Chapter 11: The Skydd
(Kai)
Kai awoke with a violent jolt from a blast of magic.
“What the hell?!” he jumped up, tossing his dead music player across the room.
The room was pitch black. He felt an unnatural chill from the open doors as he cautiously leaned forward.
Kai grabbed his kunai and chain from under the bed. His trained eyes adjusted to the dark. He could see from the disheveled look of the room there had been a struggle of some kind here. Whatever engagement had happened it was taken outside and in a very violent manor. The sliding glass door had been smashed from the inside out, as though someone pushed someone else.
Kai silently slipped into the night, unsure of what would await him.
He silently hoped that it wasn’t too serious. Maybe Lux found some leftover booze from the party last week and got too excited. More than likely, Pyaar had just gotten so enraged, he pushed something out the window. As he looked around, however, he noticed dark splotches of blood amongst the glass and all his teammates missing.
The railing was destroyed. Apparently whoever was pushed out of the window had thrown into the balcony and fallen down six stories. He looked out over the edge but saw only darkness below.
He heard the glass door from the other room slide open. Kai turned as team Terrin Solstice trickled on to the balcony.
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“Wha’ happened?” yawned a sleepy girl with curly reddish pigtails. Kai remembered her name being Chocolate or something like that. “Negmah, do you know what time it is?” she turned to the brunette named Negmah.
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“Too fucking late to be dealing with this shit.” Negmah grunted at Kai.
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“What the hell is going on?!” Terrin demanded, stepping forward.
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Kai shrugged.
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“Where’s Chan?” Hali asked, a concerned look on her face. They’d been officially together ever since the party and were nearly inseparable. It was sickening.
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“And my angel?” San asked, stretching to show off his muscles. Kai couldn’t tell if he was talking about Lux or Ersa, he seemed equally interested in the two.
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“I don’t know.” Kai admitted. “I was sleeping and woke to a blast of magic and now everyone’s gone.”
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Terrin opened his mouth when his eyes focused on something behind Kai. “SHIT!” he yelled.
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Kai spun around and saw darkness rushing towards him. He was engulfed by the entity before he could even react.
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How… the hell… did this thing… sneak… up… on…
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Kai succumbed to the darkness, letting it wash all over him.
(Ersa)
“Mmmm….” Ersa groaned, holding her spinning head. She had just fallen six stories and was surprised her injuries were minor cuts and bruises. Well, I can eliminate being human off my list of creatures I might be, Ersa thought to herself. Not even Chan would have walked away so unscathed from that fall.
“Serafina?” she called out into the darkness. The demon sat up slowly and stared mesmerized at her.
“What just happened?” Ersa asked, rubbing her head.
“Ooh, ooh! I know, I know!” Serafina raised her hand wildly in the air. Apparently already recovered from the fall.
Ersa rolled her silver eyes at her.
Serafina took that as permission to speak. “We were all going to bed when Jet went all wild and something awakened inside of her that had been dormant for a long time.” She paused. “A skydd.”
“Come on, Serafina.” Ersa crossed her arms, unbelieving. Skydd were dark shadow tricksters that Rovina, the goddess of destruction, plagued upon the mortal world at the beginning of time. They thrived in the dark and caused mischief. They could be controlled by using dark magic, and that’s what made them so dangerous.
“Uhm, yeah? It was. I should know. We had a bunch of those in Hell.”
“I’m pretty sure skydd are extinct? And I doubt they thrive in Hell.”
“Then how do you explain that thing that we saw then?” she frowned. Ersa didn’t answer.
Ersa got up and brushed the dirt off her and looked around, trying to peer into the darkness. It was a moonless night, making it harder to see than usual.
She conjured a light crystal from her bracelet and a glowing ball illuminated the area all around her. She looked up and saw their balcony with broken railings.
“I remember…” Ersa looked intensely at the railing. “We were all going to sleep when Jet started screaming and rolling around on the floor. Next her eyes turned black and black smoke escaped from her mouth. The smoke screeched and wailed around the room. It went into Amber next. Then Lux and Pyaar.” She frowned. “Then the rest of us tried to fight it. When it grabbed me, you tackled it, smashing us through the window and railing. Then we fell and here we are. Sound about right?”
