Run A Mile In My Shoes

I ran a mile that day. A mile from my house to the church.

Religion, praying, god.

We never used the church for that type of stuff. No one did. For us, it was more of a place of community. A place of gathering, for food, for shelter. We went there not to pray but to pray for the weak, the lost, the homeless.

But we also had an ulterior motive. My family was special.

We came from a long line of Creation Witches, who serve the Royal Family and only the Royal Family.

Ever since before I was a kid, we were tasked by the Royal Family to go and give our aid to the citizens of our country.

But after decades of this good-natured help, my family started to stop seeing ourselves as Witches, but instead as gods.

Servants from a higher power, sent to come down and give the needy their prayers. In the beginning, we would give them food, water, anything necessary we could create with our powers.

But as our services grew more attention, and our country grew more in need, we become more arrogant. We put a price on our powers and shackled ourselves in our homeland. Which in turn, made ourselves in more demand.

Eventually, we stopped taking in orders and stopped giving out our powers entirely. We stopped treating the needy and started treating the unneeded.

And by the time I was born a new rule was passed in our family, that the only way for someone to become a Creation Witch was for them to be born into the family or married in.

So I wasn't some random lucky enough to become one, I was instead the second-born daughter of the leaders of the Feltes Family, of the Creation Witches. My name was Luna Feltes.

---

I've always had a large family. I have alot of distant counsins and two older brothers and one older sister.

My two older brothers were proud of their powers. So when they turned thirteen they were already working and already doing their deed for the family.

My older sister, on the other hand, resented the family and was given the choice between becoming a Creation Witch and working for the Family or become married and shipped off to another Witch Family. Those were her two choices. Her only two choices. And she chose to be married off.

So from most of my young-life I resented her. I hated her for what she did to our Family. My father hated her. My mother hated her. My brothers hated her. And by the time I turned five I cut off all ties to her. But that was before I learned she was raped by my father. And assaulted by my uncles. That was before I learned about all the things he and they did to her. And that was way before I learned about all the things he could do to me. All the things he did do to me.

It was only until I learned about the crime, that it became a crime.

It was only until the day of my thirteenth birthday, the day that was the start of my new life in our Family. To become a Witch. A Creation Witch...

---

"Luna, kom hier, het is tijd." (Luna, come here, it's time.)

Luna followed the voice of her father. She followed the voice until she reached a dark dark room at the deepest parts of the church. She saw her mother, her brothers, her other family members all dressed up in dark black robes.

"Waarom is iedereen hier?" (Why is everyone here?) she asked looking at her entire family lined up.

Luna's father stepped forward with the Creation Necronomicon in his hands, "leg je hand op het boek." (Put your hand on the book.)

She followed without a second thought and put her hand on the book. Her father stares. Deep. Methodical. Menacing. She couldn't back out. She couldn't go back now. She was too far in-

Suddenly Luna felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Her body morphing, changing. She felt a veil over her eyes, like her life vanishing from reality, turning to dust, to sparks in the afterlife.

Then a red-eyed devil, horns, a smile, a grim look of lust, disgust, love, hate, greed...

It etched the symbol into her stomach. It's long winding nails, black and bent. The blood, the pain. The pain. The mark.

That feeling.

Thump...

She fell back. Her stomach now marked with the insignia of creation. A sword. A long sharp tipped sword, named the Sword of Creation. It's image now eched on her skin, permently.

---

After that day every time I used my power, I would feel that pain. The pain of that day.

The way the devil etched that symbol into my stomach. The way he stared at me. The way they saw me as another tool, another Witch. Not their daughter... Not his daughter...

But again, at the time I couldn't tell why I hated that pain. On the outside, I still loved my family. I still loved my powers, my Witchhood, my brothers, my father, my mother. But I didn't know why. I didn't know why I hated that feeling. Of seeing others die. Of killing them. Of sacrificing myself. Of using this devilish spell...

I spent the next seven years of my life working for my father.

I spent the next seven years letting him do whatever he wanted to me and I didn't say a word. I didn't do a thing. I thought it was normal. I thought it was just our way of doing things, or well... That's what he told me. That's what he told me...

But then for some reason, one day out of the blue, one day while I was doing a job for my family, something came about me. For some reason my shoes started running for me. I ran and ran and ran. And I don't know why, I had no clue what came about me. But for no reason, I ran a mile that day. I ran away from my responsibilities and hid. I hid from them all. From my father, my mother, my brothers, my family.

And in response, they cast me out. They hated me. They sold me off to another family like they did my sister. Like they did my sister... Like they did my sister...

But again... I didn't know why... I didn't know why they cast me out, I was oblivous, stupid.

Stupid?

Was it because I was stupid? Was it actually because I didn't understand it at the time? Or was I... Why did I run so far? Why did I come to America? In search of immortality? Did I ever want it to begin with? All I wanted was him, him... Him... Someone who could hold me, keep me safe. Why did I fall in love with him?

Damon... Damon... Damon...

---

Slam!

Damon kicked open the door leading to the roof.

He stood next to Aria and Olezka.

"Damon..."

Mr. Chain walked up to them, he noticed the book they were carrying.

"So you got the Immortal Necronomicon," he pointed.

Aria showed him the stitched face of the book, "yes, we got it, but... We came across some complications."

She turned to Olezka.

"Eiko. The True Immortal. The Pegasus..."

"Yes, what about her?" hurried Mr. Chain.

"Well, before she killed herself and disappeared she told us something. Something about a woman coming here. And she was afraid."

"A woman?" Mr. Chain reflected on his research of the Immortal Horses and Demophon.

"Are you talking about Demophon-"

Ancient Spell: [Teleport]

Zwip-

In an instant. In the middle of the two groups. A woman with long blonde hair and a sharp white mask appeared. She had a black suit with a white undershirt and a black tie. She looked at the five Witches standing around her. She looked at their faces, their confusion.

"It seems the party's all together."

They were all stunned, and confused. They watched as this woman approached Damon, as she held out her hand, touched his chest, his suit, his tie.

"You... Damon... I've been waiting for this day. The prophecy. You..." She was about to lift up her mask before Luna stepped forward

She screamed, "hey! I don't know who you are but you can't just touch-"

Snap!

The blonde-haired woman snapped her fingers.

"Please don't interrupt."

Ancient Spell: [Death]

Pop!

Luna exploded into a million pieces.