Chapter 16

It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the change in environment. We were in another forest. The moon was now a hazy purple, the sky was tinged violet and it was slightly colder. Unlike the lush evergreens that spread across the forest that surrounded my village, the trees here were dark and crooked.

“Where are we Cat Sith?”

“Prrr, Madame’s territory, Caliginous Continent”

“W-we travelled across the Continents just now!?”

“Prr, yes, we were able to use a dormant archway.”

“I-I see.”

I had decided to keep all the questions I had for when we actually reached where we going, but all this stuff was beginning to become overwhelming...

I looked at my hands and remembered what happened on the farm before we set off for this place. Thankfully, there were no further incidents of things turning into dust. I had no idea why simply touching my crops caused them to disintegrate or grow, however, it seems this effect was redundant when it came to other things. Plus I wasn’t worried. If there was something to worry about, then I’m sure mother or Cat Sith would have told me.

“Say, Cat Sith.”

“Prrr, hn?”

“Earlier, on the farm, when I uprooted some produce, they turned to dust when I touched them with my left hand, however, when I used my right hand, it had the opposite effect, that’s normal for a Warlock right?”

“Prrr, no.”

“W-what! What does it mean then? Am I gonna be OK!?”

“Prr, my Mistress made no mention of your magical prowess, it could have just been a one off reaction caused by the build up of magical pressure. It is your own assumption that holding the produce in differing hands caused them to react differently. You may be the son of my esteemed Mistress, however that does not make you remotely special.”

Something told me that this guy wasn’t fond of me...We walked in silence and I stopped thinking about the incident on the farm. Nothing had happened since and maybe it was just a one off like Cat Sith rudely stated.

We reached the centre of the dense forest and Cat Sith came to a halt. I could spot a small cottage up ahead and could just make out puffs of smoke escaping the chimney.

“Prrr, this is where I take my leave.”

“Eh? You’re not gonna at least introduce me to this person?”

“Prrr, my mistress ordered me to escort you here safely, I have done so. There are also no Bane in the vicinity, so it’s perfectly safe for you here, with that, I will take my leave.”

“N-no, wait!”

Before I could muster a fumbled response, Cat Sith disappeared.

After standing motionless for a few moments, I took a deep breath and made for the cottage. The cottage was similar to my mother’s in shape and size, so I assumed that it would be bigger on the inside.

I reached the wooden front door and knocked, there was no answer. I waited a few moments and knocked a second time, on this occasion I heard the lock on the door click and unlock. The door then proceeded to open and sit slightly ajar. I knew better than to just walk in without permission, so decided to call out for someone.

“H-hello, can I come in?”

“Where’s the kitty?”

A gravelly voice came from within the cottage. The voice sounded like it belonged to an elderly person, however there was strength behind it.

“U-um, he said that he would take his leave after escorting me here safely.”

“Damn that elusive feline! I thought Cassie sent him to recruit me again. I already told her I’d join if she’d relinquish ownership of that cat. What are you doing here boy? He didn’t just leave you here did he?

“He was just told to escort me to Granny’s House.”

“Granny!? Who you calling Granny? You are testing my patience boy, leave!”

A pressure exuded from within the cottage, it sent chills down my spine but I couldn’t turn back now, Cat Sith had already left and I had no idea how to leave on my own accord.”

“I-I’m sorry, those were mother’s words, not mine.”

As if a reaction to that last statement, the pressure stopped.

“Mother?”

“Yes, my mother, Cassandra.”

A short silence followed after this revelation and the door swung fully open. I hesitantly stepped into the cottage and was met with a surprising sight. It wasn't bigger on the inside. It was a normal cottage, however there was a dark green door toward the back of the open plan sitting room.

There was a fireplace toward the right of the room. A cloaked figure was sitting in a rocking chair smoking a pipe. Her back was toward me but it still felt as if she was staring directly at me.

“Prove it, prove that your her child.”

I slowly approached the figure. The closer I got, the harder it became to breathe. Just what was in that pipe? I stood in front of the hooded figure and raised my mother’s locket so she could see it in the light of the fire. I couldn’t quite make out her face under the hood, but there was enough light for her to verify that the locket was my mothers’.

“That’s Cassie’s alright, who are you?

“Hemlock, Calcifer Hemlock”

“Hemlock? So the rumours were true...”

The figure pondered something for a few moments and then turned toward me. Her breathing was haggard and she seemed to be shaking erratically under her cloak.

Another few seconds passed and then she took off her hood and revealed a wrinkled, dried up and tired face. She studied me with sharp crimson eyes and smiled to reveal rows of fang like teeth.

“You’re a lot more handsome than I thought you’d be kid.”

“T-thanks…”

Her expression was beginning to morph into a wicked one and her fixed gaze was becoming more and more uncomfortable.

“So boy, what do you want from me?

“I-I don’t know, mother told me to come here.”

“...Don’t play around boy, if you have no business with me, then conjure your Bane and leave.”

“I-I don’t have a Bane…”

“W-what, you crossed into my territory without a Bane of your own?”

The cloaked figure began to mumble to herself, she scratched her chin and smiled wickedly. She reached her boney arm toward my left hand and flipped it over. The lifeless shrivelled skin felt cold against my left palm. She used her stick like fingers to trace the lines that spread across my hand. I finally processed this weird turn of events and pulled away from her.

“Heh, heh, heh, well played Cassie, well played. Alright boy, the names Walburga, you will call me Master from now.”

“Huh?”

“You have potential kid, Cassie sent you to me because she knew I wouldn’t be able to resist taking you on as a pupil.”

Walburga continued to grin wickedly and her expression told me that she was planning something. Was what she said true? Did mother send here to learn sorcery from this woman?

“You see kid, normally she’d teach you herself, but I guess she wanted to do the smart thing and send you to someone who would...understand your abilities better.”

Walburga placed her boney finger on her chin again and became lost in thought.

I allowed her to mull things over and pondered my own situation. After making it here safely and avoiding contact with a blood thirsty Bane, I realised just how crazy all this was. It was like my entire world had been flipped upside down and I was just being dragged along by the winds of change.

What surprised me the most, was that despite her appearance, Walburga didn’t scare me at all. I don’t know why, but it was as if I could see the shadow of a beautiful lady trapped behind Walburga’s wicked appearance. The shadow stared at me with an empty expression, it looked devoid of hope and appeared lost and...alone.

“OK boy, the first thing we need to do is get you a Bane, then…”

“Wait!”

Walburga looked taken aback at my outburst but it was about time I attempted to regain some control of the pacing of these events.

“What if I don’t want a Bane? What if all I wanna do is return to the life I’d been leading up to this point?”

“Oho, aren’t we ungrateful...Looks like we have a lot more in common than I thought heh heh heh.”

“Ungrateful?”

“You’ve been blessed boy! Blessed with the ability to to reject and annul all types of magic. An ability that is the rarest of the rare. You have, the Lich's Touch.”