Serafina nodded, long dark green hair flowing in the night breeze. “Only I thought we were playing a game of mud wrestle. So I tried to take the black thing to where mud is.”
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Ersa frowned at her. “Where do you even get your ideas?”
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She shrugged in response and skipped up the wall.
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“Serafina!” Ersa hollered from below. “Watch out!”
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Serafina stopped and ducked as the black smoke creature appeared. It seemed to be going nowhere in a hurry, though, and flew right past Serafina and on towards Fariyoh Forest.
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“Oh my gods!” someone on the balcony shrieked.
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Serafina ran up the rest of the wall and jumped onto the balcony.
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Ersa followed on a glowing fuchsia disk.
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“What happened?” she asked as everyone from Terrin Solstice poured onto the balcony.
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“Kai… he just…” the girl with a sweet tooth named Koko just stood there, mouth agape.
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“What happened?” Ersa repeated. She hated repeating herself.
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“We were hoping you could tell us…” Terrin stepped forward and looked from Ersa to Serafina.
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Ersa explained what had happened on their end before Terrin told them what they had just witnessed.
“Kai was out here when the dark smoke-er, skydd apparrant- appeared behind him.” Terrin frowned. “Some glowing dark blue wisps exited Kai’s mouth and entered the thing. Kai passed out and the… thing took him and flew towards the forest. It all happened so fast… I couldn’t think or even react…” Terrin hung his head in shame. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Ersa smiled. “Gear up. We’re going after him. I’m sure that skydd has the rest of our team. We need to rescue them.”
“Why should we?” Terrin frowned. As groans escaped everyone’s lips. “Don’t get me wrong, Ersa, you I like and about half of your teammates… but the ones I don’t like?” his fist tightened. “Let’s just say I’m not exactly enthusiastic about rescuing assholes.”
“We’d do the same for you.” Ersa glared at him disappointingly.
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Terrin smirked. “That you would.” He looked at his team. “Vote now. Yay or nay?”
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“Yay!” Serafina yelped, making Koko laugh.
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“Yay to that.” Koko beamed.
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“Yay.” San and Hali said at the same time.
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“Pfft. Nay.” Marana scoffed.
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“Nay.” Negmah agreed.
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“Any ‘yay’ to help out such beautiful creatures.” Akuma bowed and winked at Ersa, making her heart skip a beat.
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“The yays have it.” Terrin approved.
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“Then you have five minutes.” Ersa commanded as they all scrambled to grab their weapons.
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“Serafina!” Ersa called as she jumped in the broken glass, making her feet bloody.
“Roger!” she saluted and ran inside, tracking bloody footprints all over.
“Lux has a tote bag somewhere that is practically bottomless. We’re throwing everyone’s weapons in it and taking them. Grab a broom or something for Chan. He always has his rapier on him, but who knows what that monster is doing to them?” she shook her head.
Serafina obeyed and gathered everyone’s stuff.
This was going to be a long night. Good thing she didn’t really need sleep.
“SERAFINA!” Ersa hollered when she saw Serafina using her blood to color on some paper. “Get your ass moving!”
“Right!” she nodded, focusing on the task at hand. She wish Chan had been spared. Apparently skydd didn’t like the taste of demons and… whatever Ersa was, though. So she was stuck with what she had.
Ersa was not a fan of sneaking around like this. She’d rather face enemies head-on. So running through the Fariyoh Forest at the bewitching hours in the middle of the night running after a creature that may or may not actually exist was something not on her bucket list. Yet here she was because, apparently, skydd did exist.
Ersa recalled hearing about skydd five years ago. She was travelling through Iilrona, trying to find a way to apply to Nebulus University. She had stopped in a small town off the east coast when she had first heard about them. There was a blind gypsy who had just travelled from the far off Realm called Jajeno. Ersa had given her several krys for a story about the skydds. She had realized that the woman was only trying to make a few krys any way she could and thought at first it was a scam, but her curiosity got the best of her and she forked over the last of her krys to hear what she had to say.
“The skydd are dark creatures of old,” she began her tale in a dry, raspy voice. “They feed off emotions, namely fear, and can only get to you when you’re subconscious or nearly there. They steal your magical energy and in return you’re stuck in a living nightmare. The Dark gods put them in the world long ago to install fear in the mortals. The skydd are nothing more than terrorizers. After the Dark Times happened, the Erseugen became more powerful and the skydd weren’t needed anymore to keep mortals in check, so the gods killed them off.”
