Chapter one: the warm embrace of hope and desolation

Deep inside the forest or the forest of the Damned as the villager's came to call it, a feeble footstep wandered deeper into this godforsaken place that was feared and loathed in equal measure.

Few people tried to pry into this forest of the unknown with stories from aeon's told of tales, warning to mortal men, concerning these mysterious monsterous creatures that roamed it,devouring anything and anyone that had the gall to show their teeth to them, and as years flew off, like migratory birds, with the crown trading heads, nothing of sort could've been unthinkable to the people of Aldia . Their forefathers had seen and heard the screams and groans of village folks been tore to shreds...it mightn't have been more of a myth as much but in this kingdom ,of Aldia, there was another different kind of monster that centuries ago roamed through the day, night and flew above the clouds with their terrifying screams as they cast their devilish deeds unswayed by the misfortune that they brought down up on the young and old alike. They were the frightful and demonic of their kind,the witches.

The feeble footsteps continued to wander deeper and deeper into these feared forest as the fog grew all more denser, cloaking the forest murky, hence making discerning a bush for a preying beast all the more harder,but the mysterious person,unflinched,trod more deeper holding onto something of importance.

Gnarling trees creaked agonizingly,the crickets chirped noisily while the beasts of the forest growled thunderously deafening the mere crickets racket . Now the fear of the forest was growing intolerable at every passing second, even to men with hearts of stones, they would have quivered in fear, but there she was, an old granny , with no shred of doubt, feared nothing not the vicious beasts nor the devil himself.

As the cold chilly fog slapped her face unmercifully,her face was surprisingly brimming with a hint of love and regret . The love was for the child she held in her arms,innocent and beautiful,that she had to do the unthinkable,that even in death, it would kill her.

The child was nicely swaddled in old but warm shawls,with it's name woven on them and the sweet smile it gave to this old woman were like daggers,stabbing her very soul out of her but also comforting to her old self. She was dying, in flesh and soul. She was anguishing in the unchangeable fate and the warmth of someone as innocent as it,and at a few distance away, there she saw a safe place to lay it.

Thick bushes surrounded the safe haven on where she had feverishly decided to wager on.The old granny, only after having taken a good look around the said safe haven, heavy heartedly ,reassured herself that it was for the best to part ways there and then, for the journey they had taken together was thus coming to an end.

And she begun to sing, forking out thousand of years old songs to the child who couldn't understand a word of it,but she gladly sang the tale of a gallant Hero who once fought a dragon,and it's rider, that posed to burn his kingdom to oblivion and with his mighty sword slew the terrifying dragon along with it's rider, and there saving his kingdom from a certain peril, as his countrymen who had once loathed him came to revere him, and she continued narrating the nail biting tales quietly and soothingly.

Distraught, she cautioned it...

"oh, child of fire and ice for you, who smiles and laughes unknowingly of the perils that lurks around, or knows the love or the warm embrace of a mother nor the safety of the father for you, child of the rising sun and the dreaded shivering nights, need not worry no more but wish for a quick painless death that leaves no scars but be hopeful for a miracle in this desolate hell; how I wish I had milk in this aged breasts of mine for you to suckle, "vehemently she spoke, "to at least have had a mother's love, to at least have held a mother's hand. "

It was quiet, presumably drowning into those words. It yawned. Yet it was neither hungry nor thirsty but longing for something else... it was yearning for a mother . Of a mother it knew nothing of, like any orphaned child it just yearned.. while also craving for a warm place to call home. It yearned to be loved."You yearn for it too?! " exclaimed the old granny, "the affection of those dearest to you but bear with it child, for only the gods, if they are any, knows where your longing will be fulfilled. You must survive today and tomorrow in these treacherous times. You must survive to find your place in this world."

Slowly and calmly, she gently let her grip loose on it, placing it on the wet ground. "We part ways here O child,may the spirits of the old times take pity on you " She trembled on her way back as it broke into tears, crying deafeningly,as it sought the attention of its wielder, for solace and warmth. The night was nigh and soon beasts of prey would be coming out of there lairs, smelling and craving for blood.

