Nanna

A well-built double-story house on the west side of the village set surrounded by a lush green field. Speltar, a grain like crop that is similar to maize was grown there. Next to it was a structure resembling a barn used to keep livestock and other beasts that were treated as such. The house was well maintained than the other village's houses and it had the presence of that someone imported to the village stayed there. This was the village leader's house. Since past times it had gone through many renovations as the villagers believed its state showed how well the village was doing, but after their last village head who was Dunnam's father went to the capital and never came back, together with the past event that rocked the villagers very souls, no one was paying attention to it.

A person was guarding the front door. When you passed it you would find similar runes to that in Flosbris house on the entrance of the door. In the dining room, one person was standing guard while two were having a heated conversation.

"Flosbris, are you insane? She is the only White witch we have in the village and might I remind you how much just one, is valuable to any country. You letting your jealousy get the better of you. Have you not done enough to this village and her? Even I did something unspeakable to her but I am the acting village head now. Whatever she is doing there we will eventually find out."

Dunnam yelled out and was almost out of breath by the time he finished what he had to say. Flosbris was walking slowly around the room still in bare feet and would stop to look at the paintings on the walls.

"Dunnam."

She said in a low voice that made him stop his fast paced breathing.

"What White witch? Have you ever seen her healing anyone, making potions, or even attempt a healing spell? If anyone should be considered a White witch it would be Numinima's husband, even though he was not born with the gift. By living with her I am sure he had learned a thing or two. Besides, even if she was one, why would she help anyone in this hell hole?"

"Flosbris, White witches are favored by Uros. You have already tainted your soul. Do you want to give it to the dark forever?"

"I told you, Dunnam, she is not a White witch, otherwise I would know of it and my soul was born dark. Why would I be afraid of Uros?"

Dunnam was shocked at her words.

"Hahaha, well only you could say that. As crazy as you are I am sure you have a plan. If we going to do this, we have to do it before they come. The boy did go to her and has been engaging with only her. They will reward her for that."

"Do not worry Dunnam. I already have a plan. Agna told me that the boy had been staying in Ningals place for a few days now and has not come out. I do not know what happened to him because when I talked to him, he was perfectly fine. Ningal never lets anyone in the house except for Vitula or let alone let anyone sleepover. Agna saw Ningal coming out of the house for the first time in so many years and saw her bringing Vitula with her when she came back. She could not get any more information but something must have happened."

Flosbris said, now talking playfully.

"I see. So, this is a perfect time. And if they ask why we did it, we can tell them we were worried about the kid."

Dunnam said walking towards Flosbris.

"Yes, we just have to wait for Vitula to visit and we can have both of them in the panic of it all. We can restrain Vitula and do as we want with Ningal. Maybe she can serve as an example of what can happen if any of the villagers go against you. So, it is a win-win situation. You get to asset your dominance to them and I get to get read of that bitch."

"You hate her that much, even after what we did to her, why?"

"Dunnam, you were born in the light but you only now trying to find your shadow. You will never understand a dark heart."

She said caressing his face.

"So, get a few villagers to follow us and the rest will follow as usual."

She said coming closer to his face.

"Of course."

Dunnam replied with his eyes closed trying to go for a kiss but only to be met with nothing but air.

"Haha."

Flosbris laughed as Dunnam saw her pale skin vanishing at the corner of the room to where the exit door was.

"The things we willing to do to get stronger. It is tiresome."

He said with a long sigh.

Another day had passed with Sheyken down in Ningal's basement. He had died dozens of times as Nanna was proving to be a powerful opponent for him. He had decided to practice with her after that. Kipping his defensive field around him and at the same time making her float in the air. He had been practicing this by using small rocks that weighed less than her, but he now needed to hasten his development in this technique after understanding how important it was to always have his defensive field around him after facing the Cossowa in his first hunt.

Things were going well as he could lift her with ease, making her fly around the room. He had not thought it would be that easy since the last time he trained like this using the rocks he got tired easily, but now he was lifting someone who weighed heavier than the rocks with no problems.

'Did when I was meditating while in so much pain and forcing my body to accept the cursed blood increase my mental strength?'

"Cough, cough!"

After his thought, he heard Nanna starting to cough. The worse part was that she was coughing out blood. He quickly put her down and called Ningal who was doing some house chores and cooking Musmole as the beast dish they were going to eat for the week. She came as quick as she could and like she knew this was going to happen, she took her from Sheykens hands and put her on the bed then said an incantation. She set on a chair that was next to the bed and while harming, she moved her hand an inch above her body as she did with Sheyken, moving it all around her body.

Before a minute had passed, Nanna had stopped coughing and was breathing regularly. As Sheyken watched her, he could not help but be amazed to see such a technique he has never heard of a read about. He noted to ask her about it when the time was right.

