I knew she said she was working with the Minister of Defence as she mentioned it the last time we talked to each other, but I had assumed that it was only a show... something to go along with her act of being an Arcane Witch.
“Your job, guarding the Catalyst Witch- was your only ticket into becoming a full-fledged Arcane Witch,” the minister shook his head in disappointment, “and yet you blew it spectacularly by losing track of her.”
Catalyst Witch... there it was again.
It was the same term Ryia used to refer to me before.
Instantly I knew they were talking about me.
Her job was to guard me. But why did she need to guard me?
Ryia’s jaw visibly tensed.
“Did you recall her memories before you performed the ritual?” his unfeeling tern eyes did not leave her for a moment.
“I did. As usual, we talked about what happened during the whole year before I proceeded with the ritual. It helped me determine which part of her memories needs to change in order for me to perform.”
As usual?
Does it mean the fond sisterly look she gave me while we chatted about the things that happened were just a part of her yearly prep routine for the ritual?
Was there ever a genuine thing she did for me?
“And the ritual?”
“It went smoothly.”
The older man cocked an eyebrow, not convinced with her immediate answer.
“Are you sure? There must have been a slip on your side that made her run away.”
“No, sir. I believe someone took her. The broken back door is evidence of this,” this time, she is staring back at him.
“So, you believe she still doesn’t know anything?” his eyes narrowed on her as though trying to shovel its way into her soul and strip away the fluff to find the truth.
“Yes. I wiped her memories clean. Nothing in her memory of last year was deemed worthy of being retained.”
Well, excuse me.
She didn’t consider any of my memories to be important, so she erased them all?
Well, perfect fake sister, you bloody well failed this time!
The tears welled up in my eyes and threatened to fall.
I didn’t want to seem weak, especially when I had already suspected that her lies were greater than I could imagine.
I should’ve known the truth would be a bitter pill to swallow.
She obviously has no idea that there was a glitch in the ritual.
I can still remember how surprised I was to get an invitation to a grand ball for the first time, and how horrifying it was to be in that ritual circle.
If this explains what Ryia has been doing to me, he still has to answer for what he did at the ball.
“Then can you explain to me,” my eyes were, again, on the screen, “why she’s still missing?”
Ryia’s hands closed into a fist. I can tell she’s struggling to keep up her defence in the situation.
“I am doing my best to figure it out. I have already alerted all the Guardian Witches around to find any signs of her and instructed them to report to me as soon as she’s found.”
So, she had been looking for me. If only it were for the right reason.
“The current circumstance just shows how you and the likes of you are very much incompetent. A Guardian Witch like you should know better than to take her eyes off her subject. What was the whole point of putting you beside her to act as her sister when you don’t do your damn job?”
Well, that just about confirms it, doesn’t it?
She was not my sister.
She was only a Guardian Witch tasked with guarding me for a reason unknown to me.
My heart sank.
The person I’ve highly respected and highly regarded had neither the respect nor regard for me.
It was all just an elaborate lie.
A loud crashing sound interrupted my brooding, and I looked up to see that Lili had taken her anger out on the poor vase that sat at the top of our coffee table.
When did she get home?
“That damn rat. How dare she go missing at a time like this!”
At that moment, I realized that I was blinded by the pretentious sisterly act she put up in front of me my entire life. This woman on the screen before me is nothing like the Ryia Alwyn I know.
That Ryia Alwyn is a mask.
Now that the mask has cracked, I can clearly see what lies beneath it. A vile, soulless woman with no love in her heart for me.
I’ve been a fool all along.
Just as quickly as the “show” started, it ended, and a blank white screen stood before me as silence dominated the room.
“What’s your purpose? Why did you let me see this?” My swollen eyes glared hard at him.
I’m done playing around with the mind games. There’s got to be a bigger picture, and I think I have the right to know what it is.
The sympathetic gaze he returned was not at all what I was expecting to see from him. It made me even more uneasy than I was before.
“I cannot tell you everything at once, my dear Liliwen. It’s too soon for you to know the whole truth,” he said as his eyes held my gaze, “But I believe that something you must know is that... you’ve been living in lies.”
There was no denying what I had seen with my own eyes.
In frustration, I clasped the coffee-coloured fabric of the perfectly fitting silk pants he let me borrow.
“I said ‘lies’ because they’ve already fed you with countless. Every year, during your birthday, they’ve invaded the planes of your mind. Through and through, they’ve violated your memories to repress the real ones.”
How can this possibly be?
I could feel my cheeks dampening under the torrent from my eyes. Everything I knew... everything I thought I knew was all just a show, but to what end? What reason could anyone have to take such extreme measures to abuse the mind of a useless witch?
“They’ve shaken your core: your photographic memory. That was the one thing that kept them from manipulating you. Unfortunately,” his eyes turned to the floor as if there was something there that needed to be looked at, “they got away with it. They had full control of you all those years...until now.”
I still didn’t understand what he was saying.