It continued to cry.It cried for many things but they were not to be heard.She went on ,wishing not to turn back her face, for she was weak,both in heart and flesh, to deny the calls of a weeping child.

As she heavy heartedly walked away from it,her body was withering. Her vitality was slowly fading away, her last breath was near. She saw death as an escape from the world she once treasured but somehow she would have been forgiven if she would've wished to live a little longer. Not out of her own sake or the world's either but for the child she had forsaken all alone to die. It continued crying even from a far as she feebly walked away from it, giving her best not to be swayed by the child's sobbing.

As she walked, seeking a good place for herself to die ,she couldn't make out much, despite having a good memory of the paths, amidst the cloaking fog. At a distance away, she hear some noisy rumbling, that sounded like a roaring waterfall. It grew deafening as she came closer and closer to it. And there, wreathed in a moonlight, the tall waterfall roared all more deafeningly than before.

This might be a great place to die, she thought hearkenly . As she walked away from the darkness behind her, to the light that was calling out her name,"Margery !Margery !".She had lost her purpose for living,she was hopeless to the saving of the world she sought to depart from and here it was,the fall,her deathbed, that she hoped for, slowly as it hypnotized her along, meticulously to her destined death. Margery was her name. With the little light from the dimming moon shining on her, it revealed her state of well-being. Her body was gowned in a ragged frock as were her torn leather shoes. She had a grey hooded cloak, torn as well, covering her head. Her face was full of wrinkles ,a sign that she had lived "fruitful" years, with her eyes brown in colour,her skin dry and gnarly.

Here, the beasts growls were all but drowned by the majestic waterfall bursting force. Margery calmly walked towards the cliffs perch, and on reaching it,she stood there, gazing into nothingness,at the slippery cliff of the waterfall, ready to end it all, now unmoved by the child's pleading cries resonating deep within her faint beating heart.

On this place,was where her end was to be fulfilled. She had lived her life as they seen fit. It was a life well lived? In her last moments, of her soon to end existence,she begun to reminiscing of her childhood days.

"It was about three centuries ago , that a maiden bore a child, a baby girl, in a village where only women resided. There, they'll lived in harmony away from barbaric men who sought not peace but merely the destruction of their kind. These women were not like any other ordinary women from the four kingdoms. For all born from them came to be known as witches. Despised and abhorred, for they were seen as an embodiment of evil. In the great war of centuries ago, they were hunted down for existing in the same world as with the humans. That wasn't until they had been chased off from their only known homes to the safety of the forest, seeking its refuge.

"It was a peaceful village and peace itself they treasured. There home,full of life and rich in food,was truly a safe haven, came to be known as Agaatha . Since birth,they were taught to look out for themselves in all endeavours, from building cottages to protecting themselves against those who posed malicious intentions on them

Margery, like her peers, was blessed with abundant Magic .Magic was everywhere,in the beasts that roamed the forest, to the soil that bore them their food and the rivers that blessed them with water for farming and drinking. There,they lived alongside forest's rich magic. Margery was able to harness that rich endowed magic around her.

While there,they continued to hone their magical prowess, while seeking their mothers approving nod,yet still they were distance away from becoming full fledged witches. As years passed by, Margery prowess in magic soon begun to flourish , slowly surpassing all her peers, young and old,and on their sixteenth year,they were eventually bestowed with a familiar of their own.

They were creatures born of a witches magic, those born of hate were unfathomable and those born of love were the comforters of the weak. With them, they became the anchors to witches willingly to share their magic. Familiars held the balance of their Master's world and theirs. They became one. A familiar and it's Master's shared one tongue and mind. They became more and more entwined to the length that they shared each others joy, pain and hate;a familiar was subject to it's Master, ready to sacrifice itself. It lacked self will, chained by its iron oath..."

And here she was, gazing at the flowing river, standing unfazed,on the falls cliff, with shortness of breath,as she slowly felt the little magic she had left draining out or rather drying out. She remembered again how much she had been loved and how strong she had been hated. They had feared them and had continued to abhor them out of spite, even as years turned another cloak over,and years turned into centuries,their spite and fear of them never seemed close to be dying out.

