CHAPTER TWO

Kharis stared outside the window with a white mask held tightly in her hands. Her mind seemed to wander as her eyes grew dull. The mask was an extremely beautiful piece, adorned with gold designs around its edges.

There were only dense forests with tall trees surrounding the castle as far as the eye could see but her eyes seemed to be lost in them. She heard the screams and saw the bloody scenes as they replayed in her mind. The war had scarred her more than she was ever willing to admit and those scars never faded, they could only be forcefully forgotten. War was just pointless murder in the end.

She had killed many because of the orders of one man without realising the kind of man she fought for. Her grip on the mask tightened as she allowed the memories to flood her mind.

"My lady"

She felt the presence of her guardian knight behind her, she had grown to like the odd knight after spending many years with her.

"I knocked but you didn't answer"

"You did?" The knight nodded affirmatively 

"I was a bit distracted so I guess I didn't notice it"

Kharis tore her gaze away from the forest and turned around. Her eyes finally landing on the green-eyed brunette.

"So what's the matter, Aria"

"You haven't had breakfast yet"

Kharis sighed before speaking 

"I'm not really hungry today"

The knight's familiar green eyes appeared a bit worried. 

"Lady kharis, you also skipped dinner last night"

"You have to eat something"

Aria spoke in a firm tone, her determination evident in her expression. Her lady often skipped meals but two meals in a row was enough for her to worry so she was determined to convince her to eat something this time.

"Just a bite would do"

Kharis saw the unwavering determination and knew that it would be pointless to refuse since her knight would only keep trying to convince her. Although, she didn't have any appetite, she was in no mood to have her ears filled with endless nagging. Aria would always berate her whenever she attempted to skip a meal.

"Alright then"

"Have them bring it up"

"Of course my lady"

Aria left to do as ordered, allowing kharis to finally return to her wandering thoughts.

She walked towards a couch in the room with the mask still in hand, the couch was comfortable but she didn't feel even an ounce of comfort. As fancy as this castle was, it was still nothing more than a prison in the middle of no where, a golden cage meant to trap a wingless bird. 

She looked at the mask in her hand, rubbing her thumb against its edges. She hated the mask but she couldn't throw away the momento even if she wanted to because she was still a trapped bird who was being forced to obey the orders of its master. That was all she had ever known.

"My lady, here is your meal"

She watched Aria carefully place the tray of food on the table in front of her.

"Thank you"

She realised that she was truly a bit distracted today as she had failed to notice the knight's presence, she didn't even know exactly when Aria walked in.

"My lady"

"What is it, Aria"

Kharis wasn't the only one to notice how distracted she was.

"Are you alright?"

Aria had always sensed that her lady was a bit detached, her eyes were never bright but they seemed a lot duller than usual.

"Why do you ask"

"You seem a bit different today and you don't usually try to skip two meals in a row"

Kharis smiled in hopes of easing her knight's worries but it only seemed to aggravate them since smiles were never meant to be so sad. 

"I'm fine, you don't have to worry"

"I wasn't worrying"

"Are you sure about that, Aria"

Kharis laughed a little, the knight didn't exactly succeed in hiding the nervousness in her expression.

"You are so cute sometimes"

She felt the mood lighten a bit after laughing.

"How long have you been here, Aria"

Aria took a moment to look through her memories before responding.

"About eight years I think"

Kharis sighed but the smile never left her lips

"It has been so long already"

"Yes my lady"

Eight years was definitely a long time but it didn't seem like it was to the both of them.

"You haven't changed a lot since then"

Aria put on a smile of her very own as her eyes seemed to look into the past. 

"But you haven't changed at all my lady"

"I guess it would seem that way"

"You still haven't changed your old habit of calling me lady though"

"I never planned on changing that"

"Of course you didn't"

Kharis could feel herself going further down her pool of memories. 

"I just keep remembering the past today" her voice was barely above a whisper.

"My lady?"