“Yet you still speak of them as though they’re still alive?” Ersa asked.
The old woman smiled, revealing her rotten teeth and gums. “Precisely. I heard rumors of some powerful Witches reviving them a while back to do their dirty work. As to whether the rumor are true or not, I cannot say.” She shrugged.
“Why not?”
“I’m blind!” She huffed at Ersa. “I wouldn’t be able to see them if they were real. Stupid girl.”
Ersa’s fist tightened at the memory. She hated insults that questioned her intelligence. She should have taken her krys back from the gypsy. But gypsies did have a bad reputation of cursing anyone who didn’t treat them with respect. Guess it was for the best.
“How far do you think they are?” Terrin hollered to Ersa as he ran through the trees overhead.
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“I don’t know!” Ersa snapped. “Maybe to the damned coast beyond the forest? Who knows!” she grumbled speeding up.
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She was sick of this. Her team was in trouble and at the moment she was completely helpless. She had no idea where they were, what had happened to them…
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Oh gods, if that really was a skydd…. Then everyone but her and Serafina would be living out their worst nightmares!
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Ersa slammed into Serafina who had stopped right in front of her. They went tumbling through the forest until they stopped just as the trees reached the eastern beaches of Iilrona Realm.
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“Serafina!” Ersa stood, dusting herself off.
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Serafina pulled Ersa back down and covered her mouth. “Shh!” she commanded.
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Ersa’s eyes went wide and her muscles tensed as she listened. At first she only heard Serafina’s faint breaths and her own heartbeat drumming in her ears. As she listened closer, she heard voices off in the distance.
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Terrin Solstice caught up with them seconds later and they all spread out and quietly sneaked towards the edge of the trees to see who was speaking.
“What’re they saying?” Ersa whispered to Serafina.
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t demons have heightened senses?” Hali whispered next to Ersa.
Terrin looked at her with shock.
“What?” she whispered back. “I pay attention in class sometimes…”
“If they’re well trained…” Akuma whispered, coming up out of nowhere. “Cambions too.”
“Half-demons?” Ersa raised an eyebrow at him as Akuma scooted closer, a little too close, actually.
He shot her a grin in the dark.
Akuma was a cambion who blatantly wore it like a badge of honor. Most people thought he was joking since he usually had a joking attitude, so he usually got away with it.
“There’s four beings out there.” Akuma whispered to Ersa, breath warm against her arm in the chilly night air. “Three women, one the smoky monster we seem to think is a skydd.” He paused, listening. “One woman is asking the monster if this is everyone. He’s muttering something in gibberish, but I’m assuming it’s yes because another woman is telling him he’s done a good job and will get his-something-back once they’ve delivered the packages to their mother…” he frowned confused. “Oh gods, they’re going to open up a portal to Mylocyta Realm take everyone there!” Akuma looked at Ersa.
“Shit shit shit!” Ersa stood. “That can’t happen.” She ran down the rest of the way to the beach, her heart pounding. If she lost her team to the Witches of Mylocyta, they’d never get them back! The Witches usually kept to themselves, conspiring and creating powerful potions and spells, but once they left their island home…. Well, let’s just say you’d better not piss them off or you’d find yourself waking up in a dark forest alone and stripped of all magical items.
“ERSA, WAIT!” Terrin yelled as she ran out after her.
“STOP!” Ersa yelled casting the first spell that came to mind. She yelled in a language she didn’t recognize, but somehow knew she was saying something along the lines of “I banish my enemies.”
Two black and blue crystals flew out from her bracelet. The circled in front of her so fast they began to create a circle. As she kept chanting, she noticed the circle filling in with different patterns any symbols she didn’t recognize.
She chanted once more and between her hands exploded a blast of black and blue magic that circled around the smoke monster and the three Witches. Two Witches jumped through the portal with the black smoke monster just before Ersa’s spell completed.
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The final Witch wasn’t so lucky.
