I mean, healing potions don’t do that, right? They just heal you. Regrow your skin so it's fleshy and weak. But your miracle healed me and it’s making my skin glow!"

  My past self would have been so jealous of my current self’s body. It
was like something straight out of a beauty commercial! Not that I had seen one in over ten years, of course.

  "It’s not the same as an ordinary healing potion. My miracles don’t just heal one thing. It can target and purify everything at once. But it’s effects will wear off soon enough. A clean body only stays clean for so long."

  "And that’s how you heal the Noxeus?"

  "Yes," the Plague Doctor confirmed. "There is no potion— no cure for the Noxeus. At least, it’s not something that myself, or many other talented Alchemists, have been able to conceive. The very origins of the plague is a mystery. Trying to understand the plague itself is something that is many times more difficult. Let alone creating some sort of remedy for it."

  "I see," I said, rubbing a temple.

  "What’s wrong, Melas?"

  "I was… hoping that there was a cure for it. You’re the Plague Doctor, you’ve seen it yourself— how bad the Noxeus gets." I shuddered as I recalled a pile of bodies on the side of a road back in the Free Lands. "I thought that if you had some potion for it, I could get you to share its recipe with the world."

  "I would have already done so long ago if that were the case," the Plague Doctor stated simply.

  "I know, I know," I sighed wistfully, "I just wish this world wasn’t so terrible."

  "Agreed."

  There was a moment of silence. But not complete silence. It was turning to day soon; the sounds of birds and insects filled the void, along with our footsteps as we trudged along the road.

  I cast a quick glance at the girl on the Plague Doctor’s back. Hannah was still unconscious, even though she was completely healed. Supposedly, she was just asleep because she was tired. But her skin… and mine too…

  "Do you… use your miracles on yourself?"

  "Pardon?" the Plague Doctor paused midstep, and turned to me.

  "When you took off your mask earlier, I saw your face. And your skin. It looked so good. Do you use your miracles to maintain that?" I inquired about what was clearly the most important question I had.

  "...no comment."

  "Hey, you need to tell me!" I raised a finger accusingly. "You do, don’t you?"

  "No comment."

  "You’ve got to teach me how to do that!"

  "I told you earlier, it’s not something I know how to teach."

  "But—"

  "Shush, she’s waking up. We’ll talk more later today."

  "Fine."

  Hannah opened her eyes, shifting in her position on the man’s back. "W-what’s going on?"

  "Do not strain yourself, Ms Hannah. Your wounds have healed, but you are still tired. Rest, and you will find yourself back with your family in no time—"

  By the time we got back to the orphanage, the sun had already risen. But they were all waiting for us.

  Everyone in the orphanage stood at the gate. They looked like they did not get a wink of sleep, but even so, they all jumped up when they saw us return.

  "Hannah!"

  "She’s back! She’s really back!"

  "The Plague Doctor did it—"

  …

  Ok, fine! They jumped up when they saw the Plague Doctor return.

  They all ran up to Hannah and embraced her in a tight hug. I could make out faces among the crowd: Eaton holding her tightly with both eyes clamped shut; Jay was holding back a tear as he clutched her arm, apologizing; Callie and Patty both crying simultaneously—

  Faces I recognized. But people I barely knew. Even Ms Sharity, who was standing at the back, standing guiltily back away from them all.

  "Hannah, I’m so glad you’re safe—"

  "Mom," Hannah cut her off. She ran forwards at Sharity, and threw herself at her in a hug. "Mom— I was so scared. I thought I would never see you again! I thought I would never see anyone here ever again!"

  The girl’s mother— no, the mother of this family eyes widened in shock at being called ‘mom’ for the first time. The rest of the family poured in on her, following after Hannah. All of them were crying now, and Sharity too had tears streaming down her face.

  "Mom, why did this have to happen?"

  "Please, mom. I promise I’ll do better!"

  "Mommy, I love you so much—"

  "My children, I’m so sorry that had to have happened. It was my fault. I promise I will not let that happen ever again."

  It was a heartwarming scene happening here once again; too many in the span of three days. Yet, even though they were little more than strangers to me, I felt happy for them this time.

  "It feels good, doesn’t it? To know you’ve helped someone?" the Plague Doctor spoke up from beside me. "But come, the best part is yet to come."

  And it came.

  Ms Sharity approached the Plague Doctor, and bowed her head deeply. "Thank you so much. I owe you everything for saving not just Patty and I from the Noxeus, but Hannah too from those wicked people."