"It's nothing"

She observed that the knight wasn't moving an inch from where she stood after delivering the food.

"Don't you have other duties, Aria"

"Of course I do but my top priority is to make sure you eat"

"When did I say I wasn't going to eat"

Aria knew exactly who her mistress was, a figure that had once brought fear to the the entire continent with the mere mention of her name. Long white hair flowing with the wind that closely resembled fresh show but that wasn't her most notable feature, it was her eyes that really struck fear in the hearts of anyone who saw them. One was red like the purest of rubies and the other was golden with a shine that put actual gold bars to shame. Her face was always carefully hidden behind a white mask so her eyes were the only thing you could see that was how those that met her and were lucky enough to survive it described her when they shared their stories. 

The white witch earned her name from her long white hair and the white cloak she always wore, it was never stained by a drop of blood even as she massacred thousands. Her magic was a miracle all on it's own but not many had ever seen it in it's full glory and survived to tell the tale. She was so powerful that her enemies could already see their deaths as soon as she appeared on the battlefield. To them, she was an angel of death rather than a mage, the blood she had spilled earned her the title of a witch. The soldiers could never forget her red and golden eye as she brought a chaotic rain of blood under the mask even in death.

Many wondered what she really looked like underneath the mask. Some rumours said she was an extremely beautiful woman while others said she was an old witch but the truth was that she was a true beauty to behold. Aria had been absolutely stunned on their first meeting, she had to slowly get used to it but still found herself awestruck more times than she could count. Apart from her beauty, she had noticed other things about the lady she was tasked with serving. A dark shadow always hung around her and her eyes were always dull even when she laughed. She never talked about the war or her life before that, she never explained how the powerful white witch had ended up in a lonely castle surrounded by a barrier. Aria had chosen not to ask but she couldn't help but notice the shadow of regret and anguish that lurked around her lady.

Kharis had walked a bloody path as the white witch, she hadn't cared if the side she was fighting for was the right one, she only obeyed the man who she thought had reached out to her when she had no one and fought alongside him regardless of the horrors he made her commit. She sometimes wondered if all the people she had killed deserved for their lives to end the way it did, she was sure not all of them did. After all, who could blame them for simply trying to fight for their homes and families. She had fought for him but only received betrayal in return and was confined to this place. He didn't fear her but he feared her power because he was a greedy man who wanted nothing but control and she was a threat to that control. She only realised it when it was too late.

The powerful white witch with unmatched magical abilities that could never be compared to any other including the Circe family that was said to have been blessed with magical abilities by Lumos. Although, they were no more than the first sacrifices in the war, they were a powerful family of magicians before their destruction. 

Kharis was only left with a bloody past as a reminder. The massive amount of magic power in her blood brought her to the line between mortality and immortality, slowing her aging by an incredible amount. Theoretically, it was impossible for a normal human to contain that much magic power but those rules some how didn't apply to her since she was never truly a normal human to begin with. It didn't matter to her though as what may have been a blessing to others was nothing but a curse to her, it only meant that she had to bear the regret for a long time. Regret was all that was left of the grand tale of the white witch.

Kharis found it hard to eat her food but with the sharp eyes boring into her skull, she wasn't given much of a choice in the matter. She glanced at the mask one last time before pushing all the memories aside.

"Aria could you help me return this"

"Of course my lady"

She handed the mask to Aria to be returned to where it was taken from.

She had to stop thinking about the past and look towards the future that seemed to be grow even more dangerous as time passed. Grisha Andrius had yet to satisfy his never ending greed and with the position she was in right now, she was nothing but a puppet. The other thing that worried her was the sorceress by his side, she didn't have a good feeling about her and also didn't trust her. It didn't make sense that a sorceress would willingly work for Andrius no matter the benefits involved but Grisha was much too blinded by his greed to see it.

Kharis raised her hand, willing the magic circle on her palm to appear. She looked at the silver magic circle for only a moment before just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.