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The dark spell circled all around the Witch and closed in on her, trapping her before she stepped into the safety of her portal. As it closed in on her Ersa could feel the Witch’s life slipping and draining. She breathed heavily and felt herself growing more powerful as the witch’s life fed into her.
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“Ersa! Stop!” someone next to her pleaded.
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“Stop?” Ersa sneered, not losing focus as the Witch writhed in pain on the wet sand. “Why the hell should I?! It’s not like they’d show us the same mercy!”
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“That’s what set us apart from them,” she heard Hali’s calm but shaky voice next to her. “Ersa, please. Let her go. We have your team. That’s all we came for.”
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Ersa sighed and released the spell. Her stomach was instantly in knots at the thought of what she almost did.
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“Oh my gods.” She fell to her knees, staring at the ground.
She heard the Witch gasping for breath as someone trapped her in a magic cage. The Witch passed out after that.
Ersa stood shakily. What had just happened? It almost felt like she was… possessed with an uncontrollable desire for blood, death, and destruction.
She felt some blood trickle down her nose and over her lip. She pinched her nose and directed everyone to go back to the school.
Everyone from her team was there, still unconscious, but alive. They’d deal with the rest once they got back.
“Thank you.” Ersa whispered to Hali who nodded.
Whatever had just happened, Ersa prayed wouldn’t happen again.
(Chan)
Chan awoke to a burning in his throat and sting in his eyes. He fell out of bed and looked outside, coughing for clean air. Alteire was burning all around him, the flames threatening to engulf the entire city.
He ran down the stairs, heart racing as he called for his mom and grandma.
“Chan!” he heard someone call him. He turned and saw a face he had long forgotten. The kind amber eyes he shared with him. His thick, unruly hair had been recently shaved again, and stubble grew on his chin. He stood tall and proud in his uniform. There were bag dark circles under his eyes, but he could care less, so long as his friends and family were safe.
“J’kal?!” Chan cried and ran to his older brother’s side. “What’s happening?” he heard himself ask as he felt tears runs down his cheeks. “Where’s everybody else?” Why are you here? Chan asked himself. Why are you…
“Hurry, Chan!” J’kal grabbed his wrist. “We have to get out of here before they catch us!”
“Who?” Chan asked and ran with his brother. As they ran through the streets to try and get out of the city, the scenery got worse and worse. First, there were throdes of screaming and running people. Next came the bodies.
Chan stared horrified at all the bodies as he ran with J’kal. There was his school teacher, Ms. Tessa, her body bloodied and mangled in unnatural positions as one eye stared at nothing, the other hanging from a red, bloodied mass of tissue. ‘Round the corner was his friend’s father. Arms and legs gone, screaming for someone to kill him.
“Chan!” J’kal yelled from a distance. He’d been so distracted by all the death around him, he hadn’t noticed he’d been separated from J’kal.
Chan turned his head, heart beating wildly as he saw a dark monster with reddish eyes staring at him. No… Not again… Chan thought. He tried to move, tried to scream, tried to do anything, but his body was frozen. Frozen in place as is had been nearly a decade ago. The monster bared it’s fangs and rushed towards Chan.
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No! Chan tried to scream to J’kal. Stay away! He wanted so badly to yell at his brother.
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But it was too late. Chan watched the gruesome scene again. J’kal ran towards him, pushing him over as the monster lashed out. With one swipe of it’s powerful claws, J’kals arm was ripped clean off his body. Blood rained down on Chan as his brother cried out in pain.
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“Go!” he yelled. “Run away!” he yelled as he drank a potion he pulled from his pocket, a temporary seal forming over his severed arm.
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Chan tried to move, but he was frozen in place, just a scared, helpless little kid in the den of the monster.
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His brother unsheathed his sword and began to fight with all his strength. But the monster was too much for one man.
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J’kal lost his footing on the stone that was wet with his blood. The monster slashed at him again, his belly sliced open, guts spilling out like a pinata.
“Chan…” his brother looked at his, his amber eyes fading as the monster tore him open.
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Chan couldn’t move, he couldn’t breath, all he could do was watch his brother be eaten alive before him. Again. And again. And again.
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Someone, please help me. He pleaded. No matter how many times he’d relive this nightmare, he’d never be strong enough to save his brother. It was too late for J’kal.