After 10 minutes head past, Nanna was asleep and Ningal had removed her hand and stopped humming. She hinted at Sheyken to follow her up to the first floor quietly.

"It is the first time in a while she has lasted that long without going through an attack."

She said when they reached the first floor.

"Thank you Sheyken. I have never seen her this happy. I am sure you playing with her and giving her so much joy made her a little better. Even that attack was not as severe as the others."

"No need to thank me. You saved my life. You can count her as my little sister from now on. I will do what I can to help her. Care to tell me what is wrong with her. I would like to ask what was wrong with me also."

"No problem. Yesterday both of you were having so much fun that I decided to let you be, so you too can play to your heart's content. First, let me reintroduce myself since in this short while you have mange to convince me to treat you like family. I am Ningal Informum. Even though my surname is insignificant, it is still my only family's treasure."

She said with a little bow.

'Is giving your surname to someone a significant thing in this world? Was she married, since she has the same surname as Nanna?'

He thought.

"Ningal Informum, I shall do the same then. I am Sheyken Lewis."

He had nothing else to say about his surname, so he just did what Ningal did and bowed a little.

"That is an unusual surname. I have not heard of it, but we do live in the snake's end after all."

She said with her hand on her chin trying to think if she ever had of his surname.

"Anyway, thank you for having trust in me. I shall keep it to my heat."

'What the....'

He did not know what she was on about at that point and if he was not careful, he was going to get the wrong idea of what those words meant. They set down at the table and Ningal started talking again.

"First, about Nanna. What I am prepared to tell you is that she is my daughter and was conceived unnaturally. I do not know what is wrong with her. Anything I do to try to make her better only lasts for a while and then she returns to that state. She was fine until she reached the age of three. That is when a part of her hair turned white and she started to cough out blood. I think she is losing too much blood but any potion I try on her only works to relieve her suffering for a certain length of time depending on the level of the potion. The runes you see on the walls and floor of the basement are used to make the place suitable for a sickly person. It removes anything that might be of danger to her, or which can worsen her condition."

Sheyken could not help but think of the walking tree again. He did not know why but he felt the two cases were connected somehow. His Intuition was playing a big part in his suspicion.

'I was wondering what I could do in order to thank her for removing the curse for me. Now that I know what Nanna probably needs the most, I know exactly what I can give her.'

He thought and then took out two potions, a red and a purple-colored one. as Ningal watched a magic show again, her eyes went wide as she saw what had appeared out of nowhere in Sheyken's hand. She was even more shocked when he put them next to her together with the words that came out of his mouth.

"I am sure this would help."

He only said one sentence and Ningal's heart was beating fast, sounding like racehorse running.

"Sheyken, those are 4th circle healing and blood potions. You shouldn't be giving away something worth that much so leisurely. Small conflicts can erupt for just one of those.

"Says the person who used a 4th circle potion on me without hesitation as well."

Sheyken heard her and Vitula talking when he was trying to get into a state of meditation and he asked Nanna about the empty bottle her mother had used to heal him and she said that she called it a 4th circle portion, but had forgotten the name of it. Ningal did not think he would know that she had used one of the only two potions Numinima had left her before she died. They were the same and she had used one on Nanna when her hair changed and she fell sick, only to find out she wasted it because what was making her sick was not a curse.

"Chough, chough, are you sure about this?"

"I am. Nanna is my little sister now after all. How can I play with her if she is in bed all day?"

He said with a big smile. Ningal was so touched that she wanted to cry right then but had to stop herself as she quickly put the potions in her storage ring. Sheyken laughed at her actions.

"Thank you so much. With these two potions, she might as well be healed."

'When I used a 1st circle potion on her she was fine for about 4 months. This would surely make her better for some years depending on the quality. He is so full of surprises. To have these many high-level potions at his age, he must be a prince or something. At first, I did not want to know anything about him so to keep him safe, but now I want to know everything. He is just too intriguing.'

She thought while looking at him, humbled by his actions.

"About your curse. Let us wait for the gentleman that helped us. His name is Vitula and I am expecting him to come tomorrow. He is the only person I trust and I would like to ask you to give him the same level of trust you give me to him too. Is that ok with you?"

"I have no problem with that."

"Ok let us wait for Nanna to wake up so we can give her the potions. The sooner the better. It is good that we having Beast meat today also. The nutrients from the meat will help the potions work much easier."

'So, they do need nutrients to work.'

"Sheyken."

Ningal interrupted his thought and that startled him.

"Yes?"

"You must tell her you made the food ok. That way she will eat everything on her plate."

She said while trying to tickle him.

"You little rascal. Yesterday she did not want anything that I made for her."

Sheyken rolled on the ground while laughing and trying to block Ningal from tickling him. That day and the previous one was the first time he truly felt happy to be in Uros.