Chapter 17

The Lich’s Touch. The ability to null all types of magic with just a touch.

Walburga allowed me a few moments to take in this new information and then signalled for me to take a seat in a nearby chair. I hesitantly sat down and stared at my left hand for the nth time that day.

Thinking back to the incident on the farm I realised what had happened. Gladus said that my family’s farmland was barren before my mother showed up. It was obvious that mother used magic to make it fertile. Since my powers were no longer sealed, I was able to cancel out the enchantment on the farmland and subsequently annul the miraculous produce that it had grown. If this was true, then this was bad. Mother wasn’t joking when she said I was making a mess of the farm when my abilities surfaced in my childhood.

“What’s the matter boy?”

“Walburga, if what you say is true, then does that mean that I’ll never be able to grow anything on my farmland again?”

“What are you talking about foolish boy?”

Walburga was beginning to gingerly rise from her seat. She seemed to have made my decision to become her pupil on my behalf, because she was showing a wicked smile and was mumbling to herself.

My precious farm would never be the same again…

I would need to get some control over this power to ensure that the meticulous soil structure and well maintained saplings were upheld. Just when thoughts of my farmland took over completely, it hit me.

I outstretched my right hand and showed it to Walburga. She hesitated for a moment and grabbed it to trace over the lines like she did with the left. The second Walburga’s boney finger made contact with the lines, she scoffed and pulled away.

“I was able to make plants grow when I touched them with my right hand.”

“tch, I can’t sense anything special here boy, come along now.”

The news hit me hard cause it meant that what happened back then was just a one off. It was looking like the only way to get some control over this new cursed ability and refrain from doing damage to my beloved farm, was to go along with Walburga, at least for now.

Walburga slithered to the green door at the back of cottage. She adjusted a round technicolour wheel to the right of the door, which made a loud click sound. The door opened and Walburga waited impatiently for me to reach her.

“You coming or not?”

I shrugged my shoulders and made my way toward her. I had made it this far and it wasn’t like i could go back to living a normal life, especially with this stupid rediscovered power.

Walburga walked through the doorway and I followed after her. As expected, the green doorway led to an entirely different location. Witches and Warlock probably saved a lot on carriage travel...

We emerged at the bottom of a grey tower. We were inside and the walls were surrounded by a winding staircase. I could just make out the stain glass windows that appeared periodically along the route to the top.

Walburga stood on the bottom step of the staircase and pointed to my feet. I looked down for the first time and spotted a huge slab of symbols and markings, they were aligned perfectly and the entire floor was covered in them.

“Well boy, summon your Bane.”

“What?”

“We are in the Twilight Tower, young Witches and Warlocks come here to get their first Bane. make an incision on your left index finger and press it on the centre of the summoning circle.”

I approached the centre of the circle and dug my nail into my left index finger. It was having no effect at drawing blood. A few moments passed and Walburga’s face became distorted with annoyance, her continued impatience told me that she wasn’t going to make a good teacher...

Another few moment passed and I pulled out my father’s log. The paper would do the trick and my suspicions were confirmed when a paper cut materialised.

My index finger oozed with droplets of blood and I pressed it down on the centre of the summoning circle. A second or two went by and finally the markings on the ground began to shine. They pulsated all the colours of the rainbow and then settled on a blinding white colour. I felt something within me surge and was overcome with the feeling of infinite power. My vision became blurred and the piercing white light took over all my other senses.

The entire tower disappeared and I was in a neverending world of white. The shadow of a figure appeared in front of me. It studied me closely shook its head and vanished. The figure was then replaced by another, the same sequence continued for what felt like a lifetime, an assortment of figures appeared periodically, some of them were humanoid, others were not, they studied me for differing lengths of time but all ultimately shook their heads and vanished.

It got to a point where my sanity was fading, it was beginning to feel like I'd be here forever.

Finally, as if sensing my restlessness, another figure appeared. The figure was humanoid, except the outline of huge bat like wings extending from its back was visible. The shadow it cast was elegant and feminine. Although it was a mere shadow, its presence was regal and domineering.

Unlike the others, the figure stuck around for more than a few moments. It raised its delicate fingers and placed them on its chin. Every action the figure took was dignified.

Some more agonising moments went by and finally the figure decisively nodded. It adjusted its posture and glided toward me gracefully, right before it made contact with my stagnate self, it disappeared along with the neverending white world.

I opened my eyes and was back in the tower, covered in sweat. I looked up toward Walburga and noticed that she had a look of astonishment on her wrinkled face. Following her line of sight made me turn around to get a look at what left her mouth agape. The instant my eyes made contact with it, I fell to my knees in shock.

It was on that day, that I ceased being a simple farm lad, it was in that moment, that I first met...her.