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As Chan felt himself spiralling deeper and deeper into the nightmare, he heard his name in the distance.
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J’kal was calling him, but it wasn’t panicked as it had been. This time was softer, more welcoming. “Chan,” he called. Chan turned towards this J’kal and walked towards it. “Chan?” he kept hearing his name as he found himself walking through a tunnel made of dark wispy stones.
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As he exited, he felt as though a weight were being lifted from his body. He gasped and looked around. Ersa and Jet were sitting over him. Ersa held a damp washcloth on his forehead and sighed with relief. He slowly sat up, thankful his movements were his own again.
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“Thank the gods,” Jet sighed, and tried to stand. Her legs were unstable, and she fell immediately back down. “I’m so sorry, Chan.” Jet rubbed her temples.
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Chan looked around. They were still in their room everyone from Cardinal Equinox and Terrin Solstice were gathered around. In the doorway to the balcony, guarded by Akuma and Bellium was a woman gagged and bound with magic restraints.
“What happened?” he asked, his mouth dry. Ersa handed him a cup of water.
“We were waiting for you to explain,” Ersa looked at Jet. “Are you okay to tell them? Or do you want me to?”
Jet stood and walked to the middle of the room.
Everyone else looked just as bad and depressed as Chan felt. They were all in their own beds except for Ersa, Jet, and Serafina, who were playing nurse to everyone.
“We were all attacked by a skydd” Jet began. “The Witches of Mylocyta have been experimenting on them for centuries. They are rarely used, except in dire circumstances. We don’t like letting the outside world knowing how advanced our magical understanding has become.”
Jet looked uncomfortable as she continued. “I had one planted inside me before I left, unbeknownst to me. They come from Dimeria, a dark pocket dimension Witches created for all Witches to train and excel. Our lives aren’t as long as Elves or giants, so we had so compensate. Dimeria is as dangerous as it is helpful. Magic flows more freely there, both light and dark. Time moves completely differently here as well. It’s slowed down so Witches can train for hours in Dimeria and only a few minutes pass in real time. It messes with your psyche, however. Mortals can only handle about an hour before going insane.
She took a shaky breath and told her tale.
(Jet)
Jet looked around at the dark world around her. Everything looked normal; normal trees of Iilrona, the normal walls outside the school, only wispy and darker. Like someone kept taking fuzzy photos in bad lighting. This was the dark dimension Dimeria. It was where the subconscious of all Witches of Mylocyta Realm were sent to train from a young age. This dimension was meant for training at a fast, and often dangerous rate. Magic flowed more freely here than in the corporeal world. Time moved differently as well. It was much slower than the real world. You could train for hours and it only be a few minutes in real time. But that did weird things to your psyche that messed some Witches up forever. On average, only about an hour of real time could be spent in here. There was usually a sister with you when you trained to bring you back after an hour. Jet’s personal record was sixty-one minutes, not that she’d be able to brag anymore if she didn’t get out of here.
Something even more dangerous about the dimension was getting in and out. If you didn’t know how you got there, there’d be little to no possibility that you’d make it out.
Jet gasped as two cloaked figures approached her in the distance. Their hoods were down and when they got close enough, she lowered her head. “Sister El’nan. Sister Ambrose.” She greeted the two with caution. Her sisters should be on the other side of the world on Mylocyta Realm. Unless something bad was happening… or they were causing something bad…
On Mylocyta everyone referred to each other as sister unless you were a man. The only authority figure they had was Mother Cordell. She had been in charge of Mylocyta for nearly a decade, a longer span than most Witches. There were almost no men on the island, only women. Those who were there were treated poorly. The view of the Witches on Mylocyta was that all women were superior to men. Very few men were allowed to live and most would argue their existence wasn’t exactly “living.”
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Sister El’nan had been Jet’s senior in school by one year. And Sister Ambrose was an elderly sister Jet had only met in passing once or twice. Sister Ambrose had light blue greying hair and wrinkled soft brown eyes. She was once lovely, but the stress of having to teach young Witches had prematurely aged her.
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“Sister Jet.” They said simultaneously and bowed. Sister El’nan’s once long silky black hair was cut short, a sign that she had obtained her Aura Stone. Her emerald eyes locked with Jet’s magenta ones and a smirk played on her lips.