“The mind of a Catalyst Witch has a tough barrier to break. It’s to protect the only gift they possess.”
I have a gift?
A gift that was taken away from me by Ryia?
He continued, “The only possible reasons they got through to you are simple. Either you let them, or a powerful being was involved.”
Why in the world would I let anyone take away the only good thing that I’ve got?
I’m sure he has no clue what it’s like being a powerless witch. The two things did not go together in any way. A witch without powers is merely mortal, and nobody volunteers to be that.
Bran grabs my attention again, “although, I have to admit that I’ve been a complicit all this time due to the coven’s strict requirement of compliance,” he scoffed with a tinge of self-mockery in his tone.
The confession confused me.
“Then, why are you telling me this now?”
His lips pulled into another mysterious grin, “Someone just had enough of it and told me to do something.”
I clumsily wiped the tears from my face with the sleeve of the white cotton shirt I’m wearing. It’s as if I needed to clear my vision in order to get what he meant entirely.
“Who?”
The grin grew wider, “Someone who’s not the coven obviously.”
A face appeared in my mind.
It was the face of the man who had whispered a confession to me while I was still unconscious.
I can still hear his words in my mind as clear as day.
“I am your benefactor.”
Chapter 3
Blood and Moon
Bran was considerate enough to let me return to my room after the enlig
htening film show in the theatre room.
What do I do now?
They’ve been calling me the Catalyst Witch, and I still don’t know what that means.
I’ve been here for five days. The stillness of this place, despite lots of things going on within its ancient walls, has at least given me a ground to stand on.
I cannot understand the familiarity of its embraces, like a mother holding her child in her arms. But to the best of my knowledge, I’d never set a foot inside this mansion before the grand ball. Still, in the short time I’ve been here, I found myself feeling oddly at home.
The thought of home brought my mind to the place I once called home. The one where the woman is pretending to be my family is busy plotting out ways to find me.
Catching a glimpse of the true nature of her heart, I have no idea what to expect if she does find me.
I may not have left off my own volition, but do I even want to go back there?
Do I want to see her?
To talk to her?
Perhaps, I still have this attachment to her as part of the spell she cast upon me. It may even be the lasting effect of her sisterly pretence.
I want to seek answers from her. No, I am just about angry enough to demand answers.
Bran mentioned the coven required him to go along with it.
Why does the coven have me guarded?
Why was it important that I don’t keep my memories?
The Guardian Witch Ryia was heavily reprimanded for losing sight of me. The Minister of Defense wanted to keep me under their watch, but why?
Why does a person of high position, let alone someone who’s in charge of this country’s safety, have me under surveillance?
They even went through the lengths of putting a fake sister assigned to me.
Is lying to me, really a matter of national security?
Nobody seems to want to answer my questions. Bran knows a lot but refuses to tell me everything.
If the barrier of my mind was supposed to be tough, how did they get to me?
My mind drifted until, in an instant, I felt the earth shift, and the crescent moon turned upside down.
The light of the room dimmed to darkness. All of a sudden, I couldn’t move my body.
Voices started to echo in the room.
“Are you sure about this?”
It was a male voice. I recognised it immediately as Bran’s. But there was obvious worry in his tone, something very uncharacteristic of him.
I could hear him from where the vanity mirror should be. When did he enter the room?
“Yes. I’m more than ready to do it,”
That voice... that woman... she sounds exactly like me.
I tried to speak up, but some unseen force had sealed my lips.
It must be someone with the same voice. Mine is not really that unique.
“Don’t give me that smile. It won’t give me any kind of reassurance.” Bran said to the woman. His concern and affection are unmistakable.
“Oh, Bran. This must be done for our plans to progress.”
The voice that was oddly similar to mine sounded soft and overly familiar as she talked to Bran.
“Do you realize how much of this would affect me?” there was a pang in my heart when I heard the hurt in his voice.
“I’m sorry. I know well how this will hurt you, but I have to do this,” there was an unbreakable determination in her tone.
Whoever it is that had my voice, she had a steel resolve that wouldn’t budge. There’s no talking her out of what she’s about to do.
Whoever she is...I wish I were her.
“If I don’t give them what they want now, they will soon figure out everything we’ve worked hard for. We can’t have that. You’ve been doing your part, Bran. And this is me doing mine.”
No one spoke for a couple of minutes. I could only hear light footsteps toward the door until...
“How about him?”
The footstep suddenly halted.
Bran sounded desperate for an answer.
The woman was quiet for a few minutes, but when she spoke, her voice was ladened with sadness.
“Just like everyone else...he will do his part,” the door squeaked open, and the footsteps were gone in an instant.
The door shut closed with a loud thud, and the world moved again, putting everything back into place. I could feel a sensation return to my limbs so, I jolted from the bed and looked to where Bran should be.
No one was there.
You are steadily losing your mind Ryia.
The light returned to its normal brightness, and the bedroom was as eerily still.
Did I just imagine all that?