This pain will soon be over ; she heartfully reassured herself . Suddenly,tears begun to flow out from her hollowed wallowing eyes and the despair of having lived three centuries full of misery were more than she could bear but the solace that she had for long desired was within her reach. Just a push over the cliff, and the peace she once sought for was within her grasp. Her tears, full of desolation and pain, had at least found joy in her old years. For she had seen and held a beautiful bundle in her withering hands.

As the tears soon begun to dry up, so was her life.Its cries echoed within her faint beating heart, and her heart grew heavier with regret, so was her smile beginning to blossom,like the blossoming of water lilies."Good bye Maalekk". Margery, was her name, a righteous woman to the very end, let go of her dying body,she was... or rather she had found her peace at last.

Back at the abandoned child,it had yet to cease crying as it threw its small clenched fist,onto unseen foe, punching the fog asunder. The fog was now spreading throughout the forest, while maliciously stealing the abandoned child's waning warmth.

Out of a sudden, the ground begun to tremble as though a thousand war breed horses were galloping towards a battlefield. The earth was shaking and the crickets instantly ceased their chirping. A predator was approaching. It was approaching fast and towards the direction of it.In the thick trees,emerged a dire wolf, as big as a full grown deer. It had black fur, with a scar on its muzzle and gashes on its body.

The child,now crying louder and louder, as though sensing danger in its midst, couldn't move an inch. Its demise was near. The predator,famished and drooling, moved closer to it's prey with its claw out and it's fangs showing. It closed the distance as it came eye to eye with its prey. It's thick saliva dripped down in foam-like onto the wet ground burning, with steam emitting out as if it were hot oil.

It howled as loud as it could and the baby cried as loud as it could, however it was unmoved by it's prey cries.The wolf sought to kill it's prey quickly as possible and devour it gluttonously as possible,before the rest of the packs could've pick up it's scent. As it stood there, glaring menacingly, snarling, with its claws out of its sheath,sharp as a sword, clawed right into the child's right eyed side of the face in one slash,splattering the child's blood on its untainted shawls.

Reeling from unimaginable anguish,it broke into an even more louder cry, as the dire wolf glared on unsympathetic.Ravenous,the dire wolf opened it's mouth and with it's long sharp set of fangs showing, it closed in for a quick kill but before it could sink it's fangs deep into the child flesh,out of nowhere, a gray wolf sprung out of a nearby bush,with its claws showing, pouncing on the dire wolf and knocking it down away from the child.

Agitated,the dire wolf snarled, towering the gray wolf ,with its reddish gum clearer to see, while it barked and growled.They both glared at each other face to face as the child continued to cry.

The atmosphere in the forest was growing sinisterly ominous. In the misty air, there was a scent of hatred and anger. Something deep within these forest was angry at someone or something... It was yearning for that fateful day when their shackles would come undone. To take vengeance aganist those who had wronged them. Patiently they waited,for that coming day. To devour. To inflict pain and suffering on all of them. Like how they had inflicted pain and suffering onto them also.

The wolves continued to fight,mauling each other, barking and growling - the dire wolf , twice it's size- yet undaunted by that, growled and snarled, as the dire wolf jumped once more, to do away with it's meddling adversary with sheer strength but for the gray wolf, it was unyielding and unwilling to turn tail and flee away, just to leave the helpless child under the mercy of a bloodthirsty predator.

As they tore each other an ear,the rescuer , unluckily ,had an eye slashed through,blinding the gray wolf on its right eye. They both squealed in their own pain, as blood oozed out of their gashing wounds. The gray wolf's fur was almost drenched in its own blood. It was on the verge of defeat,struggling against a formidable foe;in its last drop of strength,unwhimpering, and the dire wolf unwavering in it's pursuit of the child.

The predator slowly moved forward to put an end to its prey, undeterred by it's rival resolute stand while she continued to pant heavily, with only an eye and ear remaining unscathed .

Despite its injuries,it's resolve was iron strong ; to saving the human child. Cowardice was not an option .