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“What’s going on sisters?” Jet asked, gesturing around her.
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“Like you don’t know.” Sister El’nan sneered.
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“Sister!” Sister Ambrose chastised.
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Jet looked between the two, guard up just in case.
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Sister Ambrose looked at her. “We’re here to take you back to Mylocyta. By force, if we must.”
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“What?!” Jet took a step back. “No! I’m not going back. Mother Cordell said-”
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“Mother Cordell is dead, gods be with her.” Sister El’nan signaled to wish her spirit a blessed passing to the afterlife.
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“… I…” Jet staggered backwards now, realization of the situation falling over her. “That… You…” she looked at Sister El’nan.
Sister El’nan smiled. “It’s true. I defeated the old hag, but it was not me who became the next Mother. It was Sister Umir. Now Mother Umir.” She smirked.
“No…” Jet shook her head at this, unbelieving the reality of what this meant.
Whenever a Witch was of age, she was required to fight the Mother in order to get her Aura Stone. She had one chance. To defeat her, either by killing or forcing her to yield. If the sister was defeated, she was disgraced and punishment was determined according to the Mother. A new Mother would arise every so often. Whenever the current Mother was killed or died, so the succession continued. The sister with the greatest magic was given the title of Mother. The process would then repeat itself over and over again as the years went on.
Sister El’nan was of age to fight for her Aura Stone. She had been infamous during school for leading things to bloody ends. Jet assumed Mother Cordell had been weakened before their fight, otherwise Sister El’nan would not have been victorious. Jet had sparred with the Mother herself several times before-as bonus practice since she was in favor of the Mother. She knew personally that Mother Cordell would not have been defeated by Sister Umir, of all people.
Mother Cordell had given her permission to leave Mylocyta and train at Nebulus University in Iilrona Realm, something no Witch had ever done before. Jet wanted very badly to become a Guardian and learn other ways of magic besides the Witch’s way. Now that Mother Cordell had died, she had to abide by the laws of Mother Umir.
“No!” she said more firmly. “I’m not going back with you sisters.” She crouched down, ready to fight. “I’ve chosen my path and I refuse to be sent back after I know there’s so much more out there than the island.”
Sister Ambrose’s soft eyes hardened. “I didn’t want to do this, but you leave us no choice…” she took off her cloak to reveal her combat outfit.
“Sister Ambrose,” Sister El’nan looked at her, dropping her own cloak. “Shall we…?” she grinned maliciously.
Sister Ambrose nodded and she and Sister El’nan rushed at Jet at the same time.
Jet cast a shield spell that encased her in a black bubble.
Her sisters’ attacks slid off easily enough, but she knew there was way more where that came from.
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Jet grabbed her hurt arm. Even though this was all in an alternate dimension and her arm wouldn’t be bleeding when she got out, she knew it’d still hurt like Hell.
“Just give in!” Sister El’nan laughed hysterically. “Let us take you back alive and save us some fucking paperwork.” She leered and cast a spell. A huge lime green crystal dragon appeared behind her, her most powerful move. “Crystal Dragon Breath!” she yelled, dragon flying towards Jet.
“NEVER!” Jet yelled.
She knew this was her sister’s best move. Now was the time to experiment with magic far beyond her normal reach.
She waved her hands quickly in a fast spell. She let the words come to her. “Glass of Obsidian.” She whispered, feeling like this was a more intimate attack spell than what she wanted, but going with it.
She let the magic flow through her as an Obsidian, glass, and core crystal exited her pouch.
In the blink of an eye, the crystals all fused and thrust into the ground, creating a huge black circle on the ground around Jet.
As the crystal dragon flew towards her, the black around Jet shot up. Hundreds of spikes flew towards the dragon.
As the two magics clashed, a huge explosion erupted, blasting Jet’s consciousness back to the real world.
“After that I woke up back here with Serafina and Ersa leaning over me.” Jet finished. “This Witch is Sister Vedia, a Witch a few years younger than me. That skydd was meant for me. You all were just caught up in it’s powerful effects.”
Chan sat in awkward silence with everyone else for a few moments before anyone reacted.
“Wow.” Lux finally spoke up, sparking everyone back to life.
“Are they still after you?” Chan asked.
