It had been a long three days for Lona. In the blink of an eye, she had been betrayed by someone she had trusted, became a criminal in Sanctum, and had traveled quite a ways for shelter. They were all inside a house that belonged to the merchant woman, Albree. Luckily for them, the royal soldiers rarely set foot in Vis. According to the citizens, they only showed up once a month.

Guille: “Alright everyone. Vese and I informed the townsfolk about the possibility of soldiers doing more regular checkups. This shouldn’t be a problem. However, in case that backfires, we move to plan B. Vese?”

Vese: “To keep things simple, I’m wanted because they believe I caused the downfall of Dinia. However, there are still many that take my side and believe the king is the cause of it. Should things get complicated, we will move throughout the country, with Lona and I hidden from Indolis’s followers. Should we need a place to stay, we can go to one of our allies dispersed throughout these lands.”

Albree: “What of combat?”

Vese: “I’d prefer to stay away from combat if at all possible. However, if it’s necessary, we’ll show no mercy.”

Albree: “Alright. I’ll send a coded message to some of my friends in the capital letting them know the situation.”

Lona: “So, why go through all this length for us?”

Albree: “Because, I’m the Harbinger of the Great Witch.”

Vese: “Oh? Is that what they call me now?”

Albree nodded, and then bowed her head at Vese, and then Lona. She then sat down at her desk and immediately started writing something down.

Lona: “So wait, how many followers do you have, Vese?”

Vese thought for a moment.

Vese: “I’m not entirely sure, but I’m sure that if I desired, I could make a large settlement of my followers.”

Albree nodded before turning her head to Elisa.

Albree: “The red seal, can you hand it here?”

Lona: “Red seal?”

Albree: “It is a way to differentiate coded and non coded messages. Aside from us merchants, mercenaries and people in the underground market know what it means. Although it’s been changed numerous times, as it only takes one person saying something to officials before it’s no longer safe.”

Elisa passed a strange cylindrical object to Albree, to which she placed firmly on the paper before taking it off.

Elisa: “So, what’re we to do for now?”

Just then, there was knocking on the door. Elisa stood up and checked the window, before showing a sign of relief on her face and opening the door. On the other side was the guild master of the town, Diana. She was a petite woman who had long brown hair up in twintails.

Diana: “Excuse me, but are you busy at the moment?”

Within a few spoken words and a generous payment, the group had started their journey to Initium. From what Lona had heard, there’s been a group between the capital and Initium that’s been stopping all of her guild’s trades, and all other guild members had been busy at the time.

Vese: “I find it odd though.”

Guille: “How come?”

Vese: “Typically, in a guild, even for the more dangerous contracts, they only pay after verifying the completion of what was requested. I understand that getting the trade route back for the guild is important, but…”

Vese started going deep in thought, before waving her hand.

Vese: “For now, let’s just stay alert.”

Albree: “Agreed. By the way, Lona. Those are some strange clothes. I’ve been meaning to ask you, but where are you from?”

Lona: “I, uhm… I actually don’t remember anything before a few months ago.”

Vese: “And that’s why she’s travelling with me.”

Albree’s face brightened as if she had heard a heroic story.

Albree: “You are truly a wonderful person, Great Witch.”

Vese became slightly flustered by this.

Vese: “Please, call me by my name. I’m not used to being held in such high regard anymore.”

Lona tilted her head in slight confusion.

Lona: “Anymore?”

Albree: “Yes! I remember, you used to be royalt-”

The normally calm and composed Vese had covered Albree’s mouth to try to get her to shut up.

Vese: “Now, now. There’s no need to bring that stuff up. That was a while ago and I really don’t remember a lot of the mannerisms required anyways.”

Elisa: “Well, we can talk all about the past after we set up camp. The sun’s setting, and we shouldn’t dare travel at night.”

Guille: “Good point.”

He pointed towards a hill with a small gathering of trees to the right of the travelling group.

Guille: “I say we go over there to set up camp. We’ll also need to take turns being on guard tonight.”