  "It has been my pleasure, Ms Sharity. However, this was not something I did alone." The Plague Doctor took a step to the side, and ushered me forward. "This brave young girl helped me too."

  "Huh? Wait—" I tried protesting, but suddenly found myself at the center of attention. Then I realized I was blushing, which made me even more embarrassed.

  "She did?" Ms Sharity stared at me, disbelieving. But the Plague Doctor allayed those doubts.

  "Indeed. She was at the gang’s hideout even before I got there. She would have saved Hannah herself if you had not found me."

  It was like something clicked in the woman’s head; she must have remembered the probing conversations I had with her yesterday, and realized the Plague Doctor was not lying. Then she directed her gratitude towards me.

  "You have my thanks too, Melas. For helping save Hannah. Thank you so much."

  My first thought was to deny it. To have said something along the lines of ‘oh it was nothing’, but I knew it was not just nothing; I had put in a lot of effort to help them, and did a lot of things I would have rather never done to achieve it.

  Plus, it was a happy ending. One I wished I could have gotten together with my own mom. But even if that never came true for me, I was content with seeing it happen to others. So instead, with my cheeks still flushed I accepted their thanks with all my heart.

  "You’re most welcome," I said, beaming.

  Chapter 9: Adventure

  Miracles. What were they?

  Back in my world, I always thought miracles and magic were basically the same thing. Just that one was the power of God, and the other was the power of… something else?

  Depending on who you asked, it was either some innate power people had, or it was the work of the Devil. Or both were fabrications, and neither magic nor miracles truly existed. Different people believed in different things, after all.

  But that was back on Earth.

  In this world, magic and miracles were as real as Demons and Monsters. I knew it was real: I had seen a Saint— watched him perform the miracles only he could do. So I knew it was real. And magic was something I was capable of. So there was no reason for me to doubt the veracity of both.

  But just as they were real, so were the parameters that defined them. Magic was something anyone could do; it was the manipulation of mana to alter reality to how you saw fit. Or something like that.

  There were also supposedly side effects in casting magic en masse. Apparently, magic slowly killed the world, since it drained mana from the surrounding environment. That was how Hell became what it was today.

  At least, that was according to the Church. What Hell actually looked like, and whether that was limited to only certain types of magic, all completely evaded me. What I knew for certain was that magic was entirely possible by anyone. Miracles, however, was a completely different story.

  Miracles were the manifestation of the Goddess of Light’s powers in the world. Before the Great Hero Xander came about, miracles were never recognized by the Church. They were random events which happened to a very small number of indi
viduals, which could never be replicated by anyone; so they were thought to be either complete lies but said individuals, or a form of magic that came about accidentally.

  But after the Great Hero Xander enlightened the world— after he performed his Seven Great Miracles throughout Soli to unite the continent— only then were miracles officially recognized by the Church. According to his teachings however, only truly good individuals could perform miracles regularly. Because they were so good, the Goddess would channel Her powers through them. Everything else was an isolated act of the Goddess

  It was said he did not so much as teach the First Saintess Xanthe how to perform a miracle, as he did teach her how to be pure of heart. Allegedly.

  So only Saints and Saintesses could perform miracles. For they were the ones cleansed by the Church’s teachings. Taught all of the virtues to uphold, and sent on all of their righteous tasks to accomplish.

  And yet, last night, I witnessed the third person not affiliated with the Church or the Holy Xan Empire performing a miracle. The first was my mom, on the day she died. The second was myself, after I killed Victor. And the third was the Plague Doctor.

  He told me he could not teach me how miracles worked, for he himself did not know. It was less defined than even magic— more of a feeling he unlocked one time when he was younger. And he could simply do it ever since. So I thrust a hand out, and—

  Why isn’t it working!

  I had done a miracle before. I knew I did. Or at least, I thought I did.

  Unfortunately, I was exhausted. Too tired to even remember what happened. And a lot of things happened that night. I only remembered a swirling of emotions, feeling a lot of things inside of me, before I suddenly was fine.

  So there was no frame of reference for me to work with; I could only throw my hands up and sigh, as I had wasted the last hour trying to perform a miracle. It was probably a few hours past noon by now. And I was feeling hungry.

  I only took a few hours to nap after I got back from the orphanage— I quickly left after Ms Sharity thanked me, because I would have died of embarrassment if I stayed there any longer. Receiving their gratitude felt amazing, but it would have gotten overwhelming too soon. And now, it was time for me to leave.