Jet nodded her head, tears brimming her eyes. “If I had just stayed in Mylocyta…” she shook her head. “No. The Eleven have sealed Mother Cordell’s fate. There’s no time to mourn the dead.” she looked at Chan with fire in her eyes. “The Witches of Mylocyta are coming for me. We need to warn the Headmaster.”
“Too late.” Serafina pointed out the window. Sister Vedia grinned maliciously as they all stepped outside.
“What?!” Ersa ran out to the balcony. “Shit shit shit.” She muttered.
Everyone else crowded out on the balcony as the Witches floated in the air outside the castle on their broomsticks. Even though travel by broomstick was so last century, it was one of the traditions that didn’t die with the new Era, much to Jet’s dismay. It was so cliché. That’s why she’d left hers back in Mylocyta.
“STUDENTS OF NEBULUS UNIVERSITY!” a Witch above shouted out using a spell that made her voice be heard all over the campus. “I am Sister Moor’ah of the Mylocyta Witches Coven. I speak for all Witches when I ask you kindly to give us our sisters back. Sister Jet who wrongly left Mylocyta Realm and Sister Vedia who was wrongfully taken from us.”
Ersa opened her mouth to retort when Jet beat her to it. “WE WILL GIVE YOU SISTER VEDIA IF YOU WOULD KINDLY FUCK OFF!” Jet yelled up at them.
“Ah, Sister Jet.” Sister Moor’ah flew around the school to her. “My how I’ve missed that brooding attitude of yours.” She smiled and licked her lips, a weird habit Sister Moor’ah had. She’d been the number two Witch in Jet’s class before she left. She had long thick coral hair and soft curls that framed her voluptuous body and hugged her curves in a way that made her look even more seducing. Her sky blue eyes were squinted nearly shut, which made her constantly look like she wanted to do naughty things to you.
“Sister Moor’ah.” Jet stood her ground. “I’m not going back with you.”
“Still, we need sister Vedia.” Sister Moor’ah’s ever-present smile faded quickly, meaning business.
Terrin brought her out. Sister Vedia ran to Sister Moor’ah crying. Sister Moor’ah shared her broom with her and patted her blonde head comfortingly.
Jet stared at Sister Moor’ah, the two silently challenging each other.
“You know we have orders…” Sister Moor’ah squinted harder.
Jet nodded. “And I have an even more interesting proposition than your orders.”
Sister Moor’ah’s smile was instantly back. “Oh, really?” she grinned, leaning closer.
Jet told her proposition loud enough for everyone to hear. “WHEN I COME OF AGE, I WILL FIGHT THE MOTHER FOR MY AURA STONE AS ALL OF US MUST,” she began. “BUT AS AN ADDED MEASURE I WILL FIGHT ANY SISTER OR MAN WHO DESIRES DURING MY TRIAL. ALL I ASK IN RETURN IS THAT YOU ALLOW ME TO TRAIN HERE AT NEBULUS UNIVERSITY UNTIL THEN. SHOULD I FAIL, I WILL RETURN TO MYLOCYTA AND RECEIVE WHATEVER PUNISHMENT THE MOTHER DESIRES.” The Witches all looked at each other and conversations flared up amongst the ranks.
“Hear that, Mother Umir?” Sister Moor’ah looked behind her as Mother Umir floated up, making Jet’s heart race.
Mother Umir was a tall, strong woman, no more than 30. She had shaved her head as a sign she was the new Mother and her dark skin shone in the sunlight. Her toothy grin made Jet shudder internally as their eyes locked.
“I accept those ridiculous terms, Sister Jet.” Mother Umir grinned. “There’s a looooooong list of sisters who’d just love to have a crack at you. You’ve dug your own grave here.”
“We’ll see whose grave I’ve dug in a few years.” Jet glared back, a fire rising up in her. Mother or not, how dare she try and force Jet into submission! Fucking bitch.
Mother Umir’s grin faded and she turned to the Witches. “BACK TO OUR PORTAL, LADIES. WE’RE GOIN’ HOME.”
Amber gave a small cry of relief behind Jet when the last Witch finally disappeared.
Almost immediately, everyone’s phones buzzed, calling Jet and all of Cardinal Equinox into Headmaster Damocles’ office.