Everyone agreed in unison to this, which caused them to head into the trees. Carefully wandering to what seemed to be the center, they stopped and proceeded to set up a small camp. Guille made a small fire pit and Albree laid the bedding down. Elisa started taking out rations she had brought with her, while Vese and Lona sat there and watched.

Vese kept her usual neutral expression, until she looked up and asked Albree a question.

Vese: “So, have there been any sightings of any of the other witches?”

Albree: “Actually, there has been one. But it’s said that she’s become a general in the Kibunarg Empire, so I doubt you’d find her any time soon.”

Vese: “I assume that one is Marra. Astaroth would be too chaotic to take orders from humans.”

Albree nodded before noticing Lona and the others aside from Vese were confused. Marra? Astaroth? Being helped by Vese, Albree explained to them about the other six witches roaming the world. There was Marra, the oldest, known as the Harlequin. She would often times trick and torture people, all in the name of her amusement. Next, there was Astaroth, nicknamed the Harbinger of Madness. She was the reason the Holy Alliance, Sanctum, was founded. Vese was the third of the seven born, and was known as the Queen of Ruin. Despite not being responsible for destroying Dinia, if she wished to, she could wipe out all of the Kibunarg Empire’s army. The fourth one was named Adhara, known as the Holy Sage. She had allegedly been hiding in Sanctum, but only those of high ranking titles knew where. Then, there were the Twin Demons, Kura and Shira, both of which have been worshiped in the Shūdan Provinces. Finally, Beelzebub. Known as Little Chaos. The only records of her was when she turned half a continent into the Great Desert.

Vese: “After her 15th year, we had all gone our separate ways. I went to the north, into Dinia, Astaroth, Kura, and Shira, went south, and the rest went west.”

Guille: “So, what’s the plan if we bump into one of them?”

Vese: “We wait and see. There’s no guarantee that any of my sisters are going to be polite after so long of not seeing each other. In fact, I’d say the last time I’ve seen any of them was in the Great Desert about a hundred years ago. Astaroth had been conspiring with a village there. However… They may be of great use for you, Lona.”

Lona: “Me?”

She had gotten even more confused than before at that statement.

Vese: “That’s right. With the help of my sisters and I, you’re bound to recover all of your memories.”

Lona: “That sounds nice. However, I still don’t even know where ‘here’ is. If I don’t know that, then how am I supposed to know where to go and what to do after I recover my memories?”

Vese sighed, and the others looked at one another. What was this place? And why were her memories gone?

Vese: “To put it simply, this world is known as purgatory. Most people here are born into this world. However, some are like you.”

Lona: “What… Do you mean?”

Albree: “It means you came here from another world.”

Vese nodded, before replying in agreement.

Elisa: “That means we have to keep that a secret. Otherwise…”

Elisa trailed off, shortly followed by an explanation. If found out, she’d be taken into custody by Sanctum to be experimented on. A result in which none of them wanted to happen.

Well into the night, everyone had gone to sleep, except Lona. she had been assigned to be the first on watch. However, her mind was still trying to process the information given to her about this world. Purgatory? From another world? Where did she come from? Why her? Before she could get any deeper in thought, however, she noticed a figure standing idly in the moonlight. Although her intuition told her not to, her curiosity got the better of her, and she had approached the figure. Before she could get too close, the figure spoke.

???: “It’s odd. Seeing someone wandering around at this time of night.”

The figure then turned around. It was a woman, with long flowing blonde hair. She wore a white dress with red accents. On her left arm appeared to be a shackle, and a chain that was attached to a large ax, held in both hands.

???: “My name is Anastasia. And you are?”

Lona: “My name’s Lona. I thought I’d take a walk, since I couldn’t sleep.”

Anastasia looked at her with obvious curiosity. She motioned her to follow as she walked up the hill opposite of where Lona’s friends were camping. She then turned back to Lona.

Anastasia: “There’s no need to worry about your friends, they’ll be just fine. I feel as though you have some questions, and I may be able to answer some of those questions for you.”