All the years of abuse, my head might be finally starting to give in to the trauma.
The rap of the knock on the door startled me, but the request from whoever was on the other side of the door did not.
“Ms Alwyn, Sir Bran has requested your presence in the dining hall” the voice sounded like it came from a very straight-laced man. It must be Zoren; he somehow seemed to be the only butler in this enormous mansion. How he managed to run such a tight ship is beyond me.
I was still trying to pull myself together from my momentary loss of sanity.
“Y-yeah. I’ll be there.”
Sanity would have to wait.
When I hear the butler’s steps fading away, my eyes wandered to the area of the room from where the voices were coming.
Maybe it was just a dream. I might’ve drifted to sleep without realizing it. That would make a lot more sense.
Gosh! I really wish something would. Nothing has made sense to me in a matter of days, and it is wearing on my soul.
I straightened the creases of my shirt formed by the hours of lying on the bed.
Leaving the room, I tried to come up with different logical excuses to myself as to why I overheard such a conversation.
It must be the stress. I mean technically, I did just die. I think that counts as a stressful event, no?
Still, even as I tried to rationalize away the madness of what I was sure I had imagined, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the conversation included me. That it had happened at some point in my life, and it’s a part of the things I’ve lost.
THE LONG DINING TABLE was laid with a full course meal; More than enough for the number of seats available.
Different kinds of soup and salads laid to the table. Zoren brought another trolley filled with trays and plates of dishes I had only seen for the first time.
This is not dinner!. This is a feast!
Bran was already seated with a goblet of red wine in his hands. He’s decked out in a black long-sleeved shirt that only emphasized his pale skin. A ruby ring glimmers in his finger as he elegantly holds the stem of the glass.
Across from him, a man wearing a plain grey t-shirt looked bored as his eyes reached the window at the end of the hall, where the moon was rising steadily. He is probably Dain, the werewolf in his human form.
Zoren, in his usual crisp butler’s uniform, suddenly appeared beside me. He gave me a quick bow and gestured for me to follow him. I followed as he guided me to the middle seat in between the two guys who came before me.
“Oh, good. You’re here! I thought you’re going to let us wait and starve to death,” Bran’s teeth seemed particularly sharp tonight as he grinned at me.
I could only stare at him as I sat on the grand dining seat that I think is supposed to be for the master of the mansion.
I haven’t seen him. Where is he?
Despite logic or reason, I couldn’t help but blush as awkwardness overtook me. I felt as though I had eavesdropped into a conversation earlier, and I could barely make eye contact with Bran now.
Just who is this guy?
He’s enveloped with an air of mystery and a cloak of deception. Right when you think you’ve figured him out, he goes ahead and proves you wrong.
Well, what has he done other than appeared in a dream?
&
nbsp; My thoughts were silenced by his sudden interjection, “Isn't this lovely? Sharing a meal with both of you is quite a joy.”
Even I can tell that he’s not truly delighted. I don't know why he bothers to pretend like he’s enjoying our company.
Bran continued to chatter away even though I haven’t responded with more than mere empathetic grunts. Dain, however, was completely silent and wasn't even touching the boiled vegetables on his plate. I have never met a werewolf who had an appetite for anything other than meat, let alone vegetables.
“Bran...” his deep voice was menacing. It was heavy with repulsiveness to the name he had spoken. It sounded like a quiet rage.
“Hmm?” the man to my right smiled in a sing-song voice.
“I am going to kill you,” the dead seriousness in his tone sent shivers down my spine.
I gripped the fork and the bread knife in my hands tightly in an effort to calm my trembling hands.
But Bran didn’t seem to be even slightly bothered. “Oh, my. How harsh. Can't you see we’re in front of food? That’s very rude of you.”
“Food? How can you call this food? Who the heck serves werewolf vegetables? I'm no freaking vegetarian!” Dain shouted in an outburst.
The annoyed man continued, “And besides, you're not even eating this food! You're only drinking blood!”
Blood?
I whip my head around to stare wide-eyed at Bran, who was so casually sipping what I thought this entire time was a red wine from his goblet glass. He returned my shocked expression with a knowing grin and raised his glass at me.
"Y-you're a vampire?" I could hear my voice starting to panic.
“How lovely. You've only realized it now. It seems I'm pretty good at blending in with humans,” he said as he finished his bloody drink.
My muscles tensed. I've heard of vampires but have never encountered one personally. To think I've been with one all along, I couldn't bear to think about how casually I had treated a blood-sucking being. Weren’t we just alone only a few hours ago.
A loud bang on the table had me turning to face Dain. He was standing with a visibly annoyed look. His steps were soundless as he left the dining room, and for a moment, I wondered if perhaps Zoren would go after him.
“Don't worry about him. He won't starve to death. He'll look for food on his own,” Bran remained unbothered. He went on to his “dinner,” pouring red liquid into his goblet glass from a brandless bottle.
Arcane Witch's Powers: Short Stories - Witch's Cursed Circle Series Page 2
