Failure

The witch kept looking over the book incantations she had, skimming through them quickly to find the problem in her process. She was confident she did everything as instructed. Unlike mages that learn magic from zero and spend a long time honing them, the witches didn't need to go to such length. They were connected to the demon they made a pact with receiving continuous demonic mana that constituted the base of their spells.

Mostly, the demon they contracted with gave a specific starter's book according to the level of sacrificial offered. In Soprana's case, since she gave a heavy sacrifice, she received his entire magic legacy and knew everything about the way how to use it. She had enough time to polish her fighting skills with experience. Five hundred years weren't a short time for anyone.

After all the knowledge, the experience, she had turned a lot of souls into servants and she still had them roam around her hut at night and day taking turns so that no one would reach her. Yet, after all that, she failed in turning him. She checked the solution liquidity, the circle drawn underneath it and also the mage apprentice sitting obediently inside the cauldron with a giant grin over his mouth.

"It seems you failed; you don't know how disappointed I am…"

"You don't look like one who was disappointed. I failed to turn you into one of my servants. It must have been her work. I shouldn't have underestimated her influence."

"She must be kingdoms away, why would her influence reach here?"

"I still wonder why you are here instead of travelling with her, you are her disciple, no?" after a long time of examining her incantation, she let her body slump into a chair, completely defeated.

"I don't know if you should call me her disciple when she didn't teach me anything," he stood up and used his hand to let the gelatinous substance get off his clothes. "You seem to know her a lot, even awfully. You look like someone who wants to surpass her."

"Tell me, what do you want to be? Unlike all masters that exist out there, why did you choose her? She is no diligent master, she teaches nothing, she does nothing, she helps no one, she hurts no one unless they were after her first… Aurora isn't a villain or an a hero; she stands in the middle. Everyone who knew about her grew an admiration for her but once time slips by, the admiration turns into disappointment. When you find that the woman you admired all your life was just a society failure."

"Why do you think so?" he jumped out of the cauldron and shook his legs in the air one at a time to take off the residual of the purple solution. He pushed a hand inside the cauldron and grabbed the silver watch that fell from his pocket.

"I saw her walk by a village that was destroyed by monsters and she did nothing. At this, you could say she wasn't a hero. She didn't have a sense of helping anyone. Another time, there was someone who approached her; she was a sword for hire back then. Guess what? She refused it saying she wasn't interested in pity plays of villains. With this, she isn't a villain either."

"It just means she is in the middle, a normal human being. Don't you think so?" he took advantage of her focus on the story to examine the silver pocket watch. He opened it and found a small folded paper in it. It was folded meticulously. "I don't believe in those either. Trading lives for supposed to be victories or just hurting people to take out the anger you feel from the irony of your circumstances, I don't believe in any of it. If something bad happens to me then it's the result for my choices. I won't blame anyone for it. I learnt to accept reality as it is."

"You are weird. Sacrifices are a must to get what you want. If you don't trade your time with knowledge, you ae doing nothing. Time is marching whether you want it to or wishing for it to be frozen. You cannot do anything about it. It's just an example for a sacrifice."

"Then I'd rather spend my time doing something I like. If it got something for me, then I am in it. If not, then don't count me in. I stayed still because I thought turning into a werewolf might give me a little bit of strength to survive further. After all, everything is about survival. I do not wish to die for a stupid cause."

Stephan unfolded the paper and read it with his eyes. It was a pocket watch as a pendant and the paper read: "Do not abide by rules or lies and so not fear, if you ask for truth then only truth you'll hear." He didn't know if it could be of use. However, there would be always a possibility to use it. He placed the pocket watch around his neck and turned to the witch.

"I guess I will be taking this. But it's not enough to resume our relationship. Not only you sent your hunchback as a maiden at me, you also tried to turn me into your servant. I guess I am lucky enough to avoid those troubles."

"It didn't look like you didn't enjoy it. You were sitting obediently there," she stood from her chair, feeling stupid and unlucky. She truly wanted to make him one of her many servants. "I truly want to find that spear and I believe you are in a hurry. Let's do a blood pact this time! Even I, myself, do not trust me. I am a witch. What can I do to change my kind?"

"I am not expecting anything from you. Just do what I asked. I repeat it; just be my shield and protect me. No need for a stupid blood pact! I guess this will teach you that I am not easy to get. As I said; I do not engage in something that doesn't hold benefit for me."